Summer's Vacation Is Almost Here!

I can hardly believe that summer vacation is only a day away! My two oldest kids have one day left and then they'll be home all summer. A part of me is super excited to have more time with them to do fun projects, spend time in the pool and go on our summer family vacation. But the other part of me is a bit anxious about it.  I am a list maker and have made a list of fun projects but I also have a list of educational subjects to go over with them regularly so that they don't lose the knowledge and skills they've been working so hard at retaining this school year. Because seriously, anyone who takes an 80 day break from something is bound to lose or at least be a bit rusty at it when they return. My goal as a mother is to give my kids the best opportunity to be successful in life.  I believe that means teaching my kids about Jesus, giving them responsibility and showing them respect so that they will in turn respect others. And I'm hoping that in the process my kids make lasting loving memories during their childhood. Here is the summer list so far!

Homemade Laundry Detergent

I am always interested in new affordable ways to make my family healthier and to stretch our dollar further.  Whether that include food recipes, cleaning products, TV shows, exercise routines, etc.  With all of the toxins in our world due to chemicals for cleaning, pesticides and preservatives in our food I've decided to try out homemade laundry detergent.  My sweet friend Vanessa gave me the recipe that she's been using for quite awhile for her family.  One of her kiddos has skin sensitivity and this laundry recipe has done wonders for her.  So, I decided to give it a try... I am very sensitive to smells and I LOVE my Tide, Oxi Clean, Downy, and Unstoppables.  Wow, just typing out the cleaners I use makes it even more real just how much my family's skin is exposed to unnecessary chemicals.  Thankfully my family doesn't have any serious skin issues.  I made the laundry detergent and gave it a whirl... it smelled great! I've probably done about a dozen loads from clothing to towels to sheets and everything smells great.  I do kinda miss the Downy softener smell so on occasion I think that I'll add that but it is definitely much nicer on my pocket book than the cost of a huge jug of liquid tide from Costco.
Here is Vanessa's recipe that she shared with me:
2 1/2 cups Borax
1 cup Baking Soda
1 cup Fels-Naptha Bar (grated- use a cheese grater)
*All ingredients can be purchased at Winco
Mix everything together and store in a sealed container. Use 1/8 cup per load!

Thanks for stopping by! Enjoy!

Playroom Work In Progress

Our children's "playroom" is really our family room but in an effort to try and herd all of their toys into one area we call it the "play area".  In my last post I mentioned beginning to organize the toys into bins and laminating labels for each bin.  This new toy cabinet previously held our exercise equipment and was off limits to the kiddos.  But now it's their toy cabinet and I am hoping that clean-up will be easier for both the kids and me.  

As you can see it is still a work in progress, I need another bin for the extra toys on the top left and I need to do something about those electric cords inside the cabinet!  When that's done I'll post an updated photo. 

On a side note, often times I find it such a challenge to get any projects accomplished in a "timely manor" with four kiddos or when the hubby is on duty for 48 hours or more.  I don't know about you but I have a very long list of DIY projects that I'd LOVE to spend my time on but during this season of my life I've been entrusted to four beautiful children that require my undivided attention.  One day all too soon my kids will be all grown up and I'll want the chaos back and messy rooms back and the snuggles back.  Our days are precious.  This time is irreplaceable and a gift from God.  None of us know how long we have here on Earth and I believe that the two biggest resources we have are our time and our money.  I don't want to squander either of those so when I'm feeling unaccomplished I remind myself that I have been blessed with four children, a supportive husband and and a place that we call home.  The simple accomplishment of getting three meals on the table everyday can be just as successful as cleaning the whole house, completing a DIY project, keeping up with a bible study, getting to the gym, having a play date, etc, etc.  If you are having a challenging day just remind yourself that today is a gift and tomorrow isn't guaranteed, love the time you have and make the most of it.

Thanks for stopping by!

The Beginning of 2014's Projects

The last time I got on my blog was well over a year ago and I posted that I'd try and frequent my blog more regularly and then life happened and I never got back on.  Anyway, I've been making an effort to get several of my projects completed and crossed off of my "To Do" list.  Pinterest continues to amaze me and my list seems to be getting a lot longer as I'm sure everyone who loves Pinterest can feel my pain with the endless list of fun projects.

