Homemade Laundry Soap

About a year ago I made some homemade liquid laundry detergent. I made 5 gallons and although we did end up using it all we didnt LOVE it. After the batch was gone we went back to Tide. The liquid soap did get our clothes clean, but it didnt have a great smell and it also made the colors fade very quickly. My cousin Farryn tried making some homemade powdered laundry soap and brought me some to try...I love it. It smells great, cleans great, doesnt fade the clothes and is soo much cheaper than Tide. It makes a ton so my mom and I decided to make it and split a batch. Its super easy!! Here are the directions in case anyone wants to try!!

What you need:
1 - 4lb 12oz box of borax
1 - 3lb container of oxyclean
2 - bars of fels naptha
2 - 2lb boxes of arm and hammer baking soda (or 1 4lb box)
1 - 3lb 7oz box of arm and hammer super washing soda
1 or 2 - 55oz bottles of purex crystals

Directions:
Grate the bars of fels naptha.
Pour in all ingredients and mix together. We found it was easier to mix if you do it in layers.
THATS IT YOUR DONE!!

You only use 2-4 tablespoons per load (depending on load size)

John was very skeptical at first but after our first couple of loads even he was impressed!!!

The Chickens

Well I finally got my chickens that I had been wanting for so long. We talked about getting them a while ago and even bought all the stuff for John to make the coop but we never got around to it. When Spring time came all the feed stores were selling baby chicks and we decided to get some. We started out with 4 baby chicks..we bought these chicks from a flea market and they were sold straight run (meaning they had not been sexed). We dont eat eggs every day so we decided that 3 hens would be plenty for us. Since we were unsure of the sex of the chicks we decided to get 4 hoping that 2 or 3 of them would be hens. They were 10 days old when we brought them home...there isnt much cuter than a little tiny baby chick :) A couple days after we got them I got to thinking how sad I would be if all of them turned out to be roosters (cant keep roosters in city limits) and I decided to get 2 more from a feed store by our house that had chicks that had been sexed..that way I would be sure I at least had 2 females. So a week later I brought home 2 more 3 day old baby chicks. I knew 6 chickens would be more than I needed but I figured out if they all did turn out to be hens I could give away a couple and keep the ones I wanted for us. The man at the feed store told me that around 4 weeks old the roos will usually have a much larger comb on their head than the hens..all of mine have pretty small combs so I am now thinking that maybe we do have all hens (we wont really know until they start laying eggs or crowing lol) We kept them in the house for the first month and we just moved them out to their coop about a week and a half ago. We are down to 5 now because the dog got ahold of one (long unpleasant story). They are doing great out in their coop and we are hoping they will start laying in about another month and a half. We have 3 Rhode Island Reds that are supposed to be very good productive egg layers and they lay brown eggs and we have 2 ameracaunas that wont lay quite as many but they lay blue and green eggs so we thought that would be neat!! Cant wait to enjoy fresh eggs from my own backyard!!!

Siri Girl

Last time I posted we had our little piglet Charlie. We sure havent had the best luck with animals...but we are hoping that has changed :) We decided that we wanted to have a big dog the kids could play with and that would protect if needed!! So after much research John decided on a german shepherd. We found a breeder about an hour away that had one pup left and we decided we would get him. Sarge was 9 weeks old when we got him and he was an awesome puppy..he was very gentle with the kids and picked up on potty training right away. His only fault was that he played a little to rough with Charlie. We tried keeping them seperated but we felt like it was unfair for Charlie because we werent spending as much time with her. We ended up giving her to a family with a nice big farm for her to play on. We thought we had finally found the perfect dog, but of course it was to good to be true! Sarge had stomach issues since we had first gotten him and had been in and out of the vet a bunch!! After a couple months and tons of tests they found out he had some congenital issues and had to be put to sleep. We were all devestated and knew we wanted another dog right away to replace him!! So John found us Siri..she is a 5 1/2 month old siberian husky. We have had her about a month now and she is great. John has always talked about owning a husky since we were dating..but I wasnt in love with the breed like he was. When he showed me the pictures of Siri I agreed and am so glad I did. She is a great dog and is in perfect health. She has a LOT more energy than our german shepherd pup had (probably because he was sick) but she is a great fit for our family. She loves the kids and is always up for going on a walk or jog with me which is fun!! She is already housebroken so that is very nice and she is doing good with her crate training. She was never introduced to a crate before we got her but she is quickly adjusting to the crate and is whining less and less every time she goes in there. I think we have finally found a winner :)

Kyle

Kyle turned 2 1/2 a couple months ago. He is finally talking and he is a mess. He keeps us laughing with his silliness. He loves anything that has wheels and can play by himself with his cars forever!! He is a big mommas boy but the older he gets the more he loves spending time with his daddy. He has the most pitiful pouty face you have ever seen and uses it to his advantage on a daily basis lol

Kaylee's 4!!!

