Happy fourth birthday to my River.
I love you.
Happy Third Birthday to my dear River Man. I love you, I love you, I love you.
 | |
| River, in his big brother Adam's apron. As soon as I made River one of his own I'll post a tutorial. |
Not long after these were taken the house began to smell of rich, decadent zucchini bread.
Last night I dreamed that homemade baby wipes cost the same as regular baby wipes (yes, I think I need to take some classes or attend some lectures ... and fill my brain with more than baby wipes).
Well, that didn't seem right, even though the dream person was quite confident in her conclusions, so I did my own figuring.
Target Baby Wipes
box of 792 costs $13.69
$.0173 each
Homemade Baby Wipes using Bounty Select-a-size rolls from Sam's Club, each roll cut in half
1 roll has 154 sheets, or 308 when cut in half costs $1.62
$.0052 each
Homemade baby wipes = winner, winner, chicken dinner
Yes, the numbers are small, each wipe is less than a penny no matter which direction you go, but we all know that it takes more than one wipe to get through the day, week, month, year, and the homemade wipes cost less than 1/3 the price of store-bought. Over time that's big savings, my friend.
Add to that that there is nothing funky in homemade wipes - just water, a bit of oil or lotion of your choosing, and a bit of soap, also of your choosing.
Here's my recipe for homemade wipes ... feel free to adjust it, there's nothing scientific about it.
1 roll Bounty select-a-size paper towel (I am fussy about the paper towel I use, other brands can shred and I like the smaller size of these sheets)
2-3 cups water
2 T. baby wash or gentle liquid soap
2 T. baby oil or lotion
Mix the liquids together with a whisk in a sealable tub large enough to hold the paper towel roll. Bring to a boil in microwave (optional, but keeps the mix fresh longer, in my opinion). While the liquid mixture is coming to a boil cut the paper towel roll down the middle, to make two 1/2 rolls, with electric bread knife. Put the paper towel rolls in the water mix.
After your concoction sits a bit and the water soaks through pull out the cardboard center tubes. As you use the paper towel wipes pull them from the center - a delightful little dispenser.
Use as needed. Which is often. Very, very often. And if you have a home daycare it's very, very, very, very, very often.
Now I must go back to sleep and have a talk with that uninformed dream person.
Well, that didn't seem right, even though the dream person was quite confident in her conclusions, so I did my own figuring.
Target Baby Wipes
box of 792 costs $13.69
$.0173 each
Homemade Baby Wipes using Bounty Select-a-size rolls from Sam's Club, each roll cut in half
1 roll has 154 sheets, or 308 when cut in half costs $1.62
$.0052 each
Homemade baby wipes = winner, winner, chicken dinner
Yes, the numbers are small, each wipe is less than a penny no matter which direction you go, but we all know that it takes more than one wipe to get through the day, week, month, year, and the homemade wipes cost less than 1/3 the price of store-bought. Over time that's big savings, my friend.
Add to that that there is nothing funky in homemade wipes - just water, a bit of oil or lotion of your choosing, and a bit of soap, also of your choosing.
Here's my recipe for homemade wipes ... feel free to adjust it, there's nothing scientific about it.
1 roll Bounty select-a-size paper towel (I am fussy about the paper towel I use, other brands can shred and I like the smaller size of these sheets)
2-3 cups water
2 T. baby wash or gentle liquid soap
2 T. baby oil or lotion
Mix the liquids together with a whisk in a sealable tub large enough to hold the paper towel roll. Bring to a boil in microwave (optional, but keeps the mix fresh longer, in my opinion). While the liquid mixture is coming to a boil cut the paper towel roll down the middle, to make two 1/2 rolls, with electric bread knife. Put the paper towel rolls in the water mix.
After your concoction sits a bit and the water soaks through pull out the cardboard center tubes. As you use the paper towel wipes pull them from the center - a delightful little dispenser.
Use as needed. Which is often. Very, very often. And if you have a home daycare it's very, very, very, very, very often.
Now I must go back to sleep and have a talk with that uninformed dream person.
You know that old joke about taking the weather with you?
You know, "I guess you brought that rain/snow/heat/cold/hurricane with you. Har har."
Well, apparently, we did bring the rain with us. Thank you very much. This was day 1 of vacation. Lucky for us, it was a light rain.
And a very entertaining rain. I love how the kids can be kept busy (and learning) so easily and for so long without expensive electronic gadgets.
If you've a weak stomach read no further: After the rain we took a walk and 1-2" long black cockroach-like crustaceans were covering the sidewalk. As the little children ran through their midst they scurried off in droves. Very, very creepy horror movie-ish. Thankfully, we didn't see those bugs or whatever they were after the first day.
You know, "I guess you brought that rain/snow/heat/cold/hurricane with you. Har har."
Well, apparently, we did bring the rain with us. Thank you very much. This was day 1 of vacation. Lucky for us, it was a light rain.
And a very entertaining rain. I love how the kids can be kept busy (and learning) so easily and for so long without expensive electronic gadgets.
