On the move

Ara is everywhere...

I can't do dishes when she's awake because she insists on playing in the dishwasher. It's challenging to do dishes when she's asleep because of the noise and bedroom proximity to the kitchen... So this means the kitchen is in a constant state of disarray. I'm accepting it... I'm at fault too-- some days I'm cooking a few things up before Chris is awake for work:). I really can trash a kitchen quick:). Ara playing in the pantry bought me a few minutes to load some dishes the other day:).... And looking at that it needs some tlc too...

Trying to ride a monster truck.

Playin with bro 

Pushing up on everything, loves wrestling!

Safety second...

Cruising along the couch

My cuties in the tub! We were filthy last night after a park excursion then playing monster trucks in our field. Red dirt ring in the tub= great summer night.

Soap

I posted a long time ago about wanting to check out the new soap store in town~ along the same lines with reducing our waste and choosing Eco friendly products. 

We switched to Eco friendly soaps when we were in collage and didn't have too much extra $. I figured it was a good time to make it a priority, it seemed like it was more of a testament to the commitment that did cost a few more pennies when we had less pennies... 

It's worked out great~ we have used seventh generation laundry detergent, Charlie's soap for the bulk of Owen's cloth diapers and burp cloths, and the full circle brand from raleys. 

The empty jugs and bottles were starting to pile up in the garage so I headed to the soap store. 

I was greeted by a sweet woman who was very helpful and I was the only one there! (I came back a different day during farmers market and there were 5 people ahead of me...) she rinsed my old bottles, I chose my new soaps to fill, she pumped them full, and added new labels as the bottles didn't always match what was put inside. 

It was one of those times where I didn't ask any prices prior to purchase. That is unlike me! But in the honor of the small business I was going for it. It was soap, right! It wasn't going to use up my whole paycheck, I hoped!

Not at all!! Laundry detergent, 2 bottles of dish soap, and 1 bottle of dishwasher soap came to a grand total of... $22.50. The laundry detergent alone- same brand and size- at raleys is $16.99. (We've bought bulk online so we don't pay that price but that's what it goes for!) 

Needless to say I was stoked to:

1. Support the local small biz 

2. Pay affordable prices

3. Use my old plastic bottles

I'm not quite sure why I enjoy these three things so much but I'm into it:). And if you're interested in checking them out, it's called SOAP 2 (acronym= save our ailing planet). 

Scrub a dub!

Old bottle, new label, new soap:). 50 cents cheaper than store... Adds up over time!

Arabelle snoozes anywhere- when she wants to!

Used "Merlin's magical sleep suit" until a couple weeks ago. It stopped being "magical"... It really just prevented her from rolling over in her crib and waking herself up. She figured out how to roll over in it and that is when a baby grows out of it.

Snacked on mama then fell asleep in my arms, and transferred to the blanket at the river. 

That face! Something about sleeping kids is just so precious and angelic.

Face down sleeper... Since she can roll now (out of the sleep suit) she prefers to sleep on all fours, with her head on at least one hand.

This is the only photo not from the last 2 weeks... The babe on the left is Owen, after he had his 2nd heart surgery. The babe on the right is Ara, after Owen had his 3rd surgery. Same room. Almost the same age. Same chair. Same mom. This photo stirs up all kindsa emotions. 

Sleeping on me at my moms while the big cousins watched the Lego movie.

 I'm soaking up the sweet snuggles and cute lil independant sleeper. She is growing fast, and not such a baby anymore. She specializes in wrestling brother and "crawling" on hands and feet. She loves to dance and eat! She lights up all of our days and is such a great addition to our "three best friends now four best friends" as Owen says.

Canning day with cousins and Wynt

We have had this day on the books for weeks, we were to make chai concentrate and sauerkraut:). Interesting combo we know, not to be consumed together, unless that's your thing!

The beautiful spice blend before we added 36 Darjeeling tea bags.

Beautiful cabbage head, we shredded 5 heads.

The kitchen was trashed! This was close to the end of the process.

The kraut needed whey to complete fermentation... We needed 2 cups of whey. That liquid on the top of plain yogurt is the whey. Good thing we bought a lot of yogurt and started straining ahead of time. What's left on top? Greek style yogurt. Mmmm.

My pretty sissy getting honey outta the jar.

Gotta goof and take a sauerkraut selfie.

The girls went and picked plums while Owen took a nap. Such good girls!

A panoramic of the craziness of the kitchen and house. So much fun and love!

Our final products- and a few jars of pickled beets too. The kraut is "ready" tomorrow so I'll let you know how it tastes. The chai has been infusing steadily since it was finished:). 

Zombies happen... Are all parents Zombies? Do any kids sleep well?

