Family Update

It has been a hot start to summer! So the past few weeks have seen lots of water play and swimming. And ice blocks :)

The girls are often outside playing in the water (I put some water in the baby bath and a bucket for them). Clothes eventually all make their way off and little nude bottoms are running round the place :) Sarah is mostly nappy-less at home now as I'm trying to toilet train her. So far I haven't had much success. She'll sit on the loo, she knows the sign for toilet, but she won't use it - no sooner have I taken her off and let her loose than a puddle or a mess hits the floor! :P But she'll get the idea eventually. In the meantime, my floor is all the cleaner for it from the frequent mopping! (Oh, Sarah is walking much more now the last couple of days - not long before she's running around after Abigail!)

We swim most days now when Jon gets home from work. Abigail and Sarah love it! Abigail refused to hop in for ages but now that the water has warmed up she jumps right in and can swim around on her own. Sarah has very little patience for the swimming ring - she prefers to jump right in too! She wriggles and splashes as much as she can - makes it very difficult to keep a hold on her! But if let go she does swim for the surface, so the beginnings of swimming lessons are underway :) Another great thing about the pool is we bump into other families from our complex there - it's nice to get to meet the people who live around us.

Another happening I think worth mentioning, is most evenings before swimming, Jonathan has undertaken an 'exercise regime'. Jon hates exercise (I cannot relate to that - I {mostly} love it). But he has decided, of his own accord, that he needs to do some given the nature of his work (office). So he does burpees. He started on the 14th with 14 burpees and now adds one a day - the aim being to work up to 100. He has chosen burpees because they are a full body exercise - legs, core, arms. Abigail loves to count him doing them (she once counted to 16 on her own!). I think he's awesome. Check out the video of him on my Facebook to see how to do a burpee (I can't get it to upload to my blog).

As for me, I have been doing a lot of craft this week. I have an awesome idea for Christmas presents that I'm working on, and I'm also working on a cross stitch. This is what the latter looked like a couple of weeks ago:

As for my laundry detergent, I am really happy with it. Might try adding an essential oil to my next batch (eucalyptus or lavender - both are disinfectants and I like the smell). A friend pointed out to me that soap scum can build up and block the pipes, and even if you use normal washing powder, doing an empty hot short wash in your machine with a cup of white vinegar every month or so will help to clear out any scum and keep your machine running cleanly.

To end, this is for my dad - I love you lots and we are praying that your knee heals quickly and there are no after-surgery complications! So proud to have you as my dad - you do so much for your family! xx

Camping in Caloundra

We spent our weekend camping; a first for Jon and the girls, and us as a family. The weekend ended too soon! Needless to say, we enjoyed our time!

We stayed at a holiday park right near Dicky Beach and were assigned a wonderfully shady spot, close to the amenities but private enough at the same time. Considering a lot of the spots were in the full sun, we felt very blessed indeed. Especially when we had to set up the tent at two in the afternoon!

Thankfully I had packed a fry pan and various utensils, as we discovered the kitchen facilities much more basic than we expected! Fortunately, Jon's grandma lives nearby and we were able to borrow a couple of plates and store our cold food in her fridge.

While we stayed right next to the beach, we only went to it once. It was just too hot to be on the beach! And Abigail was somewhat scared of the ocean (Sarah, however, went straight on in!). There was, however, a great playground nicely shaded by trees that the girls enjoyed.

It was lovely to be able to see Jon's Grandma each day too, and share meals with her. Before we headed home again, she took us out for a lovely meal at the RSL.

(Excuse the quality - this one was snapped on Jon's phone)

We look forward to many more camping adventures in the future!

Natural Cleaners - Homemade Laundry Detergent

I make a lot of things at home instead of buying them for a few reasons:

1. Saves money
2. Is healthier for us (for my part, I have food intolerances and chemical intolerances)
3. Is environmentally friendly

Point three is probably the least important of the three (to me), but being environmentally friendly generally means it's also safer and healthier for us too! There are so many dangerous chemicals in our homes today - in baby products (!!!), in our self-care products, and in the cleaning products we use - that I have, over time, been switching to a lot of natural, homemade alternatives. In this post, I want to share with you the latest homemade alternative I have tried - laundry detergent!

Washing powder is expensive - I generally buy an environmentally friendly and sensitive skin washing powder - and the last box I bought has emptied much quicker than I expected (despite my using less than the manufacturer recommends for each wash {I figure they're more interested in their profits than my washing :) }). I had seen a 'recipe' for making your own laundry detergent and had bought the ingredients, and now I have finally made it. Here it is:

Homemade Laundry Detergent

Grate 1/3 of a block of pure soap

Measure out 1/3 cup of washing soda (sodium carbonate)

Put soap and soda in a bucket and add some hot water - stir well until dissolved

Top the bucket up with water, and stir some more

That's it! Use 2-3 cups per load (3 for a heavily soiled load). I tried it on a load of nappies and sheets and am very happy with the results (that is, they're clean - they smell clean and look clean).

Too easy. Very cheap. And it's environmentally friendly and safe to use. Yay!


Here's the link where I got this concoction from: http://recyclingnearyou.com.au/documents/2005125_natclean_eng.pdf

Check it out - there's lots of other alternatives there too. Let me know if you try any!