PINK CABOOSE

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

A Boy and A Marshmallow

If you have Fire and Food,

you have happy boys.

I see lots of fires in our future

This 5 year old of mine has the best facial expressions

I've EVER seen.

He was really loving haming it up for the camera!

Sunday, March 10, 2013

Laundry Soap

I am a big fan of things that smell good. I love candles and room spray and perfume and lotion and soap and lipgloss and laundry soap, but only if they smell good.

I have seen a lot of people on pinterest posting about making their own laundry soap, my sis-in-law even sent me the recipe that she used and said she thought it worked pretty well. I asked her about the smell and she said that there really wasn't a smell, but the clothes were clean and the total cost for 6 months worth of detergent was only $20! Because I'm a lover a clothes that smell good I only use Tide and Downy or those Purex softener crystals and I spend about $20 a month on laundry products. I also spend about $20 a month on toilet paper but I am not about to make re-usable TP like THIS lady did! Somethings are always better to buy from the store. GROSS!

So back to laundry soap....I finally decided that I was going to give the homemade stuff a try after learning that I could add the Downy or Purex softener crystals to the mix. I bought all of the stuff and using the recipe that my SIL sent me I mixed it up. It cost me about $30 to buy all the stuff would have been $25 but I bought the jar and the coffee scoop also, but those are one time purchases.

A couple of recommendations; Use a really BIG bowl, and mix it up outside if you can. Or wear a mask and don't let your little kids help. The powders get in the air and breathing them in kinda burns. We were all coughing and needed to leave the room while the dust settled. Once it's all mixed up and done, scooping it out to use doesn't stir up any dust.

I intended to take pictures of the whole process but I was to worried about breathing in the stuff and getting my kids out of the room that I forgot about pictures. But you can get the idea! The bowl in the picture was not nearly big enough, it needs to be super size!

1 4 lb 12 oz box Borax (2.15 kg or 76 oz) found in the detergent isle

1 4 lb box Arm & Hammer Baking Soda (1.81 kg) found in the cooking isle

1 box Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda 55 oz (3 lb 7 oz) found in the detergent isle

3 bars of Fels-Naptha soap, found in the detergent isle (if you use Zote bars use 2 bars instead, Zote can be found at Home Depot) (grate them with a cheese grater)

2 small containers of Oxy Clean or store brand Oxy Clean (try to get about 3.5 lbs total (1.58 kg)) found in the detergent isle.

1/2 bottle of Purex Crystals, save the rest for adding more to the wash if you need to.

You should be able to find all of these items at your grocery store.

**Use 1-2 Tablespoons per load. I know that does not seem like enough but this recipe does not have fillers like the store bought detergent so you only need 1-2 Tablespoons.**

Plus a two gallon container...

I used a small jar to put by the washing machine and put the rest in a big tub in my storage room, I will refill as needed.
I have been using it for about a month now and have no complaints. I do still have to use either a dryer sheet or downy because of the static.

Happy Laundering! If you give it a try let me know.

Friday, March 8, 2013

To Blog or Not to Blog???

It's been almost 9 months since my last post on this blog.

I'm not sure whether to start up again or not???

This sweet baby boy is 11 months old and is the cutest, most happy baby I've ever seen. I LOVE him SO MUCH! His sister loves him SO MUCH too and kinda drives him crazy! Its very fun for me to watch her be a little mama!

But he and his 4 siblings keep me so so so busy......Is there time to blog?

Maybe now that I have a laptop and a new camera, maybe!

Does anyone even read blogs anymore?

Friday, July 6, 2012

Blessed

This sweet baby boy was blessed on July 1st. He was given a beautiful blessing by his dad. Our whole family is so very blessed to have Ellis Graham in our lives and Mark and I look forward to watching him grow into the special man that we know he will be.

This blessing outfit was made for Mark when he was a baby by his Grandma Johnson. All four of my boys have worn it for their blessings. Thanks to Mark's mom for keeping it in such great shape. Now that we can retire it till the next generation I am going to put it in a shadow box for safe keeping!

This baby will smile and talk to anyone who looks at him. It's the sweetest thing.

Is it possible to get a really great picture when you are dealing with 5 kids?! I sure do love all these kids though! Look how grown up Colb and Cam look. How is it happening so fast?!

Sunday, June 10, 2012

Life right now

Life at our house is never a dull moment. Clara makes sure that we are busy every minute of the day. She loves helping with everything and there is nothing she won't try to do.

So far she has been pretty sweet with the baby and likes to share her dolls with him and try's to be the mom! She even bosses Hayden but he doesn't take it as well as Graham does. Lately Clara has picked out her own clothes, usually a skirt and likes to have her toe nails polished with sparkly polish.

