Time to do the wash.....

So the whole idea of being "green" & or frugal is still relatively new for me... However i have really gotten into the idea of making my own laundry soap, i got the idea/recipe from my aunt and fell in love with it.

It all started with Kiah, he had such sensitive skin when he was born and we were spending a small fortune to keep his skin baby smooth, my aunt offered me some detergent that she had already made and i was more than happy to give it a try.. All the ingredients cost around $6-$8 (for everything) and makes 5+ batches with the exception of the fels naptha (which makes 3) and each batch fills 3-4 regular size containers! Not to mention it smells great while still being hypoallergenic AND it gets stains out!!

So if you are interested (you know you are!) Here is the recipe... enjoy!





The ingredients are as follows :

1/3 bar of fels naptha
1/2 cup washing soda
1/2 cup borax powder
(You will also need a 2 or 5 gallon bucket)




Grate the soap into a large sauce pan & add 6 cups water. Heat until the soap melts.
Add the washing soda & borax and stir until dissolved.
Remove from heat.
Pour 4 cups HOT water into your bucket.
Add soap mixture & stir, then add 1 gallon + 6 cups water and stir again.
Let soap sit for 24 hrs and it will gel.
use 1/2 cup per load.

*after pouring the detergent into containers its always a good idea to give it a good shake before using at least for the first few days..

Hope you love it as much as i do!

{this is actually something that i have posted before but i am going to do it again and link up to Mama and The Dudes}

The Paper Mama Photo Challenge ~ Self

Nearly every picture i have of myself includes one of my boys.. They are afterall so much more photogenic than myself! They can't help it that they are so perfect *love* So here is a new favorite for the paper mama photo challenge, the baby h & myself.







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Photo Editing....

I am trying my hand at editing photos now and this is one of my firsts, hope you like it!

Flashback Friday

Yes i apparently have two friday's in one week, what can i say?






This is photo i just recently got from a friend that was taken when i was somewhere around 5 or 6 years old. Girls being girls :)

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Photo Roulette Friday

This is my first shot at Photo Roulette and i must say i like it! This photo was actually taken by my Mom on an outing to Friske Orchards, It was just Zeke & Grammy time... From what i hear though he really loved the little stream and all the other little adventures that the day had.

The Paper Mama Photo Challenge ~ Flowers

Now being that nearly all the photos i take are of my children and with both of them being boys and all, this was not a challenge i intended on participating in... However, going through some old photos i ran across this one from last summer and decided to give some photo editing a try (i am new so go easy on me!) and make this favorite a little new. Enjoy!







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Belated Wordless Wednesday....

I am still very new to all of this but i really like the Wordless Wednesday so here it is :)

You Capture... Outside

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This is my first ever photochallenge and with the theme being outside, well it was a piece of cake! Nothing like a day at the beach :)

Looking around...

So i spent the morning over a cup of coffee checking out tons of other blogs, i am really trying to figure out what i want to focus on.. i have gone through so many "themes" trying to find something that is right for me. I have definatly decided to try the photo thing, as a matter of fact i have a fun little photo shoot planned for this afternoon! However i really seem to find myself drawn to "crafting" blogs, i love making anything, seeing things that i love and recreating them. So i think a large part of my blog will focus on that as well... I am really happy to finally have a plan of what i want to do.. now i am off to create! Pictures to follow! Oh and please enjoy the updates to my blog :)

Changes

I am playing copy cat :)
A good friend of mine has been blogging for a while now and she has turned me on the idea of photo challenges, they look like tons of fun and since there is nothing better to me than have a camera in my hand i am going for it! I haven't gotten started just yet as we are having some computer issues, (i.e. every time i get something done the Internet cuts out making me want to scream) however i think we have that issue under control so i am back! And very excited about new prospects for my otherwise boring blog!

Quick update for the Case family, i took a few minutes to let everyone know what was going on in our lives last week and this is just the follow up, we had an amazing time with Chris's parents and they loved having time with the grand kids, and we loved having time by the pool! I left Tues to visit my baby sister for a couple days and picked up my best friend (for the past 11 years!) from the airport.. She stayed with us for a few wonderful days and it was so great to catch up and just have her around in general! She flew out Tues afternoon and we are all back to our normal routine, well sort of, Chris is still home (bittersweet) so things aren't back to our usual normal but still much more quiet than they have been for the past two weeks!

