homemade deodorant/toothpaste anyone?

The kinds that we use, the natural ones of course, is expensive and we run out of toothpaste quick and with me somewhat becoming a frugal mama, I decided to do some researching for recipes.

Homemade Deodorant

Homemade Toothpaste (Fluoride Free!!)

Theres my frugal tip for tonight! :) Off to make the toothpaste real quick since I have everything except for Stevia but I'd be keeping that stuff out anyway. also using ORANGE essential oil instead of peppermint/spearmint(again, I don't have this.)

Enjoy!

"Mike works with God now." -Carson Doak

July 18, 1960- March 22, 2009

My uncle Mike passed away on March 22nd, 2008 in the early morning with his family surrounding him. The funeral was one of the best funeral I've been at, the pastor who was a friend of his, did a wonderful job preaching about Mike. Mike was never afraid to say whatever was on his mind, didn't care if it was something you didn't want to hear, he still spoke his mind. This is what we loved about Mike. Also he loved to laugh and made others laugh as well.
Mike had time to prepare his death, spent time with his siblings, his mom, his wife, his kids and his granddaughters. Was able to give my dad some things that was passed down from their father. Able to tell others what he wanted for his funeral/death. Chose to be buried down the road from his house. One of the things that stood out the most was how he wanted to be hauled to the burial. That was... haul him in his own truck, instead of the funeral home's hearse. Mike's casket fit in the bed of the truck just perfect, tailgate was able to shut and the bed cover was able to close.

After his funeral, I felt a sense of peace since I knew he had went home with the Lord. At some point of his life, Mike accepted Christ, this I did not know about til the funeral, since everyone on both sides of my family don't seem so open to even talk about God, so I was feeling a bit worried about that. Death is hard for the ones here on Earth but it feels so much better knowing where they are.

The day before he passed away, I went to go visit him and glad I did. While I was there, he woke up and stared at his wife. I'll never forget the way he looked at his wife and never forget the sound of his wife's voice telling him that we all love him. We had to leave the room while he woke up since he had a little seizure and thinking this was his last moments here on Earth, before I walked out of the room, I put my hand on his leg, saying Good-Bye under my breath, I just needed that closure with him before he went Home.


The 4 Evans Kids with Grandma MaryLou
(the best pic I got even though it's somewhat a "white-out" pic of the faces, L-R: Rick, Mike, Cathy, Grandma and my dad.)

Yummy? Yucky?

Kylie, who just turned 8 months old last Thursday(3.12.09) and never shows any interest in food. Does it look like she's interested now? lol



Whoops, battery died, lets try this again... (longer version below)

Gotta Love Carson

On his birthday, Alex was leaving to go to DSM for a movie with a friend and brother. his friend came over and picked him up, he says bye and gives us a kiss. Out the door he goes. Carson standing by the door(after Alex had just walked out of the house) and scolds his finger, "you behave with Micheal." LOL, I found this to be funny and HAD to call Alex to tell him that and even had Carson to say it again on the phone. Too cute! I'd say he heard his dad telling him to behave with mommy.

While I was nursing Kylie..

Carson: "She eating your milk."
Me: "Yep she's eating"
Carson: "We don't eat milk, we drink milk."

LOL!

yikes

I'm going to apologize to the readers that followed my blog back when I was pregnant with Kylie and went through that what I call a 'severe case of nesting'. I just got done reading some of it, I swear all I did was NAG, NAG and NAG... Sorry!! I someday want to make a book with all my blog posting for my kids to have someday and wanting to focus on the positive stuff and the jog down my children's milestones, funny stories, sayings.. (which I've been slacking at that). I surely don't want to read a blog when the mom nags a lot, so I imagine you feel the same way. :) So here's a message for you early pregnant moms/mom-to-be... DON'T WAIT TO GET STUFF DONE AT THE LAST COUPLE MONTHS OF PREGNANCY! It's super stressful! I still remember how that felt and wish I hadn't been so hard on myself. I also noticed that I tend to talk about how I want to get stuff done.. I will stop posting my list-to-do here.. I've accepted that chores are NEVER-ENDING.

So here is my main focus of WHY I decided to do a blog.. to document the things I want to remember...

A few funny stuff from Carson...

I was in the kitchen trying to get stuff done in a hurry while I heard Kylie getting fussy in the living room, I kept trying to finish what I was doing, Carson comes in the kitchen.. "Mommy, does Kylie want your milk?" I said yeah, she probably does... in a demanding but not being bossy tone, "then go feed her!"

"Nails(fingernails) is for scratching our butt"

"Mommy, Kylie wants your milk."

Carson: Say "I"
Me: "I"
Carson: "love"
Me: "love"
Carson: "poo"
Me: "NO!! Thats gross!"
He thinks this is hilarious! This makes me laugh under my breath.. Only because his laugh makes me laugh, how can you not love his laugh.. One of my favorite sounds.
NOTE: How this all started was... We would say "I love you" to him and he would say.. " I wuv you" So we would have him repeat us saying one by one.. " I. LOVE. YOU"

the 101 books have been moved

it was taking up too much space on my page.. To be able to read the

101 Ways to Find God's Purpose for Your Life
AND
101 Ways to to Be a Great Mom(and Dad)

It is now located on the right sidebar above the picture of Alex and I. Click on the word "here".

Thanks!

My first time entering a giveaway!

Check it out, click here! She does an awesome job making cards, and it makes me a tad bit jealous! :) Play along to try to win!

catching up on the 101 books

Its been another busy week with the kids.. I don't think it will ever get better.. Unfortunately, Kylie is not a good sleeper so that has been more challenging lately. Today she only took ONE nap.. ONE, she forced herself awake for most of the day today as I gave up trying to put her to sleep, it hurts the milk jugs to keep nursing her to sleep and she ends up not going to sleep. (tmi?) For right now while she is content, she is playing with her toys and a sippy cup next to me as I get ready to type from the 101 books. I find myself really enjoying these books and NEED the reminders from both 101 books, I hope others enjoy them as much as I do!

You CAN do it! (for the ladies)

I've heard a few ladies say to me..

"Well God bless you for that, I could have NEVER done that!"
"I don't know how you could do that?! No drugs!?!"
"What if the feet came out first!?!"
"What if the baby gets stuck?"
"oh wow, I could have never done that!"
"So did ALEX deliver the baby!?"
"Did you like it?"
"Would you do it again?"
"Oh, you were just one of the lucky ones!"
"My last pregnancy was at "high risk" so I'll never be able to have a homebirth."
"I had a c-section, so the doctor told me I'll never be able to have a baby naturally."

I wanted to share this quote that I found from a blog and thought it was perfect!

“women’s bodies were designed to birth. that’s a simple fact. you were designed to birth naturally. no experience or training necessary. there’s no special esoteric mystery about it. it’s a very simple every day fact of life. millions of women have done it for millions of years. it’s a tremendous blessing but it’s also completely ordinary and normal and not only for a special few. you can do it too. i have absolute trust in that.” - Ingrid Bauer

closet

Sorry people.. I'm a lil bit behind with the 101 books! We had a busy weekend! Finally got my cupboards/fridge cleaned out! AND we have a 'closet' in the bathroom now!! More like a shelf system thing in this nook area. I will need to make a curtain for this since we got rid of the door and resized the closet after adding our shower/tub combo in bathroom before Kylie was born.. Its nice not having to get stuff out of the big tupperware boxes now.