Zig Zag French Braids

We needed a "tight" 'do for Oliver practice tonight...there is a lot of dancing involved!   I was just going to do regular french braids, but why not add a twist?
All I did was section her hair in three sections on each side of her head and braid and up and down.  She had to sit for me to do this style, and tilt her head in a bit of a funky way, but I think it came out cute!

That's all folks!  :)

Hope your day is sunnier than it is around here.  We have lots to do today, so I'm glad we are stuck inside.

Have a great one!

Stacy

Fall Fun ~ An Easy Leafy Craft!

The credit for this one goes to the kids' Aunt Jenn - thanks!!  She sent this link to me on FB http://familyfun.go.com/crafts/foliage-friends-671141/ and we had to wait for it to stop raining to give it a try.  My kids had such a blast doing this project, and having to identify the leaves that we used made it double as a science lesson!
This worked out well, seeing as we've been studying forests and deciduous trees this week!  Fantastic timing Aunt Jenn!  Here is how ours turned out.  I took a ton of photos, as this isn't one of those projects that will hang around forever.  :)
Be sure to double check for visitors.  This little inch-worm made his way into the house on one of Bee's leaves.  We played with him for a while before letting him go.

We used glue sticks for the leaves, and they dried really quickly!

I let the kids sit at the computer desk one at a time to copy the pictures. This seemed to work out well!

Bee's finished work!

And Jake's:

These three guys make me smile.

And Alex's - I swear this kid is really handsome - he just doesn't photograph well.  :)

And that's that!  Thanks again for the link, Jenn!!

Have a happy Wednesday.

Stacy

Just so they aren't ignored...

My boys got hair cuts this week.  :)  The place we go (kidoozies) is awesome.  After the boys get their cuts, they get to pick whichever color spray they want to "finish" the look.  Both boys want their hair colored like this for real - maybe next summer I'll let them.  We'll see.  Here are their new 'dos with and without color. You can see how thrilled Lex was to have his photo taken the second time.  I believe I was interrupting his precious computer time...

Then - because Jake was looking so adorable, and is my photogenic child - I thought we'd do a little photo shoot.  Um...yeah - these are the shots I got:

Oy vey. This child is going to do me in.  Do you have one like him?  God makes them adorable on purpose, so you don't send them back.  :)
Have a colorful afternoon!
Stacy

twisted braided bun headband

I sorta got the idea for this style here: http://cute2tryhairdos.blogspot.com/2010/08/rolled-braided-flower.html  Although, Bee's hair isn't nearly as long as this little girls, so her buns were much, much smaller.  I thought it would be cute to try several buns in a row like a headband.   It didn't end up much looking like the braid she did (I will try this again soon), but this is how ours turned out:

This one was pretty cute, and stayed in a few days. If I were to do it again, I would try to make the buns lay a bit more flat, like the one on the blog link, but this was cute too.

Happy Tuesday Everyone!

Stacy

Upsdie Down French Braided Buns

Every once in a blue moon, I venture off on my own and create something I've never seen before, or at least have never tried before on Bridgette.  I'm sure this has "been done" before, but it was a first for us, and I thought it up all by myself.  :)
Warning: you have to have a seriously confident and a bit of a funky little girl to pull this one off.  Bee isn't in school, and is majorly into theater right now (where this kind of personality is encouraged!)...this is all to say she doesn't have any hindrence to having a funky 'do every once and a while. She loved this, and so did I.  I didn't do a step by step, but I think by looking at the photos it will be obvious what we did.

Here's a tip:  When you start, part her hair down the middle, and secure one side with an elastic band.  Then have her lay down on her tummy on a bed with just her head hanging off the end - while you braid.  Have her sit up when you make the buns on top. This one is a bit trickier, but totally worth the effort.  She looked adorable all day, and this one lasted through soccer and play practice!!

Tah, Dah!  Whenever I tell her to pose on her own, it's always something like this.  What a ham!

Enjoy your babies today!

Stacy

long over-due hair blogposts...first, a twist on braided bands...

I found this here - http://www.princesshairstyles.com/2010/09/braided-bangs-with-tweek.html , a site I'm frequenting more often as our girlies both got their hair cut around the same time, and now have similar a similar length.  Here is how our's turned out!

Okay such a cheesy smile there - I think I remember her not so much being awake yet when I was taking these. Here are the rest.  :)

This was much easier to do with wet hair (we tried dry at first), but I think it came out really well!  I did have to an alligator clip under the bow to make the end of the braid lay flat.   Overall a cute 'do, but it only stayed in for one day... Have an awesome day, and check back soon - I'm on a roll, and just might get another post in tonight! 
Stacy

Weigh-in Wednesday ... and a promise??

I weighed in last night, and lost another 2.4lbs.  Happy day!  I'm feeling great, and jogging on our newly aquired treadmill (thanks again Theresia and Ed) in the morning and at night. My goal is a total of one hour a day.  I'm finally at the point where I am feeling my body change - which seems silly at nearly 70 lbs of weigh loss - but it is finally happening.  I am feeling tighter, more toned, etc.

