And then she was {7}.

My second born is now 7!!

We started her day off by surprising her with a new birthday outfit from head to toe to wear to school!   

That evening we had a small family celebration for her which included gifts from her grandparents and her siblings:) 

We ended her birthday with a vegan "cake" so we can all celebrate together since I'm extremely sensitive to making sure G always gets included:)

A couple days later she got a MUCH bigger birthday bash with all her gal pals!  I couldn't find any ready made "pajama party" themed invites so I made my own, I got many compliments, maybe I should go into business;) 

We surprised her again with ANOTHER cake (G refused to come to this party since it was at "a girl place", he's such a boy and I love it!). 

The venue is super cute, they only do girly parties so you can imagine all the pink and fluff in this place:)  Little R chose a "pajama party" themed shindig so all the girls got their nails painted, makeup applied and they even got to choose a fun hair accessory and get their hair done.  It was crazy but man did these girls love every second of it, even Baby R thoroughly loved all her pampering:)

The girls did a fashion show, this was fun!

Lots of goofing around:)

You can't have a pajama party without karaoke!

Finally, cake time!

And to end the party, a group photo!  The venue took a photo as well and at the end passed out a group photo to all the girls, it was super cute:)

And, the day after her party, her favorite Aunt sent her a gift card to Build-A-Bear so we finished up her birthday week with creating a new friend to love:)

Happy Birthday Little R!

Facts about Little R:

Her favorite colors are pink, purple and yellow

She loves going on vacations

She loves sparkly headbands and shoes

She is a star reader in school

Her friends are Sarah, Tiernan and Marra

She loves when visitors come to stay

She loves playing My Little Ponies with Baby R

She loves playing Avengers with G

She loves watching movies, especially Thor (she thinks he's hot, lol) and can tell you all about his brother Loki;)

She's definitely a girly-girl but loves to hang with the boys:)

You stink, I {don't}.

I was asked to please post my homemade deodorant recipe which works amazing!  Grown piggish men even swear by this stuff!  Ready to get rid of more chemicals that are seeping into your skin?  GREAT!  Let's party cause it's stupid easy to make...

Homemade Deodorant for your under dogs:

1 glass jar w/airtight lid
Coconut oil (NOT refined, virgin is your winner here)
Arrowroot Powder
*Essential Oils
*Aluminum Free Baking Soda

In a bowl, mix equal parts coconut oil to arrowroot powder.  Place mixture in your glass jar and done!  UNLESS..... you want to party up your deodorant see your options below.....

*Stir in some favorite EO's: I like Melaleuca, a blend called **Melrose, a blend called **Thieves (great for the dudes in your life for a more masculine smell) and Peppermint for cooling (awesome for those sweaty, suck the life out of you TX summers). 

*Feel you need a little more protection?  Half your arrowroot powder and add Aluminum Free Baking Soda as the other half.

Please note, if you are choosing to use EO's, since this is going on your skin, please ONLY use pure therapeutic grade oils, getting a cheap $5 bottle at the health food store is dangerous because the FDA currently does not monitor EO's so companies add fillers into OTC EO's.  I obviously choose to only use Young Living brand as it is the oils the FDA is going to start using as a marker for all other EO's on the market to live up to, they are the most pure and many physicians use them as well in their clinics.  BE SMART ABOUT OILS!!!  If you need more info, I'd be happy to answer questions for you:)

PS: The #1 question I get is, "won't the coconut oil leave oil marks in my clothes?".  The answer is, "no".  The arrowroot and baking soda (if you choose to use) soak everything up:)  The #2 question I get is, "You apply it with your fingers?".  K people, if you have a phobia about rubbing lotion into your pits, you have bigger issues that need to be addressed before you use this deodorant.

**These blends are specific to the Young Living brand.

Smell pretty and be healthy!

Like my {balls}?

It's amazing how sick people are and assume their symptoms are medical vs. environmental.  I have finally had enough and am cleaning up my home environment one step at a time.  I make my own cleaning supplies, I read labels, I read labels and did I mention, I read labels?  I buy organic, I make lotions, lip balms, healing balms, I can even make deodorant and toothpaste.  My latest change in my home is getting rid of the chemical laden and not to mention, expensive dryer sheets. 

 

So, let's begin...

Buy 100% wool yarn (it must be 100% and indicate it is NOT machine washable).  I got mine at Hobby Lobby w/my 40% off coupon, Michael's has 100% wool yarn as well.  

Wrap it about 20 times around your fingers to start.... 

Pull the yarn off and begin wrapping the other direction so you'll have a cute little bow (isn't it precious?).... 

Keep changing directions so you make a ball of yarn, this should roughly be the size of a tennis ball.  Take a large holed needle (or a crochet hook would work) and thread the end of your yarn through and tie a knot to secure the ball.  These balls are your "core".

Once all your balls are tied off, get some pantyhose (seriously, I freaking LOVE that word, I giggle every time!) and turn them inside out so the toe stitching is facing outward.  If you don't do this, the wool will knot up with the toe stitching and that's just a mess you don't want to deal with. 

I obviously used some of Baby R's old tights she's outgrown (I did cut the bum off so I had two separate "caterpillars").  Tie off your balls in the pantyhose using a NON-wool tie (acrylic needlepoint thread works well).

