Homemade Dishwashing Detergent

Ok...So I was getting fed up with the nasty smell and taste of what my children's plastic drinking cups had when washed in the dishwasher. Call me crazy but if it smells like detergent and tastes like detergent chances are it probably still has detergent on it and is probably not so good for the insides. I scoured the internet and found a simple and frugal recipe. After testing it out I will NOT be returning to store bought ever again. Technically I guess you can say this is also "store bought" since the three ingredients must be bought in a store, but I think we all know what I mean. So here it is: Dishwashing Detergent. You MUST try it out. I had issues with clumping at first because I live in a humid environment but I scoured my house and found a couple of those "Do not eat" pouches and taped them to the lid of the plastic pitcher I used to store my detergent in. You might be surprised at where you would find those things: shoe boxes, pill bottles, or bread packs. I also placed an old metal spoon in there too and it seemed to help. All i all I am extremely impressed and my dishes come out sparkly clean, no residue and no smell. I am a happy mommy.

She got them pierced!!!

Aria is such a big girl now and it seemed to happen overnight! While putting her to bed I asked her what she wanted to do the next day and she out of the blue said she wanted to get her ears pierced. Well I was a bit surprised and certainly did not think she was serious or would even remember the next day. I nodded and said "ok" and we said our good nights. The next morning, sure enough, she not only remembered but insisted we go to the mall and get it done. She was all excited at first and picked out her little heart earrings but as soon as the lady put her gloves on she got pretty upset and changed her mind.
I was not going to hold her down and force her but I was pretty upset about not being able to get my refund since she was not going to pierce them indefinitely. Fortunately we sat down and after talking it over for about 30 min she decided that a bucketful of promised candy from the candy store was worth the risk. So she sat and let the lady pierce her ears and it hurt her but not very long after she had her candy and was eating away feeling much happier and proud of herself. I was proud of her too. She stuck to a decision and even though she was scared she did it!
     It seems she has done the most amount of growing up in the least amount of time this Summer and it is winding down and coming to an end. Soon she will be starting her last year of Pre-K and then heading off to kinder.

After our big move back to the Southeast there is much to update on. We are all finally settling in and I just waned to quickly highlight some points:
Aria is completely potty trained now!!! It has been well over a couple weeks and we have had no accidents so I am sure I can now declare that she is potty trained.
Today she also rode her bike without training wheels for the first time and did an amazing job!!! She is so strong and just kept wanting to get back on and try over and over again until she got it. After about an hour she had it and we were beaming with pride. It was amazing getting to see her work so hard for something and keep trying thought she would fall and get back up until she was able to ride a very good ways on her own. It was so hard to let go of the back of her seat but it was the best feeling scooping her up for hugs when she did it all by herself. Glad we captured it on film!
Luke is climbing everything (especially the dining room table) and wanting to get into everything. He also enjoys "playing" the piano. He calls all bugs "eebadoes" I think from hearing ladybugs. He is so tender at times but then tough when it comes to his way. I feel we have two spirited kids on our hands!

Fun times

Luke is starting to say bye bye and wave. He loves clapping and does it to show he is happy. Aria is such a big helper now wanting to help me wih everything and anything. Halloween was fun and aria really enjoyed it this year. She was really excited to go to as many houses as she could. Our little leopard and scarecrow were adorable and the memories were wonderful. We are looking forward to next weekend and our trip to Riverside where daddy and aria will run again. This time aria is going to compete and has actually been training. Very exciting!

Lots of changes

To put it bluntly much has changed since the last post. I am simply writing b/c I have a quick chance and wanted to document a couple things so there is not enough time to update since Lukes birth. We have basically been doing it with pictures instead of writing.
-Aria had her first piece of gum (that I know of) yesterday and really enjoyed it. She did not swallow it and did not stick it anywhere! What a big girl she is becoming.
-Luke has started "commando" crawling and getting to things quickly. He is definitely becoming mobile and is so much more wiggly than aria was Lord help us.
-Today Luke is officially 6mo and will have a dr. appt on Monday so we will see stats then but we had a little cake for him and he is officially getting his front left tooth in. Poor little guy is taking it rough.
All in all things are going well and we look forward to a trip to Bham soon!

Happy Birthday!!

WOW!!! What a great birthday bash we had and Aria had a great time with her friends, pinatas, cake and new presents. She is officially the big 3 now and is certainly becoming such a big girl. I am so glad we made it through with no toddler meltdowns and lots of yummy food. She is still enjoying her new school routine and this helps us keep a routine at home too which has proven to be invaluable. Daddy was gone all last week and when he was finally able to return got a cold and now I think we are all passing it around...yuck. We are looking forward to cooler weather now finally and the holidays are fast approaching (including the new baby's debut...yikes). We have yet to do anything except get a crib that is still in its box...hmmm maybe this weekend can jumpstart things. So far all Dr. appts have gone well and Aria is due for her 3 yr check up soon. Until our next post enjoy the pics....

Ketchup!!...Ok maybe more like catch up.

Phew.....I realize now why I have never really kept up with a diary. Life goes zooming by it takes effort to sit and type it out. Anyhow...without regressing too much there has been much going on since Easter when I last posted. Aria has started pre-school and seems to have adjusted well to that and ballet once a week which she loves. She is also going to be a big sister come January and we are doing what we can to get her, and us, ready for that. The only way I am actually able to write this is I have put my foot down on this whole no napping thing. She needs it (I need it) so I was fighting the battles she would give me to NOT take one and would give up. But after tons of support and frequent mommy meltdowns I decided that I can put up with 30 min. of a tantrum for her to take a nap. Lo and behold it worked today. I put her down after a morning filled with 1.5 of jumpy playhouse time and a playdate at the park for a little over and hour. It took about 20 min. but she did fall asleep and that was the point. Gold star for mommy today!

We have only taken one trip this Summer and that was to Idyllwild which we really enjoyed and aria did great trekking around so we are hoping to do a future camping trip soon. It was beautiful there and cooler so that was nice. The weather here in the desert is also starting to cool, especially the mornings getting closer to the beautiful winters here. Aria's big 3rd birthday is coming this sunday so we are gearing up for that and I have been busy with that the past couple of weeks. So I will leave there as we will be posting after the big birthday bash!