Monday, October 31, 2011

Happy Halloween!






These were taken Saturday morning. It was the first time he didn't throw to big of a fit when we put his costume on! We are going to make an attempt to go trick-or-treating tonight! =) Pictures of pumpkin carving, fall festival, and trick-or-treating to come all week long!



Friday, October 28, 2011

Last Saturday we spent the day in Fredericksburg... it was the most beautiful fall day! Wyatt stayed and played with Gammy and Grandpa while the Mr. and I went on an afternoon date to the Annual Food and Wine Festival! Here's our day in pictures....



I love this picture because it is the first (and only) one we have of Wyatt waving! (he was waving at a car driving by, lol)


At the Food and Wine Festival, we got a crawfish sausage link!! So weird, but it was actually pretty good!


There were about 20 - 25 vineyards there!


We tried to get our wine glasses in the picture, but we all know how well self photography turns outs....


You could also sit in on cooking classes all throughout the day!


After the festival, we walked on Main Street to get a geo-cache. Check out this 3 stage multi cache we found! ha, ha!




To top it all off, the Mr.'s parents grilled steaks with baked potatoes and all the fixin's! We had an awesome day! This counted as 1 of our dates for our Fall Bucket List =)

And for a list update:
S'mores - Check!
Make Fall Cookies - Check!
(I totally didn't even take a picture, but I made White Chocolate Pumpkin Cookies... I think I was to distracted by how amazing they were to get a picture!! Here is the recipe I used though, and I highly recommend making these this Fall! :

I hope everyone has a wonderful Halloween weekend! I will be lucky to get a single good picture of Wyatt in his costume.... he haaates wearing it! But isn't that every babies' first halloween experience? lol








Thursday, October 27, 2011

"Do not worry.."

"Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?" - Matthew 6:21

Last night was the last night of a 7 week Women's Bible Study I have been attending, and I have a couple of stories that have been on my heart since last night that I just had to share.

One of the ladies had to go to the hospital on Sunday (unexpectedly) for some issues she was having. She went on to explain that finances in her household are extremely tight right now. She was getting ready to be discharged and was laying in the hospital bed with worry and despair because she said she knew they were going to send her home with a prescription for several medications and there was literally no money for her to buy these medicines. On top of that, her daughter was coming home that evening also, and she had not been able to buy groceries, nor did she even have anything for dinner that night. Just a few minutes later..
A member from our church (she said a lady that she is not even really close friends with) walked into her hospital room with flowers..... and not only that, but she had also brought her dinner for her to take home AND a VISA gift card with enough money to cover her medications and additional groceries. WOW!
There was not a dry eye in the room as she shared this last night. How awesome that God used that church member to be such a blessing to this lady. That is an experience that I'm sure she will never forget.

Another lady shared last night that she has been teaching her 10 year old son that God provides for us and gives us all of our gifts. Over the weekend, her son was in the backyard and she heard him shouting, "Mom! Look what I got! Mom! Come look!" She rushed out to see what he was so excited about and in his arms was a big pumpkin! She asked him where he got it and he told her one of the neighbors gave it to him! She told us that her budget was very tight and she had told her son that they may not be able to buy a pumpkin this year... she used that as an example to teach her son that God knew he wanted a pumpkin and look how He blessed them with such a simple gift! And now she doesn't have to worry about buying her son a pumpkin.

Last night, I was literally taking a nap on the couch while Mr. put Wyatt down for the night and just 15 minutes before I was supposed to leave for Bible Study. I almost did not go but I am so glad Tyler pushed my butt out the door in time for me to make it =) It was not a coincidence that these stories were shared last night.
They had nothing to do with the topic we were actually discussing, but somehow our conversation drifted and these ladies shared these stories..... Stories that God knew I needed to hear. Real life reminders that I needed that He. will. provide. We are in a season of life where our trust is being stretched and we are leaning on God more than ever to provide for all of our needs. And not only will He provide our basic needs, but out of His love for us, he often goes beyond that to just bless us with gifts that make our hearts happy. =)

These verses in Chapter 6 of Matthew about "Do Not Worry" were recently  verse of the day on our Christian radio station and I came across them in a devotional I read just a few days ago....

"Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry..." - Matthew 6:25-31


Tuesday, October 25, 2011

We're in Trouble!

This morning, I was putting away dishes and Mr. was packing his stuff up for class. I turn around and this is what I see......


This little boy loves. to. climb.


But he's so stinkin' cute.....


Later on in the morning, I was sorting laundry (the correct post is up now, sorry about that!) and I knew Wyatt was in the fridge... well, it was waaaay to quiet in the kitchen so I go in there, and Wyatt...


is chomping down on a stick of butter!! I took this quick picture, then took it from him and snapped this one,


.... then dug all the butter out of his mouth! 

It's a good thing we live in a really small house and for the most part, I can see him at all times =)




Monday, October 24, 2011

The Secret Laundry Villains

(No clue how the first time this posted, it was just a draft! =/ Sorry.... here is the completed post...)

So it was getting to be about that time to buy another jug of laundry detergent and fabric softener,

and as we were planning our budget for the month, we weren't to thrilled that these products were on the lists of things to buy. Even with coupons, they aren't too "cheap."

The Mrs. remembered coming across blogs and websites in the last year or 2 of people making their own laundry detergent. She thought it was neat, but never really gave it a second thought.

Well, last weekend we decided to go ahead and "give it a second thought." We googled "homemade laundry detgerent" .... and were enlightened about a whole 'nother world out there we never knew existed! ha It turns out.. laundry detergents have paired up with fabric softeners and dryer sheets to form the #1 evil toxin villain team behind global warming and all other horrible things in life... whoa, snap out of it, sorry we were in "pretend" mode with Wyatt for a second (this happens all the time to Mr.). Seriously though, there are some pretty weird things (toxins and chemicals) in these products that enter our bodies through our skin via our clothes.

So when we learned we would 1) save money 2) change our whole laundry process to all natural and 3) help save the environment.... we figured, why not give it a shot?! So off we went to Target and HEB to gather ALL 3 ingredients we would need to make our laundry detergent. 3 things people, it doesn't get any easier than that!

All you need is Borax, Washing Soda, and Soap (Our grand total for these items was $7.68)


We mixed together 2 cups of Borax and 2 cups of Washing Soda


Then added 2 bars of grated soap!

Just stir and store!
(Empty formula can wrapped in scrapbook paper)

This is the powder version but you can also melt the soap and add water and make a liquid version. We use 1-2 tablespoons per load. Based on our smaller (test) batch, it looks like this batch will last us about a month. And there is still plenty of Borax and Washing Soda! We will just need to buy more soap, that 3 pack of Ivory only cost $1.15.

As for the fabric softener, we just ditched it! No more fabric softener to be seen in this house! And the dryer sheets (the leader of the toxic villian team!)... never again will we fall into Snuggle's cuddly little trap! Instead, we just put a couple drops of lavender oil on a washcloth and throw it in the dryer with the wet clothes.



 The results..... We haven't had any issues with static cling, which is what dryer sheets are supposed to do. (But even if we did experience static cling, there are tricks for that too!) Our clothes are just as clean as before. The only thing different is they don't have the strong "laundry" smell that comes from all the extra
(; toxic) ingredients. We're never goin' back! So long Tide and Snuggle!

Here's a few websites that we used along the way:


NOTE: Let it be known that we are NOT tree huggin' hippies, just penny pinching poor people. Hence, the reason we embarked on this crazy adventure of making our own laundry detergent.

-Mr. and Mrs.

Friday, October 21, 2011

God Made Dirt...

.. And Dirt Don't Hurt!









Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Happy 10 Months!



Wyatt...

