Life with Poot-n-Toots

Hair inspiration....

    

I'm sure many of you think I'm nutty, but we've been in a hair-rut over at our house. I've always loved doing hair (when I was a kid, I wanted to be a hair-dresser, no kidding)...  but for the past few months we've been doing the same old things over and over...

Since the girls were little, I've always enjoyed doing their hair in the mornings....and since I've done it from the time they were little, they never usually don't give me a hard time about sitting still for the 5+ minutes it takes.

Over the years we've made up names for our go-to styles (these are just a smattering, I don't intentionally photograph their hair-dos)...

• Big Girl (mostly down, with either a bow or a clip pulled to the side)
• Two braids, one pony- Two french braids, connected at the ends
• Bed-time hair- one pony tail, pulled half-way through (this ensures that there isn't any nightime-twisting).... this one is also known as cooking-hair (really who wants a wayward hair to escape into their meal)
• Big Pigtails, Little Pigtails (self explanatory)
• simple-twisties
• Little-piggy's tucked
• Double Fancy braid in the back- two twisty-braids, tucked-in

• Daddy style- yep, that's what it looks like-when I'm not in charge

• Style's that we've retired: the afro, piggy-corkscrews

Today I was blog-surfing and came upon a few fun blogs that are dedicated to hair. I've always wondered how to do a twisty braid (apparently it's called a cork-screw) and after looking at this tutorial, I tried it out on the girls this morning, and loved how it turned out.

Amazing, huh? People are always asking me to show them how to braid, so here it is...no reason to re-create the wheel. So to you Brianne, Kelly, Amy, and Abbey here are some fun sites to try out 1, 2, and 3 

Many of these creative ladies even have little video-clips with step-by-step instructions. The braid I get asked most often about is what we call a fancy-braid... this is a great photo step-by-step to do this braid

*beware* some of these blogs have some Texas-sized bows and some pageant-style up-do's, with crazy-crazy hair weaving that includes about 2 trillion rubber-bands... just ignore those and go to the simpler stuff.

now, if only I could perfect this braid before Valentine's

For the love of bows, part 2....

Nonnie (Jason's grandmother) isn't a fan of bows....

Whenever we had professional photos taken when the girls were little, I always made sure to have 1-2 photos taken without bows. Nonnie's dislike of bows has long since been a joke between us. So much so, that I threaten that once she's old (as in 100- she's nearly 82), I'll put them on her.

Over the holidays, Nonnie reminded both Brianne and me that she *still* doesn't like the bows...pfftt- like her heckling through the years could be easily forgotten????

My response, you ask?

Well, naturally, being the good granddaughter-in-law that I am, I chased her around the kitchen (she's fast for an 82 year old) and affixed this lovely red ruffled headband bow to her sweet little noggin.

What do you think????

I thought it looked so good, that it got me wondering what Aretha's bow would look like on Nonnie....curious??? click here  to find out.....

and since Mia's ordering.....  Mia- per your request

and the best hand-made Christmas gift 2008 award goes to.......

Kelly.

              

Kelly seriously wins this award hands-down....even beating out Paige's hand-made pasta picture frame (I mean the frame was cute, but hey....this box featured bows).

Kelly's hand-made bow keepsake box is simply incredible! I can't express my joy when I opened this gift. Ya'll know my severe infatuation with bows (I mean, really people, it has it's own category on the blog). When Ally outgrew the headband bows, I made it known that I would not be sharing the bows, or allowing them to be hand-me-downs.......selfishly I'd decided to keep them all to myself.

Then, Kelly got pregnant with twin girls. My little imagination got the best of me (really, if one baby in a bow is cute, surely two is twice as cute right???). When Aubrey's tiny little head got big enough, I decided to surprise Kelly and pass along all of the headband bows. I thought I was creative and crafty when I made this bow holder, little did I know that Kelly would surprise me with this awesome gift in return. It's been so fun to see bows that my girls wore be enjoyed by Aubrey and Kelly. You can check out Aubrey in all of the bows here (scroll down to see them all)

When Jenna came along in November, I asked Kelly if I could borrow them back, so that I could pass them along to Brianne. Little did I know that Kelly had this incredible box in the works as a special gift to me. The best part of the box is the special little book that was tucked inside. The book has pages for each kid and a place for photos. For each girl that we pass along the bows to, the mommy will fill out a page, add a bow or two, include a few photos, and then pass the box along to the next baby.