Once again Ive neglected my blog and a lot has happened since my last post. Im going to do a few posts and try to get caught up!! Kaylee turned 4 a couple months ago. We decided not to do a big party this year but she had been wanting to go to Chuck E Cheese so thats what we did. We took her to toys r us and let her pick out her own toys this year and it was a simple birthday but she loved it. She had been asking for roller skates since before Christmas so her Grams and Papa got her roller skates and her Mamie and Pappy got her all the pads to go with them :) She is not very graceful on her skates so for now she only wears them in the house on the carpet haha..but she is totally fine with it!! She has such a sweet spirit and it so thankful for everything she gets!! I think her attitude is getting better the older she gets (Im sure that will change in a few years though haha)

The Wedding

Last weekend Kaylee was the flower girl in Farryn and Justins wedding. She did a great job in Katelyns and Bryans wedding last year when it came down to walking down the isle, but she wouldnt have any part of the pictures. Kaylee has been so excited to get to be a flower girl again and assured me she was going to do a good job lol. At the rehersal dinner she cried and would notg participate (Just like at Katelyns) but on wedding day she did great. She was a good sport for pictures before the wedding and did great during the wedding. Before it started all the girls were in their dressing room getting ready and Kaylee told me that I could go ahead and go sit down because she was gonna stay with all the big girls haha. After the wedding she was pretty much done and didnt want to do anymore pictures. Most of the pics of her after the wedding werent so great..she was trying her best to hold back the tears lol. The pictures arent back yet but here are a couple of Kaylee with some of the "princesses" as she called them. The wedding was so beautiful and we were so glad to be a part of the special day :)

Planting

Well one of my new years resolutions was to do some gardening. I wanted to try a bunch of different veggies and other edible things!! I know you arent supposed to start so early but I couldnt wait so I decided I would go ahead and start a few things inside the house and when it gets closer to spring I will plant more. So about a week and a half ago I planted my sprouted potatoes, jalepeno peppers, cayenne peppers and chili peppers. The peppers wouldnt have been my first choice since we dont really eat them much..but I already had the seeds left over from a kit I bought last year. I was really excited to do the potatoes because we use potatoes a lot. We stayed at my parents house this weekend while John wsa out of town again and when I came home I was thrilled that everything has started sprouting :) I cant wait to get to the store and get some more things to plant. I am thinking next I will try squash, lettuce, tomatoes and maybe carrots!!

Meet Charlie

Charlie is our new little mini pig. We got her a week ago and we are in LOVE!! Well Kaylee and I are in love..the boys could care less about her!! She is soo cute and is so easy to handle and take care of!! Kaylee calls her a baby pliget and does not want to leave her side!!

SNOW

Kaylee had it in her mind that it wasn't Christmas unless there was snow lol..during the weeks before Christmas she would look out the window every morning and say "Nope, its not Christmas yet because there is not snow" We planned on taking her somewhere to see fake snow but got too busy and didnt make time for it. So the other day John got a package and Kaylee was of course right there to help him open it. When she saw all those styrofoam peanuts she said "WOW SNOW" her face just lit up and it was too cute. She started getting it and throwing it everywhere. She called Kyle in the living room and they both played and played in it. I knew it was going to be a horrible mess to clean up (and it was), but they had so much fun I couldnt resist letting them play in it :) John wouldnt even look at the floor lol..he said he didnt even want to see the disaster so I took some pictures so he could see it after it was all cleaned lol

Weekend With Mami and Pappy

John had to go to Tampa for work on New Years weekend so we decided to spend the weekend at my mom and dads house. Kaylee was EXTREMELY excited that we were gonna get to sleep there lol. I made the mistake of telling her about it first thing when she woke up on Friday morning and she asked me ALL DAY LONG if it was time yet haha. We had a few other things to do that day and weren't going to head over until around 5:30 so the wait was torture for her. Once we got home and were getting things ready to go I told her she could pack a bad with a few toys to take while I was packing our clothes..next thing I know she had everything she owned packed up in bags and lined up in the hallway lol. I told her we would have to narrow it down a little then we would be on our way.

