Marissa Can Sew!

Marissa has always loved helping me sew but now she can do it all on her own. I taught her how to safely use my machine and she picked it up so quickly. She even made her own purse. She likes it so much - I am hoping she will be able to go to sewing "camp" this year even though I believe they start at age 7 or 8. I am so proud of her. I think it is important that girls learn to sew, at least the basics. It seems like most women my age don't even know at all. It is a wonderful skill and hobby! Sometimes I really wish I lived back in "Little House on the Prairie" days. But then again, I really like my car and all my appliances. The purse she made!

Video of Marissa Sewing!

Homemade Laundry Products

I am always looking for ways to save money and use more "natural" products around the house. So I had to try making my own laundry detergent and fabric softener. It was SO easy, cheap, and fast to make. I am very happy with the outcome too. Clothes are clean and smell fresh! I was able to find all the necessary ingredients at Central Market.

First I made a granular detergent (which is the fastest to make but works better with top loaders rather than front loaders) and you need to use warm or hot water to make sure it all dissolves properly. It only takes 2 Tablespoons for one large load!

Mix:

1 Cup Borax

1Cup Washing Soda (not baking soda)

1/4 Cup OxiClean

Grate (with a cheese grater)1 bar Fels Naptha laundry detergent bar.

*Will be lumpy/granular

Kitchen Aid cheese grater works great for soap too! The soap looks like cheese :)

Liquid Laundry Detergent (which I am very happy with!)

1/2 Bar grated Fels Naptha soap

1 Cup Washing Soda (not baking soda)

1 Cup Borax

2 gallon Bucket (I cleaned out a cat litter bucket as it needs a lid)

*Grate soap and put in sauce pan. Add 6 C water and heat until soap melts. Add the washing soda and borax and stir until dissolved. Remove from heat. Pour 4 C hot water into bucket. Now add soap mixture and stir. Now add 1 gallon plus 6 C hot water and stir. Cover and let soap sit for 24 hours. It will become a thick gel. After it sets up use a whisk to stir it up to a pourable form. Use 1/2 Cup per load. It is a low sudsing soap so it is great for HE washers.

This is the cooked ingredients

I put the finished product in these pitchers. You need a wide-mouth container as the gel is very thick. Then you can just pour it out.

**The cost is about .2 cents per load and makes about 2 gallons which is about 65-70 loads. Compare to "Tide" which is about .70 cents per load!

Laundry Rinse (instead of fabric softener)

8 Cups White Vinegar (use only white and a cider!)

25-30 drops Lavender/Gardenia or anything smelling good Essential Oil drops

*Use 1/4 Cup in the rinse cycle. I promise your clothes will not smell like vinegar. Vinegar reduces static and leftover detergent in your clothes. Or put in Downy Ball if you have a top loader.

I put it in the Scope bottle. Fit perfectly and the cap holds 1/4 cup.

And when you need Dryer sheets or fresh scents try this... Huge money saver!

Mix 1/2 water and 1/2 fabric softener in bottle or sprayer and just lightly mist a washcloth and toss it in the dryer.

OR

Soak a couple washcloths if full strength fabric softener. Hang to dry. Store in in a large ziploc (as the smell is SO strong) and you can use the cloth 20-30 times until it softener is used out of it.

I made washcloths out of double-side flannel and just serged the edges.

You will save huge $ not buying dryer sheets and a bottle of fabric softener will last years!

Excavator

Our friends who are getting ready to build a house, rented a huge excavator and Paul ran it for 8 hours last Saturday for them. He really enjoyed running one so much bigger and more powerful than his. Our kids had fun playing outside together while Paul was finishing up. Paul is such a hard worker, he has been juggling his own job plus all my "honey-do" jobs, tree farm duties, excavating/clearing our neighbors property for a couple weeks, and then this job for our friends. Busy, busy, busy!

Hannah, Todd, Marissa, Kyle, and Paul

Playing in the dirt - such fun!

Paul's excavator at the neighbors

Our "New" Bunk Beds

Since we are now going to have three kids and only two bedrooms for them we figure eventually someone will have to bunk so I found these very heavy wood bunk beds on Craigslist - used but neat. On one side there is 3 shelfs and 5 drawers and the other side has the ladder and a desk with drawers . They were more scratched up than I was hoping so we decided they had to be refinished. And in usually fashion I just jumped into a huge project without thinking about how hard it would be while 8-9 months pregnant. Paul sanded them for me and then I primered them and applied 2 coats of paint - with a whole lot of complaining of back ache and heartburn. Of course the kids wanted to help paint a lot too. But they turned out good. And I got all the bedding super cheap at Ross and happened to find colors that already matched the paint on her walls. Now if only I could get them to sleep in them :) The first night we tried, Kyle just wanted to sleep in his bed/bedroom so then Marissa (who has been so excited to sleep up top for a month or so) said "Oh, well I would rather sleep with Kyle" (as they have been sleeping together for a couple weeks and love it). She just loves her brother! So they both snuggled in Kyle's old bed and slept. But at least they love playing on the bunk beds!

BEFORE PICTURES

DURING

AFTER!