At the end of March I thought that it would be SO cool to try and get one project done a day... but really who was I kidding!  The first three days were a success but by day 4 I was still working on project three and I was swamped with my daily duties of motherhood and keeping up our household.  So, I decided that as I get a project done I'll share it on here so that I can look back on all of the fun or not so fun projects that I completed through out this year. 

Project one commenced on April 1st.  I made my girls a hair bow holder for their bathroom.  I had purchased all of the materials that I needed over a year ago (including the staple gun) but never made the time to actually do it until now.

Project two began on April 2nd.  I updated, consolidated and laminated our girls weekly chore chart.  I also made a chore chart for the upcoming summer.  When the kids are home all day our home can get a bit messy with toy clutter so during the summer our kids have extra chores.  I printed both the updated chore chart and summer chore chart back to back on card stock and then laminated it.  I don't like to waste laminating pouches so doing them back to back gives me two charts for the price of one thermal laminating pouch.
                                          FRONT                                                  BACK

Project three began on April 3rd but it took me longer than a day.  I organized and entered in the data from many many receipts into our Quicken program so that I could print out reports for our taxes.  It was not a fun project.  Next tax season I am hoping that I've kept up to date better so that it's not a huge time commitment like it was this year.

Project four began today, April 19th.  I am organizing our play area for our four kids.  I am organizing their toys into bins, printing labels on card stock and of course laminating them.  I only needed five labels but I created more for my girls room and my laundry room so that I didn't waste any laminating pouches.  I really love my laminator!  I'm not sure how long this project will take me but I'll post an update when I'm done and include a photo of the play area.

It's been a long time!

Wow! It's been a long time since I've entered blog land. We've been super busy with the girls in swimming, gymnastics and soccer.  And now that we are expecting another little one this coming September I've found myself exploring Pinterest and many fun ideas for the home and nursery.  In fact Pinterest has become my inspiration to start blogging again.  So, that being said  I hope to use this blog as a way of documenting our family's special occasions and funny stories as well as share my favorite recipes, DIY projects and craft projects.  I hope that everyone has had a happy and safe 4th of July!

Blog Update

I have been so busy I am rarely able to get on the computer to do anything other than check my email. But tonight I thought I'd do a little update.

This past weekend we celebrated Reilly's 9th birthday, watched her play in 3 soccer games, and the two little ones and I briefly went to Relay for Life to walk with Geege and Tim.

These past few months Ellie Mae has learned to army crawl, eat baby food, and has grown out of tons of clothes. She has also cut 2 new teeth and loves watching her sisters play.

Maddy is my little fire cracker. She is a very curious and determined little girl. She loves to color, play at the park, and watch as many shows of Dora, Diego, or Kai-Lan that she can get away with in one day. The picture below is one that I took today after she got her hands on her Desitin and rubbed it all over herself like it was a tube of lotion. (FYI: It was a bit of a challenge getting it off of her, out of her hair, and out of the carpet... it's oily)

I find that my days are consumed with feedings, diaper changes, giving baths, helping with homework, laundry, dishes, and general house cleaning. But I look forward to Wednesdays because my mom watches the girls while I meet up with a sweet group of ladies to discuss the bible (we're currently studying the book of Daniel).

Nick had shoulder surgery a couple of months ago and has recovered from it amazingly. He is still going to PT but he's made great progress! His current position at work is extremely time consuming... he's doing the job of 3 captains and he's been assistant coaching Reilly's Spring Select soccer team.

Well, that's it for the update... heading to bed!

Our New Changing Station

Okay, so I didn't want to buy another changing table because really, how long is Maddy going to be in diapers!? Right? Well one Sunday morning when I was getting Ellie Mae ready for church she had an "explosive diaper"... and when I say "explosive diaper" I mean explosive! As I was changing her WET diaper I was sprayed with the yellow seedy material well known to all breast feeding mothers. It went all over my clothes, our sheets, and the carpet below. As you can imagine we were late for church that morning. After this incident Nick highly encourage me to purchase another changing station if that's what I wanted... and I did. I found this really great changing station to match her crib.