Once we got there Friday night Kaylee was ready to go to bed as soon as we got so she could be sure that we were really staying haha. I kept telling her she didnt have to go to bed and that I promised we were really spending the night but she wasnt sure. She felt a little better after we put her pjs on. Pappy got all the supplies to make homemade pizza and Kaylee really enjoyed helping him make them. We made a big pallet on the floor and the kids slept good.

Saturday morning when we woke up the first thing Kaylee said was "I want to sleep here again" Lucky for her Daddy was going to be spending another night in Tampa so we stayed again. Saturday aftrernoon we had to run home and get more clothes and stuff and Kaylee was so upset because she thought we weren't going to go back. Saturday night was New Years eve and we had a little party with family and some friends..the kids LOVE when everyone gets together because they get all kinds of attention. They both made it until midnight then passes out shortly after. Sunday morning they slept in then we headed home to wait for daddy to get back. Kaylee has asked me EVERY SINGLE DAY since then if we can go sleep there again lol. She is looking forward to the next time Daddy goes out of town so we can have another sleepover :)

2012

Well the time has come again to make our new years resoultions..Ive been thinking the past few days about what mine would be and have come up with a few.

~Lose Weight - I mean come on..isnt that everyones new years resolution??? I was doing so good for a while with my eating good and working out but then with the holidays coming I kind of fell off the bandwagon!! My goal is to get back on track and not only to lose weight but live a healthier lifestyle.

~Be consistant with Kaylee's school - When the school year started in August I decided I would start doing K3 at home with Kaylee. I am intending to homeschool her at least for the younger years (maybe more) so I thought we would go ahead and get a head start getting into a routine and teaching her the basics. I was very good at first about printing school work for her, reading with her every day and trying to include her in projects that I thought would be good for learning. Things got busy and I got out of the routine and now we only do things few and far between. I know it isnt necessary to make sure she does school everyday since she is only 3 1/2 but I want to be more committed to it and really work at getting back into a routine with her.

~Couponing - For a few months I was an avid couponer and it really saved us a lot of money and I had fun doing it. I started doing too many other things and let the couponing go. Now that we have gone through most of the stuff I had stockpiled and are having to buy things again that I was getting for FREE..I decided that I really need to make time and make it a priority this year. I have researched a lot more about different techniques and I think I have found a way to make it work without having to spend so much time on it every day!!

~Chores - I made Kaylee a chore chart a while ago and she loved doing her chores every day (with the exception of cleaning her room) Her chore chart only had a few simple tasks on it and it only took her a few minuted to get it done. She has to get dressed, brush teeth, comb hair, make bed, get all laundry from the bathroom floor, make sure the pillows were on the couch neatly and make sure her room was picked up. I think now that she is a little older I can add a few more things and I plan on being more strict with making sure she gets them done and in a timely manner.

~Gardening - I am really into the idea of being more "self sufficient" and I really want to start a garden with veggies and other things that my family can eat. When we lived at Johns grandparents house we loved having a pear tree, grape vine and lemon trees so much when we moved last year we got a peach tree, raspberry bush and blueberry bush for our house. I am hoping that they all produce well this year and I want to add a few more things as well!!

~ Pinterest - This is kind of a funny New Years resolution but I just had to add it to the list lol. I have a ton of things I have on my "pinterest to do list" I am always seeing these great ideas and I have all intentions of trying them out but usually instead of crossing projects off my list I am adding more. I really want to start a list of "Pinterest Projects" and start getting some things crossed off lol

~Cooking - Last but not least, this year I want to get better with my cooking. It wont take much to improve since I am pretty terrible at it lol. I dont cook much at all..usually John cooks or we eat something thats easy for me to throw together like sasuage and rice or some kind of boxed dinner lol. I have seen a ton of ideas for different recipies that look fairly easy on pinterest so I am hoping to really improve this year :)

I think that about sums it up, all of these are things that I think would really benefit me and my family so I am really going to work hard at keeping up with them :) Good luck to everyone with all their resolutions and Happy New Year!!