Oh good news! I FINALLY got my camera back so i can share pics with everyone (as in the whole point of the photo challenge!!) I haven't taken any yet but i will today :)

Checking in....

It has been a whirlwind around here the past few days! Chris was unexpectedly layed off last week so we decided to take our already planned trip downstate a little early! We have been here since Wed. night and it has been heaven! I love spending time with family. Tomorrow i leave for my sisters house which i am beyond excited about! Chris & they boys will hang out with his parents and then we will all meet back at home Thurs of this week, giving us a total of 8 days away from home! It really has been wonderful and i plan to go out and enjoy every second of it! The sad news though is that we still haven't gotten our camera back so i don't have any new pics to put up, but as soon as we get home i will add some old ones (as in last month) that i haven't shared yet. Enjoy your week everyone!

Monday Monday.....

Good morning world! We had a fantastic weekend over here! Friday night kicked off the fun, My husband's parents came up to celebrate my Father in Law's birthday so we headed over to the Dam Site Inn for dinner, as we were sitting there enjoying the world famous chicken, in walks Bob Seger! It made for a fun night for sure!

Saturday was a much needed beach day and it was fantastic! I may have a good tan before the year is out!

Now i am off to get my license renewed! (reminder my Birthday was in March! Oops!)

The Boys

Summer Time at Lolo & Lola's House

Inspired

Thanks to a good friend of mine and her fantastic blog, i am feeling inspired to start keeping mine up again.. I have had this for so long and only ever update every few months on average. I won't give you false promises that i am going to keep it up everyday because if you know me, well then you know me! As for now though i am feeling a need to get some creative energy out one way or another and for the moment this is it!

Updates
Zeke - We are currently getting geared up for preschool, as of right now the details are all still a little up in the air, we would really really like to send him to Harbor Light, however it's a pretty pricey school for us so we are applying for scholarships and praying that it all works out! He is such an amazing little boy and he makes me smile constantly! He's at a point now where he is starting to make more witty conversation and his imagination is incredible (as i believe it has always been, but now he can better include others) I am amazed at how fast he is growing up, and so proud of the little guy that he is becoming.

Kiah - Little man is just days away from walking at 10months old this week. He cruises around the house on his tractor and takes off if you only hold his hands. Long gone are the days of feeding him babyfood of any kind, he only wants what he can feed himself! So i am trying to be as creative as possible in making sure that he is getting everything he needs.. Last night we made some soup with potatoes, carrots, peas, garlic, barley & chicken broth that he LOVED! I was not a huge fan of the mess but when he enjoys something so much it makes dealing with that part alot easier!


As for Chris and I we are madly in love with each other and our family :)

I have really been feeling the need to get creative lately but i tend to put all that aside for the summer, i don't know why i guess i would rather just be at the beach! I am currently starting work on my very first quilt though and i am very excited about that. I'll keep you updated with pics as soon as i get started! The second project is a game board. It's a game called Texas Bingo that i learned at a girls night a while ago, i guess it's not something you can buy in stores but an awesome friend of mine got the things for a game board for herself and picked up an extra set for me, now i just need to make it! I think that's a good idea for my next blog!

Until tomorrow (or the day/week after ;)

How long you say?

What was that i said so long ago about posting every week? Oops.

Well life w/ two kids certainly has a way of keeping one busy that's for sure! We have had a great start to the summer, i can't at this moment seem to remember just where i left off the last time i was on here so we'll just stick to this week..

Kiah - Amazing little man that he is, started not only crawling this week, but also clapping, pulling himself up, saying mama and waving! I am in awe at how much he has learned to do in just one week! Just a few short weeks ago the kid couldn't even sit himself up from the floor, now i can't get him so lay down for the life of me! He is growing so fast it just amazes me, I mean you know it's going to happen but wow.

