Being Outside

Yard work, the zoo and playing with water in the backyard. 

Just a few of the things we've been doing outdoors lately.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DIY Dishwasher detergent

I'm back with my next diy switch!

I've heard lots of people talk about making their own laundry detergent {which I will be doing once ours is out} so it got me thinking about finding a recipe for dishwasher detergent.

One Google search later and I found this recipe from diynatural.com. 

It seemed simple, cheap and promising. 

Kosher salt, washing soda, borax, citric acid, vinegar, and a container to store it all in.

I bought every needed ingredient at Kroger except for the citirc acid which I found at Brighter Day, a natural foods store in Savannah.

You can also find it online. 

Homemade Dishwasher Detergent: 
1 cup borax
1 cup washing soda
1/2 cup citric acid
1/2 cup kosher salt

And the white vinegar is added to your rinse aid compartment in place of Jet-Dry.
{We actually hadn't been using anything for this before now}

So from here I just combined all of the ingredients together in an old Trader Joe's coffee can and shook it up.

 1 cup Borax

 1 cup of washing soda

 1/2 cup of citric acid
*On diynatural.com they recommended using double this amount for hard water.  Since we DO have hard water I may try this next time.

 1/2 cup of kosher salt

*Just as they recommended, to avoid clumping caused by the citric acid, I let the detergent sit out on the counter for a few days and stirred it several times each day. Even though I did this, over time large clumps did form so I simply dumped the entire mixture into my blender one day and blended all the clumps out and haven't had any since.

Make a nice label for it so no one gets confused.

And you only use 1 tablespoon per load! 

 That didn't seem like it would be enough but surprisingly it is. 

We've been using this detergent for over a month and it's worked great for us.

I would definitely recommended trying it if you're looking to save some money--this one is a no-brainer! 

There's a breakdown on the post for you here. 

Happy washing :)

Spring At Our House

Making Colors

Recently I discovered an extremely fun way for Cambria to explore and learn more about colors. 

All you need: food coloring + water!

It can get a bit messy, so I just have her in clothes I don't care about or I just strip her down. 

{But actually Cambria loves being naked so usually I don't have to do anything}

I fill a bunch of small glass bowls with water and let her go at it. 

 We can make primary colors or mix the primary colors to make new colors.

Cambria loves learning new things so seeing two colors make one is an absolute thrill for her.

Plus she just loves being able to squeeze and play with something that seems like it should be off limits.

Perfect way to teach light, medium and dark.

Her favorite thing to do {and mine} is to make a rainbow.

Of course.

Running +2

This is what it looks like when I run with babies. 

Excuse me, I mean one baby and one princess. 

"No I princess!" is what Cambria says when she is referred to as a baby.

While I do prefer running alone, I also enjoy taking them out on the trail for some fresh air and nature watching.

Plus pushing 80+ pounds of baby and stroller makes my run more challenging, which I like.

Stopping at an obstacle.

Their reward.

On a random note, can you tell which of these two peppers are organic and bought at the farmers market compared to the one non-organic bought at Kroger? Yeah, kinda makes you think...

Simple Cloth Wipes Soultion

Living a natural and {relatively} simple life is important to me.  Recently I've started working on being more conscious of needs vs. wants, wasting very little, and always being mindful about how we treat our bodies.  Along with all that,  I've also started trying to replace items I normally buy in stores with the homemade version.  Things like cleaning products, beauty products and some staple food items we eat all the time {hummus, jam, bread, etc}.  It just feels better making things I could easily buy. 

The first item I made the switch with was our cloth wipes solution.  We have always used this Kissaluvs wipes solution.  We would mix a small amount of the solution with water that we would then spray on baby's butt to help clean and protect their sensitive skin when we wipe.  While it is all natural and contains simple ingredients it's a bit pricey and I knew I could make something similar for less $$$.  So I found a recipe in an e-newsletter from Jillians Drawers and decided to give it a try.  I know most people don't care to know the recipe, but I want to save it somewhere and blogging it seems perfect for that. So here it is! 

What you need:

2 cups of distilled water {I now just use filtered water from our fridge so it doesn't add any cost}

2 tablespoons of baby oil {I'm going to start using olive oil after all the baby oil is gone because it's more natural and beneficial for the skin}

1 tsp. of your favorite liquid baby soap.  We have always used Burt's Bees but recently switched to California Baby to try it out.

2-5 drops of tea tree oil

 

 

I just fill the gallon with water, add the needed amounts of each ingredient, and then shake it up.  We store the big gallon under the changing table and refill our spray bottles as needed. I like this solution more than the old one we used and I'm sure in the long run it will save us money. 

Until my next DIY switch.... :)

Happy Birthday Sweet Amber

Happy 21st Birthday Amber!!! 

I had so much fun celebrating your big day today {well, yesterday now}

You're such a kind person and I just love love love having you as a sister.

Always keep that pretty smile of yours :)

10 little thoughts

1. Ezra loves turtles.  And anything else that moves, crawls, walks, flies, swims, drives, etc.  He is interested in the world around him in a way that's different than Cambria ever was.

he's also got some dirty feetsies.

 2. Don't ever buy this stuff.  I got it a while back to make some vegan carrot cupcakes and couldn't believe how nasty it was.  It wasn't bad in the frosting, but by itself it really tastes terrible.  Plus, I'd rather just eat butter and sugar than all the weird ingredients in this stuff. 

3. Ezra also loves getting into our recycling about 10 times a day.  The boy gets.into.EVERYTHING.

4.  We are officially in that weddings-all-the-time age group.  We've gotten 7 invites this year already! This one is for Erin & Kevin's wedding. So excited for them!!

5. Having one of these can really help you drink more water.  I take mine almost every time I leave the house and find myself filling it up several times a day.

6.  Cambria only wears dresses now.  A few months ago I started letting her pick out her own clothes and recently she's been picking only dresses. She likes to layer them with things that don't match and I love it! Easy way for her to be creative and to express herself.

7.  Buying pieces of clothing that I love has become important to me.  When I {hardly ever} shop I usually ONLY buy clothes on the sale rack and oftentimes settle for things that are the best deal regardless of whether I really love them or not. Recently though I've made a few purchases that aren't necessarily on sale but that I look and feel great in.  It's amazing what a cute dress or skirt can do for your self confidence.

The dress I wore to a wedding this past weekend. LOVE this dress!!  AND I went back to Express yesterday for a price adjustment and made 28 bucks!!! Woo!

8. Chia seeds are amazing.  Have you ever read about their nutritional benefits? I saw a big bag of them at the Savannah Food Co-op and decided to try them on a whim.  A little research later and I'm going to start putting them on everything! Someone else really loves them too...

9. Target got new buggies.  It was a very exciting day.

 10. My children love to dance. Here's proof.