home-made laundry soap...

thats right...you heard me...home-made laundry soap....we totally did it!...
this is what you need...
-Ivory bar soap
-Arm&hammer washing soda
-Borax
-essential oils (optional)
-bucket with air tight lid (lots of options at Lowes)

the goods...

1.grate one bar of ivory soap...

2.add soap to sauce pan...

3.add 6 cups of water, heat until soap melts...

1/2 cup of Borax

1/2 cup of washing soda

4.add borex and washing soda...let it dissolve...

5.Pour 4 cups of hot water into the bucket...
6.Add soap mixture to the bucket and stir...
7.Add 1 gallon plus 6 cups more water to the bucket...
8.Stir
9 add essential oils (optional)...we used lavender and tea tree oil...

10.Let soap sit for 24 hours before using it...it turn to a gel.

you only have to use 1/2 cup per load....this cost an average of $.71 for 2 gallons (64 loads)....thats right you heard me.... $.71!! boo-yah!

classen & grand BABY!!!

*btw i stole this photo from my friend Katies facebook (wow i have a lot of friends name katie that i steal from ;)

inch by inch...row by row...

i LOVE to see my garden grow!...
strawberries!

carrots

green beans!

lets try this again....

i hate to say it...but our garden did HORRIBLE last year...we planted too early...too much and all we got was 4 or 5 tiny strawberries...soooooo...round two...we waited about 3 weeks later then we planted last year...only planed strawberries, green beans and carrots and did seeds this year instead of plants


and we are already seeing growth!! this was after the thunder storm a couple nights ago! :) cant wait for some crock pot green beans!!!!

pipers diapers...

been doing diaper laundry today...just thought i needed to show the fruits of my labor :)....

ohhh this is also the fruit of my labor ;)

wipes recipe

we have officially used up all our disposable wipes from our shower and gifts...which has forced me to start using our cloth wipes :) which has turned out to be much much easier then I ever thought! We are using the kissaluvs organic wipes and are loving them so far! We have been only using water for the past week...but i know that Pipers little bum needs more for cleaning...so a friend of mine gave me a recipe we are going to try. If you have a different one that you love...please share!

2 TBSP Baby Wash (choose a natural wash!)
2 TBSP Olive Oil , tea tree oil, or baby oil
2 Cups water Mix well in a spray bottle or your wipes box. Spritz on wipe before using if in spray bottle. Swish solution around over wipes if using a wipes box.

cloth,cloth and more CLOTH!!! :)

our diaper stash.... :)

garden update...

*baby S really wanted in the photo :)



well we planted the end of march and went through two freezes so we are just now starting to see the fruits of our labor (literally ;). Our strawberry's started showing up first...they are very small and we only get 2 or 3 at a time, we are starting to see small jalapenos peeping out....but our grape tomato's look the best! I think because of the freezes and the fact that we did not want to use any type of fertilizer,and because i have a purple thumb our garden is not exactly flourishing but it is at least producing! But summer has hardly began...the garden still has lots of time! :)

i always thought i was crunchy....

now facebook has proven it....I took the "what is your parenting style" quiz today...and this was the result...

Your Result: Kind Of Crunchy

You lean more toward Attachment Parenting, natural births, homepathic remedies, and living green! You tend to question modern medicine and mainstream parenting. You tend to delay vaccines or use an alternate schedule. You aren't bothered by the fact that people tend to question your parenting style. You feel strongly about the way you're raising your kids. You believe that it's our duty to make the earth a better place for our children by being more eco-friendly. You buy organic foods whenever you can and you use cloth diapers or seriously considered it. You've also considered homeschooling. When people see you with your baby you're usually wearing her in a sling or wrap. You tell new moms who complain about lack of sleep to try co-sleeping with baby and let them know how much you loved co-sleeping. You believe in breastfeeding and baby led weaning, but to a point. And you'll nurse in public but modesty is important to you. You aren't afraid to disagree with your Dr about delaying solids or vaccines. You don't like to let your baby cry and cry-it-out methods make you cringe. However, if nothing else is working you are willing to try it once the baby reaches a certain age. You read different books about parenting and take what you feel will work for you and your family. You tend to believe in trusting your instincts when it comes to raising your kids.

what do you think?? sound like me?? :)

happy earth day....

what are you doing to love your mother???....

armed and ready!!!

armed with BUCKETS!!!!!

apparently we are getting a huge Easter storm so i set out all our rain buckets....i will be able to water my plants for DAYS with these buckets full of rain water!

