WSWS

What She Wore Sunday...Two weeks ago anyway : /

My sweet little Valentine!

Lately:

* I don't know if I ever mentioned that my bro-in-law and his family moved to town, they live just down the road.  It is so fun to have them around, we have 3 boys and a girl, they have 3 girls and a boy. Kylie and Brody are 2 weeks apart Hudson and Jacob are 1 year apart (almost exactly) and Joslyn and Ashley are 4 months apart. The kids have fun together, A LOT of fun.  I love Natalie, she just might be the sweetest person on the face of the earth.  It's fun to have someone to share our Chinese take-out with. ;)

* I saw a recipe for homemade laundry detergent on a blog a couple of weeks ago.  I was interested because of the cost savings, these kids of mine make A LOT of laundry.  So I went to Wal-Mart and picked up all of the ingredients, called up Natalie and we got to work. 

The most "time consuming" (which wasn't all that time consuming 15 min tops!) part of this project was grating the pink Zote soap.  Then it was; dump a box of this and a box of that, mix, mix mix, done!

Here is the recipe if anyone is interested:

1 (4 lb 12 oz) box of Borax

1 (3 lb 7 oz) box Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda

1 (3 lb) container OxyClean

2 (14.1 oz) bars of Zote soap (pink or white)

2 (2 lb) boxes Arm & Hammer baking soda

Total cost about $20! Even better split it with a friend and it only costs $10.  $10 for all of that, the best thing it will last about 4x longer than your other detergent because you only need 1 1/2 -2 TBSP for 1 load!!

A few things:

I used a fine cheese grater to grate my soap, it dissolves better that way.

The OxyClean drives up the cost a bit, but is well worth it.

I bought the Downey UNstopables, it's an in wash scent booster, because I like (good) smelly laundry.  This is also a little bit pricey but 1-2 tsp does the trick.

Safe for sensitive skin

Safe for HE washing machines...I found the detergent didn't rinse out of the detergent tray very good, so now I just put it straight into the drum, it seems to work great.

I am a liquid detergent girl but this was worth a shot... there is a recipe out there for a homemade liquid detergent...maybe that will be the next experiment...I'll let you know. ;)

* The boys finished basketball on Saturday...it was fun. I actually like watching basketball. We are not skipping a beat though, now it's on to wrestling.  GAH! Wrestling...I know. Not my favorite sport but we are all about letting them try everything until they find their "thing". So the next 2 1/2 months are going to be crappy.  Practice Mon-Thurs between the two of them, and matches every Saturday...believe me we won't be to every one.

* Insanity is kicking my butt!!!

* In less than a week my oldest will be 10...10 Gah! Double digits! A Webelo! What! He just started scouting! He still has enough fingers to show his age though...fewsh!

* ONE of my kids decided my makeup brushes needed a "haircut" GAH!

* My poor sweet Grandma is in the hospital, sad, sad time. Tears every time I go see her.  : (

* Off to entertain my kids...no school today.

Lately

Here's what has been going on lately:

* I had got to do the bulletin board in the primary room.

This one for the year:

And this one to change (only slightly) every month:

I was SO stressed about it, I don't know why- I'm just wierd like that :) I guess I felt major pressure to make it cute.  It's not perfect but I am happy with it overall.

* Hudson started going to preschool the beginning of Jan, he is warming up to it slowly.  He wants me to stay there the entire time but I sneak out when he gets busy. ;)  His favorite part is doing his homework, he loves to pull his out when Braiden and Brody are working on theirs.

*Braiden and Brody have been busy with basketball they love it. I enjoy their games, only 30 min long and basketball is a quick moving sport. :) Wed night Braiden made the game saving shot in the last 30 sec it was AWESOME!! I was screaming and almost bawling.

* Joslyn loves to clomp around the house wearing her Belle dress-up shoes, pushing her shopping cart with her baby in tow. I love love love it --SO cute! It is always very interesting to look through her shopping cart to see what random items she has gathered up. My favorite thing she does though is when she feeds her dolly a (play) bottle and says, "gink yo milk" awww! Good little mama.

She is ready to be potty trained!  She goes 1 & 2 , I just need to get out, buy the panties and make it official.  This is insane to me, she JUST turned TWO.

* I just finished up The Distant Hours by Kate Morton.  Ever read a book of hers? Always a mystery, she keeps you guessing until the end.  Her books usually span a time period of  80-90-100 years and she jumps from one time period to another throughout the book, but in the end  it all comes together in a nice little package. The Distant Hours was a very entertaining read but I think I liked The Forgotten Garden just a bit better.

