FAMILY TIME, MAKING MEMORIES THAT LAST!

In this time of electronic connections, Facebook, smart phones, Twitter, Instagram, and just time demands it can be hard to find the time to slow down and just enjoy being with your family.  In our lives, finding time to reconnect can be a challenge, especially due to the nature of Robert’s job.  In spite of all the things fighting for our attention, we purpose to slow down and spend time together as a family as often as we can. 

For us, family time takes on many different forms.  It might be everyone sitting outside on the trampoline while we laugh at the two youngest kiddos crawling and bouncing around on it.  Or family time might mean a trip to Kissimmee State Park where we can get away from everything and be lost in the natural beauty of the Florida we all love.  Our favorite family time adventures more often than not consist of just staying home and doing things together.  For the kiddos and their Daddy, this means getting out the kid’s horse.

I have been blessed to have a husband that has a natural talent when it comes to horses.  For us, he is the ultimate cowboy.  He has passed this talent onto all of his children.  That just makes riding and playing with their horse the perfect way to spend a weekend. 

Robert always rides the mare first to make sure she won't be too frisky.

This was a funny photo to take, we actually had to try it 3-4 times!  Who knew kissing off a horse could be so hard!!!

First up to ride is Maggie.  She's thrilled after her shoulder injury to be riding again.

Next up is Ethan.  Again this is a testament to the parent Robert is.  Ethan held the reins but Robert walked beside him the whole time, just to make sure he'd stay safe.

Of course, Cole had to be next.  He was so funny even hollering at me: "Look Mama, I John Wayne!!!"

Last but not least was John Robert.  He is getting better and building his confidence up every time he rides.

Yes Mama and Jacob were there too.  No we didn't ride together tonight.  We hung out and watched everyone and Ella, our guard chicken!

Family time is a special time for us.  We guard it carefully since it is so very precious.  I am so thankful that my husband wants to be with his children and wants to have them learn and grow the way that he did.  More than that, I am grateful that as my children continue to grow they constantly seek their Daddy’s wisdom, expertise, and advice on life.  This is what family time is all about; building the relationships that create the memories that last for more than just one lifetime.  So forgive me if we don’t answer, text, Facebook message, or even call you back right away.  We are building memories enjoying our much needed family time.

FIELD TRIP FUN!!

We’ve been blessed with some great fiends that have a big family and homeschool too.  The great thing about this is that when we get together our gangs can make a homeschool group happen almost anywhere.  This has lead to a lot of fun field trips and adventures.  Our latest outing was to the Tampa Aquarium for their homeschool days.

We started our morning off in the parking lot of Tractor Supply to meet up and follow each other over.  We also had a mini grab and go from the McDonald’s drive-thru.  Then we headed to Tampa, hitting a detour and road closures in Mulberry.  In spite of all the delays we made it and hit the bathrooms first!  The two hours of car time caught up with our gang, all 17 of us, so the bathroom was our first stop.  After we made it in, we had a good time checking out all the exhibits, but the sharks were our favorite.

Heading over to Tampa.

FINALLY HERE!

Checking out all the exhibits.

Cole loved the ducks.

The gang in the Natural Florida exhibit.

Even Jacob loved seeing the fish!

Oh, a shark.....

Cole had a good time checking out the sharks!

Part of the gang looking for sea turtles and sharks.

Ethan showing us how big the grouper is.

Cole swimming in the coral reef.

Maggie taking a kid chasing break!  HA!

Even John Robert was here checking out the exhibits!

PREFOLD DIAPER & COVER REVIEW

As I mentioned in my AiO diaper review, Melanie from Sugar Britches Nappies is now offering prefold and cover sets for sale in her Etsy store.  Knowing that prefolds are my go to for my boys, mainly because they are so economical for any family, but especially for our family; Melanie asked if I would be willing to try her prefold diapers and the cover style she has come up with.  Once again my answer was a resounding, YES, because if I haven’t mentioned it before, I LOVE getting FLUFF mail!

