Birthday Weekend

Whoa! Watch me go, two posts in one day. Maybe I am just procrastinating all the house work that is calling my name. I had the best birthday a couple of weeks ago even if it meant I am now a year older. Yes I am old but I am going to live in denial for as long as possible. Anyway, after a great day, Matt and I went to PF Changs for dinner. One of my favorite places to go. We didn't make reservations due to the fact that our babysitter didn't know exactly when she could be at our house. Really our wait wasn't that long but the manager seated us and apologized for the wait saying that it had been a crazy night. Through talking he found out that it was a babsitter night and my birthday. He then told us that in that case, dinner was on him. We laughed thinking that he was joking. A little later he came back by and told us that he was being serious. Awesome!!! Something like that never happens to us. How cool is free PF Changs?

After that we finished the day at another of my favorites....Starbucks. I just walk in that place and I'm happy! I have heard wonderful things about their coffee cups and my dear husband bought me one to along with the Starbucks gift cards he had given me at dinner. Let me just say, this is worth every penny. It keeps your drink piping hot forever and it's yet another of my favorites....wait for it......yep, it's RED! Is it wrong to love a wordly possession so much?

I do need to add that Matt had also taken me a few days before and bought me my first pair of "real" boots. I love them! How cool are they?

My sweet kids had made me stepping stones for our flower beds. I love that kind of thing. They were so proud to give them to me. Early the next morning, Matt and the kids loaded up to go to my parent's house so Matt could go hunting. I had over 24 hours to myself and that hasn't happened in 5 years! I have to admit, I loved it. I went to Affair of the Heart with a good friend on Saturday and found a few things that I couldn't live without. What an amazing weekend. Feels so good to be loved!
So this is the only pic I have. For some reason I just didn't take any pics the day of. Must be my old age setting in! I promise, no more blogging today. I'm off the face the long " to do" list. Wish me luck!!!

Homemade Laundry Soap

I never have been one to make New Year's Resolutions but this year I am vowing to do a better job of blogging. On that note, I have been wanting to do a post on how to make homemade laundry soap for months now. So finally here it is!!! Contain yourselves please!

Seriously, this is so easy and so CHEAP. My boys both have eczema and have to have sensitive soap and this stuff is perfect for it. It takes no time at all to make and it makes so much you don't have to do it very often at all.

Homemade Liquid Laundry Soap- Front or top load machine- best value

4 Cups - hot tap water
1 Fels-Naptha soap bar, you can use ivory also
1 Cup - Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda* I found this at a local grocery store.
½ Cup Borax

- Grate bar of soap and add to saucepan with water. Stir continually over medium-low heat until soap dissolves and is melted.

-Fill a 5 gallon bucket half full of hot tap water. Add melted soap, washing soda and Borax. Stir well until all powder is dissolved. Fill bucket to top with more hot water. Stir, cover and let sit overnight to thicken.

-Stir and fill a used, clean, laundry soap dispenser half full with soap and then fill rest of way with water. Shake before each use. (will gel)

-Optional: You can add 10-15 drops of essential oil per 2 gallons. Add once soap has cooled. Ideas: lavender, rosemary, tea tree oil.

-Yield: Liquid soap recipe makes 10 gallons.

-Top Load Machine- 5/8 Cup per load (Approx. 180 loads)

-Front Load Machines- ¼ Cup per load (Approx. 640 loads)

Halloween Weekend

I know, I am playing catch up but better late than never, right? Anyway, we took the trailer and went camping at Marval Resort outside of Gore, Oklahoma. A couple of friends took their trailers also and meet us there. Our campsite was right on the Illinois River and was absolutely beautiful. I felt like I had left our crazy world behind and entered a different world. The trees with their leaves turning colors, children playing everywhere, people fishing, carving pumpkins, participating in all kinds of Halloween traditions. This place is the neatest place. They have a swimming pool, outdoor movie theater, hiking trail, playground, mini golf and an activity center with activities for the kids. I can't even begin to think how many hours Mia and Maddox spent fishing. I had no idea at how good they do casting their own poles.

On Saturday evening there was a costume contest for the kids, pets, and adults. And nope, our firefighter, red lego, and ballerina were not among the winners. Although I heard more than one person say that the lego should have won his age bracket. Then when that was all over, we went trick or treating to all the trailers and cabins. There were lots of people that had even decorated their sites and some really went all out.

We left on Sunday and made it home in time to unpack and leave to eat dinner with some good friends and go trick or treating in their neighborhood. Such an amazing weekend and by the end of it we were all wore out!

