The (late) Thanksgiving Re-Cap

I'm incredibly far behind on our Thanksgiving re-cap, but better late than never, right?? :) We started Thanksgiving day by heading to Aunt Polly and Uncle Dirk's house. We enjoyed a super yummy meal of ALL the traditional foods plus some central PA favorites (please, someone else from central PA tell me they know what hamloaf is!!!). Carter, that little stinker, only ate hamloaf out of all the amazing food. Not sure what was up with that!

It was an absolutely gorgeous day, so we went outside where Uncle Dirk gave the yearly hayride. Carter didn't love it at first, so Seth had to hold him. He calmed down when I got on too!

Checking out the tractor up close with daddy and Uncle Dirk.

Swinging with Opa...

On Friday, we got up and headed right to Matt and Erin's house for the weekend (where we had no properly working turn signals, by the way. Good times.). We arrived around lunchtime and spent the time relaxing (well, the girls did - the guys were working on a project). :)

On Saturday, Erin's mom, nana, and sister came down and we celebrated Thanksgiving with them, too! Afterwards, we took the kids outside to get out some energy. I absolutely loved watching Carter in Logan's Mini Cooper power wheels. It was precious.

Snuggles with Opa.

Uncle Matt and Aunt Erin also broke out their bounce house for the kids which was a huge hit. Carter loves bounce houses and had such a blast!

Carter had a horrible night Saturday night (traditional while we're away from home), but we all got up and went to church on Sunday and then went to Perkins for lunch. After that, we headed home! We had a fun Thanksgiving and were happy to get to spend it with family! We're looking forward to the Christmas season too. So much fun!

Blessing Bags

I have an idea swirling around in my head and I don't really have a final plan for how I'd like to carry it out or how well it would even work out. But your input would be super.

The homeless have been on my heart a lot lately. I can't pinpoint an exact reason other than it is the holidays and getting colder, but I sort of have an idea of why. A few months (weeks?) ago, Seth and I were driving on a major road near our house with lots of stoplights. At one particular light near a McDonald's stood a homeless man. I didn't think much of it...til we saw him again a few days later. We briefly (during the red light) talked about what we should do - should we go to McDonald's and buy him a meal? Give him money? Well, no sooner did we start coming up with a plan did the light turn gree. Convenient, huh? Well, I was so sad for a bit after that incident, and things I've seen recently sort of have me bummed again.

It's that (happy) time of year when we shop to our little heart's content for Christmas gifts for our already priviledged family and friends. And I really, really want to do something cool for the homeless in our area who may literally know NO joy this holiday season. We sponsor a child in Uganda and happily send him a present for the holidays with a message of cheer, and we happily pack a shoebox (or two) for Operation Christmas Child. But what about the people right here in central PA????

My hope is to create small blessing bags this holiday season (or maybe slightly after since this is probably a bit late to be starting) and (somehow) go downtown and distribute them to the homeless. I will have to call the shelter down there to see where it is even remotely safe to go or if it is better that they distribute them - I just feel like it would be so much more of a blessing to see the joy on these people's faces and deliver them ourselves.

Butttttt, I sort of need help. Anyone who lives locally or family/friends/co-workers want to donate any items to these bags and/or help distribute? Might be a nice activity for a small group or anyone really. Some ideas I've seen online have been big - as in fill a backpack. I was thinking more like a gallon sized Ziploc or paper lunch bag to start off. I'm going to the Dollar Tree this week and will see what ideas come to mind.

A few of my ideas are:
- Granola bar
- Bottle of water
- Pack of gum or mints
- Pair of gloves from the dollar store?
- Toothbrush/toothpaste
- Small hand towel or washcloth
- Some type of pop-top canned good or pouch of tuna
- Bar of soap (might be a nice way to use some of those hotel items!)
- Tissues
- Bandaids (maybe 5 or so)
- Deodorant
- Etc, etc.

So what do you think? Anyone willing to donate a few items and help bless the homeless this holiday season?? Let me know!! :)

Come ye unwanted and find affection

Come all ye weary, come and lay down your head

Come ye unworthy, you are my brother

If such a thing as grace exists

Then grace was made for lives like this

There are no strangers

There are no outcasts

There are no orphans of God

So many fallen, but hallelujah

There are no orphans of God

Another Cleaning Tip - What is up with me?!?!?

So, I have another cleaning tip that has changed my life. Ok, not really changed my life. But it has saved me A LOT of money on new clothing for one certain little toddler who shall remain nameless.

If you're a mom (or quite frankly, even if you're not), you have probably seen those articles of clothing completely ruined by grease stains. On Carter's clothes, they appear as dark spots all over the shirt (usually darker clothes) and they are SO annoying. Once they are dried, the stain is set and essentially, the shirt is ruined.

