I did it!
If you have ever looked at my profile, the random question it asks me is:
“The hair from your last haircut… What would it say about your new style?”
And my answer:
“It’s been so long, it doesn’t remember! My goal is to get it styled by Christmas! :)”
It always seems that I am constantly putting it off until it becomes an absolute necessity. I think it has been, oh, at least 8 months since my last appointment. Anyways… My hair has gotten REALLY long. Plus, I have been going through that whole postpartum thing and shedding tons of it all over the house. It has been bad. With long hair, just one piece can turn into a ball and it drives my dear hubby crazy!
Then I started thinking about donating it to Locks of Love. I have friends that have done so, and it would be so great to help bless a child that has lost their own hair due to cancer. You only have to cut off a minimum of ten inches to do so.
I just couldn’t decide. I thought about posting a poll and asking what you all thought, but I was worried about hearing you all say to just do it, and cut it off… This made me realize that I am
Realizing this helped me make my decision. So for a little Advent penance, I decided to donate it and bless another child, since I have been so completely blessed myself with my own sweet children. Plus, it will grow back, right!?
Anyways, here are a couple pictures…
Before & After
OK. Now don’t laugh! I HATE pictures of myself! But here is the front:
The whole time my sweet hairdresser was sawing away I could hear the words of Amy March in Little Women, “Jo, your hair! Your one true beauty!”
It did turn out better, and longer, than I expected and my hairdresser layered it and added a few highlights as well. (I was hoping that the highlights would help me feel better about turning 30 next month! Yikes!)
My kids and hubby like it, and I’m sure I will get use to it. Twinkle Toes was a little sweetie and said, “I want to get my hair cut like yours so we can be twins!” I love my family!
I just checked my email…
… and I WON!!!!
I can’t believe it!
I am SO excited!
We had such a busy day yesterday with our Santa Lucia Celebration, our Winter Christmas Storytime, Snuggles first food and then Chiquita getting sick that I totally forgot about the Book Walk… that is, until last night when I was reading Cay’s blog. Then it took me a few minutes to think about whether it was Thursday or Friday and how much of a time difference there was between where we live and CT… Anyways, I realized I had about 7 minutes left to enter, so I sent my entry in at the last second!
The book that I won is an autographed copy of For the Love of Literature by Maureen Wittmann. I have been meaning to order it, so this is SUCH a TREAT! I can’t wait to read it. Hop on over and read Cay’s review! (You’ll want a copy too!)
Thank you so much Cay!
Baby News – First Food!
Snuggles really enjoyed eating his “first food” last night, fed to him by daddy and his big sister (TT)! He will be 6 months old next week, and was really ready for food. It was so cute!
However, after dinner, Chiquita got sick… I think it is the flu, but it could have been from too many sweets… Needless to say it was a long night, and we ended up just moving the toddler bed into the bathroom for her, after cleaning up many messes. I stayed home with the girls and Snuggles this morning and hubby took the boys to serve Mass and Benediction. Please say a prayer that she gets better quickly, and that this flu moves through our family fast!!
Cocoa, Cookies, Crafts & Christmas Stories
After seeing Dawn’s post about their Winter Holiday Storytime I just had to organize one for my own kids and a few of their friends.
I was able to reserve the local library’s community meeting room and sent out invitations. It turned out quite well, and I think it would be fun to coordinate this on a seasonal basis.
I brought the cocoa and (my totally creative friend) Trina brought the crafts. Each family bought cookies to share and all the children brought their favorite Christmas story! We ended up having 27 kids from 5 families, including these friends. It was such fun!
The kids made ornaments and bookmarks, had cookies and cocoa, and listened to quite a few stories including: The Miracle of St. Nicholas, Christmas Magic, Hanna’s Christmas, B is for Bethlehem, The Night before Christmas, Christmas in the Big Woods and Silent Night.
The kids even sang Silent Night together. It was so very sweet, I’m sure heaven was smiling!
Happy Santa Lucia Day!
Our morning got off to a rough start for a number of reasons, but after a quick trip to town for donuts sweet rolls and a BIG mocha for me, the day got much better! Twinkle Toes was so excited to wear her Santa Lucia crown and serve our teatime snack.
All the children really enjoyed the special treat.
We read Hanna’s Christmas
We are adding these colorings along with the ones for our Jesse Tree to our New Liturgical Year notebooks! Did Captain do a nice job? And I just have to share one more picture… I know, your thinking, enough already! But here is one last one of Chiquita trying on the Santa Lucia Crown…
Next year I think I will definitely be making two! Oh! And if you have a second… Click here, here and here to see todays Santa Lucia posts from a few of my favorite blogs! I just love the Catholic Church and it’s many traditions!