We had a quieter week here, as the celebrations waned. Ara decided to grow out of her magical sleep suit and she has been sleeping (not sleeping) poorly as she rolls over, sits up, and cries her eyes out. I go into her room a minute or two or three later (not really counting or paying attention to time these days), rock her or feed her, or lay her back down. Sometimes that lasts and sometimes it doesn't. This is new to me. With Owen he was so swaddled to keep his tube in that he didn't roll in bed ever. This too shall pass. This too shall pass. Please more zzz's. Some moments I think that we really adapt to very very little sleep, then other days I really wonder if I am using the right words, times, details, ya know? I try to yield to Chris's sleep schedule if at all possible as he has a very important job where words, times, details matter at work.

 Ara and Tracy and the awesome blooming artichokes

 My baby and I snuggling on the property

O racing down "his mountain". He plays on the large mound of dirt when I let the chickens out.

Happy Father's Day dinner with my pops!

June= Celebrations Galore!

This week has been full of fun and celebrating! June 12 is Chris's birthday, June 15th this year is father's day, and our 9 year wedding anniversary is June 18th.

BIRTHDAY
I did a small surprise dinner for Chris on Sunday. It was really fun to keep something from him, I hadn't done anything like that before. He had a fun day riding and shooting with his friends and came home to pastured tri tip and fish tacos dinner with family. I added in a silly component where I asked guests to lip sync a song and Chris would pick the best one. It was pretty funny, nieces sang every song from Frozen, there was a Backstreet Boys duet by the Baxters, and a rap song by the Aubins. I flew solo and memorized Ice Ice Baby (the first 2.5 minutes) It was pretty hilarious!! Colin also finished the set with Happy Birthday Mr. President, ha!!

 Papa was making the kids giggle

 The face! Dave looks surprised too!

 Yummy dinner and brews and good company

 Lil was so animated

 My sweet gal!

 Sister Duets

 Really feeling the lyrics! "quit playing games with my heart"

 Cracking us up!

 Complete with dancing!

 This girl helped me out soooooooo much with the day, couldn't have done it without her! She watched kids, changed blowouts, chopped multiple dishes, and DID all the dishes. SHE IS AMAZING! LOVE YOU Amanda! Josh was the head of surprise operations on the dude end. LOVE these guys! Thank you sister and future bro!

 The prize was a Beiber poster, well deserved by Colin.

 Happy husband

 ice cream sundae bar for dessert

 Elise knew all the words but didn't move a muscle

More dancing pics

SACTO
I took Monday off to enjoy our week of fun, as we rescheduled Father's Day to that day. I made some breakfast and we were off to the train museum in Sac. It was still on the hot streak but it was nice inside. Owen had been 2 years ago but he really enjoyed it again.

FAIR TIME
We merged out into the world this week a bit, and went to the county fair on Chris's real birthday. O still wanted to go on rides with one of us, so we did that. He was especially fond of the ball rolling game that makes the horse go is the best I can describe it.

We then headed to Shari's house for a birthday dinner. In order to make the surprise dinner a surprise I ended up planning it when they were out of town camping. So the bonus was 2 parties! Their pool was amazing and Chris's mom made enchiladas. Chris and I were getting tired from all of the fun, but Owen kept going. His swimming has improved with the 1$ innertube! It was a wonderful evening with the fam.

Owen even shared Chris's cake with him. He has eaten 1 cupcake and 2 bites of cake before. In his whole life! He's never been into it. Maybe he will eat cake on his birthday!

and more FAMILY fun!
Next day fun was swimming at Aubin's then up to grandmas. SUMMERTIME and good health! Such a beautiful thing! We had a great week with the family, playing with cousins, and enjoying living so close to everyone. After a few no-nap days we are back to our boring naps today, which felt great! I lay there for about 30 seconds thinking of what I could or should be doing and then release the guilt and fall into a deep sleep! (adding pictures later on tonight... that nap provided too much rest, I'm pretty awake and it's late...)

 Who is leading the pack? Oh yes, that's Owen, the heart kid who ran the whole way to the Bowen's!

 Love my beauties!

Such a sweet pic of the walking grandkids (Ara in a stroller)

Ara did great at all excursions, she was a fan of the stroller at both outings, and slept on and off in the car or stroller. She is getting her top 4 teeth, crawling everywhere, and pulling up. She is developing at sub-8 months how Owen was at 12-14 months. It is really amazing, tiring, and beautiful to witness. She can do tricks now, stick out her tongue on command, dance on command, and clap! I've approached feeding with her completely different, and she really enjoys eating most everything. She prefers bite size pieces and mama's milk. I plan to do a post on her feeding as well at some point. She is babbling now, waking up from her nap.

Chris is working on our real anniversary so we are going on a day date as Marsh will watch the kids. 5 hours together! What are we going to do??!! We have STUNK at making dates a priority, so this will be our second date since Arabelle was born...

(nighty night, fingers crossed Ara sleeps longer than her stretches last night... 4 hours...)