Except...IT'S NOT!

(source)

I was seriously getting annoyed at how many shirts he was ruining simply because he is a messy little toddler, so I once again hit the internet for some tips. One brilliant woman suggested Dawn dish soap - after all, it is meant to "cut grease" right?

Well, I took some of the worst shirts that have been ruined and dry-set in Carter's closet, put the plain, blue Dawn dish detergent on the spots, rubbed it in, and let it sit overnight (or up to a few days even).

I washed them all and I kid you not, every single spot is gone. EVEN ON SHIRTS THAT HAVE HAD SET-IN STAINS FOR WEEKS.

I am a firm believer and am so pumped to get back several articles of clothing that I had declared ruined.

I had two coupons for $1 off Dawn and they were coincidentally marked down to $1 at our CVS a few weeks ago, so I have two containers of stain-fighting madness at my fingertips at no cost.

YA-HOO! Give it a try and let me know if it works for you!

Homemade Clorox Anywhere Spray

If you're like me (or you have a messy toddler), you are probably familiar with Clorox Anywhere spray. I've been using this pretty much since the day it came out and absolutely love it. It has the cleaning power of Clorox but is gentle enough to go around babies, pets, food, etc.

(source)

We go through this stuff like it's water - which, ironically enough, it pretty much is (it's like 97% water or something crazy like that!). At $3.29 a pop, we were dropping quite a bit on this stuff. AND THEN. A light bulb went off and I was like um, hello Danielle?? Chances are you can make this for way less. I did about .2 seconds of research and found an organic chemist's recipe for the stuff.

It's highly scientific so get out your calculator.

Take the empty 22-oz. bottle of Clorox Anywhere (or any 22 oz. bottle). Add 1/4 teaspoon of clorox, and fill 'er up the rest of the way with water.

SERIOUSLY.

I am in love. And richer. ONE QUARTER OF A TEASPOON!?!? It is seriously pretty much free, since I got the entire HUGE thing of Clorox for only $1 and it will take me a LOOOONG time to go through that 1/4 teaspoon at a time. It works exactly the same, smells exactly the same, and doesn't take color out of materials - I tested it on a blue cloth. It's meant for hard surfaces though, so I wouldn't spray it on material anyway, but I had to do my test.

Anyway, that's my money saving tip for today. I am shocked. And in awe. And pumped I found the recipe online and will never have to buy the stuff again. (No offense, Clorox).

Eighteen Months!!!

I refuse to believe my little boy is a year and a half old. I mean, seriously, I'm pretty sure he was born yesterday.

So much has changed in the past year and a half. For one, he actually sleeps now. KNOCK ON WOOD. Plus, he has SUCH a personality and is so smart. It's been awhile since I've done an "update" but I will love looking back on this someday so here goes...

Carter, at eighteen months, you:

- Weigh about 33 pounds and are tall (I don't know the exact height but you are in the 95th percentile for height).
- Wear size 5 diapers
- Wear size 18, 24, AND 2T - it totally depends on the brand and style of clothing. You would be totally fine in all 18 and 24 (mostly 24), but we'd like you to get plenty of use out of some of the 2T things so we have you in them even though they're big.
- Wear a size 6.5 shoe
- Still eat pretty much anything, though you certainly have your picky moments.
- Say SO many things and babble and babble all day. Some of the words you say are dog, cat, mama, dada, Bubba, Carter (Car-er), Oma, hello, amen, ball, bath, snack (nack), turtle, duck, truck, this, Elmo, car, no, ay-ay (like when you pet the dog), book, hot, night night, juice, and many more than I'm sure I'm forgetting.
- Can ALMOST count to three. You say "one, two" and then we have to help you say "three."
- Follow simple commands so well and know how to "connect the dots" - i.e. when we say it's time for a bath, you go right to the bathroom, when we say it's time for bed, you go to your bedroom, etc. You also pick up your toys when we ask you to, throw something away if we ask you to, and so on.
- Can point out your eyes, ears, nose, mouth, teeth, hair, arms, fingers, toes, belly, bottom, feet, toes, and...ahem, some other parts. :)
- Know the animal sounds for the cow, dog, duck, snake, and can repeat some others when we help you.
- LOVE to play outside
- Climb on things and test your limits with us by touching mommy's decorations, spitting, throwing a temper tantrum, etc.
- Love to point out "big trucks" on the highway when we're in the car.
- Still don't love loud noises like the vacuum, leaf blower, etc., though they don't bother you nearly as bad when you aren't tired.
- Go to bed around 8 p.m. and sleep until about 6:30 a.m. - sometimes 7 a.m. if we're lucky (though we usually aren't)
- Still use a paci for bed and naps and occasionally in between
- Drink mostly milk and water, but juice sometimes. You ask for "juice" a lot.
- Love to give kisses (open-mouth toddler kisses, of course) and hugs.
- Love to read which is awesome, though mommy wishes you'd pick a new book sometimes. We seriously read the same ones over and over and over. His favorite is "Wake Up, Little Ones!"
- Enjoy pushing buttons on anything you can.
- Close your eyes and fold your hands when you want to eat. You sometimes get persistent and say "amen! amen!"
- Have fussy time between 4:45 and 5:15 most nights. This is because you are getting hungry for dinner but it isn't ready yet. Most of the time, outdoor play can help, but not always.
- Still love Veggie Tales and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse the best and get so excited when they come on.

