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!) ;)