Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

I love hair. I love my Katie's long beauty queen hair. I love the fuzz on my little guy's nearly bald head. I love Meredith's funky short hair, and I love the purple streaks in Erinn's bleach blonde coiff. I'm also so glad that I'm not one of "those" people who go to the stylist for a haircut and only get a trim because they're too chicken to get a real cut. Hair grows back, people! It's not like you're getting a tattoo! Of course, looking at photos of me over the last few years would lead you to believe that I'm the epitome of "those" people. It's not that I like having boring, straight, long hair. I really don't. Really. Why then, have I only had ONE haircut in the last 2 years??

I've thought about it and I've come up with this list:

1. Time. Kids, house, school, work, church. Your typical culprits.

2. Style. Nothing jumped out at me as a cut I would LOVE to have, nor have I found anyone I want to have cut it. I want someone who can look at me and tell me exactly how my hair should be cut and colored, then do it.

3. Self-esteem. I'm grossly overweight (an issue I'll be addressing in an upcoming post, so please don't patronize me in your comments) and the thought of cutting my hair felt more like putting lipstick on a pig. You know, covering up the real problem.

4. Ease. That's a nicer word than laziness. If I got it cut, I'd have to DO it instead of wear a ponytail.

I don't know what the final straw was, (probably Dixon pulling it every time I nursed) but I finally bit the bullet and went with a referral I got from a friend. I'm still short on time, I still haven't found my golden stylist, I'm still chubby, and I can still pull my hair up into a ponytail. But only a teeny tiny nub of a ponytail now.

I guess I'll start working on the whole "grossly overweight" thing now.

"Home School"

So, I've come to the conclusion (for a lot of different reasons) that Bridget will not be attending Head Start this year. Of all my beautiful children, she's probably the one most ready for school at this age, and she's also the one I most need a break from. {Still love ya, Stinkerbell!} It will be a challenge to do "preschool" on my own, but I found a really great blog (Thanks, Ashlee!) full of great ideas to keep her entertained and learning at the same time. Today I'm going to let her try the Sand Writing. Hope I don't have a giant sand mess to clean off the floor when I'm done... Wish me luck!!!

Got Zucchini?

I'm always on the hunt for good recipes to use my plethora of zuccs in. I usually end up going back to my three main dishes: Fried Zucchini, Zucchini Soup, and Zucchini Bread. The first two are pretty set recipes, but as you know, Zucchini Bread has more variations than Imelda Marcos has shoes. I love tasting all the different varieties I come across--especially those that include chocolate in some form--but I got creative the other day and combined 3 different recipes into one, and I think it's the best Zucchini Bread I've EVER eaten! It's really more like a cake, and seriously, who doesn't like cake??? So here it is, along with a couple of pics. If you venture to try this recipe, leave a comment. I'd love to know how you liked it!

Blueberry Zucchini Bread

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
2 1/4 cups white sugar
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups grated zucchini
1 pt. fresh blueberries
3 T. flour
3 T. butter
1/3 C. brown sugar

1. Grease and flour two 8 x 4 inch pans. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
2. Sift flour, salt, baking powder, and soda together in a bowl.
3. Beat eggs, oil, vanilla, and sugar together in a large bowl.
4. Add sifted ingredients to the creamed mixture, and beat well.
5. Stir in zucchini until well combined.
6. Carefully fold in the blueberries, pour batter into prepared pans and place in the middle rack of oven.
8. Meanwhile, using a pastry cutter, combine flour, butter and brown sugar to resemble a course meal.
9. Halfway throught cooking time (about 30 minutes), sprinkle sugar mixture onto the bread & put back in the oven for another 20-30 minutes or until tester inserted in the center comes out clean.
10.Cool in pan on rack for 20 minutes. Remove bread from pan, and completely cool...if you can wait that long.

I've seen anything from strawberries, bananas or cranberries to nuts, coconut or chocolate chips in lieu of the blueberries. Use whatever sounds good or whatever you have on hand! The blueberries really were fabulous, though!

Organize Every Needful Thing

Since the Doctrine & Covenants admonishes us to "organize yourselves," I justified getting a little work done today. Since we're on call and therefore can't go to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple dedication, I decided to spend the morning organizing my photos on my computer and updating my blog. Organizing AND journaling. I love fulfilling two commandments at once. I got all my pictures put into the correct folders, under the correct dates, and I was able to post a couple of new blogs with the pictures I newly organized. I'm all caught up on 2009, and about half of 2008. That means I only have August 1975-August 2008 to catch up on. Now that's real progress.