A Boy and His Cars!!

To say that Kyle is obsessed with Cars would be a huge understatement lol!! He loves everything cars..he can spot cars from a mile away in a store and you wont usually see him without a few in his hands. Johns grandma started collecting hot wheels for him months ago and everyone else has also started giving them to him for every occasion. Back before his birthday Mammie got him a big box to hold all his hot wheels and decided we would try to get it filled up and give it to him for Christmas (it holds 100 hot wheels). So we filled it up and the look on his face when he opened it was PRICELESS!! He loves to sit in the floor and play with all his cars. I dont let him have full access to them whenever he wants (because I dont want 100 little hot wheels all over the house) So he enjoys when I let him dump them all out and we get in the floor and play with him!!

Four Wheelers

Johns dad got the kids 4-wheelers for Christmas. They both love riding on his mini-bikes and go-carts so he thought they would really enjoy having something of their own that they could ride. He was right..they love them :) He decided to give them to them on Christmas Eve day so they would have time to enjoy them some before all the business of Christmas. He covered them with a blanket since they were really big to be wrapped and the kids went out to the garage and pulled the blanket off..it was so cute. Kaylee just started smiling and hopped on but Kyle couldnt believe his eyes..he kept saying "oooh, wooow". Kaylee was really good at driving hers and it wasnt long before she decided that she only likes riding on the fastest speed (which I have to walk/jog to keep up with). It took Kyle a few minutes to figure out how to push the pedal and make it go, but once he learned he really enjoyed it!! He doesnt have the steering part down yet but Im sure he will have it figured out in no time :) These were definetly a big hit...Kaylee constantly asks me when she can go out and ride her "big fast bike" lol

Christmas

We had such a wonderful Christmas this year. It was so much fun this year because the kids actually understood it all and were so excited!! I am both sad and happy its over. I feel like it went by so fast and now we have to wait another whole year until we get to do it again :) But I am glad to get all the decorations down and get my house back to normal!! We started our Christmas festivities on Christmas eve with Johns parents and grandparents!! Kaylee was thrilled when she woke up Christmas eve day and we told her that she would be able to open presents that night. The only hard part was keeping her entertained until late afternoon :) Rene' cooked a wonderful dinner and we all exchanged gifts!! The kids had a blast and were really spolied with gifts!!

On Christmas day we woke up early and the 4 of us did our family celebration!! Kaylee was excited to find that "Santa" came and filled up the stockings and ate all his cookies she left him. Then we got ready and had Christmas breakfast at Johns parents.

At noon we headed to Nanas to celebrate with my side of the family. Growing up we always went to my Nanas on Christmas day and I love that we continue that tradition. She cooked a delicious lunch and the kids got to play and we all exchanged MORE presents.

On Christmas night we went to my cousin Farryns new house to celebrate with my moms side of the family. We had coffee and made smores and it was so nice for us all us cousins and families to be together!!

We are so blessed and thankful for everything everyone did for our family for Christmas!! Now on to getting the house in order and finding room for all this new stuff :)

We are ready!!

For Christmas that it :) Our shopping is done, our presents are wrapped and now we are just patiently waiting...well not all of us are so patient haha!! Kaylee asks me at least 25 times a day if it is Christmas yet or if she can open her presents!! She checks every day to see if the big socks, aka stockings have anything in them yet (I am waiting until Christmas eve to fill them because I know she will not be able to stay out of them). I am constantly finding her sitting by the tree just looking at all the presents. She loves for me to tell her which ones belong to who!! We have never made a big deal about Santa but this year she is all about Santa so we have kind of gone along with it. She informed me the other day that we will need to make cookies for Santa on Christmas eve lol..not sure where she learned about that..but she is really looking forward to it!!

I thought I was going to have a hard time keeping Kyle away from the tree this year but he really doesnt mess with it. Once he learned that the ornaments were not balls he has pretty much lost interest. He is also excited about Santa!! Of course he doesnt really understand the whole thing but he knows that Kaylee gets very excited when talking about Santa so now every time he sees Santa at the store or on TV he screams "SAMPA"!!

We are ready and excited!! Only 6 days til CHRISTmas!!

