I'm going to link to a few posts so I can remember the information. Like an indexed journal entry!

Deodorant recipe. This looks like a blog I could get into.


Mix to add to flowers to keep from wilting. Love this site.

My Moira

Moira. Mo-Jo. My beautiful little crazy angel.

I was experimenting with Picasa and made this. Look I cut her head off in the bottom one. Darn it.

Homemade cleansers

Found a recipe for homemade Laundry Detergent online so I bought the ingredients.

And gave it a try. Dissolve the Fels-Naptha bar in 6 cups hot water on the stove.

It took a while.

Add one cup Borax, and one cup washing soda.

Pour into a five gallon bucket. We also added Lavendar (an essential oil) for scent.

Here is the link to where I got the recipe. On her site she says it makes 4 gallons. I might have done something wrong because I have very little detergent right now.

Homemade Laundry Detergent

I haven't tried the dishwasher soap yet but I probably will tomorrow, since I have all the ingredients. Using these types of products puts me one step closer to being able to have a grey water system.

Dishwasher Soap and Other Homemade Cleaners

Geese Family

Saw this little family in Westerville this morning. So cute. Look how the babies run up the hill to catch up with mom and dad. Love it.

Also love this picture. I want to make one.

Got this from The Grocery Shrink Blog.

A lesson

I have been very frustrated lately about our house. I have almost no desire to clean anymore because of how the "kids" (Nate included) treat the house. 5 seconds after cleaning a room its torn apart again. I only see two solutions.

1. Get rid of all "stuff". I really like this option but doubt that Nate and kids will react very well.
2. Train family to be neater and pick up after themselves. I'm not really sure this one is possible. It sounds like a fairy tale.

In an attempt to share with my girls what it feels like to keep doing an impossible job we did the following activity.
Using these gold coins (not real gold so don't attempt to break in and find them), we played an easy game.

Nate hold the coins and hands them to Kate one at a time. Her only job is to stack them all up. Easy job. No problem.

ONE.

TWO

THREE

FOUR

Oops, I'm sorry, did I just knock all those over. So sorry, just start again. Come on Kate get those coins stacked.

THREE

Oh dear I did it again. Come on Kate. Keep going. You can do it.
In the end she tried stealing the coins so she could just stack them up without me knocking them over. She was irritated at me. I think it was simple but showed her how it must feel to have everything you do undone all the time. I don't know if it will make a difference but I hope it does!

Gnomes The Movie

Swingset Tandem

Moira Signs

Random Pics

Lettuce from the garden. All self seeded.

Moira wanted her hair wrapped up like mine.

Pizza night at Hopkins

Hopkins beautiful dog Jessie

Fresh from the bath.

So Creative.

Nate with his fire sticks

We love fire nights

Hugging my Baby.

Mothers Day

Moira planted this seed and cared for it at school for who knows how long. It only took 2 seconds in the car for her to break and kill it. So sad.

Going for a Sunday Afternoon walk. Moira collected pine cones for the fire.

Mothers Day

I am so grateful this morning to be celebrating Mothers Day as a mother. I'm grateful to the two amazing birthmothers that made the ultimate sacrifice, so that their children could have what they themselves could not offer. Thank you Joani, and Joyce.

I love my Moira. She has more energy than any kid should be allowed to have! She just goes and goes. She has inherited her Birth Mothers ability to sing. Moira at 4 can hear a song and repeat it with perfect pitch. You keep us all laughing MoJo.

I love my Kate. She has compassion for others, animals, and the whole world. She wants to be adult so badly sometimes, but I'm not ready for that. I miss my snuggly little baby, so just wait a couple more years darling. I love when she comes for hugs. She is so smart I have a hard time keeping up with her. She calls me on my hypocrisy. I love you my sweet Kate.

Ran out of Ziplocks

I can't believe that this is actually a revelation to me. You can use cling wrap. To, like, wrap stuff. Its so easy to do.

Stones that Slay

At the Stake Womens training meeting last night we talked about David, and how he slew Goliath with his stones.

What are our stones today that we use to slay our Goliaths?

The Values.
Faith
Divine Nature
Individual Worth
Knowledge
Choice & Accountability
Good Works
Integrity
Virtue

It didn't hurt that the stones they handed out in the cute little bag are really CHOCOLATE!

Laundry Room Project Part 3

The reason for change.
I can't stand the laundry allllll over my bed.

Constantly!

Laundry room Project Part 2

So I cleaned up a little bit.

Laundry Room Project Part 1

This is Kates room after she moved out.