a big (little) family

Trying to maintain my sanity and live to blog about it.

Time to make soap.

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Yesterday was soap making day. I made a double batch of cold-process soap, and separated it out into three batches: lilac, peppermint, and a men’s soap called Sandalwood Bay. My house smelled interesting. I’m not sure I’d recommend all three scents together. Lye water. Fun stuff. Blaine’s idea. When my stick blender had to go […]

The Way They SEE It: TOS Review

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I’ve been using The Way They SEE It: A Book for EVERY PARENT About the Art Children Make by Brenda Ellis with Ruby for several weeks now. As part of The Old Schoolhouse Magazine’s Review Crew, I was asked to review it and let you all know how it works, and what I – and […]

Soft Scrub: Review and Giveaway

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Soft Scrub sent me a bottle of their Soft Scrub Total All Purpose Bath and Kitchen Cleanser to try and review and three coupons for a giveaway. As soon as it came, I poured it on my kitchen counter. I’ve tried without success to get one particular stain off of there, and I thought if […]

Honey Bunches of Oats Tropical Blends: Review and Giveaway

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I recently received for review a box of Honey Bunches of Oats Tropical Blends. With 10 grams of whole grain, 120 calories and 6 grams of sugar, they rank higher than Honey Nut Cheerios (an all-time favorite in my house). But… how do they taste? The box was gone in two days. I’m thinking the […]

What’s for dinner? Floppity Flop Flop Flop.

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I made this for supper tonight: Pressure Cooker Recipe – Beer Can Chicken. Their photo looked fabulous. (Photo Credit) When I eagerly peeled open my pressure cooker, I anticipated beauty. What stared at me instead: Oh, the horrors. What on earth did I do wrong?! It looks like road kill. It even has the cast […]

Abraham’s Journey: A Celebration of the American Dream TOS Review

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My most recent review for The Old Schoolhouse Magazine’s Review Crew is for Abraham’s Journey: A Celebration of the American Dream by Robert and Kathleen Basmadjian. From Inspiring the American Dream and published by Ambassador International, it’s “Finally, a Children’s Book that Celebrates THE AMERICAN DREAM!”. The book begins with Abraham in “the Great Recession”, […]

Improvise.

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Charlie wanted to sample the fried chicken as it was coming out of the pan tonight. I warned her it was hot. Seconds later, she informed me she’d fixed it. Ruby thought her clever and joined in the fun – although it looks like she got a little napkin with her chicken!

Dear Pierce,

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I love you. You know I do. But if you want a mother who is sane (and you do. You may not realize it now, but a mother who’s drooling and telling stories of your blow-outs and temper tantrums to potential spouses will make you wish you’d been nicer to me.) you have to slow […]

Poor girl.

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  Being sick is tough business. She didn’t even make it out of the bathroom.

These are the days. Some are harder than other.

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For the last four days, my house has been a sick zone. Charlotte, Ruby, and Sterling have all lost their innards more times than I can count. Eden complained of a stomach ache but I have yet to see the same symptoms erupting from her. (Being sick might just be a good excuse to curl […]