3 Girls, 1 Guy and a Zoo!

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Way over due!

November 10th was Doug's birthday. He took a personal day on Friday so he was actually home for his birthday in the evening. Plans however didn't go as we desired. Doug called me around 3 or 4 telling me that he was in the hospital with kidney stones. Thankfully my brother and sister in law were already on their way to our house and had to pass through the town where he was at. Once he was released they headed for home but it was late by that point in time so all birthday plans went out the window. Besides the fact that he wasn't feeling the greatest :( Poor guy! I did have our Pastor's wife make him a cake and remembered to take a picture of it. It was perfect!

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

We are skipping out on actually sending out Christmas cards this year. However, thanks to Blogger, you can still get yours! :) Merry Christmas!!!!

Pictures of our decorations will be going up soon I promise.

I loaned out my camera and the pictures are on there!

Friday, November 4, 2011

Homemade laundry soap

Ok, so I know what you are all thinking - "This lady has really gone off her rocker now!"

I had my reservations when I first heard of it to. That being said, I did some research and found out that I would be saving a ton of money! It costs me .71 cents to make 2 gallons worth of soap and that calculates out to about .01 cents per load! Awesome right? Wait, there is more! It's soooo easy to make too! Ready to find out how to make your own? Here goes ~

You will need -

1/2 cup of Washing Soda (not to be confused with Baking Soda)

1/2 cup of Borax powder

1/3 of a bar of Fels-Naptha

All of the ingredients can be found right at Walmart, all together in the laundry isle in between the bleach and the fabric softener.

You will also need a 2 gallon bucket.

First grate your Fels Naptha soap and put it in a sauce pan. Add 6 cups of water and heat until the soap melts. Add the Washing Soda and Borax and stir until it is dissolved. Remove from heat. Poor 4 cups of hot water into your bucket. Now add your soap mixture and stir. Now add 1 gallon plus 6 cups of water and stir. Let the soap sit for 24 hours and it will gel. Use 1/2 cup per load.

***The finished soap will not be a solid gel.

***This soap is low sudsing so if you are someone who checks your laundry while its washing, don't freak if you don't see bubbles. Trust me, your laundry is still getting clean!

***This soap has a natural clean smell but for those of you that may prefer scent to your laundry you can add 1/2 to 1 oz of essential oil to scent.

Enjoy!!!

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Scentsy!

It's time for Christmas shopping and we all have those people that are just tough to buy for! Every thought about a Scentsy warmer? They really do make the perfect gift! This is November's warmer of the month....

and the scent of the month is Midnight Fig -

(Tread softly across the threshold of a forbidden garden-an eden of infinite beauty and pleasure. Earthly, ripened figs and golden berries tempered by mushy woods will open your eyes and captivate your senses.)

This is December's warmer of the month - available December 1st

Comfort & Joy is the scent of the month for December-

(The best gifts combine the anticipated with the unexpected—just

like Comfort & Joy. Spicy, familiar woods marry with surprising

white florals, pure citrus, and just a nibble of gingerbread for a

winter fragrance that’s anything but ordinary.)

Scentsy is a wick-less system that uses a night light bulb to melt wax at a low temperature. It's a safe alternative to candles.

We have so many other products to...Buddies for kids with a scent pak zipped inside for a great smelling stuffed animal, room sprays, fragrance foam (hand sanitizer), travel tins (for the car), as well as 80 different scents for melting, and a ton of burners in 3 different sizes.

Visit my website to take a peak at all of our available products for everyday or the holiday season!

Monday, October 31, 2011

A perfect excuse to dress up!

We were asked this year to go around to a few houses with one of the girls' cousins. Gabby, dressed up as Mario was supposed to have her little brother Lucas with her. He was going to be Luigi, but he was too sick to come along...poor little man! I can't wait to see pictures of him dressed up though! The girls had a blast even though the three of them went screaming off one porch! LOL

Monday, October 24, 2011

Marissa reading again....