If you've a weak stomach read no further: After the rain we took a walk and 1-2" long black cockroach-like crustaceans were covering the sidewalk. As the little children ran through their midst they scurried off in droves. Very, very creepy horror movie-ish. Thankfully, we didn't see those bugs or whatever they were after the first day.
you fail to mention important things like
a high school graduate ...
and the best eyes ever ...
and a first time on ice ...
and an adventure ...
It's possible that things like those will be mentioned soon.
I find that this blog is as much a journal for me as it is a vessel for sharing and expression. I love looking back at what we've done and where we've been ... so I may, slowly, do some catching up (and keeping up).
a high school graduate ...
and the best eyes ever ...
and a first time on ice ...
and an adventure ...
It's possible that things like those will be mentioned soon.
I find that this blog is as much a journal for me as it is a vessel for sharing and expression. I love looking back at what we've done and where we've been ... so I may, slowly, do some catching up (and keeping up).
River and I found ourselves at the beach one recent lazy evening.
River chased the waves and I chased River. And all was right with the world.
Pure decadence, as always.
The beach, the water, the sunset ... the whole package will never, ever cease to amaze me.
Until next time ...
River chased the waves and I chased River. And all was right with the world.
Pure decadence, as always.
The beach, the water, the sunset ... the whole package will never, ever cease to amaze me.
Until next time ...
And another one gone, and another one gone
Another one bites the dust
Another week, that is.
I've (finally?) realized that the weekdays are just plain busy. Between home school, childcare, and running a family I just don't have the free time I'd like to have. most days it's hard to find time to use the restroom. And to post more I need more free time and more crafting (or at least something to post about). And to craft more I need more free time. The solution is to either drop everything and sew or to sew when I can and post when I can. I'm thinking the latter might be more practical. Practical rarely seems to be the fun choice, huh? Ah well, that's the way it goes.
Target has some camping and sports stuff at 75% off. Little kids tents and ball pit-type stuff too. I scored. Good thing too, as I'm going camping. Because that seems fun and relaxing. Yup, me and 6 kids in the wilderness. Heaven help the rest of the campers. Any "must have" suggestions would be most appreciated. Currently I have a tent, some sleeping bags, and no idea how I'm going to get a 2 year old to sleep. That's about it. Thankfully we'll only be out in the wild for one night - good for initiation, or whatever they call it.
I have signed up for a "mug rug" swap. The practicality of a mug rug eludes me, but the opportunity to create a 10" by 6" micro-mini quilt entices me very much.
The last two days have been spent cuddling and snuggling with my whiny littlest son. He has a cold/bug/low grade fever and has been feeling quite under the weather. He's also male, and, I'm afraid typical:
In his defense, he watched Thomas the Tank Engine reruns, not old cartoons and bad sitcoms. I'm hoping he'll be on the mend really, really soon so we can get back to the important business of jumping and running.
Oh, and the last bit of excitement around here this week was finally making homemade microwave popcorn. The bag of regular old popcorn was about $1.80 at WalMart and will make about 20 servings ... at a cost of $.09 per bag. Orville Redenbocher can't touch that. And it's easy peasy ... like so easy I'm smacking myself in the forehead hard for not doing it sooner.
Another one bites the dust
Another week, that is.
I've (finally?) realized that the weekdays are just plain busy. Between home school, childcare, and running a family I just don't have the free time I'd like to have. most days it's hard to find time to use the restroom. And to post more I need more free time and more crafting (or at least something to post about). And to craft more I need more free time. The solution is to either drop everything and sew or to sew when I can and post when I can. I'm thinking the latter might be more practical. Practical rarely seems to be the fun choice, huh? Ah well, that's the way it goes.
Target has some camping and sports stuff at 75% off. Little kids tents and ball pit-type stuff too. I scored. Good thing too, as I'm going camping. Because that seems fun and relaxing. Yup, me and 6 kids in the wilderness. Heaven help the rest of the campers. Any "must have" suggestions would be most appreciated. Currently I have a tent, some sleeping bags, and no idea how I'm going to get a 2 year old to sleep. That's about it. Thankfully we'll only be out in the wild for one night - good for initiation, or whatever they call it.
I have signed up for a "mug rug" swap. The practicality of a mug rug eludes me, but the opportunity to create a 10" by 6" micro-mini quilt entices me very much.
The last two days have been spent cuddling and snuggling with my whiny littlest son. He has a cold/bug/low grade fever and has been feeling quite under the weather. He's also male, and, I'm afraid typical:
In his defense, he watched Thomas the Tank Engine reruns, not old cartoons and bad sitcoms. I'm hoping he'll be on the mend really, really soon so we can get back to the important business of jumping and running.
Oh, and the last bit of excitement around here this week was finally making homemade microwave popcorn. The bag of regular old popcorn was about $1.80 at WalMart and will make about 20 servings ... at a cost of $.09 per bag. Orville Redenbocher can't touch that. And it's easy peasy ... like so easy I'm smacking myself in the forehead hard for not doing it sooner.
