Thursday, May 28, 2009
Lazy Summer Days
We have looked for quite awhile now for some that fit her and stay on. Most stores don't have the toe strap like the flip flops so her foot falls out of them. Old Navy had these and they are super cute.... until she walks in them.
I found that if we put them on like this (backwards)they seem to stay on better and she can walk much faster and it doesn't look so wrong. Maybe? You be the judge.
We spend most of our days in the backyard - she cries whenever we come back inside. I don't blame her though as she has a pretty nice set up out there. She loves going in and out of the pool and playing with her many balls. Throwing wood chips into the pool is also a favorite past time
Claire also discovered she loves to sit in beach chairs and really enjoys the little pouch that hangs off the arms to hold drinks. She is all about storing rocks in them but today she was very happy to discover that her pool balls also fit in them.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Claire's Dedication
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Birthday Surprise
The restaurant service was HORRIBLE and now we know to bring a lunch next time. Waiting for a table (notice all the empty tables in the background)
How much longer?
( and yes, her shoes are on backwards. We do that on purpose to help her feet not turn in so much)
We got our box and started picking. Claire was hesitant at first but she finally tasted a peach and realized that she loved them.
She ate her peaches until, for whatever reason, she threw it in the dirt and then we would pick her another one.She stayed busy and happy the whole time and she had a lot of fun exploring.
We filled our box up and headed back. Claire was ready and she promptly fell asleep on the way home. That evening, we had Denisse come over and sit for us while we used our Chili's gift card. It was very pleasant not having Claire grumbling and complaining throughout a meal. It was only our second "date" since Claire was born.
Friday, May 15, 2009
Mother's Day - Take 2
We will miss you Buddy!
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Sod and an Early Mother's Day
We got 500 sq feet and during Claire’s morning nap (3 hours) we laid it all and it was finished. We left one side of the yard dirt because we hope to put cement down next year so Claire can ride her little bikes around. We also are going to have to water it by hand for the next year until we can afford a sprinkler system. I am so excited for Claire to be able to run around back there finally, she LOVES to be outside.
That afternoon we drove out to Chandler to spend and early Mother's Day day with the Mom and Dad McKenzie and of course Aunt Shelbe. (We saw Uncle Corey for a brief moment too. )
Claire went swimming in the big pool with dadda and grandpa but she is still unsure of grandpa at times. As soon as Claire got out of the pool, she went potty on grandma’s new rug that is in the patio area. While she was going, she looked super upset/embarrased, but Grandpa said it was okay and Claire promptly continued running around and jabbering to herself. I am sad I do not have a picture of this.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Homemade Laundry Soap
I have been wanting to try making homemade laundry detergent for quite some time but today I finally did it! I had one more loads worth of Tide left and so rather than get more Tide for $10 for 40 loads. I bought 1 bar of Zote ($1) and a box of borax ($2.78) I had a box of baking soda at home already but that would have been about $2.00. I felt like I was living in the prairie days as I was grating the soap (which is silly because if I were in the prairie days I would first be making the soap out of pig fat) but it was fun and it seriously only took about 5 minutes to complete the entire process.
4 cups Zote Soap finely grated - (1 bar)
2 cups Washing Soda or Baking Soda
2 cups Borax
- Mix well and store in an airtight plastic container.
After researching and doing the math it comes out to about 2.8 cents per load verses 25 cents with Tide. If I do 6 loads of laundry a week (remember I am washing diapers) it comes to Homemade = $8.73 a year and Tide = $78 a year.
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Barf - A Mother's Dream
and her bed looking like this....
Yes, that is all barf and the pictures don't even capture the chunks crusted in her hair and the wonderful smell filling the room. It was all as dry as can be, so she must have thrown up early on during the night and then wallowed in it while she slept. She never woke up crying though so it must have not been too traumatic at the time.
Needless to say, we stayed home from church, but Claire was in a surprisingly good mood after her bath and her big bowl of organic oatmeal.
Here she is giving her approval of her clean crib sheets.
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Waiting For The Breakdown
Then our dishwasher broke, we don’t know what is wrong with it. The buttons on the front panel don’t light up so we thought maybe a fuse had gone out. Josh ordered a part online and it turned out to be the wrong one. He ordered another part and it was the right one but when he changed it, it still didn’t work. No big deal though, we can live without a dishwasher.
THEN my car started smelling like gasoline and smoking so we took it in and it need over $800 dollars worth of work to change the fuel pump and fuel line. Then the A/C stopped working. No big deal though, we can live without that. I drove around for a few weeks with the weather getting hotter and hotter. Poor Claire, stuck in her padded car seat would be dripping wet when we got to where we were going. We are eternally grateful that Mom and Dad McKenzie thought we couldn’t live without that and helped us out.
I am just waiting for the next thing to break.
In other news…. Claire got a swimming pool!We got a while back at Goodwill for only $16 and it is a Little Tikes. We filled it up in the morning and set it in the sun to warm up. By the afternoon it was HOT. Claire loved it.
She was in there for a long time chasing some balls we put in there and sitting on the top step of the slide splashing her flippers in the water.
That morning, Claire found her first chicken egg at Nana's house. As you can see the chicken had JUST laid it and Claire wanted to hold it very badly.
We were afraid she would throw it down or squeeze it too hard, but the egg eventually made it safely to the refrigerator.