Dogs don't...dogs do

Jason got this hilarious book for his birthday from aunt Shari and family, titled, "Dogs Don't Brush Their Teeth". We laugh every time we read it, and it's becoming Jason's favorite. Here's a long video of him reading it to me, with lots of, "What's that called again?" He's like me--can never place the words he's looking for. Sooo cute!

Pumpkin Patch

We had a great time at the pumpkin patch with our church on Friday night--hayrack ride, pumpkin picking, corn maze, bonfire, chili feed, ... I think my kids were made to live on a farm. Levi loved throwing sticks and hay in the fire and making sparks fly up into the dark sky. Fun times!

Homemade laundry detergent

So I've always been curious about making my own laundry detergent--I go through a big bottle of that stuff in no time, and I hate to keep forking out the money for it. I was talking to a friend the other day who makes her own, and her recipe only calls for 3 ingredients, plus water. Sounded simple enough--thought I'd give it a try, and I actually think I'm going to like it. The recipe I used is posted online here--The Duggars on the TLC show use it and seem to be super thrifty, yet clean. I figure that if anyone knows how to make laundry soap, that mama probably knows better! (She's going on her 19th child, so I hear!) I used the recipe for the liquid detergent--she says it's the best deal, so I believed her! So, it took me all of maybe 5 minutes to melt the grated bar of soap in water and mix it all up. I then let it set up overnight--made a congealed, strange texture which looked a little strange, truthfully, but it smells nice and clean. I stirred it up and poured it into a used laundry soap bottle that I had, and tried it out this morning. My clothes look and smell clean enough for me, so I'm happy! Best part--I didn't do the math, but I read that this stuff costs 2-3 cents per load. I seriously think if might even be less--it made sooo much detergent! I'm going to be using this batch alone for probably a year! If you're interested in making your own, I couldn't find the Fels-Naptha bar or the Washing Soda at Walmart--had to go to Dillons to get them, but these are cheap ingredients--under 10 dollars for lots of months worth of detergent. Oh--and if you're looking for a 5 gallon bucket with a lid, I've heard Walmart has them to give away in the bakery dep't--they get their icing in the buckets and like to get rid of them after it's used up.

Rag Curls

This is how Miss Sarah went to bed last night--she was sooo excited to wake up and see her curls!
Here's what Daddy and the boys were doing while I put the rags in Sarah's hair...
Gotta love that laugh! Robbie gets his braces off in a couple months, and I'm hoping to see a lot more of it! (and his smile, which he's lost somewhere in this braces journey.)
Here's the only pic I could get of Levi--the boys thought it would be so funny to keep sticking their hand in front of the camera--I wasn't laughing...
Here's the finished product--a little crazy, but she LOVED it and feels like a princess, so we'll definitely keep experimenting with it. I envision doing this for all my nieces at Christmas! Look at that happy smile...

Christmas picture

Sarah could spend every minute drawing, reading and writing these days. She's such a little sponge lately, soaking new things up like crazy--I love this age--I catch her playing school so often, either teaching her brother, or some imaginary friend. I can totally picture her being a teacher some day, and when she teaches, she sounds exactly like her kindergarten teacher, who is phenomenal. Here is a picture/story she made for her very loved teacher, Miss H--I was a little jealous--have never received anything with so much writing, so I had to take a picture of it to keep forever before parting with it! It says, "Wuns I had so much fun at krismis bekuz I plab (played) with mi dolez! Wut kan yoo find at scol?" (Not sure how the 2 sentences go together, but it's adorable, none the less!) I love how when the line on her "a" doesn't connect with the circle, she adds a mark to connect the 2 together--you can see it better if you double click on the pic--not sure how she thought of that, but she's pretty consistent with it.

Book it

Book it has been a great motivator for Sarah--I've been trying to get her to try to read these beginning reader books for months, but she had no interest until she brought home her book it papers. Now she's a reading machine! I love how expressive she is! Good job, Sarah!

Can you believe...

...this guy has grown an inch and a half in the past 2 months?!? He is soo excited--wants to measure himself all the time. He's growing up so much--seeming incredibly responsible lately. I love having a 7 year old!