Camping

We just returned from our first family camping trip (Seth and I have camped a couple of times)! We camped near a lake for several days with Seth's family and it was lots of fun! I was a little nervous about how everything would go - especially about how well the kids would sleep, but they did great! It was a wonderful relaxing time, and Benjamin absolutely loved spending so much time outside! He got to play in the water a bit, helped feed some ducks, and discovered sidewalk chalk (which he loved)! I'm already looking forward to doing it again!










Such wonderful family memories we made!

It's been a while...

I feel like I haven't blogged in forever! I've had limited computer time the last few weeks, so here's an update on what we've been doing:

Buckling....Benjamin loves to buckle things - and he's pretty good at it!
Smiling...I just love this picture - such an angelic face!

Cuddling...such good buddies already!
Sprouting...the sprouts I tried last month turned out really well! I made lentil sprouts.
Sewing...I haven't sewn much since Joanna was born, so it feels good to get a little project done. After loving my Re-Usies, I was inspired to make a couple of my own!
Dehydrating...I needed to do something with the strawberries and bananas I had gotten for a good deal, so I dehydrated them, something I'm hoping to do lots of this year.

Updates...

So some updates on some of the things I've been doing with my monthly goals:

Homemade Deodorant update: We've been using our homemade deodorant for several weeks now and we are still loving it! I had mentioned that when I went to use it the first time, it seemed drier than it had when I made it. Well, I was using the stuff that I had put in an old deodorant container, and I continued to do so for several days. After a while, though, I found that it was hard to rub in - it was really dry and crumbly. Then, I tried some that I had put in a jar, and it was still nice and soft like it had been when I first made it! So, another reason to put it in a jar as opposed to a deodorant container - I'm assuming that it dries out when exposed to air (the deodorant container is not airtight).

Shampoo Method: I've been wanting to switch to natural shampoo for a while, but they are so expensive that I haven't done it yet. I had been hearing about people cleaning their hair with baking soda and vinegar, and since those are both natural and inexpensive, I thought I'd give it a try! I started last week, and this has been my result so far: The first day I use it, my hair looks just fine, I'd say the same as it does when I wash with shampoo. The second day, however, my hair looks greasy and feels somewhat sticky. So far I haven't gone beyond doing it two days in a row! I know sometimes it can take a while for your hair to get used to something new, so I'll just have to keep doing it and see if anything changes. For now, I'm doing two days of baking soda/vinegar and one day of shampoo (unless I have to go out somewhere - then I will shampoo after just one day). However, even if I find that I can only do the baking soda/vinegar every other day, that basically would reduce my cost of shampoo in half, so suddenly buying a natural shampoo is a lot more cost effective!

Two down!

So this past week I made both the strawberry jam and the spinach pesto. We weren't too impressed with the spinach pesto. It was inexpensive to make, but it was pretty bland. I think we'll be sticking with basil!


I was very pleased with how the strawberry jam turned out! I hadn't ever made my own jam, but I remember my parents doing it a few times when I was younger, and when I saw a simple recipe in the May issue of Woman's Day, I thought I'd try it. It's not quite as thick as jam you'd get from the store, but it's fresh, all-natural, and delicious! I'll definitely be making this again!

May Goals

I was so pleased with how my April goals turned out - making goals for the month helped me purposefully plan for trying new things, I did them, and most of them turned out really well! Because of my success, I'm making some new goals for the month of May. This month I'll be: making strawberry jam, spinach pesto, trying my hand at growing sprouts, and trying out the baking soda/vinegar shampoo method! We'll see how it goes!

Re-Usies

My sister-in-law saw my post a while ago where I said that I had started washing and reusing baggies. When she saw these reusable cloth baggies, she got a few for me! It was so thoughtful of her, and I'm excited to try them out! They are so cute, and it will make packing snacks so much more fun!

English Muffins and Deodorant

So I was able to make both the English Muffins and Deodorant this week.

I made the English Muffin recipe from my More With Less cookbook, and they turned out delicious! They did get a little too brown on the outside, so I probably will try cooking them on lower heat next time, but we loved them! They were a little bit time consuming; I would recommend starting them earlier in the day so you're not trying to finish them at the same time you're trying to get dinner made, and if you have little kids you may not want to make them the same day you're trying to get a bunch of grocery shopping done! If I follow those ideas next time, I don't think they'll be as big of a deal!

As for my deodorant, I used this recipe. I thought I had purchased enough arrowroot powder, but I didn't, so I ended up using some of that and some cornstarch. I used 6 Tbsp. coconut oil, and it seemed a little too wet, so I ended up adding about 2 extra Tbsp. of cornstarch. The next day, though, it seemed maybe a little too dry, so I probably wouldn't add quite that much next time. Before trying this, I had my doubts about it, especially after my sister told me she had made it and didn't like it. However, after using it for a few days, I am sold! I love that it is completely safe and natural and I think it works great. I asked Seth to try it, too, and he thought it worked well (and he is often pretty skeptical of some of the natural body products). I did try putting some in an old deodorant container, but I found that worked better to rub it in with your fingers, which defeats the purpose, so just putting it in a small jar or container works well.

I am so glad to have found two new recipes that I love!