A Little Bit Of Life

Mr. Jonathan is doing great. I think he has gone from getting a few time outs a day to getting just a few a week. Our modified diet is going great for him. He's always been such a good eater. He loves his veggies, and he has never refused to try anything. He may not like it, but he will at least always try it once, and that is perfectly fine with me. We love Summer Reading time at the library, and we almost read our 600 pages for home, and I think they have both exceeded that at daycare. Mike and I have been reading The Magic Treehouse books to Jonathan at bedtime. We are on book #10 and he is loving them. I think reading chapter books with minimal pictures is really helping him to focus on the story you are telling him and he is doing great with it. We ahve also been reading his Bible Stories for Boys book, and he loves learning about the Bible and listening to the different stories. His favorite place to go right now is Nana and Papa's cabin, he loves going up to spend the night and go to the beach. He is getting much more adventerous in the water this year, he is real interested in learning how to swim but still kind of afraid. He will however let his lifejacket holdhim up and he'll play around and try to swim. Soccer and tennis season are both done and he had a great time. I think he has a little more interest in tennis, I may try to find him indoor lessons to take this fall. He will be starting preschool this fall, I'll admit I am a little nervous, however excited to buy school clothes and a cute little backpack. So sad though to think that once he starts school, he is not going to stop until he graduates. The kids have been going to Bible School every Wednesday night and they are loving it. Filled with music, activities, and stories. They even end the night with a campfire. I love hearing Joanthan tell me the new verses they are learning and hearing him sing new songs. He asked me last night if he would meet new friends in preschool like he does at Bible School, when I told him yes, his reply was "Good, I like to meet new friends and see all the different colors of their shirts". Love that little man.

(And the scrape on his nose, yea, that was from book surfing)

Miss Lilah is finally starting to say a few more words. Not to mention growling at her friends to scare them. Who could be afraid of little ol' Lilah you say? Well she has made a few of them cry. Joanthan went through a growling phase around the same age, maybe my kids just like to let their inner animal out. She LOVES playing with her baby's and feeding them, and us. She has a new baby doll, Mater Kangaroo (named by Jonathan), and her other baby's name is "Joey" (also named by Jonathan). I can't believe she is going to be 2 in less than a week. Went from this little baby hooked up to a monitor to a very adventurous little lady. Still struggling to get just about any form of vegetable in her, so I make secret smoothies every other day and fill them with kale, zucchini, cucumber, or whatever veggies I have handy. She has liked most of them and drank them just fine. Makes me happy. Add a little fruit and yogurt in there and she has no clue. Pretty soon I will no longer have any babies :( I think when you turn two you are automatically a toddler, I am not ready for that. Lilah als has a lot of interest in going pee, she'll tell me she has to go, and run to the potty real fast, yet she never goes. Just wants so sit there, FOREVER, and use lots of toilet paper. It's becoming a wasteful hobby. Secretly, I could care less if she potty trains anytime soon. Then I would not have anyone to put in her cute little cloth diapers. She is getting a doll house for her birthday from us, the Fisher Price Loving Family dollhouse. I can't wait. I just may take it out of the box and play with it myself. She is going to love it. Lilah will also be starting "preschool time" at daycare this fall. She has done a good job listening at Bible School and paying attenting so I hope she will really enjoy it and soak it all up. Maybe even add a few new words. I know, once she starts really talking she will never stop.

So that's it. Not much new, kids just keep growing. We just keep feeding them!

All You Ever Wanted To Know About Your Armpits

Mike thought I had totally gone crazy last week when I told him what I made while I was home with sick kids. Everytime I make or do something new, he thinks I am becoming a hippie.

For a few years now I have been trying to find a deoderant that would work for me, that did not contain aluminium. That has been a losing battle. Every time I tried a deoderant different from my trusty "Secret", I seemed to stink a bit. They didn't work for me. So I just kept on using Secret.

It worked, don't get me wrong, but I was very concerned about what was in it. There are studies showing that the aluminum in deodorant can travel throughout your body after being absorbed and has been known to cause cancer. I know what you may say, doesn't everything cause cancer these days? And that is a big yes!! Because everything is so processed and artificial, what do you think all those things are made of? Chemicals. Anyways, I will do anything I can to eliminate my family's exposure to them. And this is one small way to do it.

So back to making my deoderant, I ran across this recipe from Passionate Homemaking and it looked easy to do, and we had all the ingredients.

Ingredients

7 tbs coconut oil (this is in a liquid form over 76 degrees, and a solid if it is cooler)

1/4 cup baking soda

1/4 cup cornstarch

5-10 drops of essential oil (we use tea tree)

I mized together the powdered ingredients and then added the coconut oil mixing and tea tree oil. I stirred it with a wooden spoon until it was completly mixed together and pasty. After I got it mixed, I set it on the warm stove to melt a little. It removed any air bubbles and smoothed out the top filling in all the little spaces. Then I put it in the refridger to solidify. I took it out after an hour or so and it has been solid since. We keep the jar in our bathroom or bedroom.

It was so easy to do. Took literally just a few minutes, and now have a jar of completly natural deoderant. I put it in a small canning jar, because we have a lot of them, and just scoop out a little every morning. You can also put it in an empty deoderant container. I might try that next time. I just thought it looked nicer in a jar.

And my armpits smell lovely, if I do say myself. I have been using it over a week now with complete success. No end of the day stinky armpits, we even went up to the cabin last weekend and it was a complete success after being in the sun all day with no air conditioning. Even with Secret I would have been stinky by then :)