Let's see - no weight loss advice today, but I did run across a new favorite protein bar.  My regular favorites went out of stock at our local Wegmans, and I can't seem to find them anywhere, so I've been shopping around for a few weeks.  I finally found bars at Walmart that are similar in protein content and calories called Balance Bar Gold.  There is one that tastes (with a bit of imagination) just like a snikers bar. Really.  It's good.  I can eat one of those for a breakfast or a lunch and feel really full until the next meal.   Anyone out there in blog land have a protein bar that they like that is around 200 calories?  I'd love to try it out.  Lots of the ones made for men have much higher calories, because they are looking to bulk up.   Seeing as I am on a quest to bulk "down" I'm looking for lower calories.  :)

Okay, here's the promise - I am now FOUR new hairstyles deep on my camera. I am going to post as many of them as I can in the next two days.  One I was brave and made on my own - the others were copies I found online. I'll be sure to share the links.

I hope you all have a fantastic day.  Think skinny thoughts, and if you are homeschooling, smile at your kids today more than you frown.  It makes everyone happier!
Stacy

weigh-in Wednesday

This is from last week - I hope to have a bunch of posts today as a sort of catch up.  Now that school has started, and our crazy schedule, it is going to be tough to carve out time to blog.  I will, however, make an effort.
So..my first post is to update my weight loss.  Last Wednesday, I lost 2.6lbs, for a total now of 62.8 (I think - my book isn't in front of me at the moment, I might be off a tenth of a pound).  I am half way to my goal, and I'm feeling fantastic.
My hubby has lost just over 20 lbs at this point, and I can really see a difference. Way to go, Stevie D!!

As the weather is turning colder, we've moved our workouts inside, thanks to the help of some friends from church who GAVE US a treadmill.  We were willing to buy it, but they wanted to bless us.  What amazing people!   We've each been jogging on the treadmill each morning and night as often as we can.  It is so much fun to be able to workout indoors.  This morning I jogged for an hour, and went just shy of four miles.  Not too fast, but I'm getting there. It felt good to be able to jog that long without getting winded. I only walked for the first five minues, and five minutes in the middle.  Soon I hope to be jogging for a solid hour without stopping.

Okay, off to clean my house and download some photos. I finally have a few new hair posts and a couple from school this past week.  Life here is good.
Stacy

Weigh-in Wednesday

So...you might have been wondering - why hasn't Stacy posted about her weight loss in a month?  Did she "fall off the wagon"?  Is she gaining weight back?

I'm happy to tell you that no, I haven't.  I'm on track and going strong.  We had a very busy month, and it happened that for four Wednesdays in a row I couldn't go to my weigh loss meeting.  I didn't write my losses here, because they weren't official.  Now they are.

Drumroll, please....tonight I had lost 5.6 lbs, for a grand total of 60.2 pounds!!  Woot!!!  I've hit the sixties ladies and gentlemen!   Doing a happy jig right now, that you can't see, but I promise is jumpy and excited.  :)

So, there you have it. I'm still losing, and looking forward to continuing to lose so that I can get fit into a whole new wardrobe my Christmas.  Speaking of Christmas, I think I'll actually be in the family shot this year.  Won't that be something??

Stacy

Week Two Tips!

This one is for the homeschooling mamas out there - hopefully, I started school a week before you did (we started last Monday) so you can use this tip next week.

You know the first day of school, really, the first week of school - when your kids jump out of bed, do their chores, and are eager and excited to start each day of school?  Then something happens...you have a long weekend, daddy has been home, you've had a bit more summer - and wham - WEEK TWO - slams you in the face?  Kids start to whine, slowly, through their chores - they complain about math and spelling, and heaven forbid you ask them to write something.  Gasp!  What a horrible homeschooling mother you are.  :)

I wanted to find a way to combat that this year.  On Monday night, we were starting to get a bit grumbly about school the following morning, so I (off the top of my head - seriously, all my best ideas come out this way) said - "How could you possibly not be excited about school tomorrow?"   Curious glances met mine... "Don't you know what tomorrow starts?"   Now I had their attention.  "Starting tomorrow morning, and for the next two weeks, we will have color days."    After the questions died down - what is that, why colors, which colors, will rainbows be involved?  I said, "Each morning when you awake, there will be a clue card on your dresser, letting you know the color of the day.  You need to dress in that color (as best you can) from head to toe."   On the top of each paper that you have to write you name - you can do that in marker (oooo - this is a big deal at my house) in the color of the day, and each day we'll do a craft that has to do with that color.   Well - I can't begin to tell you how well this worked. They went to bed quickly and easily the night before, and eagerly woke up to do their chores.  

Day one, the color was blue.  Jake's card simply had the color word written - Alex and Bee had clues for each letter and had to solve the puzzle to figure it out.

Here is how they dressed:

We're still doing "apples" as a theme this week, and we needed new bookmarks, so we made "blue apple bookmarks".  They were thrilled with these, and they were so quick and easy to make.  I simply shrunk a picture of an apple that I found on enchantedlearning.com, and copied it three times.  I had the kids pull as many shades of blue out of their crayon bins as they could find.

First they colored them in.

Then, have them glue their papers on a piece of blue cardstock (or construction paper).

Next, help them cut out a length of contact paper (I did this for my kids - they always tend to have a hard time with it.), to "seal" the bookmark.

Finally, have them cut out the bookmark, and add a ribbon or lenth of yarn.

Here is the final product.

A cute, easy, and exciting way to start week two.

I hope your homeschooling adventure is off to a fantastic start, I know ours is!!

Stacy