Chores

I’ll admit, I’ve lowered my cleanliness standards since having kids.  Once each one arrived, they dipped a bit lower.  I know my house is cluttered and anything but immaculate.  I cannot recall the last time I mopped the kitchen floor except in small pieces where something has been spilled and you stick to it as you walk by.  But I’ve hit bottom.  I’m tired of tripping over toys and wondering why 2 girls need to use so many washcloths and let them pile up by the sink.  Grace and Anna are getting big enough they can be held accountable.  So I have instilled a chore chart.  Grace and Anna each have things that need done in the morning and after school.  And they each do things each day of the week; they do get some days off.  Here are the lists.

So far, they are excited to do their chores. I have a feeling that will change. L

Princesses

Last weekend my sister and brother-in-law stopped on their way through Cheyenne.  We had brunch at IHOP, only because they have funny face pancakes.  Then the girls and I went to Douglas to my niece’s birthday party.  They had a big pool and a kiddie pool and a bounce house.  There was, of course, the birthday pinata and cake as well.  The theme was princesses and the girls got their hair sprayed with glitter spray.  I still think Grace has some on her scalp!

Anna floating in the big pool

The littles in the baby pool

What a cake!

Fun in the bounce house

I love how I got her feet off the ground, even though I cut off her head, HA!

Introducing Dog #3

Jeremy's been looking for a bigger dog; a more "manly" dog.  We've been to the animal shelter a few times. We found what we liked this weekend.  She had to get spayed before we could bring her home.

Good heavens, it's hard to get a good picture of a constantly moving dog.  She's a 5 month old yellow lab.  Her previous owners gave her up because she was too rough.  She a big puppy with a big tail who's not trained yet, I'm sure she wasn't being that way on purpose.  So far she's been so mellow.  Knock on wood, we haven't heard her bark or growl.  It's quite the change from our little dogs; the house seemed to become instantly smaller.  She loves to give kisses.  Meet Lizzy!

Soap

As you have probably figured out, I'm somewhat crunchy.  I use cloth diapers, make laundry soap, etc, etc.  I'm not sure how I stumbled across making your own soap, but I did.  I researched, looked at recipes, and read many how-to articles.  I knew I wanted to give cold process soap a try.  I also wanted to do it when the girls weren't around because of the lye that's involved in the process.  While the girls were gone last week, I gave it a try.  I decided to make lavender scented soap.

 Here's the oils I used, olive, castor, coconut and shea butter.  And my awesome mold, which is just a loaf pan.  The weather held out and didn't rain and I was able to mix up the lye solution and do all the mixing outside.

Here's my little bars of soap after they set up in the mold for 24 hours and are sliced and set to dry for 4-6 weeks.  Some of the ends weren't that pretty, but who cares what it looks like, as long as it gets the dirt off.  If you'd like a bar in 6 weeks, lemme know...looks like I have plenty!

First Day of School

Today was the first day of school for our big 2nd grader and a freshly minted kindergartener.  Anna was ready to go and excited until the bus came.  I think there was some trepidation about getting on the bus, but Grace took her hand and led her up the bus stairs.

After the initial "fine" of How-did-your-day-go? all the stories started to come out of who she sat with on the bus and what she played with at school and all about recess.  When asking if she's going to go back tomorrow, she happily said yes.

This shot is a preview of tomorrow's post...any guesses?

Wedding Rings?

Jeremy hasn't worn his wedding ring for quite awhile due to his job.  As it turns out, it no longer fits either.  I've worn mine off and on, depending on how swollen my knuckles and fingers have been from being pregnant or my RA.  While watching Duck Dynasty, we saw that Willie and Korie had each others initial tattooed on their ring fingers.  After searching through many different fonts and finding what we liked, we got each other's first initial tattooed on our ring fingers.  It felt like a little zap, but they were so small it took less than 5 minutes apiece.

You'd be amazed how many comments we've gotten on them already and we haven't even had them a week! (Good heavens, my hands look old!)

State Fair

I took the exact same handknits to State Fair that I took to our county fair to see if they'd clean up as well.  My socks took 1st and my fingerless gloves took 3rd.  My baby sweater got a superintendent's choice and a $20 gift certificate to a yarn store (yippee!)  I think it's ironic because that same sweater had comments at county fair that my finishing left something to be desired and took second place, yet it did so well at State Fair!  Now I can finally put these babies to use!