I KNOW that there are a lot of prefold brands out there.  I was given a lot of size small prefolds (think newborn-15 pounds or so), by a gracious friend of mine who was excited to share her diaper stash and introduce me to cloth diapers.  Sadly, my little man wasn’t able to stay in them long.  So, I did some research and ordered the prefold diaper set from Diaper Junction.  I love it and I love using my prefolds.  Upon stating that, I was kind of skeptical as to whether or not I’d like the prefold and cover that I was being asked to try.  After all, why mess with what works right? 

Oh my stars, I was right.   I didn’t like Sugar Britches Nappies prefold and cover, I LOVED it!  First thing is that the prefold is cotton, but it’s more like a cotton flannel uber soft material.  To prep it all I had to do wash them.  That’s it, no boiling (that’s how I prepped my other prefolds), and no washing them five or six times.  These prefold style diapers are sewn together by Melanie.  In the middle she adds an extra absorbent layer; she calls her “magic layer”.  In it is some of the Zorby that she uses in her other diapers, (and is something that I love), and tops it with the light cotton material.  This layer is what sets these prefolds apart from other prefolds.  Why?

With Sugar Britches Nappies you prefolds you don’t need a snappi or baby safety pins, you trifold them and put them in the cover.  Most of the time when you do this fold and place method of diapering with a prefold, they bunch in the middle when wet and can shift out of place making your diaper cover wetter in the process. One of the reasons that I love prefold diapers is that I can use one or two covers all day for Cole and two to three covers all day for Jacob.  The beauty of covers is that they are always waterproof; you can just wipe them out as needed and change the cotton diaper on the baby.  But folding diapers and placing them into covers causes them to shift and bunch, a lot.  Another issue with trifolding a prefold is the size of the diaper.  This diaper folding method can make a baby’s little bottom extra fluffy.  That extra fluffiness can make it hard to find clothes that fit!

The adorable cover!

The inside of the cover showing the "pocket" for tucking the trifolded prefod diaper in.

A prefold comparison.  On the left is a Diaper Junction sized medium prefold.  In the middle is the prefold from Sugar Brtiches Nappies.  On the right is a size small cotton prefold (brand unknown).   

 BUT, Melanie’s prefolds didn’t do any of that.  The extra absorbent Zorby layer lets them catch a lot of moisture without a lot of shifting or bunching. Plus this magic layer that she sews into her prefolds wicks (or pulls) the moisture away from the baby without being too bulky the way that a traditional prefold can be.  Sugar Britches Nappies prefold diaper style is actually my preferred way of diapering my active two year old Cole.  More than that I LOVE how adorable the cover is and the way that it looks with his eyes.

   

Did I mention that I love this style of diaper on my Cole?

And that I LOVE this cover color with his eyes!

This cover set works well on Jacob too!

To me Melanie and Sugar Britches Nappies, has once again delivered with this diapering solution.  Her craftsmanship and attention to detail makes the prefold and cover set one that I reach for time and time again.  More than that, her price sets this set apart from all competitors and makes the prefold and cover set the one worth using!  Her Etsy store has the complete one size prefold set including six covers and 14 diapers listed for only $76.00.  In reality, that is a steal!  AND, the good news is that if you need more prefolds to change your active heavy wetters (like I do….HA), you can use the small size prefolds in her covers.

So please, head over to Sugar Britches Nappies, check out all her diapers and try some for yourself.  You will be supporting a phenomenal company, get to experience their excellent customer service, and be blessed with some diapers that you will love.  Don’t forget to check out her Pay It Forward diaper campaign while your there! 

**ONCE AGAIN, I WANT TO NOTE THAT I HAVE NOT BEEN PAID OR COMPENSATED IN ANY WAY FOR THIS POST.  THE VIEWS EXPRESSED HERE ARE MY OWN AND ARE A REFLECTION OF MY EXPERIENCE WITH THE PREFOLD AND DIAPER COVER THAT I WAS GIVEN TO TRY.  I DO GET TO KEEP THE ONE PREFOLD AND THE ONE COVER.  I DO WANT TO ORDER MORE!**

HAPPY FALL Y’ALL!!!

