diapers

Stinky wet diapers!  We go through our fair share with 2 kids in them full time and one still in them at night.... Needless to say, we can shell out a lot of money for these little poop collectors!  I started using cloth diapers when Kyle was a couple months old, but when he was only 6 months old I got a surprise in my belly (little J) and that process went out the window real quick with the morning sickness!  I wasn't very well equipped to properly clean and store the used diapers that time around.  So to motivate me to get started again I ordered a wetbag (to store the used diapers in without an odor), a few extra fun colored diapers and had Mike install a DIY diaper sprayer.  Here we are 2.5 weeks into it and we are still going strong & I haven't had to buy any of the 'sposies!

This is my 'Stash'... the covers, inserts, pads & flushable poop screen liners (these make the poop less messy and they can be dumped in the toilet to be flushed). 

The inserts snap into the cover and then the pads absorb the waste. This is the sprayer that we made last weekend, its very powerful and does its job well :). 

Who could resist this cute little cowboy bottom or this crawling bottom?!

Reviews say that if you use this diaper system full time, you would pay them off in about 6-9 months (and that is only having one kiddo use them) as compared to 2.5-3 years of paying for disposable diapers.  I got most of my G diapers new from Craig's List and actually sold the size small ones the came with the set on EBay and recouped all the money I spent on the that whole set!  I have since bought a few new pairs, a wet bag and the supplies to make the diaper sprayer- but my total spending totaled about the cost of ~2 boxes of Huggies (which we could easily go through in about 2 month's time!).   The other nice thing is believe it or not, the used diapers sell for a pretty penny online after you are done using them! 

Yes, there is extra work involved.  But, I plan stay home a lot more this coming year and parts of this way of doing it make it more convenient (I don't have to load a big box of diaper into the overstuffed shopping cart at Costco), it is cheaper and it is better for the environment :)! 

Little brother love

Kyle is certainly our sweet kid... he doesn't seem to have an agressive bone in his body.  Disciplining him is so much different then disciplining Josh because for the most part he is complient when asked to do something.  He also likes to take turns and share, which seems fairly odd for a 2 year old.  When we are having to take turns with something, we hear his sweet calm voice say "Ky, Ky's turn".  So far (knock on wood), he enjoys sharing... This particular day he was eating an ice pop and Jacob was determined to climb on him to get it.  Instead of getting upset or pushing him away, he held out his much prized treat to let his little brother have a lick. 

It didn't work too well in crawling position, so lets try it standing up.  K is making the mouth gestures to show J how to taste the pop.

"Would you like a taste of my ice pop?"

I even share with the dog!

Class is now in session!

School may appear to be out for lots of kids, but we finally got organized enough to attempt a weekly themed preschool program.  We had a great time learning all about COWS this week... I was inspired by the preliminary program from a website called Brightly Beaming .  The lady that put all these resources together has done an amazing job and made them available for free!  It was the extra umph that I needed to gather my thoughts and run with something (and it turned out to be something great!). 

The boys doing their table work... playing with shapes, coloring & cutting! 

This is the backbone to the program... It is shows what we are learning for the week and I put Velcro on each category to easily change the topics. 

We ordered several books from the library... I never used a hold before- Awesome, I just placed a hold on them and then I picked them up when they were ready.  I already have the books for next week's theme "Jungle".

Our hands on science was to make butter out of cream...  Just take whipping cream and pour it into a jar or container with a tight lid.

Shake for about 10-20mins in simple outward thrusts, for most of the shaking time there will be a creamy film on the jar.

Josh was a good shaker... for the 1 minute that he shoke, guess who got to shake for the other 15?  I have a sore forearm to show for it!

Once the film starts to look blotchy, then you are almost done and can stop shaking.

If you open the lid, this is what it will look like.... The butter (fat) has separated from the butter milk.

Pour the buttermilk out and use for a great baking recipe. Then add a little bit of cold water to the butter and shake a little bit more, it gets the buttermilk residue off the butter.

Pour the water out and scoop the butter to a dish... salt if desired!

Back to the fun stuff...  We did a scavenger hunt to find all the cows in our house, this is what we came up with!

We also sang songs, read a cow poem, talked about 'Bessy' the cow that we saw at the Herritage Farm last week, learned how a cow is milked and how that milk is turned into cheese, cut out cows, colored cows and learned a lot of cool facts about them like how they have 4 stomachs.  It was a good week of staying home :).  Next week our house is going to become a jungle... stay tuned!

Silly Putty

I recently read a book about having one foot ahead of the kids to keep them busy and occupied.  It stated over and over that a busy toddler is a happy toddler.  So, with that being said, I have been looking for fun ways to keep them happy (thus busy!).  This particular morning we made silly putty. 

The recipe is simple and we happened to have all the ingredients: equal amounts of liquid starch and glue and then food coloring of your choice

 Mix it all together until it becomes gobbed together and stretchy

Squish and play!

This is Joshua's Octopus

Kyle liked making little pieces

We discovered that if you blow air pockets into the putty, you could make balloons. 

We kept it in a baggy for about a week.

Ride Joshie Ride!

The other day Joshua noticed a box in our garage that had a picture of a bike on it and we were quickly reminded of the bike we bought months ago on clearance... Mike put it together late that evening and while it was dark when it was completed, Josh was determined to figure it out and he did!

He resisted our help... He wanted to figure it out by himself!

I can do it, lean forward and push down on my heels...

I can do it slowly...

And look at me going faster, yay!

Here he is the next day practicing at the school.  Way to go Joshie... You have determination like I have never seen!

Caesar Salad

We had to salvage our lettuce before the heat wave ruined it, so I attempted a home made Caesar Salad.  It was very easy and tasty...  Recipe came from all recipes.com- Caesar Salad 1

Our first harvest of romaine

Stuff needed for the dressing

I learned how to Coddle an egg... Pour boiling water into a cup and gently drop an egg in it for 1 min

Whisk the oil, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, salt, mustard & garlic and then crack the coddled egg into the mixture and whisk some more.

The recipe called for croutons, but I didn't have any so I made some.  Just paint onto slices of bread,  a mixture of olive oil, garlic, parm cheese & a little butter.

Cut into small pieces

... and bake at 425 for about 10-15 minutes

Pour all the ingredients into a bag, twist the top until an air bubble is formed and shake until evenly coated (this was something I learned when I worked at a restaurant in college).

Put on serving dishes and sprinkle with parm cheese.

This recipe was toddler approved!

Energy

Do you want to know the fastest way to wear out the energy, let boys be boys and clean them at the same time?  You put out a little blow up pool, fill it with water, add some baby soap & throw the kids in... 

No screaming inside the house, no water spilled on the bathroom floors & no having to sit on the toilet during their bath!  Fresh air, enjoyable scenery, an occasional sprinkling of water & the sound of joyful kids... This is what we love about the warm weather evenings. 

Just dry them off, put their pj's on & they are off to bed without a fight :).

Josh looks like one of those pool statues

Let the fun begin

They can't do that in the bathtub!

Calm down, boys, Jakey needs a bath too!

They are starting to get tired...

Well, I think it is time for bed now!