* Nate got me a Kindle Fire for Christmas, I am loving it! My favorite thing is to play Words with Friends. Do you play?
I am stuck in my old ways though I still like reading on my old Kindle but I love the Fire for everything else! :)

* I want to join pinterest so badly. I'm just annoyed that you have to have a facebook or twitter account to join, I don't want to join facebook, is this so dumb of me??

* I guess I am doing that crazy relay race again this year. Only 126 days until the race.  Now that may seem like a long time... but when I have to think about getting back to running 6 miles that, my friends is not nearly long enough! I found this awesome quote yesterday:

"You're off to great places!

Today is your day!

Your mountain is waiting,

So...get on your way!"

Dr. Seuss

This Month Is Such A Special One; It's Birthday Time For...

These Two!!!



Hudson turned 4 on Monday!!!  He was so excited about his Birthday this year so we celebrated in a big way...(well to a 4 year old.)  We took him to McDonald's for breakfast, then he got to go to Twin with dad and pick out his birthday cake.  Later that afternoon we met up with all of our family at the bowling ally and had a big party.

He got a SPARE with that one, but I was to slow to get the celebrating...so cute!

Are you surprised that he picked a football cake?

I couldn't resist the Dr. Drill and Fill

He was so excited about the "Bat Cave" this toy has been played with ALOT already.

He is growing up!

He started preschool yesterday and now he thinks he is BIG stuff, he even has homework (which is cool) and he didn't "get his name on the board."  He also started going to SUNBEAMS and he is loving it, he was "so over" nursery (he was the oldest one in there!)
His New Year's resolution is to "learn how to ride a bike" (with no training wheels)

We love our Huddo Buddo!

Next up Joslyn...

Yesterday little Miss turned 2!!!

Check out that "cute" outfit from "Bama Sit ia" (Grandma Cynthia) :)

Not so sure about all of the attention she is getting.
She is becoming a pro at opening presents!
Whenever she opens clothes she pulls them out and says, "Cute!"

Joslyn is the busiest little body you'll ever meet, she is into everything! She loves Hudson and together they get into some serious mischief! She seriously missed him while he was at school yesterday she asked about him 100 X. ;)

Joslyn is such a lovable little girl, she loves, when daddy comes home, she loves her bamas (grandmas) and papas, she loves her bebe (blanket) and she is beside herself if it gets "yucky", she loves her "baba" or "milkey": /  (I don't know how to get rid of it...she is so attached!) She LOVES shoes, she loves Auntie Karla and she loves showing Karla her shoes, and she knows she can get Beebah (Braiden) to do just about anything for her.

We love you Joslyn, keep getting into mischief, keep loving your baba and bebe, because you are our baby.

I love looking back at the previous years birthday picture to see how much they've changed:
(love is a pretty strong word, really it's pretty sad)

It's not even the same girl!!! wow!





Now we are officially partied OUT!

Tooth Tooth Who Lost a Tooth?

Brody! It was Brody! Finally at age 7 he lost his first tooth.

Last night for dinner we had sloppy joes...Brody HATES sloppy joes.  Actually there's not much that this kids likes but he really hates sloppy joes. Well being the mean mom that I am made him sit there and eat all of his dinner.  Being the nice mom that I am, only gave him a quarter of a bun with a little tiny bit of meat. Well after an hour he still hadn't touched his food and he was getting mad, so he bit his shirt and ripped it out of his mouth and out popped his tooth.  So who won you wonder?      

He did ... he had an orange for dinner. I caved after he lost his tooth, it was too exciting.

Christmas Day

Christmas Day Chaos...the only day of the year when it is OK for my house to look like this...

The shopping cart was an INSTANT hit!  She was loading it up with anything and everything she could find, and pushing it around.

I loved going to sacrament meeting on Christmas Day. Our little Christmas program was awesome...I was holding back tears the whole time!

After church it was up to Grandma and Grandpa Catmull's for Christmas dinner.

Opening presents from grandma and grandpa.

Finally...Under Armour of his VERY OWN!

Brody and Hudson got "fishing jackets."

It was a wonderful day!! Hope yours was too!

Christmas Eve

Went to Grandma and Grandpa Mickelsen's for Christmas eve. We enjoyed a Prime Rib dinner and then got to open our Christmas Jammies:

They got Jammies and a pillowcase this year:

Even Scott got Boise State jammies.

Our little kiddies



Catmull Christmas Party

 As usual there was a ton of delicious food, a TON of candy and of course...

Santa

Hudson and Brody

Braiden

Joslyn...still not very fond of Santa.

