Simple fun

Here's some pictures today of us just enjoying the simple life WEEEEE............

And here's Ben trying to make his rims on his new car shiny.

I love the simple things in life.

A link

I read something this morning that REALLY hit home with me. This is just what I needed to hear and it really made me think. All of us moms need to remember this when things get us down. We really dont have it so bad and we most of us are so lucky to have the lives we have! Here is the link for you.. enjoy
http://amysfinerthings.com/somebody-wants-what-you-have

I am so thankful for the people I have in my life!

Weekend wrap-up.

What a weekend!!! With all the kids market craziness it flew by like crazy!! I just picked up my check a little while ago though from the items I sold and was very pleased... It makes it all worth it. Plus a scored some nice new toys and summer clothes for Miss Emma!!

Jess was up and down with her ears bothering her last night so I took her into the urgent care this morning and it turns out she has a double ear infection, upper respiratory infection, and a bad sore throat :( Poor girl... She got some meds though so hopefully will be feeling better soon. When we went to fill her prescription the pharmacy didn't even have her in the computer anymore because it had been so long since she had to have meds. So I guess that's a good thing!

Life is pretty good overall. I made a big batch of the laundry detergent today, that was more of a chore than making the little one but I think it will last a long time. I'm gonna mark today on my calender so I can see how long it lasts our big family.
We cant wait til next Sunday when granny comes home!!!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Green is the word today!!! Here's my favorite little leprechaun. And for dinner we had green pancakes, green eggs,, and bacon! YUMMY! The pictures don't do them justice, they looked way greener in real life.

I also did some St. Paddy's day worksheets with Bree and Emma today.

Just some small little things, but I think they make our lives a little more fun for the kids to celebrate little things like this. Its fun for me too!

TGIF

Woo HOo, it's Friday! This week went by fairly fast and uneventful, which is just the way I like it. Today we had another dermatologist appt. for Emma, her eczema is really improving, her face is cleared up, and I think we finally found a cream that works for her. She still was one problem area, but we are working on that.

We've been working on potty training with her over the last couple weeks and she is doing wonderful! I'm very impressed with how quick she is catching on,, she has very few accidents and the only real problem we were having is her going #2 in the potty, but 3 outta 4 days now she has went in the potty so that is excellent! We cant wait to be diaper free. Although, it kinda makes me feel like my baby is growing up a little to quickly :(

Jess and Gary are doing great. They are both doing after school adventures of bowling on Thursdays after school and there really enjoying that. And they cant wait for soccer to start up here in April.

Ben is still on the used car hunt. Seems that you have to act really fast when a good one comes up on Craig's List and with his crazy schedule sometimes its just not possible to get out and look at the vehicles before someone else comes and snatches them up. I keep reminding him to be patient and it will all work out. I reminded him about the Little Tike's car I wanted for Emma last year and how I looked at garage sales and everywhere for a used one all summer and finally at the end of the summer we got one for ten bucks! Good things come to those who wait :)

I just finished up my old laundry detergent so I'm now ready to exclusively use my new homemade stuff! I want to try some other homemade cleaners also, but I need to use up what I have before I rush out and buy stuff to do that. I'm really trying not to waste anything. OH, speaking of laundry, I spent yesterday cleaning out and organizing my laundry room!!!! It was a big task, but I feel so good now that its done. Every time I walk in there it makes me smile :)

Homemade Laundry Detergent

For anyone that wants to save money, have clean clothes,, and have a little fun (I think its fun,,maybe I'm weird :)) here is the recipe that I used homemade laundry soap!

Powdered laundry detergent
*1 cup Borax
*1 cup Washing Soda(not baking soda)
*1 bar Fels Napa soap
*1/2 cup oxi-clean(I used generic)

You have to grate up the bar soap into as little pieces as possible. I cut it up into chunks then ran it through my off brand magic bullet(I couldn't put it all in there at once,, do a couple rounds). You can just use the smallest holes on a grater or if you have a food processor that would be even better, but I don't have one. Then you just mix everything all together really well. I stored this in a recycled quart sized yogurt container(make sure you label it). You use 1-2Tablespoons per load(since my water is kinda hard I use 2T. I know that seems like a really small amount but trust me its all you need. Upon reading others adventures in using their homemade soap I read that some people have trouble with the soap dissolving but that's normally just if you don't get your bar soap grated well enough, but just to be safe I run a little hot water first and swish it around with the soap then turn it to warm. Then add your clothes and let it be. This soap does not suds up! That was hard for me to grasp at first, but I guess the manufactures just add ingredients to it to make it suds so we think its working. You don't need the suds,, it still cleans just fine. The other thing you will have to get used to is there wont be any perfumed smell on your clothes like were used to,, just clean fresh clothes. I thought it would bother me but it doesn't, especially knowing that this is not going to irritate my kids sensitive skin.

So there you have it. I am very happy with this so far. If you look around online you will find recipes for liquid det., but it makes a ton and you have to store it in a 5gal. bucket and I didn't want to mess with that. There are some variations to the recipe, but so far this one is easy and working for me! A lot of people have the cost breakdown for this too,,, its super cheap comaired to store bought!

Poor blog

Oh my poor neglected blog.....I've probably lost all my readers due to inactivity. Why you ask???? LIFE,, life with a 2 year old is hard. I don't know how I forgot that through the years, I had 2 kids 1.5 years apart, but for some reason I just don't remember it every being like this. I'm sure it was even harder with 2 young ones so close in age, maybe its because my brain has blocked that stage out of my head,,,lol,,,, or maybe its cause I was younger and just didn't care... whatever the reason I forgot. :) It is a struggle, but its worth every minute because Emma, Jess, and Gary are 3 of the greatest kids anyone could ever ask for! I've been very blessed!

I finally took the plunge and made my own homemade laundry detergent. I've been wanting to try it forever but have always been a little hesitant. When I found out my friends, Steph and Andy, did it and really liked it I knew it was time to give it a try. I love it! It really works just as well as anything you buy at the store, and its more natural without all the harsh ingredients,, plus its better for our sensitive skin,, but best of all its CHEAP!! WOO HOO! I am definitely going to continue using this. After using it for a couple days to try it out I figured I needed to use up all my other detergent first so that's what I'm doing now, but as soon as that runs out its homemade for us!

I am really going to try and start blogging more often, but I'm not gonna force myself to do long post, just update and say whats on my mind. That's whats this is for anyways right?