Relying on Your goodness, O God, we humbly ask you, by the intercession of your servant, Saint Lucy, to give perfect vision to our eyes, that we may serve for your greater honor and glory. And we pray for the salvation of our souls in this world, that we may come to the enjoyment of the unfailing light of the Lamb of God in heaven.
St. Lucy, virgin and martyr, hear our prayers and answer our petitions.
Amen.
Our Lady of Guadalupe Celebration
Yesterday we went to an Our Lady of Guadalupe Celebration put on by the small catholic high school that a few of my siblings attend.
It started with Mass, at which the students led the music singing beautiful Gregorian Chant hymns.
Afterwards, we went out to the school for coffee and snacks.
My boys with their uncle, my little brother.While there, the students gave a presentation to the children about Our Lady of Guadalupe.
My sister is the second from the right.
We got to see a recent project the students did on hell. It was very interesting to hear them explain their displays. The following three were done by my siblings.
Then they had a pinata for the younger ones, which, of course, was a hit!
As well as pictures of Our Lady of Guadalupe for the kids to color.
We were even able to talk the students into singing us a few Christmas carols in Latin and Spanish.
My twin sisters are on the left and one of my brothers is on the right.It is such a blessing to have this school available. They are offering a solid Catholic education, and have 7 teachers for the various classes, most of whom home educate their own children. It is such a blessing for these kids to be able to be receiving such a wonderful education.
Dressing Up
Last night, while I was getting ready to leave for my monthly “Bunco” night out, the kids decided to dress up, and act out, the nativity. I was running late, and my flash card was almost full, so I was only able to get a couple pictures… I wanted to share them just the same.
The kids were very creative at finding things to use around the house. Above is “Mary, Joseph and Baby Jesus.”
I just loved that they used Snuggles blanket and a yellow stacking ring for the veil and halo! Isn’t that cute!
I missed getting a picture of the shepherd and the angel… They were really sweet as well!
OH, and Bunco was a BLAST! I even won a prize for the “Most Wins!!” That makes 3 months in a row that I have won a prize… even if one was for the “biggest loser.” 🙂
Our Santa Lucia Crown
December 13th is the Feast of St. Lucy. In Sweden this feast day is called Luciadagen. The tradition is, that the oldest girl in the family wears a white dress with a crimson sash and stockings, as well as a wreath crown with white lighted candles. Then, at dawn she would wake the rest of the family with hot steaming coffee and Lussekatter, or some other sweet bread.
I must admit, we have never celebrated this feast in the past… So, this is going to be the year we start this tradition. I thought it would be fun for the girls to watch me make Santa Lucia Crowns! Now, I have been wanting to make one like Jennifer’s or Matilda’s… But, that is going to be next years goal. This year, due to lack of talent necessity, I need to keep it simple.
I found these templates for candles and leaves for a crafted Santa Lucia Crown. I printed the candles out onto card-stock and cut them out. I then used the leaf pattern to cut leaves from scrapes of colored scrapbooking paper. I also cut out yellow flames to add to the candles, and red circles to be used as berries. I made a ring out of card-stock, and stapled the ends, then with glue dots applied the leaves, berries and candles. Overall it was very simple and made completely from things we had on hand… A definite plus.
Here you can see the finished version, and Twinkle Toes trying it on… She is really looking forward to wearing it Thursday!
For breakfast Thursday, there are a number of recipes available online for Lussekatter. Another easy idea is to place birthday candles on the top of glazed donuts… My kids would love that! My plan is to, hopefully, make the recipe for “Santa Lucia Crown” found in Cooking with the Saints. It looks delicious!
You can read more about St. Lucy and find other ideas here and here.
Or scroll through all of our St. Lucy posts in the archives!
A Christmas Rose
The Christmas Novena to St. Therese begins tomorrow, on the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, 12 days before Christmas. One is to pray the novena 12 times per day for 12 days to honor the 12 years of Christ’s childhood. May you receive a Christmas Rose of many blessings this Christmas!While cleaning the boys room…
… I ran across the following pictures. I asked Captain if he drew them. He said, “No, (Rascal) did.” I thought I would share:
This is Daddy or “Dade” (were still working on phonics!) back in his college, bull riding, days.You can see the bleachers, with people and a flag in the background.
This is daddy and the boys dressed like commandos.
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