i have a kindergartner!

today was the big day

even after getting cadence in bed and asleep by 8:20pm it was still hard to get her rump out of bed this morning. that girl likes her sleep! at one point she even told me to go back to bed and come back in a few hours to wake her up. 

after pealing the blankets away from her and a few tickles i was able to get her up. 

she was not impressed that she had to go straight from bed to getting her hair brushed though, but thankfully we both survived. 

she really wanted her backpack and lunch box in the pictures, even though she wont start using them till next week when her onsite kindersmart class starts. 

we kept things light today, since it was the first day

i was however was surprised at how fast she picked up her math, and i know what you are thinking it's only the first day, but really she either knew more then i realized or she picked it up fast! we breezed through 3 lessons!

(we are using alpha omega horizons)

we are trying out the workbox system this year

it seemed to go over well this morning, but i'll have to give a better update further into the year.

i don't know about her, but i'm pretty darn excited to see what the school year holds for us! 

sweet earrings ya got there

i have a tendency to lose my earrings

...

after wearing them, just like my bobby pins, i'll set them where ever i am when they start bugging me. ie the computer desk, my night stand, the bathroom, in the front room, sometimes they wont even make it back into the house and will sit in the car till i rediscover them months later. 

...

after losing some super sweet pairs i decided i should make something to hang them on.

being that i have my ears gauged i can only wear one style of earrings with them and that would be the hook style. 

...

i'm not sure where i first saw the idea, but this is i ended up with

 while this picture frame wasn't truly what i had in mind i couldn't pass it up when i found it at a yard sale

technically my sister found it, she bought the other one for her kids to take school pictures with, showed me, told me her price($2), and sent me to go get it's pair.... mr. yard sale man tried to get over on me for a second trying to charge me $3, but he changed his tune when i kindly told him my sister bought the other one for only $2 after that he said he would throw it in with the dresser we bought cadence. 

i had been holding onto some old screen my parents replaced after their puppy decided to chew through the bottom :\ 

 so all we really had to buy was spray paint.

making it was rather easy, especially when tristan decided he should take over for me because apparently i was spray painting it wrong 

i think secretly he just likes being able to do everything! :)

now i just need to start restocking my ever shrinking collection.  

homemade laundry soap

my sister and i have been making the duggar family laundry soap for about 2 years

this stuff is pretty awesome and very cost effective. 

my sis has 5 kiddos and one batch can last her almost a year! 

we've found it to be awesome for sensitive skin, and it can also be jazzed up a bit with essential oil. 

i normally use tea tree oil, but want to try lavender one of these times.

it's rather easy, here's what you'll need

1- 5 gallon painters bucket with lid

1- fels-naptha soap bar

1cup- arm&hammer super washing soda (baking soda will not work)

1/2cup- borax

grate the fels-naptha bar and put in a saucepan with water (about 4 cups) 

stir continually over medium heat till it melts

fill the 5 gallon bucket half full with hot water, add melted fels-naptha, borax, and washing soda.

stir well, till everything is dissolved. Then fill the rest of the bucket with hot water and mix a bit more.

this will need to sit over night to thicken

to use: fill an empty and cleaned out old laundry soap container half full fill the rest with water.

shake well before each use.

-Top Load Machine- 5/8 Cup per load (Approx. 180 loads)
-Front Load Machines- ¼ Cup per load (Approx. 640 loads)

give it a try! 

i'm pretty sure you'll love it as much as we do.

*note* this soap will not bubble up like other detergents.... you do NOT need to keep adding more soap. 

(love you mother!) ;)

   

holiday

i've been on a bit of a blogging holiday

enjoying my family

enjoying the time i get with my luff

trying to stay cool

working on the summer bucket list 

getting cadence's school stuff together

also a whole bunch of lazy pj days thrown in there :)

1,2,3,4 i declare a thumb war

my day...

1. our kitty, little foot, caught a blue jay midair and then proceeded to eat it.

2. my lil honeybee came home! longest. 9. days. ever.! they didn't even have her out of the car before i was out the front door to cover her in kisses!

3. we did a little crafting, cause that's just what we do

4. went to my sister's for dinner with 2 other families.

5. watched soul surfer (i really liked it, and may or may not have cried a few times during it)

6. i now have 7 kiddos sleeping in my front room.

