Monday, July 27, 2009
Silver Falls State Park
The Highlight!
The ultimate highlight of my day Monday through Friday is this handsome little guy! I love him SO much, tantrums and all! I have wanted to be a mother for as long as I remember but even more so lately. Brady calms my need a little each day. I cherish every moment I spend with him. I love teaching him and playing and taking him on outings! I cannot wait to be a mama to my own little ones!
Sing your heart out Sweet Boy!
Brady loves to sing three songs! ABCs, Wheels on the bus and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. It is so cute and I caught him in action. These moments only make me want to be a mother and love this little guy even more! Sorry they are a little dark. I was putting him down for a nap so the lights were off. Dang the other one is too long. He sings all three songs and it is sooo cute. Maybe I can find a way to shorten it and post it later. Enjoy this one though because it is still cute!
The Children's Museum
When Tanner came for his sleepover a couple weekends ago we took him to The Children's Museum! He had so much FUN! We all did actually. He loved the Water Works!
Friday, July 17, 2009
Tanner and Spence
"Lets Run Through the Jungle!"
Tanner would say that everytime we ran through the middle of the fountains.
"Lets Race"
Tanner and Spence racing on either side of the fountain.
Beaverton Library Fountain
In 90 degree weather we really needed to cool off!
Tanner is over for a special sleepover tonight so the 3 of us walked over to the library fountains.
In all the time I have known Tanner I don't think I have ever seen him have so much fun! It was a blast!
He did take a tumble (crying pic) but recovered very quickly and was right back at it.
Spencer was kind off a poop and didn't want to get wet. Tanner was very persistent in asking, rather begging, Spence to come play! So he finally gave in.
The water was very cold even in the warm weather so we couldn't stay to long much to freezing cold shivering Tanner's dismay.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Giveaway
Check out this Giveaway with Make It and Love It and Kendee Watches!
They have such cute watches!
Giveaway ends at midnight tonight! (sorry for short notice but I just found it)
Love this boy!
In two weeks we celebrate our 3rd anniversary! How amazing. There were days, well weeks where we thought we wouldn't make it another day. Sad, yes! However, we have held strong and are such a better couple and people for it! We have grown SO much, in so many ways!
I am so in love with him! He makes me so happy! I am so grateful to have him as my eternal companion, my rock, my best friend.
I love you ALWAYS Spence!
Blueberries!!!!
This lovely little Blueberry bush resides right outside our bedroom window!
This evening I went out and picked off every ripe blueberry possible and cleaned them up.
and dried them off to put in the freezer!
I am so excited about the suckers its not even funny. There are so many more to pick as soon as they ripen. WOO HOO!
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Green Clean!
This is for you Kayla! It's long but I hope it helps. There are endless recipes for products to clean your home with natural products.
All of these things can be replaced with the things below. Plus maybe a couple more things.
All- Purpose Cleaners:
1/2 C. Borax in One Gallon of hot water. Can be used in a bucket or use it in a spray bottle as an everyday cleaner.
Baking soda is a great abbrasive cleaner to replace your comet. Just sprinkle it on and scrub away. It can be used in sinks, on counters, appliances, etc.
1 part vinegar to 1 part water. Mix in spray bottle. Use as a disenfectant spray for your counters, toilets, etc. Vinegar dries with no smell.
Carpet Deodorizer- Sprinkle Baking soda on carpet. Leave overnight. Sweep up as much as possible and vacuum the rest.
Spill absorber- Sprinkle spill with cornstarch or cornmeal; leave 15 min. Sweep. Vacuum.
Carpet Cleaner- 1 part liquid soap. 1 part water. Whip together by hand or in blender. Make at least one cup worth. Sponge onto carpet, rub in, wipe dry.
Dishwasher Detergent- 1 part borax to 1 part washing soda. mix together in container size of your choice. Use as you would a commercial detergent. I have used this an it works great. If there is any residue use a little more washing soda.
Mildew Remover- Mix Vinegar with water or sprinkle baking soda on a damp sponge to clean affected area.
Drain Cleaner- 1/2 C. Baking Soda 1 C. Distilled White Vinegar and boiling water. Dissolve Baking soda and Vinegar in boiling water. Pour down drain. Cover with drain cover for a few minutes. flush with hot water until clog breaks.