Santa brought her some pretty dress up shoes.

Lucky kids!

Happy Birthday Brody

Brody turned 7 years old on the 14th.  He totally scored on his big day...we joked that Christmas was going to be a let down.

The Oreo Cake.  But forget about the cake those candles are awesome, they are color glow candles, the flame glows the same color as the candle.

Make a wish!

Ta-da!

Presents!

He was SO excited about his Under Armour sweatshirt and his older brother was SO jealous!!

December Ramblings

OK this has gone on long enough, I need to blog about SOMETHING! ...


~ This is the scene of Christmas tree hunting, we were very successful this year. We picked the worst day  to go because it was a BLIZZARD on the mountain. Needless to say I wasn't very picky, I walked around for 5 min and then said,  "yup that one looks good", and it paid off!

~I stink at decorating a Christmas tree, or maybe it is my decorations that stink? Or maybe it is the fact that the tree is so Charlie Brownesque that makes it hard. ???

~ It was my birthday on Saturday, it was a great day!! My mom and I went gallivanting around Twin all day and finished up most of our Christmas shopping. Nate got me The Help, so when the kids went to bed we sat down to watch it..I love that movie.  I was crying so much that the tears were running down my NECK...crying in a good way.  Best. Movie. Ever!

~I also got the Our Best Bites cookbook for my birthday, now I have a grocery list a mile long.  There are so many things I am excited to try!!!

~ Been waiting for this day to come so that I can call my Christmas shopping done! There's a certain movie that comes out today, that is on someone's list.

~ Hudson asked Santa for black boots...little kids are awesome.

~ The Christmas cards officially started coming! I think there is NOTHING I love more than getting Christmas cards in the mail! (hint hint :) )

~ Speaking of Christmas cards... I haven't even started on mine.  I just picked up the picture CD from the photographer last night at about 5:00.

~ I am really disappointed in the pictures this year. Joslyn was not interested in getting her picture taken, in half of the pictures she was bawling and in the other half she was looking away.
But I ordered one anyway because the last family picture we had done Hudson was about 9 months old.  The pictures are a blurry mess, they looked fine in a little 4x4 proof but blow that up to 11x14 and.... grrr!

~Brody has been laying around, ill for the last 3 days, I hope he snaps out of it because tomorrow is his birthday!!

~ My niece is dancing in the Nutcracker tomorrow, I'm so bummed that I have to miss it, I just don't think that would be Brody's activity of choice on his birthday. Good luck Kailey!!!

~ On the 3rd  we got to see my other sweet niece be baptized, now Hudson is talking about when he is 8 he is going to get baptized,  Emily thank you for setting such a great example.

~ After the baptism we met up with some dental school friends that we hadn't seen in a couple years, we had a great time catching up, and I had a great time loving their sweet baby girl.

~The funniest thing...Joslyn sings the clean- up song all the time.  Her version goes like this, "dee-yup dee-yup, evbody dee-yup" If she sees you cleaning up anything (the bathroom counter, dishes off the table, papers off the floor and toys for sure) she breaks out in song.  It makes cleaning a whole lot more fun!

A Beautiful Sight

I was doing dishes the other night when I looked down and noticed that half of the bottom rack was filled with kiddie dishes. I thought, now that is a beautiful sight!! I am so blessed! One day they will grow up and they won't want the Buzz Lightyear plate or the Minnie Mouse sippy cup any more and my dishwasher will be filled with boring white dishes. Buzz you have a slot reserved in my dishwasher for years to come.  Kind of a random thought, just thought I'd share.

Another beautiful sight:

This wall finally has something on it!! ♥ it!! This shelf was above our bed, I decided it would be better out here, and it is. :) Now I have more places to put crap! :)

A background story:

A long time ago (back in our Omaha days) Nate decided to build bunk beds for our two little boys, it was a huge project but well worth it in the end! While our garage was already a woodshop we decided to refinish some dressers that were from my Grandma Mickelsen.  We stained the dressers and the bunk beds the same color thinking that maybe one day we could pass those dressers down to our boys. Smart thinking I'd say. Here's a little before and after for ya:

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

So here is another beautiful sight:

At last, the redone dressers have been passed down. We got rid of the plastic "dressers" and now they have real ones!!!

Another beautiful sight:

We finally got some bedroom furniture! I feel so grown up and sophisticated now. ;) Mom and I had a fun day in Twin yesterday shopping for stuff to dress it up- yay Target!! I couldn't wait to get up this morning so I could make my bed...now that's a rarity.