---

meeting cadence's ES (education specialist) tomorrow. pretty excited about that. we will be going over the expectations we have for the school year and the curriculum we will be using. 

tristan's ac went out in his truck this afternoon, so he's been stuck at a texas truck stop with little help to escape the heat wave.... this has been a very long week, on top of the ac going out his frig blew a fuse a couple of days ago and all his food went bad, and his power steering pump went out. praying he gets to come home soon and start fresh. i know this week has been really hard on him. he's heading to utah in the morning, hopefully it's cooler there! 

missing him is an understatement! 

i better hit the hay, i'm pretty sure the 4 year old in my front room does not sleep in. :) cadence on the other hand, she's like her mama and can sleep till 10 easily! 

wham bam, thank you can!

crossing off 2 items on my summer bucket list  

#14 & #3

i recruited my sister and her 5 kiddos to help me find random blackberry bushes and start pickin

which is a rather easy task; finding them, as they grow wild around here!

we made 3 stops all with in half a mile 

the first 2 were a bit hard to get to most of the berries, but the 3rd stop we were able to park in a church parking lot and walk right up to a massive area. 

blackberries are a bit of a pain in the rump to pick, hello thorns!

but thankfully we made it out with only minor pricks!

after picking and the kids stealing all my water :) we headed back to my sisters to start canning.

does anyone else think it's just wrong that public schools don't offer home economics anymore?!

as i've been learning these new task i've been getting more frustrated with the fact i didn't learn them in school years ago! *end rant* at least i'll be able to pass this all onto cadence now! *ok, really ending rant now*

i was really surprised how easy it was to make jam.

run the jars through the dishwasher, soak the berries, pick through them, mash them, add sugar, boil lids in separate pot, bring berries to a boil, and pectin, pour into a jar, put the lid and ring on and flip them upside down!

wham bam, thank you can!

(notice the not even half full one, we ran out of jam... so it was our sample jar!)

after making 2 batches my sister threw together a cobbler

we are normally a peach cobbler family, but this was mighty yummy!

in a few days i plan on making another run to the berry patch so i can make tristan a cobbler when he gets home.

sewing, embroidery, and canning all in one week!

my lil honeybee comes home on sunday, so happy about this! can't wait to start knocking out some bucket list items with her by my side! 

{truth} part 3

{sixteen} whenever i use a public restroom i have to tear off at least 8 inches of the toilet paper and throw it away, because you just never know who touched it before you. 

{seventeen} when we first moved to oregon i hated hymns and the church we go to up here sings them, but 3 months later i like them!

{eighteen} i really like birds, owls, and old vintage things.

{nineteen} since my husband has been driving OTR (over the road) i have a hard time sleeping, i normally dont even try to fall asleep till 2am. 

{twenty} i love reading, but i often get way too attached to the story and get sad when the book is over.

{twenty one} sorry if i sound like a broken record: i'm super thankful for tristan. that man is awesome. he bust his tookus and gives up so much to support his family. he doesn't get to go out and play all day long or even enjoy his hobbies because he's out there in the world being a real man and sacrificing his wants to care for us.

{twenty two} back to that hymn thing, my heart  melts when i hear cadence and/or tristan singing in church.

{twenty three} as if my readers didn't know, i'm a  horrible speller. i'm constantly pulling up google to check my spelling. (one plus is i earn a lot of swagbucks because of it!)

{twenty four} i'm the baby of my family, number 3 or 3. and i got away with a lot growing up because of this :)

{twenty five} to add to my lame factor i totally watch jersey shore, but what's even better ,is when he can,  tristan watches it with me!

{8-15}

embroidery

i've been trying to stay as busy as possible this week. not really allowing myself to focus on the fact cadence is in CA and tristan has been in colorado, wyoming, and now texas where he will probably run out of driving hours and will have to spend the weekend.

i miss them both like crazy and when i'm not busy i tend to whimper and mope 

so after my sewing lesson my mom and i ran down to a local fabric store to get all the goodies to embroider

i got the idea to start embroidering when we were packing up my parents and i found this....

i tried to talk my mom into giving it to me, but she happens to like it's awesomeness as well and would not part with it. come to find out someone made it for my parents as a wedding gift in 1977. 

and since she wont part with it, i'll just have to learn and make my own! :)

i decided to start off with a puppy on a tea towel

isn't that just the cutest little puppy, has a cutesy vintage look...and who doesn't love vintage these days?!

i took to it rather fast, but i've only tried 3 types of stitches.

turns out there's about a zillion different ones though.

i think from start to finish with some long breaks for things like garage selling, church, sleep, and time with the matz and vondos i think it took around 4 hours to stitch together.

up next are some burp cloths for a friend's baby and a pillow case for cadence. 

finally!

i'm pretty darn excited about the fact i just made my daughter a dress.

i've been wanting to learn how to sew for a while (it's also on my summer bucket list ) 

today my mom showed me how

i cheated a bit and used material that was already half way made into a dress...

but i still had to measure it all, and pin it, and sew it together, i even hand stitched on the tie straps and the buttons.  

(not the best picture of me, but proof i did it!)

drum roll please....

hoping to make reuseable snack baggies and to get the sewing machine off rabbit mode while i do this. ;)

baked kale chips

i made my first batch of kale chips

pretty easy

wash and fully dry the kale.

preheat oven, i did 400... but i think next time i'll do 350 

then remove the stem and tear the kale into bit size pieces 

throw the stems in the compost and put the pieces in a bowl 

drizzle olive oil, sea salt, and pepper on the kale

then lay the kale out on your baking sheet/s so that it does not overlap

and bake for 8-10 minutes 

i think for my next batch i'll add more flavor.

while they are good, but i think with a little more salt and garlic they would have been even better.

