Morning Cuddles

I love my morning cuddles with Piglet every morning. We might lay in bed together a little longer than we should but I know that she won't want to cuddle with me forever and so right now I drink it in for all to soon it will be gone. Sometimes she likes to get really close and can be found like this. Yep! She is sitting on my shoulder/neck. Super comfy! 

One Year Mark

This week is the one year anniversary of joining the local gym and for the most part working out 6 days a week. I think thats a pretty big accomplishment. I have lost a lot of weight, kept it off, and feel better than I have in a long time. I have muscles that I didn't know existed and they are becoming more and more visible and defined which I have NEVER had before, even in high school. Here's to another year of working out and hopefully becoming even more physically fit. 

Lost Tooth

Babe lost her first top tooth today! For the longest time she's had a Nanny McPhee look going for her. Her top tooth was so loose it would hang over her bottom lip.  Those days are over and she's pretty proud of her new gap and a visit from the tooth fairy.

American Girl Lapbook

I designed my first ever lapbook. I'm pretty proud of myself. We LOVE lapbooks at our house. My girls especially. They are very crafty and lapbooks are essentially an educational scrapbook. Up until now I've always used someone else's work. So here it is. It's all about Marie Grace, one of the newer historical characters American Girl has come out with. Let me know what you think!  A link to all of the printable's will follow this post.
This is the cover of the lapbook.

This is how I folded the file folder.

This is inside the lapbook with all of the components.

A pocket with facts on steamboats.

 This section contains a wheel on the lifecycle of the mosquito and a booklet on mosquito facts. There is also a fold down about the Louisiana Purchase and the triangle is about Mardi Gras.

This is a vocabulary booklet of French Words. The bottom component is a petal booklet with Louisiana State facts.

Hope you enjoy! Let me know if you have any questions!

Cover Picture of Marie Grace: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B19hO5Xc4fQTQk1Ed1RJTWx4a1E/edit?usp=sharing

French Vocab List

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B19hO5Xc4fQTS19VQjFvZ0xOOVE/edit?usp=sharing

Lifecycle of a Mosquito 

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B19hO5Xc4fQTby1NZG0wa2FHVXc/edit?usp=sharing

Louisiana Purchase

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B19hO5Xc4fQTbDEzU1loTkNfT3c/edit?usp=sharing

Louisiana State Facts

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B19hO5Xc4fQTNjZydXRnOVktVkU/edit?usp=sharing

Mardi Gras

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B19hO5Xc4fQTVnlWMF9lMXY1RU0/edit?usp=sharing

Marie Grace Pictures

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B19hO5Xc4fQTbkZVLWhmLXVKeVk/edit?usp=sharing

Mosquito Booklet

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B19hO5Xc4fQTNXlXaWhMS2xvNVE/edit?usp=sharing

Steamboat Facts

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B19hO5Xc4fQTMEF3QXJscmExMXc/edit?usp=sharing

Caution: Bad Mood!

I'm in a bad mood! I don't want to be, but alas here I am. I'm frustrated and I try to tell myself that things will all work out, but right now it doesn't seem like things will. So as lame as this post is, it's how I feel right now. Totally discouraged and seriously bummed out! 

Sleeping Babies

I was feeling slightly nostalgic and found these pictures of my babies sleeping. I love how littles can curl up just about anywhere for a little snooze.

 The stairs . . . really?!

 Years later and her younger sister is found doing the same thing.

 Don't look to close at his fingernails! NASTY!

My babies are growing up much to quickly!

Easter Train

Today we went on a bit of a drive up north to go on an Easter Train. It's really just this SUPER old train that they do different holiday events on.

Look who's coming up the tracks! It looks like a bunny!

 The ceilings in the train cars were so incredibly tall. I mean, I'm short and all, but these were really tall.

 Aren't you glad we have the technology of air conditioning in todays day and age. Can you imaging this being the only thing to cool you down on a hot summers day trapped in a train car with tons of other people? No thank you!

 This is the conductor.  He actually owns and operates this whole train system. Pretty amazing.

