Busy December

December is a busy month for nearly everyone. there is Hannukah, Kwanza, Christmas , and all the prep necessary for any of these. This year are December becomes even busier. My mother in laws birthday is the day after Christmas, and we have friends getting married on the 21st.

the wedding should be awesome. They're having a  themed costume wedding. The theme is steampunk. Larch is the groomsmen and Johnny is the ring bearer. I am the acting wedding coordinator.

Wedding and Christmas presents side I have plans this year to make myself even busier. I have made a list of 25 Christmas related activities to do starting Saturday and going through Christmas. Some are as simple as cutting paper snowflakes , others require planning initiative like getting a tree and decorating it. And let's not forget the baking.

I hope your December is enjoyable albiet busy, and that you have a happy and peaceful holiday regardless of which you celebrate.

That pretty little boy is my daughter.

Lily's attempt at a one-sided mullet.

Monday morning I had a major melt down. I was tired, my kids weren't listening, it was time to walk out the door and my son couldn't find his shoes. Then he looked down and I saw a little bald patch on the top of his head. "Johnny, did you cut your hair?" I asked. "No, Lily did it," he replied. It took me a second to formulate a reaction. Johnny is 5, Lily is not quite three. "You're two year old sister cut your hair? You LET your TWO year old sister, cut your hair?"

His hair was an easy fix, we buzz his head about one a month anyways. A bald spot on his head at school for one day wouldn't hurt, there wasn't time to fix it right that minute. I threw my hands up and went to dig in the couch cushions for Lily's shoes. The couch was covered in hair. Long hair, darker than my son's. Lots of it.

I took a deep breath. Ok, it was more involuntary and gasp like. I fought tears and I turned around and grabbed my daughter's head. She had cut all the hair on the left side of her head off. Not a little choppy trim job. She had cut her hair almost to the scalp. My baby girl had given herself a half mullet.

Captain Lily waits for Storytime

I wanted to fix it right away, but I wasn't going to let anyone do it. I needed someone who could look at her hair and fix it in the cutest, most feminine, least redneck kind of way. I was taking her to MY hairdresser, not  Great Clips. But she didn't have an appointment open until today.

It actually worked out well. She was a pirate for Halloween and the choppy, messy look was just perfect.

This morning Lily got her professional hair cut. I was all for a pixie cut. Actually, my parents, sister, and husband were all for a pixie cut, I was holding out for a mullet so I could put the back in a ponytail with pink bows so she still looked like a girl when I went to Wal Mart. (Yep, I'm scoring big points on the redneck team today.)  Kim looked at Lily's handy work and we decided an asymmetrical cut would be a little more girly and easy to keep looking nice as long as we keep it trimmed every two to three weeks.

Shot side 

Head on

Long side

Lily still looks like a really pretty boy. Kinda. I guess we will be wearing lots of pink and dresses for a while. My daughter got an edgy haircut before she was three. What can I say, she's more fashion forward than her mom.

What I Learned About Being a Stay at Home Mom from Pintrest.

So, I'm kind of in a Pintrest addiction phase right now. Mostly, I like looking at really cool stuff and really funny stuff. And geeky stuff. But, being a mom and a homemakers, I learn lots of cool useful stuff. I am now going to pass some of that on to you.

1. Roll for bites.  Johnny is always saying "I'm done" after only two bites of dinner. Naturally I reply "Eat your dinner." This is followed by him asking how many more bites. I used to just say 2 or 5 or however old he was. This morning I stumbles on this idea. Keep dice at the table and have your child roll. The number rolled is the number of bites they need to eat before they are excused. Genius!

2. How to close snacks and stuff with the top of a 20oz drink bottle. http://pinterest.com/pin/172825704421656300/ 

3. How to simplify Christmas Gifts for your kids. I know we always say "we are only going to get the kids X number of presents." Never happens. This year, we are getting them 4 each from mom and dad. Something they WANT, something they NEED, something they can WEAR, and something they can READ.

source

4. How to make Candy Corn of the Cob with candy corn cookie dough http://www.instructables.com/id/Candy-Corn-on-the-COB/ .

5. How to make your own to-go cup out of a mason jar. I haven't tried this yet, but my mom did. http://www.fineandfeathered.com/blog/2012/08/diy-mason-jar-to-go-cup.html Punch a hole in the lid, add a washer to protect the straw. To-go cup!