I love fall. This time of year is my favorite for many reasons.  I love the colors, I love that it finally cools off in temperature (or at least drops from the 90’s to the 80’s), and I love that fall means lots of family time is coming. Pumpkins, gourds, casseroles, and beautiful colors all bring me joy at this time of year.  Yep, I love fall it is truly my most favorite season of the year.

Normally I start decorating for fall the first weekend of October. BUT, I have a little man that LOVES to decorate for the seasons and plan things out like I do.  (Seriously, this boy is his Mama’s son.  He’s already planning what will go where for Christmas and is planning his 8^th AND his 9^th birthday party themes!  HA!)  So, thanks to Ethan’s prompting, we got fall out yesterday.  Like always, I adore the results.

Happy Fall Y’all!  I hope that you enjoy the snippets of fun from our lives as much as we enjoy sharing them.  More than that, I hope that you have an amazing fall celebrating life with your family and friends.  

ALL IN ONE DIAPER REVIEW

When I mentioned to Robert that I wanted to try cloth diapering to save us some money, he supported me but frankly thought that I was insane.  He has shared with me that he never thought that I would really stick with it; after all we had used disposable diapers on the previous three kiddos.  Switching the youngest two into cloth has been a learning curve and for me and in some ways an addiction to all the cute diaper covers.  Even when I was having to hand wash all our laundry I was still using cloth, I was just hand washing the diapers too.  I ADORE seeing the boys in cute diaper prints! 

In spite of my love of a cute bottom, I haven’t been able to find a solution that worked well for us at night.  As I have mentioned before, my go to for the boys are prefolds and covers.  Prefolds are, in my humble opinion, the most economical way to cloth diaper and having two kiddos in diapers with a big family like ours I was looking for inexpensive too.  As much as I love my prefolds and covers, they weren’t loved as much by the bigger diaper changing kiddos or Daddy so I bought some OS (one size [sized to work from about 10-40 pounds] diapers) AiO (All in One) and Ai2 (All in 2) diapers from Sugar BritchesNappies on Etsy.  These diapers have been wonderful for the big kiddos and Daddy.  I thought that I was set on diapers until I discovered that we didn’t have a night time diaper solution that worked for us. So I have been buying disposables to use at night.  

You see my kiddos are all tummy sleepers.  From the time they can roll over on their own, they always flip to their sides or their tummy to sleep on.  Add to that the fact that they are heavy wetters at night and you can have a lot of wetness in the bed if you’re just using the prefold diapers and their covers.  Even using disposables at night we could end up with a wet bed in the morning.  I KNEW that there had to be a solution for this so I began to look at what the most common night time go to answer is.  For many people it is a wool cover, but we didn’t have the extra money for me to spend on wool diapers.  That’s when Melanie from Sugar Britches Nappies contacted me.  She had developed a new style for her OS AiO diapers and asked if I would be willing to try it out.  She even suggested that the diaper might be the night time solution we were looking for.  I must admit that I was skeptical that it would work for us at night, but hey, I was up for a new diaper to try!

Let me tell you, I am IN LOVE with this diaper!  First of all, I LOVE the diaper print.  I know that the color of the outside of the diaper has nothing to do with how well it holds, but I adore the multi color chevron and the lime green tabs.  To me, it just says I am happy because the colors work so well together.  Literally just looking at the diaper makes me smile.  I also liked how the inserts for this newer style AiO are sewn in only on one side to make drying easier.  Usually I hang diapers on the clothes line but we’ve been hit with an unusually rainy start to fall and without fail when I go to do diaper laundry, it’s raining.  Having these inserts not completely sewn in cuts down the diapers drying time in my dryer.  But the real test would be putting the diaper on the baby.

See, isn't it cute?

The inside with the inserts folded in.

The inserts opened outward.

The first day I tried it out, I put it on Jacob just to see how long it would last.  Usually I’m changing diapers every hour to every hour and a half.  This diaper, without any other inserts lasted FOUR hours. I was thrilled.  To me, this would make it the perfect traveling diaper. One test down, but I had to see how well it worked at night.  So after being thoroughly washed and dried came the night time test on Jacob.