Feels Like Summer

We have had warm, sunny weather yesterday and today. I put new sand in the sandbox and the kids had a blast. I was caught off guard when I went in the house to make snacks and looked out the window to check on the kids and I found Kyle taking off all his clothes. I opened the window and yelled "what are you doing Kyle?" and he responded "I gotta pee!". So I started, somewhat frantically yelling, "get out of the sandbox!" and started running out to him and barely caught him in time to have him pee in the grass instead. It was a close call. What is it with boys and wanting to pee outside? Weird!

Marissa wanted to run through the sprinkler. So they put their swimsuits on and played in the freezing water for almost an hour. It seems like kids just don't get cold! But it was a beautiful day and makes me even more anxious for summer to come. I thought I would post this picture just because we thought it was so funny. One of our chickens kept going into the sprinkler and drinking the water :)

Uncle Bob's Funny Car

Paul took the kids out to my Uncle Bob's diner in Kingston to watch him do burn outs on his drag strip with his Armed Forces Funny Car. All Kyle would say when he got home was "race car loud!" Kyle was so exhausted afterwards. He sat with Marissa on the couch and her being the loving sister she is fell asleep snuggling with her. Marissa called me and said he put her arms around him and rocked him and she needed help getting her arm out. She was so proud! Now she even asks to put him to sleep at night and she reads books to him, sings lullaby's and he falls asleep with her. It is SO precious. I am constantly amazed at how caring and motherly she is to him.

Puddles

A few days ago the kids and I came home and found that there had been a downpour while we were gone, but it was sunny and pretty warm so I let the kids play in the big puddles (only after Kyle had already walked through one). But they had a blast! I don't know what it is but kids just LOVE to stomp in puddles. Sometimes you just have to let go of thoughts of dirty, muddy, clothes to wash and let kids be kids!

Kyle fell into the deepest part of the puddle!

It was pretty cold and he didn't think that was much fun :) But he recovered and kept going!

Yummy Yogurt

I love making my own yogurt. It is so cheap, easy, and delicious. Since my kids eat so much of it, it really pays off to make my own. Here is the recipe...

Ingredients:

1/2 gallon organic whole milk

6 Tbsp. plain "live active" yogurt (3 Tbsp. for every 4 cups of milk)

1/2 cup nonfat dry/powdered milk - this helps it thicken

1/2 cup sugar

3-4 tsp pure vanilla (not imitation!)

You also need: a thermometer & heating pad

Put plain yogurt starter out at room temperature. Pour milk into pot. Stir in sugar. Heat, stirring frequently, until milk is 180-185 degrees and very frothy (just before boiling).

Remover from heat and let cool to 110 degrees. Once cool, stir in your powdered milk, yogurt starter, and vanilla. Cover. (Note: if you bought a large size plain yogurt starter like I did - you can measure it all out and freeze it for next yogurt batch.)

I put a plastic cutting board down and then my heating pad on it. The pot on the heating pad and cover with a couple towels to keep heat in. I have to put my pad on high to keep yogurt at 110 degrees - you may need to adjust yours.

Keep it at 110 degrees for 7-11 hours depending on how thick you want it. I like mine real thick so I usually leave it out for 10 hours (the longer you incubate it the thicker it gets). If it didn't get thick then it probably didn't cook or incubate right or at the right temp. Should get real thick.

Pour into containers and refrigerate. I always save my large size store bought yogurt tubs and reuse them. It fills two of them.

That's it! You can also flavor it with an all natural fruit syrup, jam, honey, or we like to mix in fresh fruit (strawberries, blueberries, or grapes cut in halves) and granola. Cascadian Farms Oats and Honey granola is awesome (it's sold at Walmart or Central Market).

Kyle Loves Flashcards

Kyle loves to do flashcards so I thought I would record him so I could remember his "baby" talk and voice. You'll have to excuse his tiny bit of nose picking :) But he ends the video very with a very cute "I love you". He already enjoys learning so I think he is going to be as easy to homeschool as Marissa is - so far!

Indoor Sand Box

I have been trying to come up with ideas for some fun activities to do with the kids. Mostly so I can have some new things for the them to do when the new baby arrives. We made this "indoor sand box" yesterday. It's super cheap to make. Got a bin for at Walmart and a bag of dried pinto beans at Costco. The kids had a blast playing in it. They used their shovels and rakes but really liked to run their hands through the beans. We hid a bunch of polished rocks (because they blend in well) and had a contest who could find the most. Next we are going to hide pennies (Marissa's request). But we put it away for awhile to keep it interesting. They were very sad. I told them it would be more fun if they only got to play with it once a week.

Kyle really wanted to sit in it and burry his feet.

Making Jam

I grew up on my mom's homemade jam. It is delicious! I am so spoiled by it I can stand eating store bought jam. So I started making my own jam maybe a year or two ago. Up until then I just kept making my mom give me some :) This year Marissa really helped me with it though. She cut up a lot of the strawberries, mashed the raspberries, and stirred the sugar in. We made a total of 23 jars/tubs of jam. This should last at least year - as I usually give quite a bit away as gifts. I really hope the kids will enjoy cooking and baking as they get older so I try to have them help with most meals daily even though it takes much more time and patience. Hopefully it will pay off and they will enjoy healthy foods as they grow (not that jam is "healthy"). To make all this jam it cost me only $13.00.

