in the wash

I have seen posts about making your own laundry detergent and how it is better for you, better for the environmentand the biggest reason, cheaper than buying it already made. Then my friend, Angie made some and likes it so I decided it was high time I made my own as well.

It's super easy and I found all of my ingredients at Wal-Mart. The most expensive item was the glass container, but come on, it needs to look cute, right?


Here's what I used:
1bar of Soap
1cup of Borax
1cup of Washing Soda
1/2 cup of Oxy Clean (walmart brand)

First you use your grater and grate up the soap so that it looks like shredded cheddar.

Then you get a cute assistant to help you measure, dump and stir all of the ingredients EXCEPT the Oxy Clean in a big bowl.

Once they are stirred pretty good, I put it in the blender to make the soap even smaller so that it will dissolve easier in cold water washes.


Once it was all a fine powder, I mixed in the Oxy Clean!

That's it!

I have the washer going now! I'll let you know how it goes!!

Look what I made...

I used these instructions, and it was a relatively quick and easy project. Next time I will do a couple of things different. The Modge Podge made the fabric a little darker, so I'll keep that in mind.
I highly recommend this project, it was fun and I love them!

Painting is for the birds...

Whenever we are at JoAnn's, Megan wants to get a bird house to paint... and since they are only a dollar, why not?

So today was the day to break out the paint.
It's funny to see how different my babes are...

Isaac likes to do crafty things, but loses interest rather quickly.

Meg likes to think about she's doing and usually has to run out of paint/paper/markers or be told that it's clean up time before she'll stop. And she can color in a coloring book like nobody's business.
She is also very messy...
Thankfully, art smocks are all the rage...

Since we only have one smock, Isaac decided to show off his rippling abs and fierce guns by painting without a shirt on.
Ladies, try to keep your daughters under control... he's not allowed to date until he is sixteen... maybe twenty... Five.

Put a little love in your heart...

So, we started decorating a little for Valentine's Day. I got some cute wooden hearts and scrapbook paper and of course glitter from Hobby Lobby.
We broke out the paint, and sequins, glitter and glue and made an afternoon of making valentiney things.

Apparently, this opened up the flood gates of Isaac's heart.

Sitting at the dinner table, Isaac said dreamily, "I hope Kaitlyn is at school tomorrow."

We nod.

"She is the greatest. girl. ever."

We look at each other and smile.

"I really like when she wears a bow in her hair."

"She's pretty pretty."

"Mom? Can I make her a necklace?"

"Sure," I barely whisper... I bite my lip like Pa Ingalls' half laugh/half cry.

Then he bolts out of his chair and is on to something else...
Ah... young love.

It never turns out like you think...

I saw this adorable wreath and thought I could duplicate it. So while Isaac was at school, Meg and I headed to Goodwill and the Salvation Army in search of old ornaments. We didn't find the cool jewel colored ones, but there was an abundance of red and gold, some were glass and old and some are new and plastic, but I figured it didn't matter too much.
So without further ado, this is what I did during nap time today....



It's not nearly as cute as the jewel colored one, and in hind sight I wish I would have arranged them more instead of just grab and glue, but I think it is ok! It got kid approval... what more do I need?!?!?

ETA
This post has been up for roughly, oh I don't know 7 minutes and Isaac and I are sitting on the couch and BANG! CRASH! SHATTER! My lovely wreath is no more... I knew I should have waited until our normal decorating day... I knew it was too early... I just knew it!


This stinks... really bad. Sorry Honey, I just wasted 15 bucks.

Bats are everywhere!

We decided to make some Halloween decorations, and what's better than bats?!?! So I traced the kiddos feet and hands and cut out most of them as well, but the two bigger kids, Isaac and our friend Sophia glued their own bats together.
Notice how Isaac's bat has his eyes placed. In college I learned that it is the "process, not the product" that is the most important thing when it comes to kids and art. In theory, I totally agree, however as a mother, I want his bat to be "right". When I saw how he was placing the eyes on his bat, I didn't say anything, if this is how he wants it, then that is fine by me... and it is. Really. There should be more crazy eyed bats around... don't you think?