Hardwood floor cleaner- 1/4 c. distilled white vinegar in one gallon warm water. Mix together in bucket. Wash floors with mixture and then rinse with water. Don't leave pools of water on the floor. When I cleaned house we didnt rinse the floors and no harm was done.
Basic Floor Cleaner- 1/8 c. liquid soap 1/8 c. distilled white vinegar 1 Gallon warm water, and ten drops essential oil of choice. Combine all ingredients in bucket.
Baking Soda Deodorizer spray- 2 TBS baking soda. 2 Cups hot water. 16 oz spray bottle. Mix in spray bottle. Spray when needed to deodorize a room or furniture. Will not leave any residue if baking soda is completely dissolved.
Basic furniture polish- 3 parts olive oil. 1 part distilled white vinegar. Mix. Apply with soft cloth.
Lemon Furniture Polish- 2 C. Olive, Vegetable, or Mineral Oil. Juice of 1 lemon. Mix. Apply with soft cloth and buff.
Starch spray- 1 TBS Cornstarch. 1 pint cold water. mix in small spray bottle, dissolving cornstrach. Shake before using.
Natural Bleach- 1/4 C. Washing Soda or Borax. Add to washing machine. Will whiten whites and brighten colors.
Natural Whitener- 1 C. fresh Lemon Juice. Half filled bucket of water. soak clothes overnight.
All- Purpose Stain Remover- 1/4 C. Borax. 2 C. cold water. Mix. Soak Clothes. Wash as usual.
Stainless Steel Cleaner- Baking soda or mineral oil. use either and shine with a damp cloth. Use vinegar to remove spots.
Oven Cleaner- baking soda and water. Sprinkle oven with Baking soda and spray with water. let sit for several hours or overnight. Scrap and wipe clean. Make sure to wipe well with water.
Toilet Bowl Cleaner- Baking Soda and Vinegar. Sprinkle with Baking Soda, drizzle with vinegar, scrub with brush.
Toilet Bowl Stain Remover- Pumice Stone. Keep stone wet and rubs spots until they dissapear. Works SO great for toilet rings!
Basin, Tub and Tile Cleaner- Half a Lemon dipped in borax. Scrub surface with lemon. Rinse.
Tile Cleaner- 1/4 C. Distilled white vinegar, 1 gallon water, 10 drops essential oil. Mix well. Clean well with damp sponge or rag.
Window Cleaner- 2 tsp. Distilled white vinegar. 1 quart warm water. mix in spray bottle. Spray windows and use clean cloth to wipe clean. Use rubbing alcohol to remove residue from commercial cleaners.
This laundry soap was replaced with the homemade laundry soap below. See previous post for recipe. You can use 1/4 C. Vinegar as a fabric softener. Pour it into the rinse cycle or into the farbic softener chamber at the beginning of the load. You can also use a downy ball.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
A Preface...
To my next post. and the rest of my life. Its going to be long, hopefully informative though.
As I have started wanting a baby more and more I have also started thinking of the ways I will care for it and the things I would want to change about my life when a child comes into it.
I have discovered a true LOVE for all things natural!
We recently went to the library and I checked out several books on living green or raising your children green. I haven't done all my research but I was astonished at the studies done.
Spencer and I have decided to slowly convert to eating organic foods. In the book "Raising Baby Green. The Earth friendly guide to Pregnancy, Childbirth, and Baby Care" by Alan Greene, M.D.
it states that if by 2010 we raise the organic consumption rates from 3% (as of 2007) to 10% we will:
1. Eliminate pesticides from 98 million servings of drinking water per day across the U.S.
population.
2. Ensure that 20 million servings of milk per day are produced without antibiotics and genetically modified growth hormones.
3. Ensure that 53 million servings of Fruits and Veggies each day are free of pesticide residues. (that is enough to give 10 million kids five servings of F&V each day)
4. Ensure that 915 million animals are treated more humanely.
(Today more than 98% of the 345 million laying hens in the U.S. live out their lives in stacked rows of tiny wire cages. Beaks trimmed so they don't hurt themselves or chickens around them. In 2005, United Egg Producers, recommened a gradual increase in cage size for each adult leghorn to 0.47 sq. ft. By comparison, an 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper is .65 sq. ft.- 30% bigger than the new "humane" goal. Sad :()
5. Eliminate growth hormones, genetically engineered drugs and feeds, and 2.5 million pounds of antibiotics used on livestock annually. (More than twice the amount of antibiotics used to treat human infections)
6. Capture an additional 6.5 billion pounds of carbon in soil (the amount emitted per year by 2 million cars driven 12,000 mi.)