Getting dressed for the day, this diaper is a good fit.

Just because I LOVED how much his shirt matched this diaper, he wore no shorts!  HA!

Jacob is a wonderful sleeper.  He normally goes down at night around 7:30-8:00 and sleeps until 6:30-7:00 in the morning.  Some nights he might wake up to nurse but even then I don’t change his diaper.  So I got out this new style AiO diaper and got my little man ready for bed.  Now let me mention knowing that he is a tummy sleeper and a heavy night time wetter, I did add an additional insert under the bottom fold over flap.  I used a Zorby insert that I got from Sugar Britches Nappies, it is the snap in insert that she uses in her Ai2 diapers and I have had great wetness success with them.  Around 7:15 the new diaper went on and around 7:30 Jacob was in bed.  On this night he did get up to nurse around 2:30 and like always, I didn’t change his diaper.

Shhh, my sweet baby sleeping!!!

Let me tell you, the diaper worked! Not only was it thoroughly wet in the morning, it was soaked!  BUT there was no issue of wetness on the bed or on Jacob’s jammies.  I was impressed and now sold on this being the perfect nighttime diaper solution for Jacob.  BUT, would it work on Cole?  In short, YES!!  Doing what I had done for Jacob, we put the diaper on Cole two nights later and it worked beautifully!  That night Cole got in bed with John Robert (he usually does sleep with his brothers), and John Robert said that he couldn’t even smell the wetness on Cole who normally stinks in the morning!  I am sold!

Cole is at 34 pounds...this diaper is a good fit for him too.

Getting ready for bed, he had to take pictures in his daddy's hat!  HA!

Even more than the fact that I LOVE these diapers and now need 30 of them (well, maybe NOT that many!), I LOVE that Melanie has them so reasonably priced. I honestly thought she would mark these at around $20.00 a diaper, believe me when I say they are worth that and more.  BUT, her Etsy store has them listed at only $15.00!  I cannot begin to tell you what a deal that is!!  Please, head over to her store and check them out.  They are well worth the price and I know that they will work as well for you as they have for me!  Lastly, be on the lookout for my review (coming soon) for her new prefold style diaper and covers.  Don’t forget her Pay It Forward campaign going on too! 

**IN NO WAY HAVE I BEEN PAID FOR THIS REVIEW.  THIS IS MY OPINION AND MY EXPIERENCE WITH THIS DIAPER STYLE. I DO GET TO KEEP THE ONE DIAPER I HAVE TRIED.  I AM SAVING UP TO GET MORE!**

LAUNDRY LESSONS

Laundry is something that most people generate. Most of us within the course of our days wear at least four to six articles of clothing.  Multiply that by a family our size adding in the towels, bed linens, and cloth diapers and that adds up to a lot of things needing to be washed on a daily basis.  Most of us are blessed with the ability to simply throw our clothes into a washing machine and walk away not giving them any further thought.  I am one of the ones that would throw things into the washer and not think anymore of the mounds of laundry; after all the washing machine would work its magic and all I needed to worry about was throwing the clothes into the dryer and finding the time to fold them when they were all dry.  Then Thursday six weeks ago happened and my thinking was forever changed.  What happened?  My washer died.

Well, my washer didn’t really die.  The washer simply decided that it wouldn’t spin anymore, it wouldn’t switch gears, and it wouldn’t move out of the spin cycle.  More than that, the silly washer would sound like two tom cats fighting, or as E-Man said two coons caught in a steel trap in the washer.  So, I did what any mom would do, I unplugged the machine, stared at mounds of laundry, and sat down wondering what on earth I was going to do.  Our machine was not even three years old, still young, but no longer under warranty.  Being the modern woman that I am, I Goggled how to fix washers and was astounded at the plethora of issues that the new HE washing machines can have.  I watched so many videos that I knew that there was no way I could fix the problem on my own.  Then we called the appliance repair shop, and was blown away at what the simple problem would cost us for repairs, I gasped and sat down in between the clothing piles, thinking it would be cheaper to buy a new washer.