6. How to recondition cast iron pans. This is a life saver for me after camping season, http://www.ibelieveicanfry.com/2010/12/reconditioning-re-seasoning-cast-iron.html

7. Two words: CAMO CUPCAKES. For the men and boys in my life. http://debbiesweets.blogspot.com/2012/01/camouflage-cupcake-sandwiches.html This is actually for Woopie Pies, but I think you could use a cupcake tine instead of a whoopie pie pan and get the same kind of result.

8.How to fix frizzed Barbie or  My Little Pony Hair. A small spray bottle with 2 TBSP of fabric softener, the rest water = "Doll Hairspray." Easy method for smoothing and renewing any doll's hair. 

I also learned:

9. I am a geek and the things I think are funny, my husband doesn't even get.

and

10. Pintrest is a great time wasting tool.

You can find all the stuff I think is cool by following me on Pintrest: http://pintrest.com/realhwnidaho

National Dog Week

It's national dog week this week, so I thought that I would provide you a list of 10 famous, real-life dogs.
1.) The dog in the Taco Bell commercials is actually a female chihuahua named Gidget. She also played Bruise's mom in Legally Blonde 2.
2.) The first dog in space was Laika. She was sent into space on Sputnik 2. She is credited as the first animal to enter or bit. Unfortunately, as there was no provision made to return her to earth, she was also the first animal to die in space.
3.) The first canine movie star was named Blair. She appeared in the movie "Rescued by Rover" in 1905. The movie was about an infant kidnapped by an old beggar woman who was returned home by the faithful dog Rover. Prior to this film, Rover was an uncommon name for a dog.
4.) The first cloned dog was an Afghan hound named Snuppy.
5.) The golden retriever in Bush's Baked Beans commercial is played by Paddington.
6.) Balto and Togo where the lead dogs in the 1925 serum run to Nome. Balto, ran the last leg and is there for the most famous. Togo ran the first and most treacherous leg which also was twice the distance. The Iditarod Dog sled race is run as a commemoration of the 1925 serum run.
7.) The Jack Russell Terrier who played wishbone on television wqs named Soccer.
8.) In 1940,Robot, a dog owned by a boy named Simon, discovered cave paintings in Lascaux.
9.) Toto from The Wizard of Oz was played by Terry the Cairn Terrier.
10.) This last dog may or may not be real. I found 2 versions of the story, one occurring in Wales and the other in France. In Wales the dogs name wasthe Gelert and he belonged to a king. In France, he was namedBlair Guinefort, and belonged to a knight. In each story an infant child was left alone with the dog. At the end of the day the cradle was overturned the infant was nowhere to be found there was blood on the mouth of the dog. The dogs owner killed the dog, thinking he had eaten baby, only to hear the baby cry turn over the cradle and find a child alive. In Wales, the king found a dead wolf, in France the night found a dead snake. In both cases, the animal had been killed by the dog in protection of the infant. The story in France, ends with the dog being given sainthood.

I LOVE Fall

Now that we have attended the county fair to watch a demolition derby, and spent the following weekend praying Larch shoots an elk, I have time to blog again. That's just one perk of cooler weather. In honor of the first day off Autumn (it's on Saturday), here are my ten favorite things about Fall. (In no particular order)

1.) It's cooler out, but it's not cold yet. I love summer, but after a month or so of so-hot-that-I-can't-breathe weather, it's nice to need long-sleeves in the morning.

2.) With colder weather comes the ability to turn on my oven. Not that I couldn't turn it on in the summer, it was just so darn hot. So far, I've made 2 batches of pumpkin cookies. Up next : pumpkin bread and apple cinnamon bread.

3.) The many colored leaves of autumn are so beautiful. And when they fall on the ground they're super fun to play in.

4.) HALLOWEEN. I'll be honest, I like candy. But I LOVE dressing up. This year, I am thinking of making my own Red Riding Hood costume. Wish me luck.

5.) Pumpkin spiced lattes!

6.) All my favorite shows come back to television. I watched the season premier of Bones on FOX last night, and next week Castle returns to ABC.

7.) My favorite kind of apples, honeycrisps, will be affordable again.

8.) Sweaters and jeans help hide the extra pounds way better than swimsuits and shorts.

9.) Hunting season begins. Okay, I don't really enjoy being a hunting widow, but it will (hopefully) put meat in the freezer. Also, it makes Larch Happy and a happy man means a happy wife ;)

10.) It is actually dark outside when I put my kids to bed! No more, "I can't sleep, it's still sunshiney."