7. Eliminate 2.9 billion barrels of imported oil annually (equal to 406,000 Olympic eight-lane competition pools)
8. Restore 25,800 sq. mi. of degraded soils to rich, highly productive cropland (an amount of land equal to the size of West Virginia)
Their source was Mission Organic (www. MO2010.org)
Buying and Consuming Organic foods is so much better for you!
also in Raising Baby Green:
In Aug. and Sep. 2004 in U.S. hospitals an unbilical cord blood study was conducted by Environmental Working Group (EWG). They studied the cord blood of Ten babies. There were a total of 287 different industrial chemicals circulating throught the body of the newborn. Each baby carried an average of 200 chemicals that included Mercury, fire retardants, and pesticides. Of the 287 they know that 180 cause cause cancer in humans or animals, 217 are toxic to the brain and nervous system and 208 cause birth defects or abnormal developments in animal tests.
It goes on to say that this study suggests something very important. We are the environment; there is no seperation. If a chemical is "out there" it may also be "in here," in the most protected inner sanctum of our bodies.
So they aren't sure what all this means for babies but while studies continue we can change what we eat and the way we live to protect ourselves and our children.
In an effort to remove chemicals from our home we have also decided to clean green! We just made our first batch of homemade laundry soap (next post) that is environmentally friendly and really cheap.
We use so many chemicals to clean our homes each day. There is a green way to clean just about everything, they usually cost less, make your home smell better and make them cleaner. It does require a little more elbow grease however. To me it is worth it. I was listening to the radio the other morning and they were talking about cleaning green. It was said that with white distilled vinegar, baking soda, and a lemon you can clean everything in your home. I'm willing to give it a try!
Im also over using disposable products. Unless they are for bathroom needs. Paper towels are such a waste and you can save so much money by making or buying cheap cloth napkins. One thing I have become very comfortable using in my kitchen, bathroom, etc are lysol wipes. They're out! Once the last two containers are gone we are switching to vinegar water and reusable cleaning rags. Vinegar has a horrid smell when wet but dries odorless, it is a disenfectant and will leave your home clean.
Anyway, that is just a small look inside my brain these days. I will spare you the other hundreds of pages of thoughts and feelings I have about being green to help our environment, our bodies, our bank accounts, and, for me anyway, future children.
As I have started wanting a baby more and more I have also started thinking of the ways I will care for it and the things I would want to change about my life when a child comes into it.
I have discovered a true LOVE for all things natural!
We recently went to the library and I checked out several books on living green or raising your children green. I haven't done all my research but I was astonished at the studies done.
Spencer and I have decided to slowly convert to eating organic foods. In the book "Raising Baby Green. The Earth friendly guide to Pregnancy, Childbirth, and Baby Care" by Alan Greene, M.D.
it states that if by 2010 we raise the organic consumption rates from 3% (as of 2007) to 10% we will:
1. Eliminate pesticides from 98 million servings of drinking water per day across the U.S.
population.
2. Ensure that 20 million servings of milk per day are produced without antibiotics and genetically modified growth hormones.
3. Ensure that 53 million servings of Fruits and Veggies each day are free of pesticide residues. (that is enough to give 10 million kids five servings of F&V each day)
4. Ensure that 915 million animals are treated more humanely.
(Today more than 98% of the 345 million laying hens in the U.S. live out their lives in stacked rows of tiny wire cages. Beaks trimmed so they don't hurt themselves or chickens around them. In 2005, United Egg Producers, recommened a gradual increase in cage size for each adult leghorn to 0.47 sq. ft. By comparison, an 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper is .65 sq. ft.- 30% bigger than the new "humane" goal. Sad :()
5. Eliminate growth hormones, genetically engineered drugs and feeds, and 2.5 million pounds of antibiotics used on livestock annually. (More than twice the amount of antibiotics used to treat human infections)
6. Capture an additional 6.5 billion pounds of carbon in soil (the amount emitted per year by 2 million cars driven 12,000 mi.)
