I was having a rough "mom" day recently when I decided I needed a nap so I could wake up refreshed and a happier mommy. Although while I was resting this little girl decided she needed to bathe in the Vaseline. I mean the entire Costco size tub all over her! Her Legs were coated (and drawn on), her entire dress was coated as if made of Vaseline, her arms, neck, face and last but not least her entire head of hair. Now I have had kids get some Vaseline in their hair before but not like this. Not an entire mask of it. So I called my hair dresser mom friend, asked Facebook for advice and googled it. Here is what I found based on top ideas and suggestions.


Corn starch was my #1 favorite. I went through a whole box. I sprinkled it throughout her hair let it soak some up then squeezed tons out. I did that 2-3 times. Then washed it with dish soap. Dish soap is meant to help cut and fight grease. I did that twice before washing it.
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My hairstylist mom friend recommended a clarifying shampoo as well. This also helped out when I was washing in between all the different household products I found.
In the end I must have washed her hair a dozen times, because she laid there for almost an hour. Even then her hair was still pretty greasy over the next 2-3 days till after a few mores wear and washed it finally came clean.

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One of my easy go to gifts for holidays or kids birthdays is a coloring book or printed coloring pages with homemade crayons. It's a great way to get rid of some of those nasty, old, broken and sad looking crayons you have laying around.
Step 1: Break up pieces of crayons into muffin cups. If you have bakeware in cool shapes you could do it straight in them, but I don't so this is how I do it.

Step 2:Put them in the oven on the lowest setting.
Step 3: When they are liquidey then pull them out.

Step 4: Then I pour the muffin cup carefully into the shaped container. These are ice cube trays I picked up at Ikea for a dollar. I have used jello jigglier molds as well, but they don't pop out as easy, but are great for seasonal gifts.

Step 5: Let them cool down.

 Step 6: Then just pop them out and voila! cool crayons!

Pasta is suppose to be cooked till al dente right? How do you know when that is? Simple, you see if when thrown it sticks to the wall. if you throw it to the wall and it sticks then it is al dente. At least that's what my father taught me, and what I am now teaching my kids. Check out our video on making sure dinner was ready.

It's hump day and we all need a little wacky moment to boost us to Friday. Write up about your wacky and crazy fun reminder and link up your blog post. Then hop around and read about others wacky Wednesdays. Just don't forget to link back to my blog.

 I just want to start out by saying this post is about my experimenting and trying out cloth diapers. It is not really meant to debate why one is better than the other. I am by no stretch a cloth diaper expert, as you will learn as you read. Cloth diapers has been in the back of my mind for a while. So after talking to a few friends and reading up on a few websites here is what I personally  have learned, tried, and decided.
So Why did I decide to give cloth diapers a try in the first place? For a few reason actually.
1- Cost. In the long run it is cheaper for me to do cloth diapers. Usually the start up cost can be expensive, however I purchased some previously owned all in ones to start out. I was very fortunate to find a good deal, even though they are boy colors. I figure I average about $8.50 for a package of 42 diapers. Granted sometimes I spend more, sometimes less depending on deals and coupons. That means my average cost comes to $.20 a diaper. It might not seem like a huge savings but long term it will add up.
2-Being prepared. I have had the opportunity to be snowed in before (Read about that here.)That was even when we lived 2 miles from a grocery store. Now that I live 15 miles from the closest store plus with the set up of homes out here this is a  high possibility. I really just want to be prepared if for some reason I don't have immediate access to diapers. That could even simply be because my husband went to work with both sets of keys, because that has NEVER happened!
3- Double duty. I currently have 2 kids in diapers. Adrianna who is almost 2 years old and Graciella who is 4 months old. This adds to the cost point I made earlier. I do think doing cloth on Adrianna she will get potty trained sooner than later. She asks to be changed way sooner in cloth than disposable. Plus Graciella's diapers aren't bad since she isn't on solids yet, so why not now if ever?
Bonus- Environmentally Friendly. This is more of an extra perk than it is one of the selling points for me. Being totally honest this alone wouldn't sell me on cloth, but it is a good benefit none the less.

I also want to add that I am not doing this full-time. I still do disposable when out running errands, going to church, bedtime and days I am too lazy. Plus I didn't want my husband to stress out so when he changes a diaper he does disposable. I do laundry about 2-3 times a week. Keep in mind I currently only have a total of a dozen all in one diapers, and I only do it 50% of the time. Although the more I do it the more comfortable I am with it.
I know I need more diapers, but I only want one kind of diaper. I did recently buy some off Ebay, but the more I stay home the more I will need. So if you know of any inexpensive places for bumgenius all in one diapers (preferably girl colors this time) let me know.

