An afternoon at the brick wall

I love that my kids will hop out of the car on a whim to take some pictures. These pictures were taken after school.  The girls were walking to the car and I was like, "I have to take some pictures today!"  So, off we zoomed to the brick wall downtown in hopes of snagging some decent shots.  They did pretty well.

Two months after school started back, the weather is finally starting to get cool.  Bring out the cute jackets! 

Reese is wearing a shirt and scarf from Justice along with Maria's sweater from last year, also from Justice. 

Maria is wearing a button up shir from Justice that is totally classic with an animal print jacket from Old Navy.  I paid $14 for that jacket.  She is also rocking a braided headband because she is prone to frizz at her forehead.  This helps a lot!  Real easy to do as well.  Hair on top of hair.  I love it!  

Curl Junkie Smoothing Lotion Review

While ordering my 6 month supply of Kinky-Curly Knot Today, I decided to give the Curl Junkie line a shot. I needed a really good moisturizing lotion to freshen up Maria's curls as needed, so I ordered the Curl Junkie Smoothing Lotion.  I also ordered a light styler for Reese's hair called Curls in a Bottle.  This styler is much to light for Maria's thick, tight curls but perfect for Reese's fine curls.  I used these on top of the Kinky-Curly Knot Today Leave-In conditioner.  I've been braiding Maria's hair lately because its been wanting to break off and frizz like crazy.  You can see that these braids have been up for a minute.  It's much better on her hair to keep it in braids right now. We are just trying to get it growing and keep it from breaking.  Here she is tonight after I took all the braids out and massaged more lotion into her hair.

 I've used Miss Jessie's Baby Buttercreme in the past and it works great with a braid out on Maria's 3C curls.  No frizz, lots of shine, and lots of defined waves and it will stay like that for several days.  I just don't like the build-up.  So, I got my Curl Junkie Smoothing Lotion in the other day and washed Maria's hair with Kinky-Curly Knot Today, rinsed, and then re-applied the Knot Today.  I layered Curls in a Bottle over that and then the Smoothing Lotion on top of that.  I diffused and it looked good initially.  After school, it had shrunk to her ears and didn't feel good at all.  It's fairly simple to assume I will not be using that combo again.  I got a spray bottle out and started sectioning for her braids.  I do medium sized ones.  About 7.  I would get the hair wet, comb it out, and then apply the smoothing lotion.  I applied about a dime size amount to each section.  Those braids have been in her head for 4 days.  I just took them out and I have a few pics of the result.  It looks nice.  I applied more smoothing lotion throughout the hair for more moisture and suspect I will have to do so tomorrow.  This product claims to be a moisturizing leave in conditioner and I would agree.  Her hair has been in those braids and it was still nicely moisturized.  3C hair is extremely dry and needs lots of moisture.  LOTS!  It's real hard to achieve, I tell ya. 

I've decided its not a bad product so far.  I haven't used it long enough to notice if their is a build-up or not.  The smell is nice for a young girl.  It smells just like Pink Sugar perfume.  Some say it smells like cotton candy and I would agree.  Its a very Tween smell.  I'll continue to use it when I braid her hair up as long as I dont get a build-up.  We will keep the braid out for as long as the hair will allow.  If it starts frizzing and tangling, I'm done. 

This hair down here is Kinky-Curly Knot today layered with the Kinky-Curly Curling Custard.  This looks like it might be day 2 hair.  I can't remember.  I love this look but it's still really dry.  I'm hoping I can add in the Curl Junkie Smoothing Lotion to this hair for moisture. 

And one last picture for the night.  This is after one hour of Wii Fit play. The hair has lots of bounce and movement.  It's just not laying on her head like a limp noodle. It's looking a little frizzy on camera but it looks great in person.  I'll apply some more product to it tomorrow.   It feels really soft.  She loves the feel of it.  Now if I could just keep the girls from fighting and the blankets off their heads...............

Not giving up the sippy cup.

Reese asked her daddy for hot cocoa in her sippy cup. She's 6 by the way. Alex said, " I think your mom threw them away."
She looked at him with almond eyes of chocolate and said,"no daddy, Jackson's cup."