How quickly time flies! As I sit here enjoying Little Buckaroo's afternoon nap (not typical) I am reminded of how much has changed these last few years. Most of this reminiscing is due to the fact that ten years, TEN YEARS, have passed since that tragedy that shook our nation. At the time I was in the early years of high school and not yet in the "real world". Now that I am living in the "real" world I am humbled by how quickly things can change. I am reminded of the song, "Held" by Natalie Grant. That is exactly it-all of us are just being held by God....and God has given me my children to hold for a time but the truth is, they are completely in His arms. Times like this make me really treasure all those I hold dear....every moment is a blessing <3

I know, I know....its been forever, right?

No excuses!

I wanted to share some things I am about to try this week:

1. making my own dish detergent (http://www.diynatural.com)

• 1 c. borax ($2.19 for 55 oz box)
  
• 1 c. washing soda ($4.99 for 76 oz box)
  
• 1/2 c. citric acid or LemiShine
  
• 1/2 c. kosher salt ($1.99 for 48 oz box)
  
• white vinegar as rinse agent
• **$2.28 for a 24 oz batch** most store bought are about .14 cents a load but this one is 0.05 cents a load)
  

1. making my own laundry detergent (http://diynatural.com)

• Borax ($2.89) 1 box=10 batches
  
• Arm and Hammer Super Washing Powder ($2.77) 1 box=7 batches
  
• 1 bar of soap
  
• a 5 gal bucket ($3.50)
• **$1.78 for 10 gallons or 640 loads (about $0.05 a load)** most store bought are about $.21 per load
  

3. fabric softener

• 1 bottle of favorite liquid softener
• a sponge cut in half
• water
• **you throw a rung out sponge in the dryer so would last years!**
  

1. cleaning supplies (http://www.thefamilyhomestead.com)

Some things that I have been trying:

1. couponing with The Saving Life (http://www.thesavinglife.blogspot.com)

I went to a couponing class and found several good web sites. I asked my mom and grandma to save me insert from the newspaper (specifically SmartSource and RedPlum) I also subscribed to All for You. The Saving Life tells you which SS (Smart Source), RP (RedPlum), or AFY (All for You) so if there is a good sale on something they will tell you to use a coupon from a few weeks ago. They do all the hard work for you-you just have to save them in a file and go back in find them!

1. budget meal plan with E-mealz (http://www.e-mealz.com)

E-mealz is a really great way to facilitate the sales and it makes A LOT of food! It provides 5 meal options that I usually split in to two disposable square cake pans. When the second one cools I put in ziploc freezer bag and pull back out a month later to heat. So on average the plan is 70-80 a week which equates to 2 weeks for us! It gives you all the recipes on one page and a shopping list broken down in to the sections of the store. I LOVE IT-print it off and go shopping!

Words at 15 Month:

• Momma
• Daddy
• Sissy
• dog
• car, car, car
• tractor
• spoon
• straw
• fire "fire go off"
  
• juice
• bottle
• paci
• blankie
• shoes
• outside "go side"
  
• off
• on
• hot and not hot
• cold
  
• kitty
• Mar Mar
• M-eee (Emery)
• baby
• ball
• tree (at Christmas would say "pretty tree")
  
• rough
• smooth
• potty (as he walks in to the bathroom!)
  
• grass
• please
• cheese
• book
• brush(tooth brush and hair brush)
  
• bye bye
• hi
• uh oh
• Poppa (for men with beards)
  
• duck
• fruit
• Na Na (Nate-little boy his age next door)
• Jo Jo (little girl who stay at sitter with him)
• water
• thank you
  

These are words that he makes approximations that some people may not recognize, lol, but says consistently without being prompted.

He will repeat a lot of words but the above words are identifying
objects on his own.

What we are up to these days:

• will go to bath tub when I say "bath"
• " " high chair " " "eat"
• " " door " " "outside"
• responds to "stop" and "no"
• says "no no no" in response to unwanted but mostly incorrectly
• loves to push around his Little Tike car
• loves to go outside (always going to door and asking "side? side"")
• when I go in to get him in the morning he smiles and hands me his blanket and says, "blankie" and then "paci" since that is what i do every mornin

Lil Buckaroo got his car back

Sweet girls!

tickles from Momma

Lil Buckaroo not so sure about sharing Sissy

Reading

"Moi"

"M-ee, just scoot over a lil bit"

"Paige would you please let me drive?!"

looking like a gentleman

This is why i left my kids at home and went to spend time with
Emery alone-I got one picture between Lil Angel holding her!

These are some older pictures I found on my Mom's camera

This is awhile back when Emery Claire came over to play for the afternoon. I rarely have a day off that is different from my sister so I jumped at the opportunity to watch her! Lil Buckaroo loves his cousin and just wanted to be right there. I know it looks like he is taking her toys but he would show her how it worked and handed it back!