Sunday, May 23, 2010

How we do Li-Li's beads!

This is what our Li-Li looks like after we wash and condition her hair. Isn't she a ham?

We start sectioning her hair using long clips and metal comb. I'll post pictures of the tools later.

Sometime we get creative in our sectioning. It is popular to do zig-zags. Just a note...we have been told to straighten her hair as we section it...but we have not been able to pull that off!
Straightening makes the hair much shinier and not as fuzzy when you braid and bead it. The best way to straighten is using a hot comb. We have not tried that yet.


This time we made bigger sections, using a small black elastic to hold each section. The larger sections we split into 5-6 braids per section. The smaller section only needed 1-3 braids each. We add 8-9 beads to each braid. The more beads, the heavier and neater the braid. We use a beading wand to add the beads. Once you string the beads on, you secure the braid with a black elastic. You wind the end of the braid around the final bead, and secure the end ABOVE the last bead, to make a loop. Again, I'll post pics of the tools, and how to use them, the next time we bead her hair. I just did not get around to it this time!



It can take 2-4 hours to bead her hair, depending on the style and how many sections we are using. We keep her happy by doing this later in the afternoon or evening, and having a good DVD playing as we do it. She is pretty patient about it!
We can usually leave the beads in for two weeks, although she does get a bit fuzzy headed by the end of the second week.


Gypsy and her babies!




Gypsy has been working hard to keep her babies well fed. They seem to be getting stronger...we see their heads popping out of the nest quite a bit today. Papa Robin has been busy watching over and protecting them, too. We are anxious to see how quickly they will attempt to hop out of the nest!


Saturday, May 22, 2010

A note about Swagbucks...

It is really true. If you are interested in earning gift cards towards almost anything you can imagine..(we are big fans of Amazon) than why not try using swagbucks? Make it your home page and use it as your primary search engine. The bucks add up fast. In two months we have managed to win $20 worth of Amazon gift cards! By the end of the summer we will have a good stash to put towards our homeschool books!

Click on my referral link..."here" and check it out.

Great Website...

If you are at all interested in the migration and habits of the Robin... click "here!"

Backyard family time...

We were all hanging out today, and Mac decides that every Saturday should be just the family, hanging out back, enjoying each other.
Yep...it has been a good day!
There are three altogether. This little guy was probably a bit warm, and needed some air.

They hatched!

Gypsy's babies have hatched. We will try to document their progress this summer!

Sunday, May 16, 2010

Li-Li and Kiki

The two of them are really tight. It will be hard to see our Kiki go!

Gypsy is back!

We have no idea if this is actually the same Robin, but for the last 3 years, "Gypsy" has settled in over our drain pipes to raise her littles. Last year she actually "nested" 3 separate times. Each time she laid 4 eggs..and every single one of them hatched.
It was amazing to watch this all play out.
But every single time Gypsy's babies finally flew away... WE WERE away. We have no idea how far they made it once they left the nest...