Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Burnt Toast

When I was little I had that kind of hair that you would brush after taking a bath and it would dry all wonky.  Strait in some places, curly in others.  I would complain to my mom and she would tell me to go eat burnt toast.  Because her uncle told her that burnt toast would either put hair on your chest or curl your hair.  Being young and knowing that I had a 50% chance of getting the outcome I wanted I ate up all the burnt toast I could.  Surprise surprise.  Nothing happened. I still had wonky hair.  So after a series of perms I decided to throw in the towel and just suck it up that I would have to straiten my hair every day.  And I did for years.  I even went super short for a while because I didn't take as long to straiten.  6 years ago I decided to try the curls again.  I cut off 10 inches of hair and went curly.  It was okay but I still liked my hair strait better.  After a few months I went back to the straightener.  Every once and a while I would go on a curly spree.  But it never lasted long. I got tired of not having the curls I wanted...they're dull and limp and by the end of the day I was unhappy.  It wasn't until a few months ago, after having Prime that I lost a TON of hair (did that happen to anyone else? Hardly lose any during pregnancy and then when baby pops out lose a ton?)  all the new hair that has come in has been super curly and I don't know if it's always been that way and I've just have straitened the life out of it too soon but it's awesome.  I was satisfied with the curls.  I left it alone during the week (living with headbands to try and mask my frizzy halo) and then straitening on the weekends when I had the time.  It wasn't until I saw this post and it rocked my world. (check out my friend, Debbie's, blog...she does vintage sales and has some vintage suitcases that I drool over...she also has a bunch of other awesome things up for sale.)  I went to the salon that she mentioned (it's right down the street from me...fate) and after about a week of playing around with the product and hydrating my poor hair I am one happy curly girl.  I LOVE IT! I've never gotten any positive comments on my hair unless it's strait.  And now every one's like: did you perm your hair? - it looks great! It brings me back to the child hood days of eating all that burnt toast (to this day I still eat everyone's burnt toast...habit?) Anyways...this was a really long story...and there are many more layers to the life long drama that it has been to have what I thought was wonky hair.  Now I know I just didn't know how to care for it.

Now for some before and after.

This picture was taken on Valentine's Day at our school party (isn't that little girl adorable? I've taught her 2 older siblings also...I hope to get her little brother too...the whole set!)  Notice the hair.  Limp. Lifeless.  Dull.  Blah.  This is a picture of a picture...cool. 


A week after my curl girl makeover.  drastic right?

I'm excited to see how my hair will be once it has a few month of hydration

Sunday, March 27, 2011

A New Back Yard

Matt's been working super hard to complete my parent's back yard.  My dad wanted a place where his grandchildren could play.  I think it happened. It looks fantastic and the kids LOVE it!  Matt had some help along the way but he did about 80% of the work himself.  He amazes me. 


entrance view
View from the other side
Patio and pergola
A close up of the climber


Matt humoring me for a picture
Matt designed everything (with the help of John, Clif, and my dad) the only things that came in a box was the playhouse and the accessories (like the chairs, umbrellas and swing)

It was a big job.  Again, he amazes me.

p.s remember my post about the apothecary console? It's finished! head over to ellie & fern to read more! 

Saturday, March 26, 2011

Montessori Girl


I was sent these pictures via text by Emmie's teacher, Mrs. Hawley.  They make me smile.  She was doing a "butterfly observation" work.  But, in true Emmie form, she not only observed but then laid them all out horizontally with matching colors.  I love the way her brain works!

This next one is an object picture matching work.  Again, her strait lines.  Love it!
I need to do lots more of these posts! My phone is overflowing with pictures from Mrs. Hawley!

Sunday, March 20, 2011

A blog formerly know as Lime-Made

Lime-Made is gone.  It's been replaced. It's all good. Our new name is ellie and fern. We like it better.  We changed the address too.  Ceri and I are going to start posting things there again. {YEAH} I don't know how frequently - but we need a space for all our stuff...the family blog just wont do.  Come, visit, and leave comments...we love comments!