After filling in my girls' pages, I wrapped up the box and gave it to Brianne for Christmas. She loved it! We've already put Jenna in the tiny little black bow and it looks adorable. Today we actually took all three girls and had  some photos taken....I'm sure it wouldn't surprise any of you to know that all 3 girls wore coordinated outfits from Gymbo, along with their matchy-matchy bows. Ah, I LOVE girls!

For those of you that are looking for good quality bows, I get mine from www.lbpboutique.com In fact if you look in the 'gallery' you'll see lots of my friends kids.

Postcards from the Underground Railroad....

My Dad and Nancy are currently leading a cross-country bike tour following the route of the Underground Railroad. They started this journey, in late April, by taking a train to New Orleans, and the official riding began about two weeks ago. When they arrive, they will have pedaled nearly 2000 miles. Surprisingly, this tour is geared towards women over 50, I don't know about you- but I'm totally impressed.

Paige and Ally just got the first round of postcards. So far, Dad and Nancy have pedaled their way through Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, and should be leaving Tennessee and entering Kentucky (short prayer to self: Please God let me get the states right, you know how I am about geography).

We've been trying to help Paige 'get' how far away they are for a few weeks. We finally drug-out the atlas (thanks Dad!) a few nights ago, and had a little mapping lesson. The girls love any kind of mail and are eagerly awaiting more post-cards.

Nancy and Dad- I know you're checking in when you can, I hope your two are enjoying every moment (even the ones that involve pepper spray and stray dogs) I can't wait to hear all about it and see some photos (hint-hint, take some photos).

*Confessions from a geography flunk-out. Not only do I suck at geography, I also managed to spell EVERY state wrong (thank God for spell check). Geesh, even the little song M-I-crooked letter-crooked letter..... didn't help*

Old School Bird feeder.....

Paige made this bird feeder in pre school yesterday. She was SO excited to get home and hang it. Once she picked the perfect tree, and had daddy hang it, she patiently (term used very lightly) waited for the birds to come. I think in her mind, she thought the birds would flock to the feeder, Cinderella style. So far it appears that no birds have dined at the peanut butter/pine cone/bird seed drive-in.

After waiting for a short time, the girls decided to pass the time by playing a quick round of soccer (despite wearing white capris and 'pip-pops', Ally's version of flip flops).

Today the girls and I made a special trip to the neighborhood park; it was quite windy.... perfect weather for flying P's new kite.

Ally was having a blast until she realized that her WalMart smiley sticker (from a shopping trip with Charlene today) had fallen off, and was quickly being carried away by the wind. She tried unsuccessfully to chase it down, and was quite miffed when she realized it was lost for good. Thankfully, she was easily distracted by a dandelion.

Tutu cute....

I'm totally in love with these new tutus. Amy has done it again, apparently the bows just weren't enough; now Amy has added some fun accessories to her site http://www.lbpboutique.com/. She's now making boutique tutus, accessories, and personalized shirts. I had a chance to take some photos for her site and am really pleased with how they turned out.

She made the girls personalized rhinestone shirts, and tutus with all kinds of fun embellishments. The pink one has a pink satin bow with a rhinestone 'A', the black one has rhinestones all over it (the pictures don't do the black one justice, it's super sparkly in real life), the red tutu had a grosgrain bow, and the white one had a rhinestone-embellished gardenia (my personal favorite).

Normally the girls give me a really hard time when I try and take photos, but somehow today the moons/stars must have been aligned, because I was pleased with quite a few of them. I'm sure it helped that I let them dance around between shots.

These pictures aren't really the best 'tutu shots', but I thought they captured the girls' personalities the best.

   

I wish I had photoshop so that I could lighten/darken photos. My computer just has some plain standard one-click option and whenever I try to use it, it always makes them look worse. I LOVE b/w photos too and wish that I could change them myself. I also realized today that buying an external hard-drive to back up my photos is mandatory. Each time I upload photos, the computer tells me I'm running out of space. I have these mini panic attacks that our computer (which by the way is 7 years old....a dinosaur in todays technological world) crashes and I lose everything.

Introducing the new junior member of....

the IBFC (internationally bow fan club).  I've declared myself president, and my girls charter members. Aubrey makes an adorable bow baby, don't you agree? This is officially Aubrey's first headband bow. Since she most often wears purple it was fitting that her first bow be the lightest shade of lilac.

   

Kelly hosted a baby shower last week; during the party the girls took it upon themselves to entertain Aubrey. Paige read some books and Ally tickled her toes. In fact, Ally couldn't keep her hands off the baby, she wanted to hold her and to feed her as well. I'm sure even with the difference in age, these girls will be great friends.

Leprechauns on the brain...