 

NEXT: You do everything you are NOT supposed to do to wool.  Chuck your "caterpillars" into the washer and wash on the hottest setting you have.  Then, you dry them.  They will shrink a bit:) 

After your "core" balls are dry, you get to wrap them again:)  Wrap them till they are roughly the size of a softball or 10-11 inches in diameter. 

Repeat: Tie them up again and wash and dry on hot/high:) 

Softness prevails!  Aren't they pretty?

 

Optional: You can use Essential Oils in your balls but the scent won't last.  If you choose to use EO's, note that you need to allow the oils to set in and dry on the balls before putting in the dryer or you may end up with oil marks.

 

FYI: These last approximately 5 YEARS!  That's A LOT of change in my pocket and a lot less chemicals on my kids clothes!

 

FYI-2: Small load = 3 balls, Medium = 4-5 balls, Large = 6 balls, XL = 8 balls.

 

If you are trying to clean up your home and the chemicals and nastiness let me know what you are doing, it's ok to brag cause I may learn something new from YOU!!

 

Namaste.

Easter Weekend {2013}

Easter is a simple holiday at our house.  We do the usual coloring of eggs, Easter baskets and have family over for Easter dinner after church with an egg hunt.  Simplicity is good for Easter:)

This year I bought the eco-eggs coloring kit.  I try to keep out artificial dyes as they do a body nothing but harm. 

So we learned our lesson, DO NOT use the eco-eggs coloring kit on brown eggs, the colors just make various shades of brown, lol!  Mr. D just laughed the whole time:)  Next time we will definitely use white eggs:) 

No matter the outcome though, the kids all still had a great time as it was still tradition:) 

Time for church in our new Easter outfits!  Aren't they all so adorable?? 

After church we had my cousin over with her 3 munchkins for a bbq and an egg hunt.  Always a crowd pleaser PLUS, we don't do candy, we do little trinkets which the kids love.  This year, it was the sticky hands on a string that all the kids loved:) 

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter weekend as well!

Autism ACTION {Month}.

 

Here we are again, another year gone by and nothing but higher numbers to show for the Autism Community.  It saddens me horribly that the numbers are 1 in 50 but because boys have a higher rate of being diagnosed, that number is 1 in 31. 

 

So, how do you help someone with Autism?  Here is a list of several things:

 

1: Learn how to cook an Autistic child's favorite meal and offer to do that in their home to avoid cross contamination.  Be prepared to cut things just so, water has to be in a blue cup, fork can't touch the table-must be on the plate, must feed child every other bite etc... Autism can be quite demanding and every child is different so get to know them personally.

 

2: Offer to pay for a bottle of supplements.  At $50+ a bottle, you can see why so many families are going bankrupt trying to help their children because so many insurance companies don't even want to touch Autism.

 

3: Help start an organic garden for the Autistic child to get the much needed natural substance their body needs to heal (no GMO's!!).

 

4: Talk to an Autistic family on what their biggest needs are and see if you can grant any of those or maybe your church, school or league will sponsor them.

 

5: Volunteer with the local special needs camps, Miracle Leagues, Special Olympics etc...

 

6: Donate funds to reputable organizations such as Generation Rescue , NAA or TACA.

 

7: DO NOT, I REPEAT, DO NOT DONATE FUNDS TO AUTISM SPEAKS (A$).  I'll do an entire post on why the Autism community is furious with A$ later.  Please do not feel you are doing those of us any favors by donating at a cash register to their organization.  They have done NOTHING for Autism but pocket a large sum of money and pay off Big Pharma.  Please save your money!

 

8: Learn the ropes through a parent of an ASD child's eyes to be able to offer babysitting.  Parents of special needs children rarely go out, it's not because they don't want to, it's because to be able to train someone to watch their child isn't as easy as people think.

 

9: Learn patience.  Understand that when you see an unruly child in the supermarket, movie theater, Target etc...  Know that they may have Autism and they can't help themselves.  Instead of getting upset w/the parent, offer to help, don't judge.

 

10: Become the best friend of an Autistic individual.  Autistic kids want nothing more than an NT child which is to have a best friend.  Their social skills are awkward and non-existent but that is where you need to find a way into their world.  Learn their interests and make a big deal about it.

 

11: Pray.  Pray for every individual that has been harmed by this man-made disorder.  Pray for a cure, pray for healing, pray for funds, pray for miracles, pray for voices to be heard, pray, pray, pray, pray.....

 

My son didn't deserve to be harmed by the toxins in this world, he did nothing more than show up and had a million things thrown at him right out of the gate.  This is the same story for so many other ASD individuals and it's time we stop being "aware" and actually start taking ACTION! 

 

Because April is Autism ACTION month, I will be posting on this subject more because I'm so eternally grateful for the mom's and dad's who have gone before me and helped me earn an honorary medical degree, something I never thought I'd need.  Without the support of my Autism family, I'd probably have a son with a lot more problems, but because of them, he is thriving, doing amazing and we have so many options to try that I had no idea even existed!

To G, my sunshine, my only, my reason to fight for what is right, I love you madly, you are perfect just the way you are but why stop there when you have so much to offer this world?  I will get you there baby boy,  you deserve to be made right:) XOXOX