Homemade Mothering

Now, I know that I don't normally post anything but about the kids, but I thought I might start sharing a bit about things that I have been doing that make me proud of myself!  Selfish, I know! 

I have been reading the Homemade Mothering blog for a few years now and have used several recipes for both cooking, and making my own cleaning solutions.  Just in the last few weeks, I made these yummy homemade cherry muffins with some of the oodles of cherries we have canned or frozen in our basement.  They were so tasty!  I especially liked the topping!  Of course in my typical fashion, I substituted at least half whole wheat flour and probably added some ground flax.

Earlier this week, I tried our Homemade Mothering's Chicken Pot Pie.  Though he had cautioned me many times before that he was not a fan of any kind of pot pie, Eric tried it anyway.  Just the thought of pot pie, he said, made him feel sick to his stomach.  I think he must have tried a bad frozen pot pie or something, because not only did he like this, but I'm sure I've made several venison pot pies for him in the past, and he liked those, too!  I made my own whole wheat crust from an old school Betty Crocker cookbook, and added our own canned carrots later than the recipe suggests since they were already fully cooked.  I just ate the last of the leftovers today! 

I've also used cleaning tips on this blog as a springboard to transforming the products I use:

I now regularly use a vinegar and water mixture to clean just about everything, but that didn't come solely from this blog.  I made Homemade Mothering's Dusting Spray, and really have found that it is just as easy to use, and doesn't leave such a heavy fog in the house after use! 

I've even made her homemade laundry soap! I've since modified the recipe, and Eric helped me to make it last time. Using a stick hand blender truly helped to get any rogue chunks out of the mixture.  We reuse old detergent bottles over and over again, and the cost to make the homemade stuff is just pennies!

Above and beyond these last couple of items being "green," they are safe for my kids and are soooo much less expensive than buying each of these items at the store!  I now buy vinegar by the gallon, and don't have to worry about the kids being around when I'm cleaning (not that I clean that frequently, anyway)!  I just love the treasure trove of information you can find on the internet to support your own agenda!  Homemade Mothering certainly keeps spurring my on to make better choices for my family and I. 

Brotherly Love

After her shower, Alena came in to Levi's room to help get him up.  He LOVES his sister, though sometimes we don't understand why.  They really are best buddies and truly care about one another!

One of Levi's hobbies is to stand on the stepstool in the bathroom that Alena uses to wash her hands.  His only issue concerning this is that he is generally at a loss as to how to get down.  He'll just stand on the stool and whine until someone comes in and helps him down. 

On a side note, he loves to go into the bathroom, especially when his sister is occupying it.  We all know that kids this age get into unsolicited trouble, and our bathroom seems to have an additional filth component to it thanks to the prolonged nature of his sister's potty training.  So, we like to try to discourage him from seeing what he can find and play with in the bathroom.  Lucky for us, he is an excellent listener.  We'll tell him to get out of there and he will actually comply!  What a novel idea!  This type of listening and compliance has not happened in our house in a long time!  We are very thankful and don't really expect this trend to continue. 

Spaghetti sauce and a happy baby.  Check out the similarities between the siblings here.

Hot Chick Out For a Walk

These pics were taken on the walk back from the zoo last week.  Alena is sporting her new backpack, sunglasses, and hand me down jacket.  As you can tell, she really thought she was hot stuff!  I just thought she looked cute.   

Levi's First Steps

Levi started to walk a bit after his first birthday.  Once he got going, he just kept on going!  He quickly moved from a couple of tentative steps to traipsing around the house!  Now, he's unstopable!  He can practically run to something if he really wants it!  His one issue remains:  the momentous task of being able to stand back up without using a prop of some sort (i.e. mom's legs, a wall, the humidifier, a table or chair).  He has had many bumps and bruises, as one would expect, and usually takes it in stride like a little boy would! 

The Many Faces of Alena

Happy

Sad

Surprised

Innocent

Yeah, right

Hey!

Pure Evil

Alena's Third Birthday Party

Alena had a princess themed party for her third birthday!  While she isn't exactly a girly girl, she loves princesses just the same.  We invited all of the guests to dress up like a princess for the party.  Sadly, only Aubrey did so.  Levi dressed a little like a prince (and so did Daddy), and Mommy put a dress over her jeans. 

She received some gifts that she LOVES including: butterfly net (yet to be put to good use), rubber "outside ball," sunglasses, binoculars, dress up clothes & accessories, a backpack, her first barbie (that she already tore the head off of, twice.  I glued the head back on, but she ripped it off again), and a T-ball set.  

Alena & Aubrey got a chance to play Pin the Tiara on the Princess! 



Male cousin bonding

Ben and Levi having more fun together as Ben pushed Levi in the doll stroller

Alena "read" some of her own cards in her own humorous way.  Daddy helped her to figure out what the cards really said!



Alena got a gift box of dress up clothes, complete with necklaces, a boa, and some tutus.  She LOVED it!



Even Uncle Nick wanted to be a princess at Alena's party!

Levi getting more cousin cuddles from Aubrey

Stop with the photos, Mom!

The little princess attempting to open her new Tball set

Alena's "cake" was really a bunch of cupcakes!

Lighting the 3 candles atop the tree of cupcakes

She looks sweet eating her birthday cupcake!

Aubrey has rotten teeth... or just lots of chocolate frosting :)



Levi lookin' cute while eating his cupcake

   

Throughout the day, everyone was asking Alena how old she was turning, and every time she would reply, "I'm sixteen!"  Oh my!  Sometime she'd like to think she's sixteen, but we all know the truth!

Levi's First Birthday!

Our little guy turned the big one! We had a family party the Saturday after his actual birthdate. Levi seemed like he was a little overwhelmed with all that was going on around him, but he handled it fine. He's ever observant and calm. 



The big one year old!

The big sister

Checking out his new tank that he got from Daddy

Double trouble!  This pic sure is worth 1000 words.  Tells you all you need to know about this duo!

Hey, what are you doing, Ben?  Get your own!

Hey Little Guy, you gonna eat that?  Sure looks like it!  You're so cute!

Hey, how's your cake?  Check this out!

After his second piece of cake... he made sure to lick the plate, though I'm not sure he was actually getting anything off of it!  Looks like most of the frosting was just smeared around

This is fun!

Riding his new bouncy scooter after the big party