We started taking Jonathan to Sunday school about a month ago, he is still a little hesitant when we leave him, but he is learning so much and has a good time if you ask him when we pick him up. Lilah goes to the nursery too, a few tears at first, but then she does pretty good. Jonathan's teacher, and the ladies in the nursery are awesome. We really love the church a lot. Mike is transfering his membership over, and I am acutally taking a class that starts in a few weeks to become a member.
Last weekend we took the kids to an Easter Egg hunt at our Church. They had a great time finding eggs, making crafts, playing games, listening to stories, and eating treats. It was really nice that we were all able to go, as Mike is working all weekend, including Easter.
Warning, all the photos below are completely uncropped and unedited, yea, that's my new thing. Snapshots. I really don't take enough.
Over the last few months, I have been trying to find ways to make things better for my family, and save us some money as well. There are two major things that have changed, and have made a big impact.
1. I have made all of our bread for the past 2 months
2. I made laundry detergent
1. I picked up a breadmaker at an excellent price and decided I would no longer buy bread from the store. Normally I tried to spend as little as possible, and would often pick up the $1 loaf from Kroger, even better sometimes I would get it marked down to .50 . Decent price for a loaf of bread. But do you know what is in it? Either do I.
Right now, I can tell you exactly what is in the bread used to make my kids sandwiches. 3 1/2 cups of whole wheat flour, 2 tbs mollasses, 1 egg, 1 1/3 cups of water, 1 tbs honey, 2 tbs dry milk, 1 1/4 tsp salt, and 1 1/2 tsp yeast.
Literally, it takes about 2 minutes to put the ingredients in the bread maker. Every single loaf I have made has turned out great. I make about 2 loafs a week. We have tried French Bread, Country White, Graham, Whole Wheat, Sourdough, French Baguette, and I have even made hotdog and hamburger buns.
It's better for you, and cheaper. It's a win, win situation.
2. Even though we currently have around 10 bottles of Tide and All in our laundry room, it's going to run out someday. Eventually, I am sure it will. Even though each of those bottles were purchased for less than $2 (most around $1), it still adds up. Even though we use cold water to wash most of our clothes, they still fade a lot. I have been wanting to do this for a while, so I researched a few recipes and decided to make my own laundry detergent.
It was much simpler than I imagined.
1 bar of soap (grated)
1/2 cup Borax
1 cup Washing Soda (not baking soda)
We used Ivory soap because I had 3 free bars, and I made a triple batch. You only need to use 1-2 tbs per load. So far it has been working great. The clothes are coming out clean and smelling good. I think the next batch I make I am going to use Fels Naptha soap. I bought a bar, I think it will help keep Mike's work shirts clean and the kids clothes.
It's simple, and a great way to use up some of the free bars of soap I can get with coupons.
My next goal is to make dish detergent, when my last 8 boxes run out.
Not too much new to say here. Mr. Jonathan got a new bed this week. The bottom bunk of of the set of beds Becky and I shared when we were little. The top will be soon to come. Both of the kids love climbing and playing on it. We thought it would be a good time to get rid of the night time Pull-Ups, Jonathan has been potty trained during the day since he was 2 1/2, but we can't seem to stay dry overnight. The first night went okay, we got up and took him to the bathroom at 10, 12, 3, and 5. Stayed dry. The following 3 nights though he wet the bed, I guess we need Pull Ups a little longer at night. He has been wanting to learn how to spell EVERYTHING, and he can read a few words. Did a great job helping me make French Toast this morning, he pretty much did everything. Following these pictures, I found him in his camo pants, a Detroit Lions jersey, wearing his Lightning McQueen backpack (filled with his camera and playfood), wearing his guitar, pushing a pink shopping cart filled with his Linus Blanket. I love this man.
My little gymnast. Today, she has been obsessed with the kitchen table. Seriously, I can't hide all 5 chairs. She will climb up on a chair when I am not looking, and from there on to the kitchen table. I have rescued her from the laundry basket, a stool she got up on in the bathroom and couldn't get down, climbed up on the toilet and could not get down, climbed in to a very small plastic bin that holds her Legos and could not get out (3 times today), standing on her rocking horse and could not get down, and she climbed under her brothers bed and could not get out, and tried fitting in her baby stroller, on top of the baby. I really do love this stage though, good or bad she is learning so much.
We have really been trying to find new ways to save money this year, and earn money. As most of you know, I am an avid coupon user. I get coupons from the paper, print them from online, and even tie coupons to my Kroger card. I have also had a Upromise account from before either of the kids were born, and it is attached to my Kroger and CVS card. I had it tied to a friends account, and when I purchased certain items, it would make a contribution to her kids college funds. I have since added my kids and I am still using it. Little by little, it helps to save for their college. I want to be able to pay for at least half of the kids college without having to take out any loans or use credit cards.
If you do not already have a Upromise account, or do not want to set one up for your family, please sign up to help us save. There is no committment, you do not have to buy anything special, but little by little when you do purchase items that qualify, a small deposit will be made.
I have a link you can click on to sign up and tie your shoppers card to(Kroger, CVS . . . ).
My kids go to bed at 8:00. Just about every night. It's now 10:32 and this what I am dealing with. Somehow I went from two kids sleeping in their own beds, to two kids not sleeping in my bed.
As I mentioned in my previous blog, Jonathan got a camera for Christmas. I think he has been watching me because he was setting up shots and really getting in to taking pictures. As you can tell, with his camera the pictures are pretty grainy, but I think I like them that way. Did some minor color editing but these are all pictures he has taken with his camera. It's so interesting to see what he sees. I think I might have to use his photography skills for some regular blog posting.
