Homemade

Well, I did it. A friend and I made some homemade laundry detergent and I liked it, so I did some research and decided to try some homemade dishwasher detergent. This is super simple and I already had two of the products from the laundry detergent. And I must say, it works! Not that my Cascade didn't . . . it just felt very costly every time I bought some . . . which seemed like every trip to the store!

The Borax and Arm & Hammer I purchased at Meijer, the Kosher Salt my mom picked up for me at Kroger and the citric acid from Grandma's Pantry in Wakarusa. You use a 1/2 cup of the first two and 1/4 cup of the last. Add 1 tbsp. to your dishwasher and wash! Oh, yeah, a rinse agent. I had always bought Cascade complete (I couldn't make my self buy the Jet-Dri) and didn't need one. I read that vinegar is suggested and I haven't had any problems using it, except some complaints from the boys when they empty the dishwasher and smell vinegar! (Really, it's not that bad). I just am not sure how often to add the vinegar? My dishwasher does not tell me when my rinse aid receptacle is empty.

Random

Luke just started attending Bible Study Fellowship in the evening with his Grandpa Gorbics. He came home so excited and had written down all the names of the kids in his group! He did comment on how big the name tags were! (BSF is known for their large name tags!)

Jake was asking us about the difference in what we believe and Catholicism on the way home from small group. Not sure if I got it all correct . . . He then asked "If they think they are right and we think we are right, who is really right?"

Norah has given us a couple of chuckles lately. Her first one was when Dan was holding her on his lap and playing with the dog with his feet. She started cracking up! I've gotten a few other little chuckles out, but none as good as the first - what a great sound to hear!

Micah is reading now! He is about 1/4 of the way through our reading book and doing great! I just love teaching my kids how to read!

Pumpkin Carving Time

Our annual family tradition is to carve pumpkins around Jake's birthday. These are ones we grew in the garden this year!

Dan does most of the cutting while the boys wait to dig in!

Hey Micah - you want some of this?

Eeww! Pumpkin brains!
Designing what the jack-0-lantern will look like.
Making the cuts!
Jake designed and carved all of his this year! He still let Dan do most of the cleaning out though!

Here they are! Along with some of our silly faces!

Time with Luke

Luke and I have been able to spend some time along the last couple of Wednesday evenings. Dan leaves to go swimming, Micah and Norah are in bed and Jake is at small group. It has been great one on one time - which is sometimes hard to get with 4 kids! Tonight we made cookies and I learned that Luke has some aspirations for when he grows up. He wants to be either a Lego designer (surprise!), work at a candy store (he likes the smell of candy), a cook or a scientist! I think he is already on his way to achieving those!

Happy Birthday Jake!

Yesterday was Jake's 12th birthday! I can't believe he's twelve! This is what we see alot of these days - his nose in a book! Now I understand how my parents felt when I was young! He's been reading the Redwall books by Brian Jacques. I love to watch him read - he cracks up laughing frequently and he'll stop to read parts to us now and then.
Jake - you are growing into such a wonderful young man! I appreciate your helpful attitude and you stepping up and being so responsible! You are always up for a trip to the grocery store with me and I enjoy our time spent together. I like how well you interact with your brothers and sister and cousins - esp. when they are younger than you. I hope you had a great day!

Norah at 3 months!

Here is our baby girl at 3 months today! Note: those chubby cheeks- red because we have a fire in the woodburner now! that smile - brought on by brother Micah! that seat - a Bumbo, doesn't it make her look big?!

Had to add another in the Bumbo - this seat cracks me up! She seems to really enjoy sitting up and looking at all that is going on, but it makes her look so big! It makes me laugh every time she is in it.

What I've Been Doing . . .

This is it! We've canned bread and butter pickles, spagetti sauce, diced tomatos, squash, green beans, dill pickles and salsa! We - meaning my mother, my friend Rachael and I. I could not and probably would not have been able to do it without them! I have also made and froze applesauce with Emily. I think we are ready for winter! My only regret would be that I didn't get around to making strawberry jam. I think I was way pregnant, so I guess I'll cut myself some slack!