Carter, you are the most precious little boy ever. We are so proud of how smart and sweet you are. We cannot believe that you are growing up so fast, so if you'd like to be a doll, slow down, okay? We love you so much, pumpkin love. :)

Love this boy.

Weekend in the Poconos

Our friend, Sharon, contacted us a few weeks ago about going to the Poconos to a vacation cabin for her husband, Bob's, 30th birthday. Of course we were in! There were five couples total and three kids. We arrived Friday night by dinner time. The place was really nice - it was in a gated community, had a pool table, hot tub, four bedrooms and a loft, fireplace, grill, and lots more.

Carter slept well Friday night into Saturday, though he felt it necessary to get up at 5:15 a.m. Since every area of the house was occupied, we had to keep him busy in our room until a more reasonable hour. We found a secret cabinet under our bed which kept him occupied for a bit. :)

Mid-morning on Saturday, the girls got in the outdoor hot tub, and within a few minutes, it began snowing. We knew it was supposed to snow but when we woke up on Saturday with absolutely nothing on the group, we thought we'd been punked. Turns out, the weathermen were right this time! It snowed all day straight!

After naptime, we took the kids outside for photos. Carter HATED the snow. He lasted all of two minutes, and he was back inside. I took a few photos for some of our friends and we all headed back inside to the warm house. We played pool, watched movies, and just hung out - it was awesome to just relax!

The lights began flickering off and on Saturday late afternoon and I was getting really nervous. After dinner, it began to flicker more frequently. Seth and I charged our phones, our laptop, and I ran upstairs and turned our space heater on to a freakishly high 80 degrees just in case the power would go out (so it would take awhile to cool down!).

I quickly gave C a warm bath and got him in bed. He was tuckered out and fell RIGHT asleep, which turned out to be really awesome since by about 8 p.m., the power went out and never came back on. UH-OH! We dressed warm for bed and all went to bed at a fairly decent time since there isn't much to do in the pitch black. Since it was a rental house, we didn't have candles or flashlights (except iphone flashlight apps). Sarah thought ahead and brought a lantern - smart girl!! That and the light of the gas fireplace was all we had. We all slept well and Carter at least slept until 6:15 on Sunday. But when we woke up, it was FREEZING in the house. We played in our room (using the light of cell phones and our laptop) until the sun came up!

We hung out for a bit, and then packed up to head out. Here is a group shot before we all headed home. It was so much fun to get to see everyone and catch up. We hope to do this again soon!!

I was SO cold even after we left. I had my side of the car on 75 degrees, and was wrapped in a blanket. It actually took me a full day to really warm back up I was so chilled. :)

Day at Gramma and Pa's and Trick or Treat!

I'm a bit behind in getting this post up, but better late than never, right?

Last Saturday, we went to my mom and dad's house for the day and later trick-or-treated at their house and Aunt Michelle and Uncle Jason's. He got a lot of loot at just those two houses. Spoiled kid.

This year, Carter was the cutest little monster ever. We borrowed the costume from a friend since there's not really any use putting so much money into baby costumes when they'll clearly never be able to wear them again! We thought it was a 24 month costume, but turns out it was a 6-12 month, which makes it all the more hilarious, especially since we didn't notice this until it was being put on him. haha :)

Here are some pictures of him in costume, which I'm sure will be shown in his wedding slide show. McKenna was an ice cream cone, and Elijah was a shark!

We also went to visit Pa's farm (and to burn some energy for the little man). He was into the cows and just watched and watched them. He also "climbed" a tree, and ran all around.

On Thursday night, we had trick-or-treat night in our township. It was really cold out and had rained all day. We almost didn't go, but Seth convinced me that we should. We loaded our little monster into his wagon and headed out. He had a blast this year!! We went to about eleven houses on our street, and stopped only because mommy and daddy were so cold (and big brother, Bentley, was super annoying)! He picked his own candy at every house, and some houses even bought a special treat especially for him since he doesn't really eat candy. It was a lot of fun and I loved seeing him in his costume one last time! :)