My first cloth diaper change with Graciella.   So here is what I think so far. For days like today when it's randomly snowing I don't see why not! I am home with the kids all day, why not save a little? I have discovered I change cloth diapers more often thru out the day.  I also have not had any rash problems yet. I have had a few leaks, but that is not any different than disposable diapers. I actually prefer "newborn blowouts" in the cloth diapers, they don't blow out the top, back and/or sides like in a disposable. Although My 2 year has had a few messy ones I was grateful were in the disposable. The few that haven't been I just flush down the toilet, which doesn't bother me. I read up on a few ways to do wipes and have decided to use a squirt bottle and an old receiving blanket I cut up. So far so good.   I was nervous about how to get my husband on board. That's also why I said he can change any diaper right into a disposable. Over time I think he will feel more comfortable using the all in one's, they really aren't that hard. His only fear and request was smell. So for $8 I bought a little garbage can with a lid, noo complaints from him so far.   Like I said I am new at this and still figuring it out. I would love advice, tips, thoughts or favorite blogs or websites!         I have been given and found several cloth diapering websites, here are a few of my favorite:   The Eco Friendly Family- Cloth Diapers  This link is to their main cloth diaper page, but she has several posts I would recommend reading. Cloth 101 This website gives descriptions of the kinds of diapers New to Cloth FAQ Same website as above, different article   Cloth Diaper How To's    About Cloth Diapers   How To Change A Cloth Diaper

What I still couldn't figure out was where it was coming from? She then ran back into Yesenia's room to only come back out with Kadan's other boot to repeat the confetti tossing.

So I don't know if I'm upset or proud that after 7 years I finally have my first experience cleaning up permanent marker. Yesterday I decided to take a nap. Sometimes when that happens I know I'll wake up to one of these...


This time it was much worse. Again partly my fault for not keeping the markers less accessible but Yesenia wanted to color on the white board and grabbed the wrong maker innocently. Then not so innocently she colored on our folding chair, table cloth and under the table in addition to the white board. Yikes! After finding the white board uh-oh she confessed to the rest. The poor girl is so hard on herself her punishment was minimal. I was just happy she showed me everywhere she colored and that none of it was on walls or the couch.

So how was I going I clean it up, if it all?
With a little research an some of my own attempts the best thing was surprisingly toothpaste.

Once a week my family enjoys doing something called Family Home Evening. That is where as a family we sing songs, have a spiritual thought, play a game and eat yummy snacks together. It's a great time for my husband and I to teach a concept we need to work on as a family or we sit back and watch the kids imaginations fly. For example Kadan was "lesson" this week. So he used his pokemon to show us that when we say hurtful things it hurts like these pokey pokemon, and when we say nice things it feels good like these soft ones.  Every week re rotate who is in charge of what part of Family Home Evening. Here is a picture of our FHE chart.

This week's game got a little messy. We decided to play the flour game. I saw this on Pinterest and my memories playing it growing up came flooding in. You start out by packing a mug or teacup with flour, and turning it upside down on a plate.





Here is a video of the end of Kadan's Pokemon lesson and some of our flour game:

Another reason I love Eagle Mountain is the nice and generous neighbors. We have one that had extra sugar cookies from the holidays she was giving away. The kids were so excited to frost them, they didn't care that they were pumpkins and Christmas trees. Finally for an afternoon snack we decorated the cookies.  While the cookies were in the oven I decided to make some yummy frosting. Adrianna got to the blue batch while I was mixing a pink batch, she is one of my messiest kids.


 Mean while the baby slept. Ok, I played with her a little bit too! You know how some people say, "I'm not really a baby person," or things similar to that, I totally am a baby person. I love me some baby time.  Overall the kids had a blast, and the countdown till Dad gets home went by quicker.

I love free events! Anything to keep my kids busy, is free, or keeps them from messing up my home I am all in favor for! One of our favorites is the Home Depot Craft. The first Saturday of every month they have a free kid's craft. This month being February was a wooden Valentines holder.
Home Depot has donated a $15 gift card to giveaway. Please leave a comment below to be entered in the drawing. For more entries share this post on Facebook, Twitter, or on your own blog. Leave additional comments for each share. Giveaway closes on Sunday, February 10th at 11:59 MST. Winner will be picked at random thru random.org. Winner will be announced the following day.