Make your Wet-Jet Greener

So for those of you that don't know, our entire basement with the exception of the guest bedroom, is laminate. I love it--I don't have to worry about the kids spilling or anything, it's great. The only thing I hate is the wet-jet cleaner. I hate that you can't refill them and you have to throw that big plastic thing away every time. Well, guess what? You don't! You can twist off the cap with a big wrench and refill it! I just did it and I certainly don't consider myself a strong person, I think of myself as a 'girly-girl'. I used about two capfuls of pine-sol and filled the rest up with water and popped it back on and it worked perfectly. I will use half vinegar, half water with a little essential oil after I use up the pine-sol, but this is what we had and we don't have any non-fancy vinegar, go figure. I know you can make it even greener by making a few pads out of bar towels by sewing some velcro on one side and throw those in the wash instead of buying the pads, but I'm not there yet. Some people even talk (on web site) of using Always brand pads to save money since they are cheaper too but I think I'd make them first! But the Swiffer pads do look just like that--ha ha! Just by refilling the fluid you are saving a ton of money and helping the environment. Wooo Hoooo!

Tattoo--day 8

Today she finally let me remove it! FINALLY! (With a cotton ball and cooking oil--I had to search to find the vegetable oil.) Then afterwards she said, "that wasn't so bad, was it". I replied, "I said it wouldn't hurt and I would tell you if it does, like when we go the doctor to get shots, I tell you that it will hurt, but just for a second." She said, "yea, I don't want another skeleton tattoo, though". Thank goodness.

Birthday Take II and Tattoos

So we had a small Marshall party for Mika, again pirate themed. Why reinvent the wheel? It went great she was happy, the kids were happy, everyone loved Matts cooking. I only wish we would have captured the cute 'cake' on the camera! He made cinnamon rolls and put three on a cake stand a put a long skinny candle on each one. It was so cute. Mika was thrilled and although she didn't eat all of her regular cake at the first party, she did eat all of her cinnamon roll!

I'd have to say the funniest outcome of the party is her temporary tattoo. I can't figure out how she feels about it since she doesn't want to look at it now that the party is over. (It's a skull--she picked it out.) She hates changing clothes and warns us, "I might cry again". Mostly because she thinks it will damage it. Giving her a bath was the biggest challenge and she typically LOVES bath night. She cried for almost the entire bath and Matt had to put her in in with her fighting the whole way! Now, even a week later and for the last 4 days, I have been using it to my advantage. "But I don't want to take a nap, Mommy." "Do you want to take a nap, or do you want me to take off your tattoo?" She stands for a moment in contemplation... "I'll take a nap"... with a sigh of defeat. Its funny what I resort to to make naps and diaper changes easier. If I had known the outcome of the tattoo, however, I would have never put it on.

Mika Turns 3

Mika turned 3 on the 28th, but we had a small family party for her the day after Thanksgiving. The VonHorns graciously hosted the party at their home even though they had just had us and a gang totaling around 22 the day before! The party was a great success and Mika was very happy with her pirate themed party that she requested. As she was opening the gifts she exclaimed to me, "Mommy, this is the best birthday party I ever seen!" Check out the attached video, it is just too cute! She loves her train and the Melissa and Doug food sets and is trying very hard to drive me crazy with the very loud kazoo type recorder/flute thing. It may have to run out of batteries very soon. She and Jasper have been playing with ALL the toys so much! Aiden and Charley have both been over to to play with the toys as well.

Elf yourself

This is (albeit somewhat disturbing) hilarious... If you elf YOURSELF, let us know!

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1134946092

Thanksgiving 2007

So this was our Thanksgiving and unfortunately we decided to take the family photo at about 5 pm when the children had had no naps. Mika isn't fond of pictures, or mainly being told what to do, especially at 5 pm and without a nap so we are all trying to get her to cooperate by saying "MIKA" in the photo. I guess we'll try again tomorrow. Earlier. Jasper wasn't too cooperative either... this is the best photo, I should have posted a funnier one. All in all they did really well without naps and all the people, I think there were 22 of us. Mika loves Bear-Bear though and they had lots of fun. Of course there was plenty of good food! My favorites were the stuffing (we brought) and Evelyn's fudge, the white chocolate pumpkin cheesecake that Wendy brought from Cafe Latte was a close third though!