 This is when the train started moving. The kids had never been on a train before so they were pretty excited.

 We were probably moving at about 5 mph, maybe, and went just a few miles to this open field. They had an Easter egg hunt for the kids.

 They did an easier one for the littles and then a more difficult one for the olders.

 Toward the back of the field and just beyond a small trail was this beautiful waterfall.

 So pretty!

 We couldn't have asked for more perfect weather. It was a little chilly, but otherwise wonderful.

 And on our train ride back this dude played his banjo while we sang along to songs like "I've Been Working on the Railroad" and "You are my sunshine." I may have embarrassed my family slightly by my enthusiasm. It's not my fault though! They just can't handle my sheer awesomeness! 

 We had a great time and now I think we need to take the kids on an Amtrak or something like that so they can see how fast a newer train goes. Anyways, I highly recommend this if you have something similar close by. 

Worlds Best Mom Award Goes To . . .

Not me! Let me explain . . . 

Today, I woke up and this is what I saw! Beautiful, I know. But here is where the sarcasm comes into to play with my blog title for today. None of my kids have snow gear.  None of them! What is the matter with me?! Here is my justification for not having the proper gear for snow. We just don't get it that often and when we do happen to get snow it doesn't last for very long. Rain boots . . . check.  Rain coat . . . definitely! But absolutely not one piece of snow stuff. But did that stop my kids. No way!

See this poor little girl! All she had was this coat that technically doesn't even belong to her, her rain boots, and not gloves or hat. So sad! Some of my kids resorted to putting socks on their hands to try and keep their hands warm only to find out they get wet very quickly. AWESOMEST MOM AWARD RIGHT HERE!!!

 But here's what I'm talking about. After a dumping of about 4 inches it cleared up by noon and was almost gone by 4 in the afternoon. So I'm still trying to decide if I should run out and see if there are any clearance snow gear items at Target or not.  Hmm...maybe I'll go for 2 years in a row of the AWESOMEST MOM AWARD.

Homemade Deodorant

O.K. First, I want to go on the record by saying that I am not a granola or a hippie or whatever else you might think I am by hearing the word homemade deodorant. I am however concerned about what is in my deodorant. I have tried more "natural" alternatives but they did NOT cut it, especially when working out. So I have been using my yucky, aluminum filled, cancer causing antiperspirant deodorant. That was until my sister in law let me try out some of her homemade stuff. I tried it last Saturday before a trip to the zoo. By the end of the day I was not smelly nor "moist"(please forgive me if that grosses some of you out).  Anyways, I thought that was pretty awesome but I also thought there was NO way it could hold up to Zumba or Hot Hula, which I do 6 days a week. But today I was brave and decided I was going to make some and give it a try.  In Zumba I stood slightly away from everyone else just in case this stuff totally failed and I started to smell like death.  But guess what?! By the end of class NO SMELL and I was less sweaty than with my regular antiperspirant!  AMAZING!!!!  So if you are interested this is how I made it. 

I used this coconut oil that currently can be found at Costco. I like it because it smells like coconut, but you can also get coconut oil that doesn't have a smell if that particular odor doesn't float your boat.

Then I used baking soda, cornstarch and these three oils . . . lavender, melaleuca, and purify.

 So here's the recipe

1/2 cup coconut oil

1/4 cup baking soda

1/4 cup cornstarch

8 drops purify

3 drops melaleuca

3 drops lavendar

To combine: take the 1/2 cup coconut oil and put it in a small saucepan. Warm it on low heat just until it melts and then turn off the heat (it won't take long). Then add the soda, cornstarch, and 3 different oils and stir to combine. Put the mixture in a small glass bowl and put in fridge or freezer to harden. I did the freezer cause I'm too impatient to wait and when I made this particular batch I was in a hurry to use it before Zumba. Once hardened either leave it in your glass bowl and just use your finger to apply a small amount under your arms or you can do like I did and use your empty deodorant container and shove the stuff in there and apply as you would normal deodorant.

This is my finished product from today and I LOVED it! Totally worth trying! Maybe I am turning granola, but don't tell my parents! :)