Toxin Free Home

Due to the $$ aspect, I'm going to tackle the cheaper issues first.  So as we run out, I will be replacing all of our cleaning products with toxin free ones.  As I'm demoing lots over the next few days I have time to do research and accumulate websites.  I will be posting them here to keep track.

Laundry detergent http://theorganicmomma.com/toxin-free-home-diy-laundry-detergent-works/
http://www.crunchybetty.com/getting-to-the-bottom-of-borax-is-it-safe-or-not
OR  http://myhealthygreenfamily.com/blog/wordpress/homemade-borax-free-laundry-detergent/  Since James has such sensitive skin I may go for no Borax to start with

Dishwashing detergent  http://myhealthygreenfamily.com/blog/wordpress/homemade-borax-free-dishwasher-detergent-with-secret-ingredient/

Cleaning spray - using waste we make anyway!  http://myhealthygreenfamily.com/blog/wordpress/homemade-citrus-vinegar-cleaner/

Dishwashing liquid  http://thehumbledhomemaker.com/2012/04/easy-homemade-liquid-dish-soap-homemade_24.html   

Several different cleaners  http://www.keeperofthehome.org/2012/04/recipe-for-a-toxin-free-kitchen-10-homemade-kitchen-cleaners.html

Getting Rid of Chemicals

What a rarity, the kids are still asleep and I'm finished with work!  Playing out in the snow must have tired them out.  Although James seems to be going through a growth spurt as well. 

I keep seeing more and more articles and posts about the chemicals that surround us.  And I want to get them out of house.  But where to begin and how to do this while not blowing our budget evades me at the moment.  I will obviously need to start with a discussion tonight with Jon.  But I need to create a gameplan as well.  Organic food, natural laundry detergent, natural shampoo, natural soap, natural cleaners for the floors and dishes.  These are all things that I am thinking I need to look into.  But which to start with?  My gut says food, but that would also be the most expensive.  So do I do the others or do as much as possible with food?

More later as both kids are of course now awake.

Annual Aunt Ollie visit

Life has been pretty crazy lately as I catch up with work so I haven't had much time to write.  Things are settling down now and I'm getting into a better rhythm, which is great as Jon starts coaching on Thursday.  I've had some great visits lately though.

Kim was able to stop by yesterday for a while.  After the kids showed her their rooms and gymnastic tricks, Jon took them to the store.  It was nice to sit and just chat for a while.  As her busy season at work slows, we might make some lunch dates since she works so nearby.  It will be nice to rekindle this old friendship.

We spent this afternoon visiting my grandfather's sister Ollie.  Being so far away we missed out on this visit last year.  She is doing very well though and we were surprised with her homemade pierogi and mini cookies.  We chatted about my grandfather and how she is doing.  It's great to see such amazing longevity in my family with my grandfather turning 95 this Spring and Ollie in her 90s as well.  She enjoyed watching the children and they made her happy by gobbling up the food she made.  The kids were super excited to bring home some of her cookies as well.  We got some pierogis as well, which I need to find time to make!

I am enjoying how life is settling down now.  I hope to start devloping more learning activities to do with the kids and really want to keep the pace down as we venture forward.  I'm praying that Jon gets the NT job so that I can focus more on the kids and developing fun learning activities for them.  Now that the cold weather seems to truly be here, we might have more time.  We love the neighborhood park and took advantage of warmer weather last week with several visits.  Such active children!  I am looking forward to the next few weeks as my stress levels hopefully decrease and we can fall into a nice schedule.  Tomorrow Jon has the day off so he will go with to gymnastics.  We are looking forward to some extra time with him home before he is gone a lot. 

Time to go relax while I can.  Focusing on the great parts of life going forward!