26 weeks!!....

this little one is a MOVER!! the past week or so we have really been able to see the movements from the outside...like HUGE kicks coming from my belly!! he/she moves the most when i lay on my back, so when we wake up in the morning we have been spending the first few minutes (while trying to wake up) feeling and talking to this baby:) I have continued to crave a lot of sweets here lately....i have heard some boy/girl predictions because of that fact....but you have to remember up until about a month ago...anything sweet made me want to barf...so who knows!!

garden update...we are getting snow, ice and freezing temps coming in this afternoon...boooooo.....we have brought our herb pots into the garage and have covered the raised bed with some landscape fabric stuff...so hopefully everything will survive!!!!

Birthday Part five...

My birthday present from Jake was...a new front yard!!! Friday afternoon and Saturday morning jake slaved away (i helped as much as i could) at our front beds and porch...its looks amazing..."after" pictures comming next!! :)
Before:



We could not fit herbs in the raised bed garden, so we planted seprate herb pots...

Annabelle trying to get out to join the fun! :)

Birthday Part two...

So the birthday present from my dad that i mentioned in an earlier post....drum roll please.... A RAISED BED (GARDEN)....I told my dad (i think last fall) that i really wanted to have a garden with veggies and herbs, but i didn't know where to start...so being the horticulturist he is...he got right on it :) he researched and built me a raised bed for my birthday!! He came to town yesterday (he lives over 3 hours, so this was a treat in of itself) finished putting the liner and such in and then we went shoppin' for what veggies we wanted....we got....tomato's, cherry tomato's, jalapenos, bell peppers, potato's, and lots of strawberries!!! YUMMY!! It was so fun and i CAN NOT WAIT until my veggies start growing!! WHO NEEDS THE FARMERS MARKET!! ok i will probablly still go...but not for tomato's, peppers, potato's or strawberries thats for sure!! ;) I will definately be adding lots of posts on the development of the garden so stay tuned!!

MAMAste

Last night i started prenatal yoga...i wish i had started sooner!!! My friend Jennifer (who i had mentioned in the last post...btw...its a girl!!) and I car pooled down to the art of yoga studio, for the Monday nights prenatal class...IT WAS WONDERFUL!! we worked on flexibility, lots of "pelvic floor" exercises, labor techniques and breathing and relaxation techniques. It was also wonderful to have fellowship with all these other mommas who believe and want the same things for pregnancy and birth as I do! I will be going 2 days a week, Mondays nights and Friday mornings. And an added bonus, my friend Lauren is teaching the Friday morning classes!!

the start of my cloth diaper obsession....

My first cloth diapers!!! the two newborn ones were giving to me from my dear friend Amy, and i got the large one on craigs list...these particular ones are called gDiapers which are great, because they can be used as a 100% cloth diaper, by putting a traditional pre-fold inside the gDiaper OR....for more convenience (which we will use for babysitters, church nursery, and trips) you can buy biodegradable liners to go inside the gDiaper to just throw away once soiled! AWESOME HUH?!!

Christy's Cloths...more then you wanted to know...

So a few posts ago i announced to the blogging world that my dream is to have a booth at the farmers market(or maybe an Internet site) called "Christy's Cloths". We are cloth users here in the Seaton household, cloth towels, cloth napkins, cloth shopping bags and we are really looking forward to someday using cloth diapers,and cloth wipes etc... Anyway, another conservationist blogger friend posted recently on her families use of cloth toilet paper!! read about it here... Of course even my first reaction was "GROSS!!" but after thinking about it awhile...what is the difference between that and cloth diapers and cloth wipes?? I mean really.... I'm not sure if I'm there quite yet, maybe i will start by being very conscience on how much TP is use...but who knows once we have a little one around here and i have my wet bag of cloth diapers and cloth wipes our family cloth TP might be thrown in the laundry too!!! I warned you it would be more then you wanted to know!!! ;)

Forget Cartoons....

our favorite Saturday morning activity is the OSU-OKC farmers market. Heather and Rhonda decided to join us this morning which was a treat :) We left with a light load for us....peaches, long beans, okra(which jake is frying up at this very moment.yum.) and some natural chapstick. :)









My secret dream (which i guess isn't so secret anymore:).... "Christy's Cloths"....I really want to have a booth at the farmers market with everything cloth!....cloth diapers mostly...but also cloth napkins, cloth/canvas shopping bags, etc....what do you think???? :)