It's starting to feel like a farm here...

This past weekend we eagerly welcomed two new members to our family! We adopted 2 kittens from our good friends (who actually do have a farm). We were over there last week and had the most wonderful time. Here is a picture of my son on their zip line... He absolutely LOVED it!

But without further ado... Meet our sweet, snuggle loving "Minnie"

And our sweet, silly, adventurous "Daisy"

We fell head over heels for these two. Aren't they cute?? 

We have trouble putting them down long enough to let them explore and play. Even our good boy Seuss has taken to them.

It's so funny, my husband and I find ourselves watching them play. We just sit there and watch them like we're little kids. It's nice to have something new to break up the day to day. And I have a feeling these two will keep Seuss on his toes for quite a while.

I hope you all are keeping cool. It was 97 today here- *gah!!* And of course our air conditioning compressor died.... All I have to say is I'm so very grateful for fans! ...And popsicles :)

From my home to yours, with love,

Becca

Spring recap

When last we chatted, I was preparing for spring break, our first Passover (ever), my hubby's birthday and my little brother's graduation, in addition to my grandparents visiting from Pennsylvania and my mother in laws birthday... Oh and Easter... Hmmmm.... anything else? Oh, I started homeschooling my daughter. Yea, no big deal, haha! Sheesh it has been a crazy April! And I'm so glad it's May. Now I can get back into the swing of life.

Here's our fuzzy family pic at Passover:

Side note, the laundry detergent and softener have been working great for me. I hope you have enjoyed them too!

Some of our chickens have started to lay eggs. It's been lots of fun going to the coop and discovering eggs in the boxes. It's almost like receiving a yummy little gift every morning. And they are yummy!

For my husband's birthday he wanted a tattoo cake. I can honestly say I've never done one of those before. First I covered his cake in a buttercream fondant. Than I used a paintbrush (one only used for food) and food coloring and painted the tattoos on. But I found these great markers in the baking section at Walmart that are made for writing on food. So our kids took a side of the cake and decorated it for Daddy :) They were so proud and it was very sweet. And simple! You should try it!

I was never super into gardening until I moved here. But since moving here I've been an avid gardener. I've planted all sorts of fruit trees, which are still living! Yay! But most exciting has been the corn, pumpkins, cucumbers, watermelons, carrots, tomatoes and sunflowers. Corn was something I never really thought much about trying to grow. I thought you needed a big open field to grow it. Well... It turns out that corn loves my yard. It has flourished and is over a foot tall now. I promise you every day I walk in the garden it seems like it's grown overnight...it's like a teenager! lol! It's been fun for the kids to watch too. Our corn and sunflowers are having a race to see who grows the tallest and fastest.  Here is my corn, fingers crossed it actually produces some good ears!

What a crazy month and a half it has been... remind me not to plan so much next March-April! Good thing May is looking more relaxing. Speaking of relaxing, I hope all you mother's out there had a wonderful mother's day! My day was wonderful, but looking back I have to admit, every day is pretty wonderful. I can't imagine spending my days with better people or in a better place. 

feeling truly blessed :) 

With love, from my home to yours,

Becca

Homemade Laundry Softener

So it was only fitting to follow my previous laundry post with this one. The world of homemade anything can be a little confusing, laundry stuff included. Everyone seems to have their own way of doing things....which I totally understand. But it can be frustrating when all I want is a simple recipe that will work. It seems like there are a million different ways to make laundry softener, so I just had to pick one and go with it. Apparently there is a method where you use hair conditioner and it leaves a nice scent on your clothes. Hm, well, I might try that one later, but to be honest, I don't care about scent. I want my clothes to BE clean and SMELL clean....they don't need to smell like my hair. So I tried this one by Littlemomma. I cut the recipe in half since it appears to make a almost a gallon and I didn't need that much for a first try. I was so happy with this recipe! It really does work and smells good and there is absolutely no trace of vinegar smell- don't worry. And just so you know, I will NEVER go back to buying my fabric softener loaded with all those chemicals after using this stuff! I'm so happy with this.