Changed plans

I had planned to go to the museum with the kids on Thursday.  But with the warmer than usual weather, we opted for the Grove.  As expected, the kids had a great time.  We couldn't get into the log cabin or teepee, but I suspect we may have just missed those being unlocked.  We arrived before 10AM and I think that might be when the outer buildings become open.  I will have to look into this for next time.  We enjoyed walking around though and got to watch several young deer running through the forest.  James wanted to chase them, but luckily they were far enough away.  We did find a replica of a covered wagon that they climbed onto.  Carolyn was pretty excited about it as we connected it with the wagon from the Little House books.  It is so cool to me how both kids will use things/ideas from their books in life/play.  We were able to get into the workshop building that houses all sorts of tools from the pioneer days.  We again saw some items that had been discussed in the Little House books, and both kids enjoyed looking at all the different things.  We then ended up back by the animals.  Both kids seemed to get a sense of peace watching the turtles and fish in the main display area when you first walk in.  I swear they could have sat there for hours just watching the turtles climb on and off the rocks.  But alas I dragged them home for lunch.

We spent Thursday afternoon baking cookies for Jon to take to work and I headed off tutor once he arrived home.  It was definitely a long evening as I met with 3 students for 3.5hrs of tutoring plus plenty of driving, arriving home at 9pm.  I am looking forward to finals being over so I don't have to drive around so much.  And truly, I'm looking forward to next year and hopefully a new job for Jon so that I can cut back on work.  I really miss the time with the kids and just time as a family.

Today we had a day at home.  Carolyn was in a dress shortly after waking up, it's cute how she has those girly days.  We read some, had breakfast, and then played some board games.  Carolyn chose Chutes and Ladders and James hung with us just long enough to win.  Carolyn was sad not to win, but I don't believe in fudging things for self-esteem with board games.  She stated that she was sad and I acknowledged it and stayed with her until she did get to the finish.  We then threw the laundry in (the kids love to help with this) before choosing Sorry as the next game.  This seems to still be a bit beyond Carolyn's grasp.  We played for only 5-10 minutes before she just wanted to play with the pawns.  Both kids then dumped them in and out of James' dump truck for a while before moving on.  I brought out their coloring for the day, with the number 11.  James wasn't interested so we read for a while instead.  It was a nice relaxing morning, but apparently not active enough because both kids had trouble napping.  So next time we'll be sure to fit in gross motor activities.  I'm thinking an obstacle course is a good plan.  This afternoon we did some more reading and Carolyn worked on a phonics sheet.  She's becoming a little resistant to school "work" these days as it becomes slightly challenging for her.  But I think the next few sheets are easier so that will be good next week.

I'm now looking forward to a relaxing day tomorrow and a much calmer week next week.  I don't have as many tutoring sessions lined up and work online should be more manageable.  I hope to take advantage of the extra time as a family in our last week before Jon begins coaching.  Tomorrow is supposed to be warm so we might be heading to the park.  And on Sunday we might get snow!

Science - Skeletons

Both kids were up unusually early this morning.  They weren't very interested in snuggling in bed either.  So we came out to the couch and started reading.  After a couple books I suggested they grab the stack of "science books" we got at the library yesterday.  So we read a few books about the human body and the skeleton.  I had them feel each other's spines, which apparently stuck with them as they told Jon about it tonight.  Then we took a break for breakfast.  Afterwards we read one final skeleton book and then set to work on the "experiment".  I taped some paper onto the front window and had them each stand up against it so we could trace them.  I then drew in some of the bones.  We talked about the names of some of them.  Carolyn enjoyed drawing a brain into each head.  She gave James 2 brains - do you think that means she believes he's super smart?  It was a fun project and both kids were excited to show Jon when he got home.  We'll see how long it lasts on the window.

 

I had intended to do an art project of snowflakes this afternoon.  But with temperatures near 50, we had a snack and went outside instead.  The kids played while I took down most of the Christmas decorations.  I packed them all away and organized the garage as well.  We now truly have room to work out in there and I discovered we should have as much room as I want to bring things from AZ.  So I just have to figure out what makes sense to ship.  Felt good to get that accomplished today since Jon starts track 2 weeks from tomorrow.

Tomorrow I had planned to head to the museum.  But I'm going to see whether the forecasted rain develops.  If the weather holds we may go to the Grove instead.  I figure not too many schools are likely scheduled there this time of year.  So we might be able to see some of the cooler things.  Carolyn would love to see some of the things we've read about in her Little House books.

We have a reader!