The other day I was hanging clean clothes when, at the bottom of the pile, I found the top and bottom of this quilt. I'd run out of batting, ordered more, then gotten caught up in the holidays and completely forgotten about it. Oops (Yup, I don't hang clothes very often ... I iron a lot instead. Yeah, cause that takes much less time.).
But what a pleasant find!The quilt is crafted from little square scraps of blues. There are repeats, but still it's a lot of different fabrics ... very fun to look at.
The white is a basic kona white cotton muslin.
The quilting is done with straight machine stitches on the diagonal. I used white thread throughout but keep questioning myself about that ... I'm not convinced that blue wouldn't have been a better choice on the rows of stitching going through the blue squares. I think white is fine, but blue might have been better (?) .
The binding is a navy with blue and white dot.
The backing fabric is a blue paisley.
Overall the quilt measures about 48" by 48".
I printed out the manual for my camera and am going to setting a goal of learning to take better pictures. I'd like to have more uniform pictures of items that will be listed on etsy, all the same background color and same layout for similar items. Of course, the manual is 140 pages along and, at the moment, all Greek to me. I replaced plumbing/parts in two toilets this week, successfully, having never worked on one before ... I have a feeling those projects will prove much easier for me than learning the camera!
See the sad brown grass? That's a direct result of the beautiful frost we had, and the five other nights of freezing whether since then. Lots of dead leaves and grasses everywhere. I've lost a few trees over the years to frost and I'm really hoping I don't lose another this year (I'm running out of trees to lose and have no green thumbs to grow beautiful new ones!).
And a little eye candy:
I'm not sure what silliness is going on here, but isn't he adorable???
A short list of highlights ...
Most popular flickr image:
My favorite flickr image:
Such happiness. He's full of it, and I love that this captures that. I also love seeing who he was at that moment in time. The photo was taken in February and he has changed so much since then!
Most popular post:
Decadent Toffee Recipe (a mention on Money Saving Mom led to the popularity of this post)
Most commented on post:
My Side (again, thank you)
A few of my favorite projects:
Little Purses for Little Girls
Windows Quilt
Rainbow of Color Quilt
Autumn Quilt
Birthday Dress
A few of my favorite highlights:
Bucket List (seeing the Miami City Ballet with the kids the first time, the girls and I have seen them again)
Chatting with River
Summer Vacation (this is the first post, there are a few ... I love our time at the cottage so much!)
Family Photo Shoot
Onward into 2011
Most popular flickr image:
My favorite flickr image:
Such happiness. He's full of it, and I love that this captures that. I also love seeing who he was at that moment in time. The photo was taken in February and he has changed so much since then!
Most popular post:
Most commented on post:
My Side (again, thank you)
A few of my favorite projects:
Little Purses for Little Girls
Windows Quilt
Rainbow of Color Quilt
Autumn Quilt
Birthday Dress
A few of my favorite highlights:
Bucket List (seeing the Miami City Ballet with the kids the first time, the girls and I have seen them again)
Chatting with River
Summer Vacation (this is the first post, there are a few ... I love our time at the cottage so much!)
Family Photo Shoot
Onward into 2011
We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day. ~Edith Lovejoy Pierce
Twice the trouble ... River and his friend were trying to figure out how to climb into the shelf.
Schoolwork.
And we have rare moments like this. River has moved into a room with one of his brothers ... between that transition, a cold, and cold weather he hasn't been sleeping well at all and this week he's been good for random meltdowns. He was fine seconds after the picture was taken.
Happy Second Birthday River.
Thanks for being you. I love you.
From Adam:
The days at the beach are fun with River.
The time at home are most fun when River is here.
When we go outside with River he always smiles and plays with balls.
Playing with his friends he is always happy.
When all Rivers friends go home he plays with us - Adam, Kaden, Mia, Ian, Cassie, and Mama.
And then he goes to bed.
The next day he does it again and again and gain.
To River from Adam.
Happy Birthday River.
Baby hair ... with a mind of it's own.
I cut River's hair myself. It was his second haircut ... for the first one my mother snipped straight across the back, once, and we called it a day. I was so nervous that I'd screw up his haircut that I put off doing it for as long as I could, but the time came when he really did need a trim.
For this cut I got out the clippers and followed the tutorial I found through Beth's blog, In the Key of Life. I didn't actually follow the tutorial closely but used the general idea to just cut the back up to his ears. I cannot recommend watching the tutorial highly enough ... so much better to pay a few bucks for a set of clippers and guides at Walmart than to shell out $15 every 2 months on professional haircuts (which I tend to have to "fix" anyway).
Amazingly, to me anyway, River sat still through the haircut. I was expecting a real challenge but he seemed to enjoy it, staying still when I asked him to and moving when told.
After I cut it at the kitchen table I gave him a bath and trimmed the rest there, just evening out the sides and around the ears. Even in the tub he did exactly as I asked him to, making the process much easier for me.
As I've already stated, I only cut the back and bottom ... I take no responsibility for what the top is doing here. Perhaps he's channeling a little Nicholas Cage from Valley Girl?