  • Moved up into size 4 diapers, pretty much overnight! All of a sudden he needed bigger diapers. (Erin, I am bringing you a bunch of size 3 Huggies, day and nighttime diapers!)
  • Wears 12 month clothes, and even has an 18 month shirt that fits him!
  • Still has 6 teeth. Whichever tooth is coming in next has been a rough one! We don't see any new ones but he has been "teething" like crazy for the last month, no fun.
  • Is still pretty much on the same schedule... we have been trying to push back his bedtime but 6:00 is his max. It is his built-in bedtime. Which means our days start at 5:30-6:00 am. Some nights he sleeps straight through the whole night (which is heavenly for me!) and some nights he still wakes. We are trying to break him of needing a bottle in the middle of the night to go back to sleep but that has been a struggle. Hopefully I'll have big changes to report next month =) He does excellent for his morning and afternoon naps. 
  • Added broccoli, cauliflower, and chicken to his list of foods since last month. He looooves chicken,  I have a carnivore on my hands. He likes broccoli. But the cauliflower upset his tummy, so we'll have to come back to that one because he really liked eating it.

Eating chicken for the first time

  • Reaches towards things he wants and points his finger at things
  • WAVES! (finally! We've been working on this one for awhile) =)
  • Plays peek-a-boo... he likes to be the one "hiding" though
  • Eats with both hands, alternating between hands to shovel the food in
  • Says "mama" and "dada" ... interchangeably. We are both, both "mama" and "dada" =) And then he says lots of other "words" (gaga, baba, rrrrawr, pppffff, lalala, ect.) lol
  • Can push up to a stand without pulling up on anything. I caught it on the video the 2nd time he did it!
(Don't ask about the water everywhere)

  • Walks! (But I already posted about that here) His max is 5 steps right now, but he usually takes just 2-3. We finally caught some steps on video yesterday....



(Once again, don't ask what I'm doing.. you do whatever it takes to get to him walk for the camera, lol)

And finally, here's some belly laughs! (Warning: You will see baby booty)



Planning for the first birthday has begun!!! =) It'll be here before we know it!

OH! And I forgot about the best news of all..... Wyatt is switched over from Nutramigen (formula) to Soy formula!! He has been on Nutramigen since he was 2 months old when we finally figured out he had a milk allergy and acid reflux (hmmm, no wonder those first few weeks were so rough, haha) Anyways, he switched to soy formula with no issues! His pediatrician said the plan will be to have him drink soy milk when he turns 1, then slowly get him to whole cow's milk. Well, I just started whole milk yogurt with him the past couple days and so far, no issues there either! WooHoo!

Monday, October 17, 2011

Pumpkin Patch

We had a wonderful weekend and got a couple things crossed off our 2011 Fall Bucket List!

Saturday morning we went to a (small) pumpkin patch at a nursery right up the road from our house. It actually felt really nice out and we had a good time... Wyatt's first pumpkin patch. I don't think I got a single picture of him looking at the camera. He had a pretty serious face on most of the time and was just looking around trying to take it all in.

They had a really awesome hay maze! Here's the entrance,

And here's some pics of us in the maze..

 He loved the skeleton's bony knees..
 Walking through..
 He didn't want to touch the hay..
 Much better with mama..



They had a train ride..


Pumpkins!









Sitting with Wyatt's pumpkin he picked out


There's nothing like a pumpkin patch to get you in the mood for Fall!



(We plan on trying to go to one more pumpkin patch before Halloween. There is a pumpkin patch on a farm just outside of town that I've been "eyeballing" =) )
Then we stopped at Starbucks and got our "fancy fall coffee drinks" on our way to the library to check out a used book sale. The Mr. snatched up some awesome aviation books for super cheap! Sunday was church, home for lunch and naps, then out to Target and HEB to pick up some items for an "experiment" we did... more to come on that! And then we made a loaf of banana nut bread, yummm!

2011 Fall Bucket List:
Go to a pumpkin patch - check!
Drink fancy fall coffee drinks - check!
Corn maze - well..... we did a hay maze! 






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About Me

Hi, I'm Jenna! Wife of 9 years to my high school sweetheart, Tyler, and stay-at-home mama to our 3 year old, Wyatt, and 1 year old foster daughter. I blog about our extra-ordinary days to keep family updated and because I enjoy journaling and documenting the things that bring me joy... faith, family, and friends!

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