Today was a really good day, even with it being Jon's first day back at work after break.  James woke up not feeling so great, but we snuggled in bed for about an hour before Carolyn woke up at 8:30.  It was amazing to sit and listen to him jabber away given that Carolyn usually doesn't let him get a word in edge wise.  Seeing him respond to the noises of the buses and garbage trucks outside was awesome.  I will forever treasure our early morning snuggles.

The morning wasn't too eventful, having breakfast and watching the kids color in the seven to put on the wall.  James is having a hard time understanding why Carolyn's gets put up, but we can actually see the number when she's done.  Then we all got dressed and went to gymnastics.  James actually stayed put today and did a great job following directions from his teacher.  Days like today I think he'll be ready for class on his own next fall/this summer.  I wonder what I'll do for 45 minutes with both kids in class.  We came home, had lunch and the kids went down for a nap.  Of course, Carolyn chose not to nap much, having slept in.  So I let her play reading eggs on the tablet while I got in a bit of work.

After James was up we fit in a snack and some reading work.  Carolyn did some worksheets as she loves them.  I think she really likes the attention she gets while doing them as well.  After a few she got fidgety and James was clearly done humoring me as I tried to quiz him on colors.  He's got most of them sorted out now but yellow and orange.  So we headed outside to enjoy the warmer winter weather.  It being 40 in January, we pulled out some toys and the kids rode around while I got in a quick workout.  I am so sore today that I knew I needed to do something to help alleviate the soreness.  The kids enjoyed the fresh air though and I'm really looking forward to spring in this house.

The reading didn't occur until dinner was in the oven.  Have I mentioned how much I LOVE our new kitchen?  As I finished up, Carolyn started to ask to do more "work".  I directed Jon to her papers (stowed so James can't make a mess of them) and we spread her things out on the counter.  She filled in the blanks and then read back to us 4 sentences.  I helped her with 1 word in there, and otherwise just pointed to each word for encouragement.  I truly believe that if Carolyn had a touch more patience to sound out new words, she could read an actual book.  I'm considering finding a book with familiar words for her to read to me in the morning so she can take it with to the library in the morning as her first independently read book.  They have a special program for it.  I think it's awesome that she's reading before her 5th birthday!  I would say preschool at home has been a success so far.

Family Time!

I'm thinking we're going to start a new tradition that involves more family time on Sundays.  I'm even thinking of switching my non-work day to Saturdays.  But that has yet to be determined.  In any case, I had a great day today.  While Jon and the kids were at church I got some work done.  I stopped when they arrived home and we all played in the playroom until lunch.  After lunch was of course naps, although James put up a little fight.  I hope he isn't getting sick, because he's become super snuggly and fought going to bed tonight because he wanted to be by me.  I love the extra snuggles, but I hope he's feeling okay in the morning.  After naps the kids had a snack and then we bundled up to go for a walk.  We went down the block and over to Kim's street.  Rang the doorbell but her parents didn't answer (not to self call Kim first so I'm not freaking her parents out).  The kids enjoyed looking at all of the "big" houses.  There are quite a few tear downs around here.  Carolyn declared we could hold her birthday party in them - the mind of a 4yo!  Of course on the way home we can got sidetracked by the park.  The slides were fairly wet so it didn't last long.  When we returned home I worked more on the kids' rugs and we all played in the living room.  It was some really nice family time and I think I'd like to repeate next weekend.  Of course, we also have other Sunday excursions coming up including a trip to my Great Aunt Ollie's (been 2 years I think) as well as Disney on Ice (thanks Dad).  But with Jon starting to coach in about 2 weeks, I think these afternoons together could be a good chance to regroup as a family before heading into another long week together.

We also colored the number 6 and put it up in the playroom.  Tomorrow we will work on some reading either in the morning or afternoon.  It might warm up again, in which case we'll head outside in the afternoon and possibly even go the park.  I decided today that we'll be investing in rain gear for the kids and me this Spring so that we can get outside each afternoon, unless it's storming.  We all seem to sleep better with some fresh air.  Maybe tomorrow I'll even fit in some lifting while the kids play!  Time to get some rest for what promises to be a very busy week!