Marisss and Kyle cutting strawberries

The strawberry jam

We made 4 batches of jam total! 1 strawberry and 3 raspberry (thanks to all the frozen raspberries Paul's mom Sue hand picked for me last summer in Sequim and Aunt Pat gave me from her garden). They all turned out great.

Making raspberry jam

15 jars/tubs of rapsberry jam!

Easter Sunday

Christ is Risen! He is Risen Indeed!
What an amazing, holy day! I kept trying to remind myself and the kids throughout all the candy and playing what Easter is really about. That Jesus defeated death all for the sake of saving our souls. And without Him we wouldn't get to go to heaven and be with Him and our loved ones after we die. How sad life would be if it was only this short one here on Earth. We should be thankful everyday of the year that Jesus saved us and by believing and receiving his sacrifice we can all be live eternally in Paradise! There is nothing more important to us than to teach this to our children and that living their life with Jesus is more full filling than anything the "world" can offer.

We got the kids some gardening tools because they love to play out in my gardens.

We were so glad that so much of our family came to church with us on Easter. After church we (Paul's parents, Mom and Dad, Shay's family, Michael's sisters' family, Uncle Bob, Elizabeth and Sandra) all headed to Shay's house for great food. The kids all ran around like crazy - having so much fun together. They dyed more egg and then had an egg hunt in the rain - not that the kids cared one bit. It was super fun!

Judah, Ruby, Taylor, Luke, Marissa, Elly (Kyle missing)

Ruby and Marissa is their Easter dresses from Uncle Bob

Mariss and Kyle

Egg Hunt at Shay's (Marissa and Kyle)

Marissa, Taylor and Kyle

Easter Saturday

Our Saturday was a busy, fun-filled day. Marissa went to her friend Madeline's 7th B-day party in the morning. While she was there I took Kyle to the Easter egg hunt our church was doing with a couple other churches in the area. It was a HUGE turnout! Kyle got a couple eggs but mostly wanted to just play outside with his cousins and roll down the hill.

After we picked Marissa up from the party we headed to Paul's parents house in Oak Bay for Easter with them. It was also a big turnout :) We had tons of food, an egg hunt, a sack race, kite flying, bonfire, and huge ham dinner. And Marissa got to have a sleepover there with her friend Joana (a family friend's granddaughter). We had so much fun!

And The Winner Is....

PAUL!!!!

I am so incredibly proud of Paul, he is such a hard worker! He has worked at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard for about 8 years. He started as an apprentice, has worked in San Diego, New Hampshire, and Japan, and has worked his way up the ladder to becoming Supervisor of Shop 67 Nuclear Electronics for about 2 years now. He has put in a lot of time and energy into his job, and he loves it. We were so excited for him when we heard a few weeks back that his supervisor nominated him as "Supervisor of the Year". They held the ceremony on April 10th, and since he was a nominee he got to invite/bring his family. I (and the kids) felt so blessed to be there but Paul really didn't think he had a chance since he was up against 16 other shop supervisors and he had much less experience than any of them. He had no reason to think that though! For he won!

(click on the arrow to watch the video)

God has truly blessed him for his hard work and dedication. We can see the Lord working in our life and rewarding Paul for supporting his family and humbling himself. We just finished going through Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University through our friends, the Mills' church. We got out of debt, started a strict budget, sold our nicer vehicle and downgraded to a cheap minivan, sold our travel trailer, and started saving money as fast as possible. We haven't been ashamed to talk about it or give it up as we know that the more we build wealth the more we have to give away! Paul received a very generous amount from the shipyard for his award and we are so thankful to PSNS, and to his boss Jim, and to Jesus! We would never have the security we are so grateful for without any of them.

The conference center was so full, more than 600 people/workers attended the ceremony. Paul got to shake the hand of the Captain of the whole Shipyard who also handed him his award while they read a short excerpt from the nomination write-up on him.

Marissa was so sweet and mature about it. When Paul walked up with the other nominee's she said "I am so proud of daddy, if he wins I'm going to start crying!" And she did while she clapped as hard as she could, smiling nonstop! It was the sweetest thing. And she gave him the biggest hug ever. With both the kids hanging onto him, arms wrapped around his neck, while his boss and coworkers shook his hand congratulating him, I couldn't help but be overwhelmed with respect for Paul. He is an amazing husband, father, and man of God.

We spent the rest of the afternoon playing at the Bremerton Waterfront Park.

Then moved on to bowling with our friends the Mills who were so proud of Paul as well! They are such supportive friends and we are grateful to call them our brothers and sisters in Christ! I wish every couple had friends like them. They are always encouraging, praying for us, lifting us up when we need it, and celebrating with us!

(Kyle bowling)

Next we took our kids out for ice cream!

It was a wonderful day of celebrating Paul! I love you honey and we are so proud of you! Thank you for all you do for us! I thank you for the wonderful 14 years you have given me and so many more to look forward to!