 

Homemade Fabric Softener by: Littlemomma

1 cup baking soda

6 cups distilled white vinegar

8 cups water

10 -15 drops orangeessential oils (optional) or 10 -15 drops lemonessential oils (optional) or 10 -15 drops essential oils , of choice (optional)

Directions:

1. 1. You will need a one gallon container.
2. 2. First add the baking soda to the plastic container.
3. 3. Next add 1 cup of water to start with.
4. 4. Slowly add the vinegar to the bottle as the vinegar and baking soda will start to fizz.
5. 5. Then add the rest of the water swirling around & cover venting the top a few times.
6. 6. Last add the essential oil.
7. 7. Add 1 cup in your final rinse cycle for each load but give the bottle a good shake to stir up the essential oil if using.

Read more: http://www.food.com/recipe/homemade-fabric-softener-179890#ixzz1pIOIzGn5 

Read more: http://www.food.com/recipe/homemade-fabric-softener-179890#ixzz1pIOFQ6pY

Homemade Laundry Detergent

Recently my perspectives have been changing. Maybe it's having more room to live in or seeing the countryside. I'm not sure the exact reason, but I realize that cogs in my mind are turning. It all kinda started after we bought our chickens. Having organic, "farm" fresh eggs, straight from the mother hen in the morning made me start thinking about all the things I purchase on a weekly basis. Do I really need to be buying so much from these big name brand companies. The companies are making millions off their customers who believe the company when they advertise that their products are the best? And recently I've discovered that a lot of the companies are using chemicals in their products that are harmful to us. Why would I won't my children exposed to that? And why would I give them my money? Well, I'm not anymore. One of the first things I stopped buying was laundry detergent. And from my experience, as a mother of two, (with all the stains and germs and lovely smells that go along with my children's laundry) my homemade stuff works JUST as well as the stuff I was buying...If not BETTER!  I know, amazing right? I was shocked too. Kinda ridiculous that it took me so long to figure it out...but better late than never! So here is my recipe for my powdered laundry detergent. And it's perfect for the front loading washers because it doesn't produce a lot of suds. Don't be fooled by lack of suds- it is cleaning! :) And it happens to be REALLY cheap- double bonus!

Powdered Laundry Detergent:

1 cup Borax 

1 cup Washing Soda (washing- not baking- big difference)

1 bar laundry soap, (I used Fels-Naptha because of the kids, but Ivory - for sensitive skin, or Zote soap)

Over a large bowl, with a fine cheese grater, grate your soap bar. Next add in your borax and washing soda. Mix together with a spoon and transfer to a plastic container of your choice.  large hummus container (clean and dry) from Costco was what I used. This recipe will give you probably 30 washes or more. I use 1 tablespoon per normal load of laundry. But when I fill the washer with jeans and or heavily soiled I use 2 tablespoons- just to be safe. 

A few friends have asked me "How do you have time to make your own laundry stuff?" Well, first off it's really easy. And secondly, my life is all about schedules. With two kids I have to be scheduled if I want to get anything done and make sure we show up when and where we should. I also make my own fabric softener- that's the next post. 

With love,

Becca

Coop-A-Cabana

This week has been a week full of...well....I'm not really sure. I don't remember a lot of it. Seriously though. I don't. On Monday my son stayed home from school sick and I started to come down with what would soon be revealed to be the flu. My hubby even stayed home two days last week which is amazing because he never stays home so I MUST have been pretty sick. To be honest this past week was just miserable. I still feel as if my body has been hit by a truck and the lingering deep cough is not helping my muscles feel any better.

But on a happy note, I did finish my coop-a-cabana sign before I came down with the flu.  I think the coop has turned out so cute. The chickens are growing rapidly and it won't be too much longer till they'll be ready for their coop! Yay!

New Adventures!....seems like there are a lot of those recently...

After a month and a half of unpacking, reorganizing, hanging stuff we are at home. The kids are thoroughly enjoying the room and so am I. Favorite part of this house by far is the playroom :) 2 weeks ago we felt settled enough to bring in 8 more family members....Oh yea. It started out as 4, we bought 6, and left with 8...
Meet the newest members of the "Soder Flock"

This is my Silkie, Ella:

This is one of our Americanas, Hedwig:

My son's Americana, Chipmunk (Can you guess why she's named that?):

This is my daughter's Frizzle, aptly named Mrs Frizzle:

My Black Copper Maran named Madeline:

Another Americana named Fanny:

Americana named Maggie:

It has been so fun watching these gals develop their own personalities. I say gals, because sadly we can't keep any roosters. The kids have fallen for the chicks and are having fun holding them and caring for them. 