There's been lots of talk of the little green guys at our house lately. Paige's pre-school does a big St. Paddy's day unit....the little guys have been sneaking into the classroom and making all sorts of mischief (you better believe I just had to spell check that word). Paige insisted that she needed a green shirt. Surprisingly we don't have many clothes in this color. So off to Target we went in search of something green. I found these cute shirts for a mere 4.99 a piece, what a bargain! Since we bought new shirts, I figured I needed some new green bows for Paige and some totally adorable shamrock clips for Ally (all from Amy's site of course).

I don't normally do anything special for St. Patrick's Day, but at the last minute I decided to let them have a special breakfast. I proudly served them Lucky Charms. I figured it would be a big treat, since the only cereal my kids ever eat are dry Cheerios. Ally ate a few bites and poked at the marshmallows, while Paige ate about half. So much for their special treat. I think my kids prefer a hot breakfast.

Disclaimer- for all you granola readers out there. Don't freak out on me. I needed the cereal for a graphing lesson at school. Lucky Charms is actually made with whole grain oats, it has 114 calories per cup, 2 grams of fiber and 1 gram of fat. I will say, though, it does have 12 grams of sugar. So there.

 

Paige had a great day at pre-school and even found some 'gold' left by the leprechauns while Ally was equally excited to say 'you no pinsh me, I deen' (you can't pinch me, I'm green).

I'm sure you all noticed Ally's new 'do'. This weekend I tried braiding her hair and was surprised to find out that it is just barely long enough for me to put in two tiny french braids. She was SO proud of her big girl hair and kept telling me 'when I baby, I pittails' (When I was a baby, I wore pig-tails). I didn't want to burst her bubble and tell her that she'll always be my baby, no matter the cute hairstyle.

Introducing lbpboutique.com ....

 

I couldn't be more excited to share with all of you an awesome new website dedicated to my one true love.... BOWS (well maybe it's second to Diet Pepsi)...

Many of the bows and specialty clips that my girls wear are made by my good friend Amy D. (for those of you that don't know, Amy is married to Marcus....J's best friend who was also the best-man at our wedding...) Amy has been selling bows in specialty children's boutiques in the Central Valley for the past 3 years, with lots of success.

Recently, Amy decided to open up her bow business as an online store-front. During our stay at the cabin in Shaver, I was able to pick her brain about what the new site would look like.......I've been eagerly anticipating the site opening.....Two weeks ago Amy sent me a sneak preview link to her site, lbpboutique.com, and I FELL IN LOVE! It is beyond perfect! She's included everything I love. For you Gymboree lovers, she even has a made-to-match Gymboree link, she's included all the 2007-2008 lines with coordinating ribbons. She's even including free shipping and 10% off all orders until March 31st.

My favorite bows are the clippies, tuxedo bows, and the toddler bows. I especially love the ladybugs, and the butterflies. I've just placed my order for the awesome shamrock clips (just in time for St. Paddy's day). Of course the headband bows are fantastic, but sadly I don't have anymore hand-band-sized babies...sniff, sniff. The possibilities are endless in that you can actually create ANY bow using ANY combination of ribbons. Amy also makes custom bows (I can't wait to find the girls' Easter dresses....I'm sure Amy will be able to make me some matching bows).

Amy has thought of everything, she's even included starter sets for those that are new to bows (Karen E., and Kelly these would be perfect for your little princesses). She's even got hair bow holders if you become a bow addict.

The best part was that Amy needed some 'models' for the site, which meant I got to be the very first recipient of some fantastic bows. I'm still in the process of getting some more good shots (and the ever elusive group shot with BOTH girls looking great, highlighting the bows, of course). You can view the 'models' (term is being used VERY lightly) under the gallery section, clippies, toddler bows, and headbands.

Here are some 'out-takes' from my recent attempts to get pictures for Amy's site

     

Head-to-toe Gymboree....

This Christmas the girls got just a *few* things from Gymboree (before you freak out on me- I didn't purchase ANY of this...In fact, the outfits the girls got from J and me were from Osh Kosh B' Gosh and Old Navy).

I think each one got about 5 outfits. Nonnie(Bev), Nonna, Auntie Pam, Auntie Kim, and Auntie B all got things from the Tres Chic line, while Papa(Tim) got outfits from the Holland Days line; and my Grandma got the girls coordinating dresses from the Mountain Cabin line. The best part is that all the outfits are mix n' match, which means that there are endless possibilities. Not only did they get the totally cute clothes- but they also got the matching hair clips, headbands, tights, and socks. I'm in heaven! (eat your heart out Holly).

I've been able to get a few pictures of the girls in their new outfits....(all the Disney pictures feature the new clothes too)