A Song Written by a Husband for his Departed Wife

  

  To Paint A Picture Of Our Lives

Song written by Bryson Shira for his wife

    Many of you who visit this blog know that our dear Jennifer passed away in a tragic accident.

Her husband wrote this song and then dedicated it to her.

In Loving Memory Of Jennifer Courtney Shira

Those of you who visit this blog know the deep sorrow of losing a loved one.  Jennifer Shira passed away at age 23 in a fatal car accident on Monday, January 9th 2012.  She left behind 2 small children - 2 year old Sage and 10 month old Raden.

 A facebook page has been created to share photos, videos, and music about Jennifer.  

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Cornrows

I've always been curious about cornrows. So I decided one day to try it. I know some Mommy's hate the idea of cornrows thinking it's torture on the child, but I didn't notice her acting any different from other days I've done her hair. And believe me, my two year old tells me if something hurts!

It was actually really fun to do. Of course Mine aren't as small as some cornrows, but I wanted something quicker so I just did a little bit bigger ones. There are two on each side of her part. And with the hair by her ears, I was going to cornrow as well, but just ended up twisting them because I had taken too long, and my toddler's patience only lasts so long!

The cornrows themselves were pretty simple. They were just a small french braid. Each section I did I sectioned the hairs out that I wanted and pulled the rest into a pony tail, so the hair wouldn't get mixed in with the other hair. 

Once all the cornrows were done, I brought the braids into a big four strand braid. The two side twists are just secured with a rubber band under the four strand braid and it all comes together in a pony tail, which I made a bun with. I love doing these types of hairstyles where I can get creative with how to bring it all together. 

Anyway this was a fun one!

Lovin' Side Braids!

I'm not sure what to call them, side swept braids? On this tutorial they are called Wrap-Around French Braids. Either way, I love braids that start at the back of the head, ending at the other side. I've tried it with a french twist braid as well, but I like this new way better because it is more secure.

What's is fun about this french braid is that you don't take hair for the top strand (like in a normal french braid where you take hair for the top and bottom), only take hair for the bottom strands when you include the new hair in. This makes the braid pop out more. 

Alright, so it doesn't look as clean as the one in the tutorial so I think it might work better next time if I straightened her hair. See my toddler's hair is very wavy with some crazy cowlicks in the back so I can never get it to lay down straight. But, I'm willing to overlook that if you are because it is such a fun hairstyle!

Halloween Time!

I was so excited for Halloween (mainly for the candy!) but I was also excited to curl her hair. If only she could have Shirly Temple ringlets everyday. They were adorable, but a lot of work. Did I mention a lot of work? 

Geesh it took me like two hours to curl all that hair. And because I don't plan well I didn't have time to dress up, like I was hoping! Oh well maybe next year. I just love when I have an excuse to dress up :( So anyways, the little guy ended up as the wolf (for little red riding hood).   

My Mom actually made me this hood when I was in Kindergarden, so I thought it would be special for Sage to wear. It was perfect!

It was a fun Halloween with good memories. I want to make a tradition of having cinnamon rolls when we get back from trick or treating. We had pumpkin cinnamon rolls and sugar free pumpkin cake with orange glaze. Yummy! 

Cute While It Lasted

This is not really a toddler hairstyle. I was just playing with her hair and ended up with this. And yes it  only lasted a few minutes before taking it out and putting tight pony tails in but it was cute while it lasted. (run on sentence?) Anyway she's been sick so I haven't done much of anything with her hair lately. 

Is that all the excitement you can handle? Haha because I promise there will be more interesting ones coming up. Especially with Halloween this weekend! I'm excited for that. So Stay Tuned for Little Red Riding Hood and the Small Bad Wolf!

Dutch Braids

So much for posting every day. It's not easy sometimes. But that means that I can put a bunch of pictures in one post, like I'm going to do here. Now I've always wanted to try a Dutch crown braid like in the tutorial here. I didn't think that Sage's hair was long enough to do the Dutch crown braid all the way around her head so I first tried it like this.

I just started at one ear and did a Dutch braid and when I got to the other end I just kept braiding to the end of the hair without pulling any new hair in and I tied it with an elastic. Then I started the braid again going from right to left incorporating the first braid in. That is why the second row looks thicker. I was so happy with it and it even lasted for a few days :) That is always a plus.

Anyway enough of that one. I was just so excited to learn to do it. I tried it again a few days later when we were going to a football game. I wanted my daughter's hair to be down so she would be warmer, but she can't just simply wear it down because it gets all in her face. So, I thought it would be fun to do a small dutch braid in the front to keep the hair out of her face. 

Next, I decided to get fancy and try a real braided crown. See, on bath days I get so excited to do Sage's hair because it's wet, which makes it much easier to do sometimes. 

So, I found out that her hair is barely long enough. See you start at one end and add hair in from the bottom only until you get to the other side. Then you have to tuck the end of the braid into the other side to make it look like one continuous braid. So it needs to be long enough to make it to the other side.

I think I would do these everyday if my daughter let me. Some days, I have to do much quicker hairstyles like a very messy pony tail to keep it out of her face. And those days do not make their way to this blog ;)