Here I am with Hedwig (who's hiding in this pic) the night we got them

My daughter with Mrs. Frizzle

And my hubby with his Silkie, Lucy, who is a snuggler and has captured my hubby's heart

My son with Chipmunk

Who knew chicken's could be so much fun! We purchased some that will give us all different colors of eggs. The chicks will be ready for their coop when they are about 2 months old, it depends on how feathered they are by that time. I'm working on a sign for the coop. I've decided to name it "Coop-A-Cabana".  Pictures to come shortly ;)

Welcoming the new year and a new city...

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season! Mine was filled with moving boxes.

Even with all the moving boxes it was a very special times for us. We are all moved into our new home and loving it. I'm still trying to figure out some organizational ideas....but I am determined to get this house in order :) It is really tough with two little kids to unpack and organize. I had to open about 5 boxes just to remember where I packed my daughter's pajamas. And while I'm in my room trying to unpack clothes the kids are in the playroom "unpacking toys." Oh yea.. "unpacking" is not the word I would use. More like creating a colossal pile of toys that are strewn across the floor. Awesome..... But besides the nitty gritty work, I've been able to do some fun things to the house, like new appliances, new fans, new fireplace screen, etc. Here's some pics of the new house.

My new fireplace screen. I removed the brass lined glass - which was so easy to do! And it made such a difference. I love not having it there!

Here's my new reading nook....aka favorite spot in the house!

Since this picture I have gotten a new above the stove microwave :)

One of my favorite things about our new town is that you can see a lot of nature here. There is room to breathe.... This is a pic from our "local highway" it's basically a really long road where the speed limit is the same as the freeway speed.

Next to do is unpacking craft stuff!!!! :) 

Christmas is in the Air...

This year we are in the middle of moving, thus my lack of posting...and our house is literally filled with boxes. I daydream of decorating in my new house. But in the meantime, it's nice to look back at pictures from last year. 

Time to decorate for Thanksgiving!

We are in the middle of packing up to move to a new house right now. Most of my thanksgiving decorations are out, but there are also a couple boxes in each room :) So I'm re-posting last year's post. Happy decorating!!

Last week I took down all my Halloween decorations and put up all my thanksgiving ones. Thanksgiving is such a fun time for me. It means lots of yummy food, good times spent with friends and family....and it's the precursor for Christmas! But before I can even think about Christmas I need to plan out my turkey day. And part of having a great turkey day is having a house that feels warm and welcoming and in my house that means lot of leaves. I think people can be a bit intimidated by decorating for thanksgiving. Don't be! Add those scarecrows and leaves! Here's how I decorated:

My welcome sign when I step in from the garage:

I always save pumpkins from October and use them to decorate for Thanksgiving. I also lite a lot of candles in the fall/winter, why not combine the two on a counter or side table?

A little pumpkin scarecrow, this one I positioned on some leaves.

My awkward steps above my fireplace..... I decorated them with pumpkins, scarecrows, lots of leaves and...

...a pumpkin turkey. What can I say, I thought he was cute!

See the hidden pumpkin behind the leaves???

I also like to decorate my china hutch. Everyone gathers in this area to eat and to be honest, it's a safe place for my Jim Shore woodcut figures.

I'm a little obsessed with Jim Shore woodcut figures...you'll see what I mean when I show you Christmas pictures...It's slightly "re-dunculous" as my hubby would say.

Cornucopia stuffed with leaves :) Simple and easy.

I even add a touch of leaves inside the hutch. It provides a nice pop of color and ties it all together.

I picked up this guy for $5 at my local craft store and the kids gave him a pilgrim hat :) I think we should name him.

Even our fridge is decorated. Turkey hand prints are the best! And so fun and easy. Just paint your hand with brown paint, then press on white paper. Glue feathers and ta-da! 

I purchased a bird houses at my local craft store and decorated it with fall colors and places it on top of my fridge. I'm not sure where this idea came from, but I like it.

Yes, my guest bathroom has fall towels and soap ;)

And I've replaced the real plants with a fall leaf assortment

My kitchen even gets a few touches

And Duke's treats

We made little American Indian pupets after reading a thanksgiving story. Simple craft and my kids love these guys! ....hmm....who knew.

And we can't forget our thanksgiving toys! :) The kids get really excited when they see these since they only come out of the garage once a year. Quick reminder: when storing seasonal toys remember to remove the batteries! 

I hope that gives you all a few ideas or maybe some Thanksgiving decoration inspiration! Happy decorating!!