7. Eliminate 2.9 billion barrels of imported oil annually (equal to 406,000 Olympic eight-lane competition pools)
8. Restore 25,800 sq. mi. of degraded soils to rich, highly productive cropland (an amount of land equal to the size of West Virginia)
Their source was Mission Organic (www. MO2010.org)
Buying and Consuming Organic foods is so much better for you!
also in Raising Baby Green:
In Aug. and Sep. 2004 in U.S. hospitals an unbilical cord blood study was conducted by Environmental Working Group (EWG). They studied the cord blood of Ten babies. There were a total of 287 different industrial chemicals circulating throught the body of the newborn. Each baby carried an average of 200 chemicals that included Mercury, fire retardants, and pesticides. Of the 287 they know that 180 cause cause cancer in humans or animals, 217 are toxic to the brain and nervous system and 208 cause birth defects or abnormal developments in animal tests.
It goes on to say that this study suggests something very important. We are the environment; there is no seperation. If a chemical is "out there" it may also be "in here," in the most protected inner sanctum of our bodies.
So they aren't sure what all this means for babies but while studies continue we can change what we eat and the way we live to protect ourselves and our children.
In an effort to remove chemicals from our home we have also decided to clean green! We just made our first batch of homemade laundry soap (next post) that is environmentally friendly and really cheap.
We use so many chemicals to clean our homes each day. There is a green way to clean just about everything, they usually cost less, make your home smell better and make them cleaner. It does require a little more elbow grease however. To me it is worth it. I was listening to the radio the other morning and they were talking about cleaning green. It was said that with white distilled vinegar, baking soda, and a lemon you can clean everything in your home. I'm willing to give it a try!
Im also over using disposable products. Unless they are for bathroom needs. Paper towels are such a waste and you can save so much money by making or buying cheap cloth napkins. One thing I have become very comfortable using in my kitchen, bathroom, etc are lysol wipes. They're out! Once the last two containers are gone we are switching to vinegar water and reusable cleaning rags. Vinegar has a horrid smell when wet but dries odorless, it is a disenfectant and will leave your home clean.
Anyway, that is just a small look inside my brain these days. I will spare you the other hundreds of pages of thoughts and feelings I have about being green to help our environment, our bodies, our bank accounts, and, for me anyway, future children.
Homemade laundry soap
Supplies Needed
1 Bar Fels Naptha Soap Bar
4 C. Hot Water
1 C. Washing Soda
1/2 C. Borax
10-15 drops Essential Oil/ 2 Gal. Laundry Soap (not needed unless you choose to add it)
1. Grate Fels Naptha Bar with cheese grater.
(Make sure to wash things well after making soap)
2. Add grated Fels Naptha Soap to 4 C. water
3. Heat on medium until Fels Naptha has dissovled. Stirring Constanly.
4. Fill 5 gal. bucket half full with hot tap water.
5. Pour in water and Fels Naptha solution, stir.
6. Mix together Washing Soda and Borax and add to liquid. Make sure powder dissolves completely.
7. Fill bucket with Hot Water to 5 gal. line, stir.
8. Put lid on, let sit overnight to cool.
9. After cooled, stir, add Essential Oil of your choice.
10. Put in used, clean Laundry soap dispenser. Fill HALF full and add water to fill container. (shake before each use as it will gel)
11. Be SO HAPPY that you just took one step closer to having a green home and saving tons of money!
Only 14.10 was spent on the supplies needed not including the bucket and lid.
Reciepe yeilds 10 Gals. Laundry Soap
Top Load Machine- 1 C.per load. I don't think you actually need to use that much for one load but let me try it out and I will get back to you.
Front Load Machine- 1/2 C. per load
We still have tons of left over Washing Soda and Borax so for a long time all we will need to buy is a Fels Naptha bar to make more laundry soap. Its going to take forever to use all that soap though!
I really recommend giving this recipe a try. It took about a half hour to make and will save you SOOO much money. It is also GREEN!
Recipe Courtesy of- The Duggar Family (TLC)
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