SICK :(

Every Christmas since we have had kids one of them has been sick for Christmas :( This year I was really hoping to break that tradition but as of now we are ALL sick. Kaylee started it last week and then passed it to me a few days ago. Of course it didnt stop there, now John and Kyle are sick too. There is less than a week until Christmas but I am holding out hope that maybe, just maybe, we will all be better by then :)

Working on our Listening Skills

You would never believe that this beautiful little girl has developed a listening problem. It has gotten worse over time and it is something that we are working very hard to correct. On a few different occassions over the last few weeks we have noticed that when we ask her to do something, or not to do something, she will do the complete opposite. We are working hard to break this and I think she is starting to realize that we mean business. It is so hard to be consistent but it is what she needs...she is very strong willed and will start running the show very quickly if your not careful. Actually as I type she is in her room in time out because she was standing in the chair that we constantly tell her not to stand in..I told her to please sit down and she said "no I just want to stand up" I calmy said to her "Kaylee you are not obeying, I asked you to sit down, remember If I say it..you obey it" She looked at me for a second and said "no I want to stand" so off to timeout she went!! After a few minutes I called her to come to me and she said "no Im just going to stay in my bed" my goodness when will she learn. I went and got her and told her when I call she needs to come..after we talked I sent her off to her bed again for not listening....when will she learn??? I sure hope this phase passes soon!!

Weight Loss Adventures

About 3 1/2 weeks ago John and I decided to go on a pretty hardcore diet. I have been talking about dieting and tried a couple of times especially within the last year and a half but just couldnt stick with it. After really talking about it we decided that losing weight was something that was very important to both of us and we were gonna do it together :) It has been much easier this time since we are both doing it!! We have both seen big results and that has made it easier for us to stick with it. I have lost 15 pounds since I started and he has lost the same or maybe even more (he isnt keeping track as closely as I am lol) We are basically just trying to eat a reasonable about of calories and work out as many days of the week as we can. When we first started we looked up the nutritional values for the resturants we usually eat at and we were SHOCKED to learn how many calories we were eating just at one meal. Since we really enjoy eating out, we made a list of places that we can go and still get a good low calorie meal. The first few times we went out it was VERY hard to stay away from the rolls and breads that places usually bring out before your meal..but we have stayed strong :) I have also completly cut out sweet tea and any soda...basically I only drink water now. I drink a lot anyways and without even realizing it I would drink a whole gallon of tea every day and not think twice about it. I thought it would be much harder to stick to it that it has been. I guess we both really want it this time :) I would like to lose about 35-40 more pounds so hopefully it will fall off fast :)

My Crazy 2 Year Old

So my 2 year old has this new obsession with sticking things up his nose. It happaned first a few weeks ago the night we got back from Disney World. We were sitting around and Kyle came to me pointing at his nose saying uh-oh...he had this funny look on his face but I didnt think much of it..I thought maybe he was coming down with a cold and his nose was stopped up. He kept saying uh-oh and pointing at his nose so i got him and looked up his nose and sure enough there was something up there but I couldnt tell what it was!! I was so glad John was home or I may have panicked lol. He layed him in his lap and I hold his head while John pulled a BEAD from his nose. He got into trouble and we didnt think we would have this issue anymore!! WRONG!!

Yesterday moning I was washing dishes and he came to me pointing at his nose saying uh-oh...I said "Son, there better not be anything up your nose" I got a flashlight and layed him on the bed and sure enough there was something up there. I couldnt tell what it was but it was pretty far up there and I didnt think I was going to be able to get it on my own without someone helping me hold him. I contemplated calling John at work but figured I would try to get it out myself first. Of course he wouldnt be still so I called over to my inlaws house (they live next door) and my brother in law was home so we headed over there so he could help me hold him down. Once I layed him down and started messing with his nose he started to sneeze..after a few sneezes he blew a balled up sticker out of his nose..WHEW!! I disciplined him and am really hoping we are not going to have this problem anymore. Everytime he sniffles the wrong way I immediately start thinking he has something else up there haha.. This boy sure keeps me on my toes lol

Craft Fair

Last Saturday I participated in my first craft fair and had a blast. Pretty Please Designs has taken off and I am loving every minute of it. This was my first craft fair so I wasnt sure exactly how things would go but it turned out great. I am looking forward to all the other craft fairs I have signed up for and continuing to get my name out there!!! Here is a Turkey Bow I made last week that has been a big hit. Check out my facebook page for more of my cute accessories...www.facebook.com/prettypleasedesignslk