Hello Baby Face

That pretty little girl with the short messy pigtails, is Eleanore. You might not have recognized her, since her face isn't being smothered by a thick blanket of blond, but after sitting still in a chair yesterday long enough to let Mommy have a go with the scissors, Eleanore's baby face was finally set free.

Its been so long since I've really been able to see her cheeks. Those beautiful chubby widdle cheekers. For as long as I can remember, shes been known for her long curls. People have commented on them all the way from the park to Walmart. Sometime this past summer though, her curls disappeared. There was no going away party, one day they just up and left. Her hair fell straight as a board after that, and doubled in its thickness. Her hair has always been hard to manage, it got to a point where I just stopped trying. I never put it in ponytails anymore, its so heavy that the ponytail would just fall out within minutes, wasting my efforts and half the time breaking the pony holder. The decision to cut it all off, did not come lightly.

A few months ago I cut off about 6 inches, thinking that it might be enough, but as the weeks went on, there really wasn't any difference. It was still always in her face, and no headband or hair clip on the planet would do its job. Yesterday, Miss Eleanore picked out her favorite Rainbow Brite movie, pulled up a kitchen a chair, and while she didn't move even an inch, I snipped away through a forest of strands, until there was nothing left.

Of course, this morning I had forgotten about her haircut completely, and when my eyes focused in on her sitting neatly at the dining room table, my heart jumped into my throat and my breathe slipped out of my mouth in the form of "ohmahgod". Its going to take a lot of getting used to. A lot. Until her new look has settled in with all of us, I'll probably be fluffing things up with cute pigtails and alligator clips galore. Just like in the picture above.

Cookies on a Cold Day

I don't know about the weather in your neck of the woods, but here in Texas, its just flat out cold. 10 degrees this morning. Ten of them. That's too cold for me. The kids and I have been locked up in the house for days, not so patiently waiting for this winter system to pass overhead.

On Thursday, Christopher started his first day of Airman Leadership School (a class that he has to complete before he can be promoted this summer). While Charlie was napping, I peeked into the pantry to have a look at our baking stash. Eleanore had been a really good girl that morning, and since the holidays have been over and I've been up to my eyebrows with nausea, the baking in the Herman house has come to a complete halt.

"Eleanore, do you want to help Mommy bake some cookies for Daddy?", I asked?

"YES PLEASE!", she shouted, jumping down off the couch and skidding around the corner of the kitchen. I reminded her that Charlie was upstairs sleeping, and since sound amplifies as it travels around the corner and up the stairs, we needed to keep it down, or our 2 person baking party would soon be crashed by a cranky one year old.


I grabbed a box of Gluten Free Betty Crocker cookie mix. Can you believe that these boxes are only $2 at the Commissary? That's with a coupon of course, but for gluten free anything, especially Betty Crocker, that's a steal. I think I grabbed 4 of every flavor, haha.

What warms you up better than something hot and steamy straight out of the oven?


After Eleanore poured all of the ingredients into the bowl all by herself (such a big girl, I didn't help even once), I evenly scooped little balls of dough, and into our certainly not sparkly clean oven they went.


Even though this batch was meant for Daddy, to keep his tummy company while he sat in the boring classroom, I promised Eleanore that she could have the very first one, while it was still hot. Look at that evil grin on her face. Love at first sight? I think so.