Friday Five

1. I know it's only October, but I'm already SO excited about this summer's Vacation Bible School. And this is coming from the girl who absolutely dreaded doing a traditional VBS. The Holy Land Adventure we did with Hometown Nazareth last year was such a hit that we're gonna go to Babylon this year (figuratively speaking, of course) to learn all about Daniel! I've already got Matt thinking about the music, and I'm positive that it will be fantastic again. Hey, at least this year I won't have a 2-week-old baby when VBS starts.

2. I'm a talk radio nerd. Nerd. Avery isn't so much a fan though, so I don't get to listen to it nearly as much as I used to (it has since been replaced by Wee Sing Bible Songs, which might just make me go crazy, but that's another topic for another day). Anyway, yesterday after I dropped the munchkin off at Mother's Day Out, I tuned into a little bit of the Mark Davis show (love him!) and happened to catch him reading this article about Steve Jobs. Capitalism gets such a bad rap in the current administration, and I thought Kevin Williamson's take was spot on. If you're a nerd like me (or even if you're not), it's worth a read.

3. We got out Landon's doorway jumper and exersaucer this week! It's so weird to me that he's already old enough to use them, but he really seems to like having more to play with than just his toys on a blanket. He's growing way too quickly. It's almost time for us to start thinking about adding some solids into his diet. Slow down, little boy!!

4. I have a sugar problem. I like it. A lot. And Matt likes to bake. A lot. And then I end up eating like a whole pan of delicious brownies in two days because I'm home all day and it just taunts me from the kitchen. Add that to all the Coke I've been drinking lately, and it's no wonder that I can't get rid of the last of the baby weight. Plus I just feel like crap. My friend Kati posted today about doing the CrossFit Paleo challenge, and while I'm not quite crazy enough to take said challenge, we are going to be limiting our sugar intake around here. Starting today tomorrow. I'm tired of jiggling in all the wrong places.

5. Without going all Debbie Downer on you, it's been a pretty bad week around here. I'm battling nap times with a cute little boy, Nutmeg is driving me beyond crazy, Avery is so fun and sweet but still two, and I'm feeling pretty overwhelmed trying to keep up with all my commitments. Let's just say that I have cried melted down at least once every day since Monday. Poor Matt has been so sweet putting up with my insanity, but next week really needs to be a better one.

Hope you have a great weekend!

Ode to October

While I love the holiday season that runs from November to December, October is my favorite month in the entire year. Here's why:

• Amazing weather. Texas weather is perfect in October. We've finally made it through the crazy hot summer, and it hasn't gotten cold yet. I love the consistent 70s-80s and being able to keep our windows open. 

• Post-season baseball. The Rangers clinched the ALDS championship today! What makes this even better is that the ALCS is on Fox this year, so we can actually watch the games at home!

• Minimal stress. The holidays are approaching, but they're still too far away to really be freaking out about pleasing everybody and doing everything.

• Halloween Costumes and candy. I'm not a huge fan of all the creepy stuff that goes along with haunted houses, ghosts, and goblins, but I'm a sucker for kids in costumes, and if you know me at all, you know I can consume some serious quantities of candy.

• Pink! Breast Cancer Awareness month means I get to see my favorite color everywhere. Even when Matt's watching football.

• Pumpkin spice lattes at Starbucks. Enough said.

Happy October!

Avery-isms

This girl is a character. Her vocabulary and ability to form sentences has exploded in recent weeks, and if I don't write some of this stuff down, I'm afraid I'm gonna forget it.

{Frequent Sayings}

• "Play with me!" (Note: the tone in which she says this makes it impossible to say no)
• "I'm pretendin'..." or "it's pretend (fill in the blank, usually "fireworks," "Ranger game," "church," or "school")
• "Have a fun day, kids!"
• "No, I'm good." (in response to whether or not she needs something)
• "Whatever." (And she says this with such an attitude! I think we're in for a long road when she hits middle school [or maybe before-- eek!].)
• "I'm going to college when I grow up" and "I'm gonna play soccer when I get older." (We're not brainwashing her at all.)
• "Are you proud of me?" or "I did a good job!"
• "I'm a silly goose!" or "I'm just bein' silly."
• "Mommy, guess what." ("What, baby?") "I love you so much."
• "What's the deal?"

{Funny One Timers}

• Avery went through a phase where she would come jump on me in the mornings before I'd fed Landon, and um, it was a little painful and I would tell her so. One evening we were at my parents' house, and she kept asking my dad the same question over and over. It took us a few times to understand what she was asking, but while they were still saying, "Huh?" I realized that she was asking, "Grandaddy, do your boobs hurt?"
• I was playing with Avery in her room when Matt came up behind me and was trying to scare me. He was making the "shh" gesture so Avery wouldn't give away the surprise, but she didn't catch on and yelled, "Hi, Daddy!" Matt asked her if she knew what it meant when he held his finger pointing up over his mouth, and she answered (duh), "Pick your boogers!"
• "Mommy is gorgeous!" (I never mind when Matt teaches her flattery!)
• Avery loves to pray at the dinner table. Usually her prayers are simply, "Dear Jesus, thank you for our food, and thank you for our family. Amen." Aw, it's the sweetest thing. One night though, she added in, "Thank you for our peas." I wish I was thankful for peas!
• She also likes to pray before bed, and the other night she prayed, "Thank you for our Daddies and our Mommies and our Landons." 
• "Be quiet, Meggie! You're gonna wake up Landon!"
• Me: "Aw, Avery, you have Play Doh on your pants." Avery: (Looking at me seriously while putting her hand on my shoulder) "It's okay, Mommy. No worries."