Zeke - First you should know that any loud vehicle of any type scares the living daylights out of him, he is just fine with them from a distance or if someone else is on it, but you try and put him up there well you got another thing coming if you think he is just going to do so easily. (this also extends to animals... no pony rides for this kiddo) However, this weekend we went up to Caribou Lake to visit my Grandparents (who live in Mississippi all winter so we don't see them much) and my mom asked Zeke countless times if he wanted to take a ride on the 4wheeler and each time he replied "no" When his Great Grandma asked though, he actually climbed up and took a ride! After a few minutes he was even feeling brave enough to sit on the front and "drive". Needless to say to me this was a HUGE deal! I am so proud of him for taking steps and trying new things! I look forward to many more adventures with my little man!

Love

Hezekiah Joel

Little man is 6 months old already!

Coffee = Life.

Here are a couple pics from the weekend =)

This past week was so incredibly overwhelming i feel like could sleep for a week just to make up for it! We had gone to Chris's parents over the weekend which was great (they took the kids and Chris and i went on date =) and both mornings Annie came and got Kiah as soon as she got up and let me sleep in a little) Then Monday morning came................. Zeke started crying when he woke up which is unusual then he called to me from his room asking for a wipe.. uh oh... He had thrown up ALL OVER himself & his bed, beyond gross... Well we got that all cleaned up and aside from being cranky from being thrown in the shower as soon as he got up he seemed okay for the rest of the day, so i tried to play catch-up with house work and caring for a cranky babe who has another tooth coming in. THEN TUES MORNING CAME.... He woke up okay but kept telling me his tummy hurt, i kept a very close eye on him and he ran into the bathroom and got sick ( I don't use the d word ever if you follow..) and it went on like that all day long.. and twice he had accidents but thank God i had left a pull-up in him just in case.. the next two days were just a repeat and it wasn't until Friday that he actually started to feel better... it was awful, i felt so bad for the poor kiddo! Thank goodness now it's a new week and everyone is healthy again, we have just been taking it very easy this week just to make sure! Thurs though will be the start of another fun weekend! Zeke's grandparents are coming to pick him up and take him downstate until Sunday (that will be the longest he has EVER been away from us!) and Chris will be gone Thurs night thru Sunday night working an Emmaus walk. I will be all alone! well kinda.. I will still have Ki (i really didn't have the energy or the time to get THAT much milk ready!) and Friday night my mom is coming over to stay with me and then we are headed over to Gaylord Saturday morning to do a little shopping and then over to the church to help out. I am really looking forward to the weekend though, it will be more alone time than i am used to and i think i may just sleep the whole time if i can!

Baby Toes

Weekly Updates....

I have no recollection at the moment of what we did last week... That should just go to show you what it was like! We did take the hike in the woods (where we took the pics =) and that was awesome. The boys and i have gone out there a few times now, i just pack Ki in the carrier and we walk back to the winter sports park which is pretty vacant at this time of year and Zeke runs and plays in the forts (photos to come) we find and we all get some fresh air and good exercise.

The not so great start of this week started with Ki having a fever for two days which i just attributed to teething (his 2nd bottom tooth is so close to cutting through) but once the fever broke on the third day i noticed his head was a little blotchy but i thought that was just from him yelling for his breakfast, a little while later during a diaper change i noticed that his belly had a rash all over it, but i wasn't sure what it was and we headed out for one of our walks, when we got back and i changed his diaper again before nap time i noticed it was much much worse (which i now realize was from the heat of the carrier) so i called the doc and had to take him in later that day. The doc said first it was hives and after talking for a while told me it was from a virus that causes 1. a high fever for a couple days and 2. a rash all over the body once the fever breaks... So that was our week, he is doing much better now and sleeping in his own bed again (THANK GOD!) and everyone is happy and healthy.

Our big exciting news for the week, ZEKE IS POTTY TRAINED!! We have been seriously working on it for a few weeks now and he has finally got it down, we have had two accidents in the past two weeks, including all night, which i think is pretty amazing! I am so proud and so so so happy! He still wears pull-ups at night but that is it! YAY ZEKE!

Okay this post is getting a little long but those were the two big things of the week, I'll post again after the weekend and share all our Holiday fun. Happy Easter everyone, I look forward to celebrating the resurrection of our Lord with those of you who are close!