(finished product, crispy baked kale chips)

happy birthday, my little baby

dear cadence

as i sit here looking through pictures from your birth so many emotions are racing through me.

little did i know when i saw those two little pink lines just how much you would change my life.

writing you this letter is not easy as words do not seem to do justice to the feelings i have for you.  

you are my heart, with every beat i want to hold you close to my chest and whisper how thankful i am for you.

since day one you have been a spark in my life, a true blessing.

i can see God's caring heart in your eyes, knowing He knit you together in His likeness. 

your smile makes my heart gush.

your voice melts my moods.

your tender heart for others gives me hope.

my little baby, you're not so little to the world anymore.

i'm not sure how five arrived so fast, and while i miss your chubby little baby hands and you sleeping nestled up against my chest, i'm excited to see you grow and learn new things.

to see that twinkle in your eye when you accomplish a new big girl task. 

my little honeybee, you will always be little to me.

i love you. 

always and forever

happy 5th birthday

cowboys and indians

we squeezed a whole weekends worth of stuff into one long saturday.

tristan had to hit the road early sunday to start his trek to denver

i'm a big fan of farmers markets

even when it's over 90 degrees, now my husband... he's not a fan of doing much of anything in that kind of heat.

but like the awesome luff he is, he walked up and down the booths with me while sweating our bums off.

i bought kale for the first time, i tried to act like i new what i was doing. like i was some sort of leafy expert.

i'm pretty sure they could see right through my lack of knowledge though.

(keep an eye out for a kale chip post, coming soon)

our farmers market is downtown by all the cute shops so after getting our goods we headed to some awesome antique shops.

we drooled our way through 2 huge shops.

and then headed to the bluestone bakery for lunch

their quiche is amazing! honestly the best i've ever had!

after lunch we made a pit stop at home to drop off the farmers market bounty, give the puppy a potty break, and pick up some of tristan's toys.

next stop was the shooting rang.

my parents, my brother inlaw, a family friend, and 2 of their sons came with us

 (my dad)

 see the middle hole, yep, that is mine! 

after spending a few hours there we went to dinner with my parents and then headed back to the house to get things ready for tristan's early take off. 

we  also cruzed around down town a bit on the way to pick up tristan's groceries for the week.

there was a huge 50's car show going on with a jerry lee lewis and elvis impersonator.   

already missing my luff :(

missing my littlest luff

remember my post about how hard it is to co-parent?

my lil lady is in CA for a week, gone till next sunday. which means for the first time in her little life i will not be able to wake her up on her birthday with kisses :(

i can't wait till she's home and i can smother her with hugs and kisses.

when she gets home for her birthday we are going to have a backyard camp out, fire pit and all. 

birthday smores?!

she'll love it.

going to work on a few things on our summer bucket list while she's gone

sewing, reading, who knows maybe even start canning. 

{truth} part 2

{eight} i have a major obsession with reusable bottles, tumblers, kanteens, etc. i can not walk by that section in a store with out stopping.

{nine} i'm scared of praying mantis...they look so unpredictable. *shudder*

{ten} i love laying in the grass, to star gaze, to nap, to picnic, to relax.

{eleven} i love red lip stick, but hardly wear it anymore... (i'd rather kiss my husband, and i'm sure he doesn't care to wear red lipstick along with me! lol)

{twelve}  i have super naturally curly hair, and i've hated it my whole life until this year. i'm now "embracing" my curls

{thirteen} i tend to floss at least 3 times a day.  

{fourteen} i really want to raise laying chickens.... so far it has not been an option 

{fifteen} i love old cowboy music

{1-7}

a stroll through the shops, take 1.

there's just something magical about our little town...

each way you turn you can see beautiful tree filled mountains

a big beautiful river runs right down the middle

and we have this downtown area that can instantly send you back a few years...

down surrounded by antique shops we have this little jewel

after our first visit i learned that tristan's grandpa use to be a soda jerk

which apparently was a highly coveted job.

for .50 cents you can enjoy a phosphate soda

they have the cutest little mixtures, gummy bear, hula girl, dirty monkey, creamsicle (which is what cadence filled her little belly with)....

they offer ice cream, candy, and lunch as well.

we opted for soda and lunch (followed by a bit of candy)

.25 got the kids each 2 pieces of candy and a bazooka gum... we enjoyed sharing they little funnies on the inside of the bazooka.

we then headed down to another little jewel

hello .50 ice cream!

i must say their cheddar and jalapeno popcorn make the perfect mix!

can't wait to explore some more of the awesome little shops our town offers

keep an eye out for take 2 in the near future.