Avery also has quite the song repertoire. She currently loves:

• Jesus Loves Me
• If You're Happy and You Know It
• Big House (yes, as in old school Audio Adrenaline)
• Beautiful One
• Hush Little Baby
• Bringing Home a Baby Bumblebee
• ...and anything else that has a melody. Seriously, this girl LOVES to sing.

Oh there are so many more quirky little things she says and does, but this list will have to suffice. I'm sure she'll give us even more to laugh about as we journey through life. For now though, we'll keep on enjoying her two-year-old musings.

A Girl and Her Bear

One of Avery's favorite things right now is knowing that she's getting a "special treat."

Usually said treats are things like ice cream at Chick-fil-a or eating dinner picnic-style in the living room, but this weekend, she got a really special treat from Nene and Pop Pop.

She got to go to Build-a-Bear! At first she was a little overwhelmed by all the choices, but she totally soaked in all the awesomeness after she made her bear selection.

She now takes Snoopy, the female koala bear, with her everywhere. It's a beautiful friendship in the making. (And yes, she insisted on naming her Snoopy.)

The rest of us had a great weekend too, complete with dinner at Chuy's, brownie ice cream sundaes, and lots of relaxed play time.

FINALLY asleep after being too excited to take an afternoon nap...

Looks comfortable, doesn't it? (p.s. He doesn't normally sleep in a bib.)

This picture should tell you everything you need to know about Matt.

We even had uneventful car minivan rides there and back (Landon slept the whole time, praise the Lord!). We had a great weekend with Matt's side of the familia, and we're excited that they're coming up this way next weekend for the State Fair!

Landon: 4 Months

Baby boy, you're getting some personality! You seem so laid back all the time (unless you're hungry), and you are just a happy little monkey!

• You had your 4 month checkup at the doctor today, and you're the size of an average 9 month old! You're 27 inches long, weigh 20 lb 4 oz, and have a head circumference of 17.5 inches. Dr. T just kept talking about how healthy you are, and you're right on track developmentally. You even did better with your shots this time (and I managed to hold it together, too).
• You're reaching for everything! Mostly you're obsessed with my hair, but you've started really playing with your toys now. You grab and shake them around, and you just smile every time you do.
• You just love that sister of yours. Any time she's around, you watch her every move. I'll admit that she is pretty entertaining (and it's safe to say that she adores you, too!).
• You're rolling over now! Well, kind of. You just roll from your back to your tummy, and you don't quite go all the way yet, but you half-roll often!
• You love to take baths. You kick and splash the whole time you're in the water. 
• You sit up pretty well. We don't have a Bumbo, but you do a pretty good job sitting when you're supported in our laps. I think we're gonna bust out the exersaucer soon. 

• We're still working on a good naptime schedule. It's a little tricky to be home all day for you to get two solid naps (we're usually gone in the mornings), but you do pretty well napping on the go. You even fell asleep playing on your little activity mat. You were wide awake, but I laid you down to play when you started to get fussy, and you just crashed. I felt bad that I didn't notice that you had gotten so tired, but you looked super sweet sleeping in the middle of the floor.

• You do still sleep well at night though! Tuesday night you went to bed at 7:30 and didn't wake up until 6:45 in the morning. I'd call that success. You do occasionally wake up to eat in the middle of the night, but you go right back to sleep. (And I actually enjoy the sleepy snuggle time.)
• You are just a sweetheart. We still love those squishy cheeks and that precious smile, and we're so proud to call you ours. 

Love,

Mommy and Daddy

Weekend Recap

{Friday}

Matt had early release for homecoming, so when he got home, I went up to the open soccer practice with (some of) my new team! We don't officially start until October 17, but we're allowed an informal practice on Fridays for an hour. Since the boys are still in season (and an old friend/classmate of mine is coaching them), we joined them for a full-field scrimmage. Let's just say that I'm still regretting my decision to play because my legs want to jump off of my body in rebellion. Ouch. Plus, I'm so out of shape that I was just embarrassingly slow, and my touch was atrocious. Oh well, I'm still really excited about this season.

On Friday night we went to the Ranger game!! My dad scored some good tickets from work, so they took us and we had so much fun! Duh, it's the Rangers. And we won!! Since we needed the Angels to lose in order to clinch the division, they told the fans that we could stay and watch their game on the big screen (since it was a two hour time difference). How cool is that?? We stayed for the fireworks, but there was no way Landon was gonna make it any longer, so we had to just listen to the Angels' defeat in the car. American League West champs, baby! And go figure that I forgot our camera.