We still need to practice some more. She hasn't really been working on reading sentences in school...just words. So when she reads a book, they all kind of get jumbled. She still gets b and d mixed up once in a while to. I'm super impressed :) Love my big girl ;)

Marissa is Reading!!!

My Mom sent Marissa some 1st level reading books. This is her first time reading them. We still have some practicing to do, but I'm super impressed with her reading ability after just a few weeks of reading. (The curriculum I'm using doesn't start reading or writing until 1st Grade.)

Marissa lost her first tooth!

Marissa lost her 1st tooth on 10/22/2011 in the morning. I'm so proud of her!

She did so good! My baby girl is getting so big!

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Random Cuteness!

I can't figure out if she is in love, or if she doesn't know what to do with him! LOL

Madalyn didn't want to hold the baby, but she did want some camera time! :)

Monday, October 17, 2011

Taughannock Falls State Park!

Last weekend Friday, the girls and I took off and headed for the Ithaca area to spend the weekend with Doug. We had some friends coming in from Virginia that were going to be staying in a cabin at Taughannock Falls State Park. We pulled the camper over there and stayed too! It was so much fun. The park was beautiful!!! God blessed us with an amazing weekend. It was warm, but not to hot, sunny and just gorgeous!!! It has been so rainy down there, the poor camper hadn't had a chance to dry out in a while. This was the last weekend to camp so it was nice to close it up dry. On Sunday, my parents joined us, along with Uncle AJ and Aunt Sharon. The kids took right to them, even though they haven't seen Uncle AJ and Aunt Sharon in a couple years.

We found these stairs early in the morning and thought it would be fun to climb them and see where they led...only it was a really big hike and they just led back to the campsites! LOL Oh well, they were beautiful!

They had a couple little benches along the way up the stairs. Grandpa and Madalyn stopped for a picture on the way back down.

Grandma and Marissa joined in...

(I couldn't choose which one I liked better so I posted them both for you Mom!)

Then we headed to a walk on the Gorge Trail.

The changing of the leaves just added to the beauty!

The cliffs were so amazing. I've never seen anything quite like it before!

The falls has an incredible drop of 215 feet and is one of the highest east of the Rocky Mountains. Apparently depending on the time and type of year they are having, the falls can either be dry, or rushing, or just perfect like it was the day we were there. It is high, but the water fell so slowly it looked like!

The girls with Aunt Sharon, or Grandma Sharon...they can't decide what to call her :)

We had a blast...the only bad thing is, it only intensified my want/need to have our house sold so that we can be down there with Doug!

If you were to ask me where I would see myself in 10 years, I never would have guessed that I would be here. However, I couldn't be happier! I'm very happily married to the love of my life and have two girls. We have begun our journey towards adoption and I'm excited to see what the Lord has in store for us over the next couple of years. I'm a stay at home mom who home-schools. I enjoy researching and finding things out for myself. This blog allows me to share with others my passions and keep in touch with family that I wouldn't normally be able to keep in such close touch with.

Daddy is such a blessing to me. We met in college and became best friends. About one and a half years after we met we were dating. The rest is history. Together we have grown in the Lord and learned many lessons even in our few years together. Things haven't always been smooth, but together and with the Lord's help we can accomplish anything. He is the love of my life and my true soul mate. He is 100% committed to his family and the Lord. He is currently working for Dairy One in Ithaca. He loves to ski, ride dirt bikes, tinker on things, mow the lawn :) and spend time with his girls.

Marissa is our oldest. She was born in May 2005. She is 100% Daddy's girl. She is a home body and usually isn't away from home for long and she is asking to go back to our house. She always claims a job and sticks with it till its done. She is very quick and catches on fast. You have to be careful what you show her, because before you know it she is going to be attempting it herself. Madalyn is her best friend. She loves church and loves learning and singing about Jesus. Marissa is now is school and she is doing great. She loves to read and do projects. She LOVES animals and has decided that she wants to be a Veterinarian when she grows up!