Freezer Cooking Day

I had a freezer cooking day today. This makes life so much easier. It takes one full morning and you have some meals to fall back on when you are busy and don't have the time to cook. In the picture is everything minus one baked ziti which we are going to eat tonight and two batches of whole wheat chocolate chip pancakes. Pictured is 20 brown bag burritos, 2 cheeseburger meatloaves, 2 baked zitis, 2 spaghetti pies, and 1 chicken spaghetti. I was going to make blueberry muffins also but didn't plan well and ran out of eggs. I could have easily made a few more meals but at the moment our deep freeze is at maximum capacity.

While it is a lot of work for one morning, I love freezer cooking. I like to keep muffins that I can pull out and put in the kids lunches or use for a quick breakfast. Another time saver is to make a batch of cookies and freeze the dough balls. Then I can pull a few out for an afternoon snack. The kids of course love it and there aren't leftover cookies to be hanging around for me to eat! Another idea is when you are making dinner, make a double batch and freeze the second one. If you are going to all the work anyway why not make a little more. Yet another idea is to brown ground beef, turkey or sausage then freeze. You can also add taco seasoning to your ground beef or turkey and have it ready for tacos or other mexican dishes. So easy!

Hawaii Part 2

I think I have figured out the difficulties I was having uploading pictures. I wanted to share some pics from Maui. I truly loved it there. It was so beautiful and lacked the tons of concrete and people that Waikiki had. We found a mexican restaurant there that was amazing. It was right by the ocean and the food was the best. We actually ate there twice we liked it so much. Matt's coworker was in Hawaii vacationing with her husband after she had been in the Philippines with Matt. We had gone with them to Pearl Harbor the first full day we were in Hawaii. We had such a great time with them. I have told you all of this just to say that our second visit to this restaurant as we were leaving they were coming in. What are the chances?

This pic was from the Luau that we did while on Oahu. We enjoyed it. The food was really good. We were both good and tried everything. Somethings we liked and some well.....
This was in Maui. People were just stopped everywhere along the beach to watch it. Amazing. Being there in person was incredible. God can sure paint an incredible sunset and I feel so blessed that I got to witness it. I fell in love with a few other things in Hawaii as well. Besides all the beauty, I found White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Ice Cream. Really, no words. Worth every expensive penny. Coconut syrup. As big of pancake eaters as we are in our house, I am not sure why we didn't bring any home. Fresh pineapple frozen yogurt......thank you Dole! And of course, coffee, it was so wonderful there, another thing I am not sure why I didn't bring any home. One thing that I did not try however was the spam and rice that McDonald's offered for breakfast.

We got to see and do so many things. Something that I love about us is that we aren't afraid to venture out and see what we can find. I think that we got to see and do so much more because of this. What a great trip and a wonderful way to celebrate ten years of marriage!

I'm Back!!!!

After surviving the not so fun month of Matt being in the Philippines, I got to spend 10 days in Hawaii with my man. We had been planning a trip to celebrate our upcoming 10th anniversary, when this trip presented itself to us. Thank goodness I have an amazing mom who was willing to put her busy life on hold to come take care of our kids and their crazy schedules. The kids of course loved it and I have been informed that GG makes the best lunches ever!

So we went to the island of Oahu for the bulk of our time. We spent a day at Pearl Harbor, went around the whole island, saw a sea lion swim past us as we were watching sea turtles, laid on beautiful beaches, tried some new foods, and went to a luau. We flew to Maui to spend a few days. We loved it there! It is way more laid back and so beautiful. We drove the highway to Hanna, ate at some great places, stopped at some roadside stands, and decided we for sure would come back some day!

The biggest thing that happened on our trip is that the first time since we have had children we had a real trip together, enjoyed days of uninterrupted conversations, and were able to eat in peace. We had such a great time and even though we missed the kids terribly, we hated it to end.


I'll try to post more pics soon!

He shoots, He scores!!!!

That's right folks. Madi made his first goal ever today. Both of the kids played their games at the same time today. Fortunately their fields were right next to each other so I took turns going from one to the other. Both of them scored a goal and I got to see them both. I just wish I could have been filming when Maddox made his goal, it was seriously priceless. I love watching my kids play.

I am not talented when it comes to computer business and since the person who helps me with it is out of this country, this picture will be sideways. Sorry but I think you can tell what I was getting at. For those of you who knew me in high school and college you will know why I had to take this picture. I was always #00 and now my kids are too! One time Mia asked me "why do I always have to have #00?" and I had to explain that it is the best number. I don't think she bought it but continues to humor me.