{Saturday}

Matt had choir stuff in Coppell all day, so the kids and I went to my hometown's little "fair" thing. Then we went to play at my parents' house for a little while before heading home for naptime. Avery took a really long nap (we're talking almost 4 hours!) and Landon took a lot of shorter ones, so I had some nice down time and worked on the soccer calendar for this season.

Matt got home in time for some bubble fun outside before bedtime. The rest of the evening consisted of us singing while Matt played guitar. I also may have had a melt down over the cluttered state of our house. Don't worry, I slept it off. :-/

(I know this is a really unflattering picture of me, but I just love Landon's expression and his chubby little cheeks!)

{Sunday}

We had a great morning at church before going to my parents' for lunch. We decided to stay home from all extra church activities for the rest of the day because we have just been way too busy on Sundays. 

What a stud!

I did go with my neighbors Dave and Brooke to visit our other neighbors Cody and Whitney at the hospital with their brand spankin' new little boy, Heston. He's just precious! Landon looks like a giant next to him now, but I have a feeling they'll be causing neighborhood mischief together before long. We have the best neighbors!

Landon and I even tried out a different grocery store on our way home, and I'm still enjoying doing the grocery shopping on Sunday nights instead of Monday mornings.

It took Landon forever to finally stay asleep. He was probably upset because we found out that the Rangers tickets we finally ended up just giving away got upgraded to an all-you-can-eat suite. Go figure. But after Landon was down for the night, Matt and I dug into some ice cream and watched Friday Night Lights. Gosh, I love that show.

It was kind of a weird weekend, but today was a good Monday, so I can't complain. Have a great week!

Homemade Detergents

I've been intrigued by detergent recipes for the past year (both laundry and dishwasher), but they just intimidated me so much that I never had the nerve to try them.

And then we ran out of money.

Yes, that's my inner drama queen speaking since we're not really out of money (per se), but babies and toddlers (and husbands for that matter) create a lot of laundry and dirty dishes. The store-bought stuff is just plain expensive, so I just sucked up my fear and decided to try to make my own laundry soap and dish detergent.

Go big or go home, right?

I picked a couple tutorials from Pinterest and sent Matt to Walmart for supplies. Just for the record, I hate Walmart.

All of the needed supplies for both detergents totaled $14.85, and we hardly put a dent in most of it! (All we'll need to buy again when we run out of detergent is the Fels Naptha soap for the laundry and the citric acid for the dishes.)

This isn't an official tutorial, but I figured I could at least list the instructions on here so you don't have to go back to their original sources.

Avery is at the age that she wants her hands in everything I'm doing, so of course she had to help! It took us about an hour to make both detergents with her help, but she had a blast!

(Matt called while we were grating, and she was so into helping that she wouldn't even stop what she was doing to talk on the phone. She's already a little multi-tasker.)

 {LAUNDRY SOAP}

I used this blog tutorial, and it was so easy. I'm a little annoyed with how intimidated I was because it was a piece of cake. If you click on the link, you can take a look at her step-by-step pictures, but sometimes it's just easier to see it all written together.

You'll Need:

1 bar Fels-Naptha bar soap
1 cup Borax
1 cup Washing Soda
1/4 cup Baking Soda

 

1. Finely grate the entire Fels-Naptha bar soap.  I grated mine first using a hand grater, then put it in a food processor to finish it off. I didn't grate it as finely as I should've, so make sure you keep it in your processor for long enough.

2. Add 1 cup Borax.

3. Add 1 cup washing soda.

4. Add 1/4 cup baking soda.

5. Stir well.

6. Place in an airtight container.  Use 2 tablespoons per regular load of laundry.

See how easy that was?!? We've been using our new laundry soap for a couple weeks now, and our clothes look and smell so clean! I really can't tell a difference from the store bought stuff.

{DISH DETERGENT}

The tutorial I used for this one was really simple, too.

You'll Need:

1 cup Borax

1 cup baking soda

1/2 cup kosher salt

1/2 cup citric acid*

*Theoretically you can find straight up citric acid in the vitamin section of your store, but Matt said he couldn't find any at Walmart. Stupid Walmart. So as a substitution, you can use either "Fresh Fruit" from the canning aisle or 15 packets of lemon Kool-aid. We used store brand Kool-aid packets.

1. Mix all ingredients together.

2. Place in an airtight container. Use 1 tablespoon per load.

3. We've also been putting white vinegar in the rinse aid holder of the dishwasher.

We've actually been looking at new dishwashers for awhile now because our dishes just hadn't been coming out clean for the past year. Matt tried all sorts of dishwasher cleaning tricks, and I tried multiple brands and types of detergent, but nothing helped so we assumed our dishwasher was just crappy. The first load we ran with this stuff turned out spotless. So did the second and third and fourth, and well, you get it. I highly recommend giving it a try. It doesn't look like it makes all the much, but when you only use a tablespoon per load, this stuff will last you forever.

And there you have it, folks! It's gotta be the easiest way I know of to save a few bucks around the house, AND you'll know exactly what's going on your dishes and clothes. Try it!