One Month Old

Ellie Mae (October 8, 2009)

1st Wedding

Ellie Mae attended her first wedding on September 27th in Hermosa Beach.

Maddy loves...

playing on Ellie Mae's swing.

More Love from Our Family!

September 19-20, 2009

First Bath

Ellie Mae's first bath at home.

She is 3 days old (September 11, 2009).

Chillin on the Floor

As Reilly lay on the floor with her homework near her brand new baby sister, Maddy decided that she too wanted to have something to do on the floor near Ellie Mae... wow... three girls...
September 14, 2009

4 Days Old

Nick and I feel extremely blessed by The Lord and our friends and family and we are so thankful! During Ellie Mae's first month we had an outpouring of family and friends that called, stopped by, and dropped off meals for our family. We are so thankful to have each of you in our lives and love you all very much.
September 12, 2009

Ellie Mae

Creating several different versions of Ellie Mae's birth announcement was so much fun... I think I have five different announcements for her baby book! :)

Our Little Babies

Labor & Delivery

Ellie Mae Herndon was born on September 8, 2009. She weighed 9 pounds 5 ounces and was 20.5 inches long.
Nick and I went to my last doctor appointment at 8:45 a.m. that morning. I was 2 cm dilated and I had been having random contractions for the last 4 days. Shortly after we left the doctor's office my contractions began to come a little less randomly. At 11:25 I realized that I should probably start to keep track of them. At that time they were about 10 minutes apart for about an hour and then they dropped to 8 then 5 then 4 then 2 and finally fluctuated between 1 and 2 minutes apart. I called Nick at 2 p.m. and told him to come home. We left for the hospital around 3:45 p.m. As we were driving away from our home I realized that I hadn't eaten lunch. There was no way that I was going to give birth on an empty stomach! I remembered how labor intensive it was when I had given birth to Madeleine and I also knew that the hospital wasn't going to let me have any food. So, we stopped at Sequoia and Nick ran in to grab me a half turkey sandwich. We also went through the Taco Bell drive-thru so that Nick would be fueled up to help support me through the labor and delivery. We arrived at the hospital at 4:17 p.m. and I was 8.5-9.0 cm dilated... that meant I wouldn't be able to have an epidural. I wasn't happy about that piece of news. But an hour and 7 minutes later we had little Ellie Mae at 5:24 p.m.

Ellie Mae with Mommy & Daddy.Ellie Mae and Mommy.
Auntie Jill, Ellie Mae, and Mommy.
Reilly & Maddy excitedly waiting just outside the labor and delivery room.
Reilly posing proudly by her new little sister.

Reilly, Maddy, and Daddy.
Ellie Mae receiving her first sponge bath from one of the nurses.

Maybe one more day...

until we welcome our new little blessing from God into our family. This morning we had our last appointment before our due date (9/9/09). The doctor said that she thinks there's a high probability that I'll have the baby today or tomorrow. My contractions have been about 10 minutes apart for the last 40 minutes. As soon as I have contractions 5-7 minutes apart for an hour we will be heading to the hospital.

Hospital Gear

Packing for the hospital was one of the last things that I've done to prepare for our new addition. To be completely honest packing isn't my favorite thing to do, it usually takes me forever, and I always end up forgetting something (even when I'm using a list). Anyway, prior to packing I decided that I wanted Reilly and Maddy to have something special to wear at the hospital. So, I made "Big Sister" t-shirts for them and designed a little gender neutral onesie for the new baby. However, just in case we have another little girl I made a bow that matched the onesie and the nursery theme. :)

39 Weeks

I'm 39 weeks and ready to go! I can hardly wait till our new little one enters this world. I've been keeping busy with Maddy, Reilly & Nick, not to mention the responsibilities of our home and my crazy "nesting urges". I am so excited to meet our newest addition to our little family. And today I am hoping and praying that he or she comes soon (today if possible)!