Girls Night

Every now and then we just need a good girls night! Finger food, facials, girl talk, and a chick flick...it was awesome. Thanks ladies for a great night! And thank you husbands for taking the kids!


Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Did you miss it?

No problem...We're doing it again!

Ellie & Fern Boutique Sale

Saturday, March 19
8am - 12pm


So...we couldn't help ourselves and have added a bit more to the batch. Headbands...like the one I'm wearing in this picture and aprons with matching pot holders - completely adorable!

Hope to see you there!

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Apothecary Awesomeness

I think my husband may be building me something like this...I'm completely psyched...

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Ellie & Fern Boutique Sale!

Ellie & Fern Boutique Sale
Come check it out!
Lots of fun handcrafted items!

THIS SATURDAY
MARCH 12 2011
8:00am - 12:00pm


Some of the items:
toddler boy ties
headbands
rings
receiving blankets
nursing covers
tote bags (shoulder, hand, and repurposed)
ring slings
pillows
&more!



Monday, March 7, 2011

Stand For The Right

My Primary Presidency asked me to teach the children to sign this song for our Sacrament Program in the fall. I taught it to them in 20 minutes. They LOVED it! It's easy and fast and best of all fun. So I thought I would share for any other Primary chorister's out there. The asl version of this song is not on lds.org (they have an asl page for the songbook...cool right? unfortunately, they don't have ALL the songs...that would totally rock my world)


(Pardon my late night raccoon eyes)

Disclaimer: I do not know sign language...(except for baby signing time...) BUT I did run all the signs past my cousin who is fluent...so she says they are good...and that's good for me. If it's not good for you, run it past someone else and make adjustments. You can sign "words" differently but I liked the "W" association so that's why I stuck with that one...
enjoy!

Sunday, March 6, 2011

don't wake the giraffe


plsd
(precious little snicker doodle)

Thursday, March 3, 2011

March in Room 4

I don't know if I'll be doing this that often but I'm on a kick so either enjoy...or just skip it. These are my March Practical Life Shelves. For the first 2 weeks we are doing St. Patrick's Day and Rainbows. I haven't decided for sure what I'll be doing between Spring Break (yeah!) and Easter. My children really need the shelves changed every 2 weeks or so..I wish they would last longer...but they don't. I always know when I let it go a little too long - they get a little crazy. (I usually try to blame it on the weather or something but usually it's all my fault).

Top: (from L to R) clover spooning, coin tonging, clover tonging (this one is tricky because they have to hold the tongs farther up in order to grasp the clovers in the jar).
Middle: Tree lacing, ball stringing, Dr. Suess match and lace
Bottom: Rainbow weaving, Rainbow Buttoning

Top: St. Patrick pouring, Share Pouring, Pouring and spooning
Middle: water bottle squirting (They LOVE this one - the goal is to fill the bowl with water from the squirt bottle...it's actually really challenging...even for the adults). Straining with a hand strainer, straining with a colander.
Bottom: Barrel of Monkeys, spring puzzle, building box (connector pieces are inside)

Some closeups:
Rainbow weaving. The rack is from the $.99 store and the ribbon is just hot glued (I singed the ends with a match so they wouldn't get gross.)

I made this buttoning pillow. Felt, ribbon, buttons, and a little fluff. The red one is sewed with the ribbon on the front of the flower to show that it goes first.

One of my student's doing the Barrel of Monkeys. I've done this in the past the traditional way (pour in out on to the table (we poured them onto our tray) and pick up the monkeys from there) but for my age group it's a little too challenging and frustrating. The bowl solves all the problems. First they hang the monkeys on the side of the bowl then collect them one by one to see how long they can make their chain. He's doing a pretty good job, right!?

I wish I had gotten a better picture of my sensorial bowl...but this is the best I've got. The children love digging under all the pipe cleaners for the rocks and gems. There are 10 Celtic shapes to collect. But most of the time they spend scooping the rocks out of the bottom.

In case you're wondering what's in the bowl:
white, gold, and green pom poms
green and gold pipe cleaners
2 different kinds of green gems
Celtic shapes
Shamrock confetti

Happy March Everyone!