This sweet baby boy, who looks like every one of his siblings, is already almost 8 weeks old! He is a sweet heart and loves all the attention he gets from his brothers and sister. He is always ready with a big smile and lots of cooing! We all love it and can't get enough of this sweet boy. Except for when he is in his car seat in the car and decides that he wants out. He has cried all the way home from Provo more than once. He is our first baby that really hates being in his car seat. It does not put him to sleep like most babies.

I never get tired of watching Clara play with her dolls. She knows how to be a little girl without me even telling her! She is starting to love skirts and dresses and pink and princesses, and pig tails. I didn't exactly expect her to act like a boy but since boys are all I've ever had it's all new to watch a little girl play like a little girl. I love it! She is going to be so spoiled for the rest of her life!

Sunday, April 29, 2012

The last 2 weeks & more

Baby Ellis Graham will be 2 weeks old tomorrow, fastest 2 weeks of my life! (I'm pretty sure I say that every time, but it's always true. The time with a newborn goes by so fast.) He is a sweetheart but is kinda fussy/gassy and hasn't figured out yet that night time is for sleeping and day time is for napping! I still stare at him and try to figure out who he looks like, it changes everyday but he really doesn't look much like our other kids did as babies.

Hayden and Clara helping mom take a few pictures of baby. They are dang cute with him and love him lots.

They also love each other lots and are each others best friends. It may look like she is trying to bite him but she was actually giving him kisses! She did have him in a pretty good head lock though and didn't want to let him go!

Now for a few pictures from Easter, before baby was born. These were last minute hurry up and take a picture, but I'm at least glad I have them. I can't believe how big my kids are getting, especially my older boys. Who said they could turn into handsome young men?!

The weather has been a little undecided this last week so we take every opportunity to get outside when the warm sun is shinning. And we eat lots of otter pops too!
Don't you just love the blossoms on the trees? I do.

I'm in the process of trying to figure out how I even managed to care for a baby without Clara's help. She wants to be and is, involved in every single thing that has to do with caring for baby. So far she has been pretty good with him but is just super involved! She still calls him "mom's baby" and loves to buckle him in his car seat or the swing. She does diapers & wipes and baths and burping, you name she can do it. Why didn't I have her 1st?!

And why use just one purse when you have 4 or 5?

Taking a nap on the stairs is also something we do around our house. I guess he was just too tired to make it all the way up!

And when it's Sunday and you have a craving for chocolate cake what do you do?

You make a chocolate cake (it will have frosting before long). This is my favorite cake ever and is as easy to make as pancakes.

One last picture of baby. He is sooooo darn sweet!

side note: Clara just walked up and saw this picture and said "OHHHH!!! SOOO CUTE!" She is definitely older than her 2 years, she amazes me.

Thursday, April 19, 2012

It's A Boy!

The Davis Family would like to introduce the newest arrival to the family.
Ellis Graham Davis born April 16th
weighing in at a whopping 9lbs 7oz!
He is perfect in every way and is doing so great.

The delivery was fast and smooth. Only three hours after getting to the hospital we had baby in our arms. I'm still in shock at how big he was, totally didn't expect that!

We are having a debate about what to call him. I want to call him Graham and Mark wants to call him Ellis. So we'll see what sticks after awhile. Both are family names from Mark's side of the family so we really can't go wrong with either one.

I love Clara's face in the picture above. If the baby could talk he would be saying "Please pray for me, I'm gonna need all the help I can get to survive this big sister!"

Going home.

At home and wide awake. I'm sure he is trying to figure out just what this crazy family is all about.

We couldn't be happier with our sweet baby boy. I'm still trying to process having 5 kids!

Sunday, April 1, 2012

My 4.....

I'm still in denial that in about 2 weeks "my 4" will become "my 5".

My 5 kids! With the arrival of this baby only 2 weeks away I have a lot on my mind and on my "to do list".

Thankfully the biggest things on my list were crossed of this last week with the completion of our basement! We got the kids all moved down into their new rooms and got upstairs all clean and ready for baby. It's so great to have doubled the size of our house and have all this new room to spread out. We really needed it with this new baby coming. I owe so many thanks to my wonderful husband and his parents for all of their help in getting it done and to my parents who came this past week and helped move and clean. What would life be without family to make it through?

I'm feeling very thankful today for all of my many many blessings! And greatly anticipating the arrival of baby #5.

Slumber party in the basement on the day that we finally got carpet!

Basement Family room before......

Basement family room after. I thought I had a picture after the carpet was laid but I didn't so I'll have to take one tomorrow and switch it out. There are still a few detail things to get done but it's livable space now and we are loving it!