Pumpkins!

We haven't carved pumpkins in like three years!!

This year we found a great little fruit stand and all pumpkins were $1.99!  The kids were so excited, especially Damen, he wanted to use the carving book we've had for a while.

I don't know how to take a picture of them with the light shining through, but they turned out really good!  Mason got stickers for his little pumpkin, he likes to carry it around.

  

Break Dancing

Damen got to participate in this fun Break Dancing class at school.  At the end of the session they performed for their families.  This is Damen's awesome performance doing some free-style and the end of the program, enjoy!!

Don't you just love his strut!!

Oh, that was Mason shouting at the end, in my ear, a second before the kids did it!  

Update!!

YIKES!  If anyone is following, sorry to be so long in posting, not sure what happened, well that's not true exactly, but I'll get to it.  

Since my last post a lot has happened, Damen turned 7!  Started 2nd grade and lost his first tooth.  Dustin turned 40!  We've had family to visit and been on a few trips to California and Washington to visit family and friends.  Mason turned 2!  He's the cutest toddler ever, and most importantly this happened:

   So I guess this is what's been keeping me from updating!  Not that I was super sick or anything, just exhausted and busy.  Now that I'm farther along (17 weeks) I'm not so exhausted and maybe I'll be able to post for the three people that read this!

I wanted to go back and post pics of everything, but that seemed overwhelming so just imagine cakes, toothless kid, beach, cousins, friends, family, etc. . . 



You can read about how I got pregnant with PCOS, only trying for 5 months, without any harsh drugs Here on another post.

Ice Cream Success!

I've seen this idea, to make Ice cream in a plastic bag, floating around and decided to give it a try!  

I prepared last night by making Peppermint Hot Chocolate, with whole milk, then stuck it in the fridge.  

Today when we were ready, we used the measurements from THIS blog.  It calls for added vanilla and sugar which we didn't need of course!  

We just used 1/2 C. of the prepared chocolate milk inside of a bag inside of another bag with ice and salt in it.

Then SHAKE SHAKE SHAKE!  

Ahhh Ice Cream success!!  

The boys wanted to add chocolate chips too.  It was delicious and just the perfect amount!

Soap!

I'm really excited to share this!  Last year a friend of mine told me about making your own laundry soap.  I was skeptical, but it was SO cheap and easy, my friend and I set out to see if it would work.

We mixed up a batch, takes about 20 minutes, and started using it.  I had an 8 month old and was mostly concerned about the "messes" he makes.  Would this soap really get out everything that comes out of him??  IT DID!!  

It took me almost a year to use up that one batch, which cost maybe $1.50 to make!! 

The recipe is from the Duggers, you know, 19 kids and counting, they obviously know how to keep clothes clean!  

You start out with these three ingredients, found at Walmart in the laundry isle.  

 Shred the bar of soap, I use my chopper/blender. Do not confuse this with shredded cheese!  Although it did inspire me to make quesadillas for lunch:)

Next melt the shredded soap in 4 cups of water on med. heat.  Keep mixing it.

Measure out 1 cup baking soda soap and 1/2 cup Borax in a 5 gallon bucket.  

Once the bar of soap is melted pour it into the big bucket, add more hot water (from the tap), until about half of the bucket is full. Stir and dissolve the soaps.  Then fill the bucket to the top with hot tap water.  Stir it.

Put a lid on and let it sit for 24 hours.  Open it up and stir again, it will be a solid chunk of slime at this point.

Now it's ready to use!  Well, almost.  It's still highly concentrated so to make it last, pour 1/2 water 1/2 soap mix into an empty soap dispenser.  This makes 10 GALLONS of Laundry soap.

That's right 10!!  

I use about 3/4 cup of detergent with each load and add more of the Baking soda detergent as a booster.  Especially with the kids clothes.  

Seriously, this stuff is awesome, and SO inexpensive, give it a try and if it doesn't work for you, you're only out a few dollars!

Here's the link:  Duggar family laundry soap

Questions

Damen is full of awesome questions lately!

This latest one was asked as we navigated a very busy road biking/scootering to the pool today:

"Hey mom, what's a database?"

I gotta be honest, it's hard to think and ride a bike pulling a 50lb (at LEAST) trailer, but I love this kids curiosity.

Summer starts!

Summer has started!!  

We've got cousin Lincoln here most days, 

no car, and not a lot of funds.

So we'll be taking it easy these next few months!

We'll find some fun though!!

Snuggling boys in the morning (those blankets make good forts too)

Painting!  Mason had flour/water/food coloring, I knew he'd want to taste the paint.

Movies and popcorn!  

There are a few parks we can walk/bike to and even the pool isn't too far.  Wish us luck, no one wants to hear the word "bored"!

Ummm, Easter?

So, I was all set to put up a new post when I realized I haven't taken a picture since EASTER!!
And I never even posted them!  So here ya go :)

Saturday we dyed about a dozen hard boiled eggs using the vinegar/food coloring method.  Damen wanted to mix all of the colors and by the end everything was green!

I was taking this pic with Mason in my lap, trying to get the eggs in the background, you can see the egg carton. . . 

Sunday morning the boys were up bright and early, as usual!  We enjoyed our Easter baskets and had them search for the dyed and plastic eggs.  We put something special in the "sports" themed eggs just for Damen.

Lego candies!!  He was SO excited about these, and it took him about a month to finally eat them all.  


After the fun we went to church for a spiritual reminder about why we really celebrate this day:  

Luke 24:

 6 He is not here, but is ^arisen: remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee,

 7 Saying, The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.

The love of a six year old

This morning, as I poured the last of the apple sauce into Mason's bowl I asked Damen if he wanted any for breakfast too.