Madalyn is our youngest. She is 100% Mommy's girl (nice of them that they split us up so that one isn't quite so overwhelmed isn't it?). Madalyn knows what she wants and goes for it. She has no fear and is usually the leader of my two even though she is younger. She does love to shadow her older sister though. She is my girly girl, but also my one that is always getting messy. She loves her hair done, to get dressed up, and shoes! We are in trouble with this one! She loves school and is super smart. She has decided she wants to be a "snow plow driver" when she grows up. She is also going to build a house RIGHT next to us and live there so she can still see us every day ;)

Case was actually our "oldest child". Sadly we said goodbye to him on October 29th, 2013. He was a black lab/ red-tick coonhound. He loved to roam the fields, swim, play ball, catch frisbees, go hiking and spend time at the barn. He also very much enjoyed those black and white cats that roam in the dark and have stripes down their backs...or he must have because he kept getting sprayed! He hated to be abandoned by his family and preferred us to all be in the house by 9pm or he started pacing. His biggest dislike was winter. He hated the cold and would rather hold his potty all day long than to go out and pee. Even when he did go out he barely makes it out the door and he was starting to go! Haha He was our "little boy in a doggie suit" as my aunt says. We love him and miss him like crazy.

Cali is our first cat together as a married couple. Sadly we said goodbye to her on October 8th, 2014. We got her from the barn shortly after we moved. She had to be one of the softest cats you had ever felt and of course one of the best looking calicos. LOL She was a great mouser and spent alot of her time in the basement hunting. She had a funny quirk. When she got ready to settle down and sleep, she parted the hair on her tail so only a few hairs were sticking up and then she proceeded to suck on those hairs.

Beaker is a litter mate to Cali. She is a great mouser. She loves to sneak outside when she gets the chance but if you say her name she quickly darts back in. She is VERY attached to Doug and is always coming up to him purring just as loud as can be begging to be picked up. Beaker of course never does this to me. She doesn't like change and isn't fond of strange dogs, although she has gotten much better with the dogs. She will still swat at Molly but it's not angry, it's almost like she is playing.

Sid was our Marshall Ferret. We said goodbye to him in 2012. He was amazing! Great with kids and other animals, but a total goofball. He definitely lived up to the typical ferret personality and a total thief! Sid's favorite thing to steal was pacifiers. He would take them right out of a baby's mouth if given the opportunity and then take off running! He always hid everything in the same place, so at least we knew where to find them, but of course they were always ruined. Anything rubber was in danger of ending up in the said spot. We definitely miss having him around.

Chloe is Cairn Terrier. She is a blast to have around and I'm definitely sold on the terrier family! She is great with the kids and loves spending time outside. She is a great woodchuck hunter and will sit at an occupied hole all day till she catches one. Even in the winter time she will spend forever out there and come back looking like a snowman. She loves to swim and will swim in any temperature water. She loves to mother other animals. Whether it be kittens from the barn, Case, or her own litter of puppies, she is a great mother! We have since fixed her. Although I'm sad there won't be another litter, it's for the best with the probability of us moving and having to find a new vet.

Meet Molly, our newest dog addition :) After taking some time to heal after losing Case, we decided that our household wasn't the same without a big dog around and we were missing something. So we took the plunge and went full out this time. Molly is a purebred, mis-marked mantle, Great Dane :) She has grown into one good looking pup! I'm still in love with this old picture though, so I'm not changing it! She stands about 31 inches at the shoulder and weighs over 100lbs (although honestly I'm not sure how much over because I can't lift her anymore!) She is great with the kids and loves to cuddle. She shares our bed and is the biggest baby ever. She is very protective and does not like when anyone is pinned down. She is right there to break up the "fight" LOL We love her to pieces!

When Doug's sister and her husband started breeding rabbits, I had a feeling deep down that it was only a matter of time....Here she is! Peterette started out as "Peter". When Madalyn realized "he" was actually a "she", she settled with Peterette. :) Peterette is a flemish giant, which according to what I have read is the Great Dane breed in the bunny world! Figures right? She is super sweet, very laid back and loves to be cuddled and pet. She'll stick her nose out of her cage when you enter the room just so you will scratch it!