Not Me Monday - Christmas in April?

Since the weather is cold and crisp outside and the forecast is actually calling for a possibility of snow flurries, my kids are playing Christmas music. I turned the heat on for just a moment this morning to knock the chill off of the house and the smell of the heat and the music made it feel like Christmas in my house.  

I would never encourage this behavior in my house by making hot chocolate in our favorite Christmas mugs with marshmallows and having the kids turn up the Christmas music that is playing in my kitchen. Not me, I would make the kids realize that it's April and way too early for Christmas music and no way would I make hot chocolate to make it feel even more like Christmas and the winter season.  After all, it is spring outside.

 The Cocoa Latte machine that I

 "did not" use this morning for hot chocolate.

 Mugs with marshmallows

 My eyes must deceive me, surely these are not Christmas mugs ;)

 And the book I got the recipe from

surely didn't encourage a Christmas atmosphere.

Good to the last drop :)

Fascinated by the Trucks

This morning during breakfast we heard lots of noisy trucks and loud banging going on right outside in front of our house.  Checking it out we found that there were paving trucks repaving our road. The kids asked if they could go outside and watch and so I told them that they could if they stayed on the front porch.  So as quick as possible they headed outside and had a front row view of the pavers. (You have no idea how tempted I was to go ask them to educate my children on the process of paving the road...)

This is how our day started...

 Dump truck bringing more rocks for the paver.

 Getting ready to start now that they have more rocks.

 Heading down the road.

 Joshua didn't want to miss anything.

 Then this guy rolled through.

 Everyone watching.

When It's Raining Outside

Some of the things my kids do when it's raining outside and they can't go out and play. What are some of the things your kids do when they can't go outside?

Micah and Josiah play chess
while Jonathan watches.

Joshua's favorite toy.

Wordless Wednesday - Fun Outside

The teepee that Kaitlyn built.

Tuesday's Tip - Bar Soap into Liquid Soap

This week I made bar soap into liquid hand soap. It's really simple and only takes three ingredients. The directions are found in this link http://www.savvyhousekeeping.com/how-to-turn-a-bar-of-soap-into-liquid-hand-soap/.

A few things I've learned from my experience. I used Ivory soap and it was not like Parmesan cheese when it was grated, mine was not that dry. When you make it it will be very thin like water until it cools completely. I made mine at night then let it cool until morning. I did go ahead and pour it into the 2-liter bottle once it cooled enough It will need to be shaken or stirred a few times. It makes a little more than a 2-liter bottle (that's what I store mine in). The finished product will not lather like commercial soap but it will clean your hands and will smell like whatever bar soap you use, unless you use an essential oil. I would recommend using the glycerin so it does not clump.

I stopped buying liquid hand soap a while back because how quickly it disappears in my house. However, I don't really like bar soap at the sink because of the mess it makes. So now I have the best of both worlds, a more economical soap to wash hands with and no messy sinks :)

A Great Deal

The tickets we received when we went to the Smokies game last week all had coupons for free Oscar Meyer hotdogs at any Pilot on the back. At the game they also handed out scratch off coupons for free items at Pilot locations. So last night after church we headed to a Pilot for supper. We were able to get 10 hotdogs, 2 packs of M&M's, 2 packs of Reese's, two packs of crackers, and two drinks for free. Not a bad deal and the employees at Pilot were very accommodating. Thanks again Smokies and thank you Pilot :)

Up Close with Nature

We have a family of foxes that live right at the corner of our yard in a drain pipe that is not in use anymore. There are seven pups with their mom and each night we watch them play (from a window inside our house, of course). It's so much fun to see them prance about, they look just like kittens or puppies playing with each other. Their mom is very protective and keeps a watch on them without being seen. She darts back and forth across the road into the dark. The pipe where they live is located right under our street lamp so we can see them well, however the mom doesn't stay in the light much. I did catch her the other night sitting at the edge of the road, she looked straight at me through the window and when she moved back into the dark I realized she had been nursing three of her pups.

I spoke to our landlord yesterday and was informed that when they built this house a mother fox and her pups were living in the same ditch. She said they didn't cause any harm and when the pups got big enough the mom moved them to the woods across the street.

So, for now we are enjoying the entertainment. We will be cautious and our landlord told us to let them know if the foxes cause any trouble and they will call animal control. I'm hoping it doesn't come to that.

Wish I had pictures but my phone doesn't take good pics when it's dark from a distance and a flash would only scare them away, but trust me they are CUTE.