He eyed the empty jar suspiciously but said yes.

I went to the cupboard, got out another jar and started to dish him some when he said, "You have TWO jars of apple sauce?"

"Yes"

"Hey guess what mom?"

"What"

"You're the best mom!"

Feeling the love.

Growing up

That's what my boys are doing, growing up!  

Seriously, in the blink of an eye these boys surprise us every day.

He gets taller, and smarter, way smarter every time I look at him!  

This is him with the robot he made at school.

It's name is April.

And then there's the baby.  Umm, maybe baby's not the right word anymore :(

He's a climber, a stubborn, do it my self, kind of a kid.  He can do things at this age that the other one hadn't even thought about yet.  

My eyes are on him every second!  

He does have the cutest bed head of any 17 month old EVER!!

They're growing up faster than I knew was possible.  

I'm grateful that they're healthy and strong, but sometimes I wish they'd just stay small, snuggly, and unblemished from the world.

My heart swells with unbelievable love for these two precious boys, how lucky are we to have them!

Cookies

Damen wanted to help me make chocolate chip cookies the other day.

He was SO excited to make his own "special" cookies.  He ran to his treat/snack drawer and pulled out a variety of candy to add.  

We had starburst, sweet tarts, and some weird block candies from China added to this special batch, he was very proud!

They didn't taste awful. 

 And here's a random pic of Mason snarfing melted chocolate, I had just made some chocolate candies.  

I like making treats for my family to enjoy, and they don't seem to mind either!

Zoo!!

For President's Day we took our nephew, Lincoln and ventured to the nearby zoo.

It was COLD, but we had a good time, the boys loved this slide, it's a LIFE SIZE giraffe! and the other playground like animals around the park.

 Cutest hatchlings ever:)

Giraffe anyone??

WHY do they have this in the exhibit I do now know.  The real ones were inside, it was too cold for them.

 The lion came over to say hello, it was awesome.

Ready to go home.

Fruit snacks!!

I did it, I made these fruit snacks!

I found the recipe on Pinterest, and couldn't wait to try them.

A few things had to be altered because I ran out of plain gelatin, so I used 1 Tbs. raspberry jello from a box.  I think it helped with the flavor, but it also added lots of other things like color and preservatives:( 

 I used a small flower cookie cutter to cut them out, soo cute!

The recipe doesn't make a whole lot so be careful when letting your family "taste" them, they might just eat them all.

Click below for the direct link to the recipe, YUM!

Fruit Snacks

Signs signs, well ok just one.

While visiting an awesome home store recently, I saw these wooden signs that were SO cool!  They looked somewhat like this:

With quotes burned into the wood, they were all different sizes, from small to HUGE.  I can't remember the price, but I was pretty sure I could make my own on the cheap.

First I needed a base for the wooden slats so I found a canvas at Goodwill for .75 cents!  It had a preprinted image that I tore off, just leaving the wooden frame.

Also, I took no pictures of that part, so here's a photo of a canvas so you can imagine pulling off the canvas and just having a wooden frame:)

Next came the wooden slats.  I found these at Lowe's, they're poplar 24x1.5, I think.  I bought 5 for .98 cents each.  The frame was 10x10 (that's inches) so I measured them out and handed them off to my husband to cut.  I then nailed them to the frame.  I didn't sand them or make them pretty because I wanted it to look rustic.

Next I painted them with a whitewash.

Nice right??  I painted the sides too.

Then I looked for a quote to go in the boys bedroom, I wanted it to say something about brothers and be uplifting.

I found this one, printed it out and taped it on the sign, over copy paper, then traced the letters onto the sign.

I loved the look of the other signs that were burned into the wood, but I didn't want to perfect my wood burning skills on this project so I just painted it instead.  

I'm going with a red/white/blue theme for the boys room so I painted the words red.

 What do you think?  I love it, it's hanging in the boys room tonight!
Total cost $5.65

linking up:
http://www.theshabbycreekcottage.com/2013/02/transformation-thursday-no-192.html

So pretty!

I don't have a lot of decor for Valentines day so I bought these hearts from the dollar store, they were on picks for flower arrangements.  I ripped out the sticks and sprinkled the inside of the hutch with them.  This is my grandmothers cake plate, it's very old, I just loved how this picture came out, so simple, so pretty.



linked to this party:
http://www.theshabbycreekcottage.com/2013/01/transformation-thursday-no-188.html

December

Christmas, YAY!  

We did other stuff in December, it just wasn't as fun as going to my parents for Christmas with the whole family!!

Visiting Santa at the church Christmas party, Mason was already on his way down!

 This was our Family Christmas eve nativity, words can not express how hilarious it was!!  Mason's down in front as a sheep, the three boys were wisemen/sheperds, and Sammy and her brother Robert were the parents of the dear baby bear/Jesus.  I have lots more pictures, some of them Robert looks like he's earning a Karate belt, Sammy's no where in sight, we lost the baby a few times, it was great fun.

 We celebrated Great Papas 85th birthday, this is him with ALL the grandkids, such a sweet picture.

Christmas morning!!  This was about 6:40am, Damen couldn't wait so we got up and looked around, then woke everyone at 7, it was fun, chaos, and more fun!

 We came back to Idaho just in time for this!  Damen was excited about it for a few days, then he was over it, me too!  The snow is still here, and it's been a month!

Mason really wanted to go out in it, but then he wasn't so sure. . .