My Little Man

Just had to post some of my favorite pics of this little guy.

Maggie Turns Eight!

I feel old. Of course, all I have to do is look on Facebook at some of my friends from high school who now have high schoolers themselves, and I don't feel so strange having an eight year old. Nevertheless, it's really hard to believe that my 7 lb. 15 oz. chubby-cheeked baby is eight.

I told Maggie in passing once that she had to be eight before she could do sleepovers. Apparently she remembered this and took me at my word. Unfortunately, Mike ended up having to work a viewing that night, so I had to manage my own 5 children (including a hungry baby boy) plus 4 extra 8 year olds who seemed to have no regard for the volume of their voices in the little confined spaces that make up our home. Yay me.


We started off the night with everyone making their own little pizzas. This has become a favorite dinner of mine. When the girls start to complain about not liking it, they're forced to realize that they are completely responsible for that--not me. They're getting pretty good at figuring out what they will like instead of what would make great eyes or a nose.

After dinner, it was present time! I thought it would be fun to do something a little different, so I blew up some balloons with rings in them, and the girls took turns popping one when they gave Maggie their present to open. This last balloon was stubborn, and it took all the girls sitting on it to finally get it to give up its treasure.

The first gift was from Grandma Barb. You can imagine how excited Mags was when she opened her new Hannah Montana comforter. Now she can dream her rockstar dreams in style!

The theme of the night, besides Hannah Montana, was all about the makeup...yikes. I'm not quite sure why everyone thought it would make a great gift, but as you can see below, Maggie concurred and it was a big hit with everyone!

I took down the full-length mirror from the hallway and set it against the couch. All we were missing were the broadway lights & stage!

My favorite part of the night was the part I worked the hardest on--the cake! She LOVED her electric guitar cake, and more than once I heard, "That's the coolest cake I've ever seen!" Yeah, it is, isn't it? I sure hated to cut into it after all that work, but I have to admit, it not only looked good, but it tasted good, too!

Katie

Friends that Maggie goes to school with: JanaLee & Lauren

Brooke

Bridget

Meagan: Best friends since they were born!

Bailei: Maggie's other best friend she's known her whole life.

Happy Birthday, my sweet, sweet girl. I can't believe it's been 8 years since I first held you in my arms. What's even more unbelievable is that I survived all the pizza making, secret giggling, ear-piercing screeching, cake devouring, soda spilling, crazy dancing, mess making, sleep interrupting choas that was your slumber party. Let's not do this again, k? Loves.

Back to School

I LOVE this time of year! And not just because I'm a mother of five going crazy with noise and dirt all summer, either. I always loved putting on my brand new white tennis shoes and picking out the perfect outfit to start my first day of school in. I'd get up extra early to make sure my hair was just right, and my backpack was always stocked and waiting for me to fling onto my back as I ran out the door. With summer over and school starting up again, I thought it would be fun to have a mani/pedi day with the girls to get them all beautiful for going back. This was especially meaningful for me since I wasn't allowed to wear nail polish growing up. I'm not sure why, other than my dad really hated the way it looked. {Yes, Dad, it seems as though you're once again the victim of my selective memory.} Anyway, I dug out the foot bath, exfoliant, lotions and potions and let everyone pick out the colors they wanted. It was a little crazy, after all, there were 80 little fingers and toes that needed my attention!

It ws actually a lot of fun and the girls loved getting their little feet rubbed and lotioned.

One of these days I'll get mine done, too. One of these days.

With sparkly toes and perfectly coiffed hair, they were ready to head back to the land of books and homework--and I was more than happy to send them!

Katie had a bit of a hard time on the first day--she gets a little anxious like her daddy. But by the second day, she left me at the door to her classroom, and by day three, I dropped her off at the curb! It's a little surreal having three kids in school, makes me feel old, but my ears are revelling in the relative silence, and frankly it's nice to have some one-on-one time with Bridget again. I look forward to my trips to the grocery store without 5 kids in tow, and--do I dare say it?--I may even get in a nap or two! Yeah, this is still my favorite time of the year.