I KNEW that we had to do something.  I knew that we couldn’t afford the repairs or a new machine since we just had to fix our truck. So there I was looking at the mounds of laundry wondering what I could do.  Then the idea hit me and I Goggled videos on how to hand wash clothes.  Little did I know that learning the hand washing art of laundry would be so beneficial or that I would be hand washing laundry for the next six weeks!

Learning how to hand wash taught us a lot.  We learned that we have the tendency to take modern appliances for granted.  We also learned a lot about the way laundry detergents work, how soaps can trap the dirt even before you begin to agitate the clothes, and that liquid detergent can work better when hand washing than powder.  We learned that when we are in a difficult situation and need to work together for the common good of our family, we can all step up to the plate and  do what it takes to make life livable.  More than that we learned what it takes to wait on God to open the windows of Heaven to receive His blessings.  You see we decided to NOT go into debt over a new washer.  We decided to pray and ask God to bless us in His time and in His way.  His way was more than we expected.

We have been gifted with a washing machine to use until further notice.  The new to us machine sings when the washing cycle is done, has a clear lid so we can continue to watch our clothes become clean, and more than anything arrived right on time for our family. More than that, it is the washing machine that I told Robert I would LOVE to have if we decided to buy one.  What is it?  It’s an LG top loader HE washer.  And in that lies the joy of this laundry lesson. More than teaching us about laundry, God was teaching us about Him.  The lessons that we have learned the past six weeks are some that we will all never forget.  I have been blessed because we decided to tackle to broken washing machine God’s way.  Who knew laundry could give such amazing lessons!   More than that, I am honestly surprised when I say that I can’t WAIT to do laundry!  

HOMESCHOOLING FUN ~SONLIGHT STYLE!

I have mentioned several times that I LOVE using Sonlight as our main History and Reading curriculum for school.  Having an English major with a minor in Elementary Education, I know how important books are in the overall health and development of kiddos.  Being a believer in the Charlotte Mason homeschooling ideas, I know how important it is to read “living” books and not books filled with “twaddle” or useless information that doesn’t captivate one’s heart and mind.  Being a “dork” with a LOVE of reading, I know how much I LOVE the way a new book feels, smells, and transports you to places far away.  That is one of the reasons that I fell in love with the Sonlight curriculum.  However, like many aspects of homeschooling, there was an aspect that I hadn’t considered being so beneficial, the Sonlight Forums.

The Sonlight Forums are a place for people who use and enjoy the Sonlight curriculum to meet, swap ideas, advice, and form cyber friendships.  It is a way to connect fellow homeschoolers in a new way to offer support and encouragement to one another that isn’t limited to just homeschooling but in all aspects of life.  It is on these forums that we connected with people who are also using the American History Cores (Cores D, D-E combined, or E), and exchange ideas, helpful hints, tools, and encouraging stories.  It is also where we met with the families that are willing to join us in a United States postcard exchange. 

This postcard exchange is just one of the ways that we are having some homeschooling fun!  We decided to participate and represent Florida, our great state.  Within the forum community there were 47 other families willing to participate, so we had almost all 50 states covered.  The charge was simple; make or buy some postcards representing your state, sign your family’s name, and mail them out.   We decided to Google some fun facts about Florida, a lot of what we found was what we didn’t already know about the state we live in, and make our own postcards.  What a fun time we have had learning about our home state!

Printing out our postcards.  Getting ready to trim them up!

Who knew Florida was the 4th most populated state?  We learned that and more with this fun homeshooling venture!

We are putting the finishing touches on our postcards and getting ready to send them out.  We are also slowly starting to get postcards in from other states.  Our first postcard just arrived from Maine, the photo of the lighthouse was breathtaking, and we certainly don’t have any of those rocky crags here in the Sunshine State!  More than anything we are having lots of fun connecting with other families that we never would have had the opportunity to “meet” without Sonlight!  YAY for homeschooling fun ~ Sonlight style!