A little road trip in the planning…

We’re planning a trip to South Dakota. My parents have a little sheep farm there, and this week they start lambing.

Can anyone say what a good life experience this is for my kids? It’s a homeschool field trip on steroids!

So, we pack. We’ll head up for a week and a half, the kids will get to experience real winter (Because the 70 degrees we experienced here last week was most definitely not winter-like.) and lambing and Grandma and Grandpa and snow. Likely, lots of snow will be available to be experienced.

It’s home. I love it. I’m a bit of a baby these days after living south of South Dakota, but I’m looking forward to it. I dug out snowpants and boots and hats and gloves and we’re off, headed to freeze our behinds. Our travel has been moved up a day, with one little girl showing classic cold symptoms, making her unfit for co-op. With any luck, she’ll sleep the day away. I’m hoping.

Just for the record, I hate packing. I cannot be organized, because no matter how hard I try, it all falls apart anyhow. I gave up. I gave each kid their backpack, told them to pack four shirts, four undies, six pairs of socks, two pairs of pants, church clothes, and let them have at it. The only ones I know for sure have what they need are Charlie and Pierce and me. Everyone else I’ve deemed old enough. We’ll see when we get there exactly what was packed. This could be interesting. Their bags are full though – either with what they were told or bricks – that remains to be seen. I’ve already stated I will not be purchasing anything that they were told to pack and forget. I may regret that statement.

Dial Complete Foaming Hand Wash

Purex sent me Dial Complete Foaming Hand Wash a few weeks ago to try out. It’s been a fun thing to try! As a bar soap die hard (becoming such after computing how much we were spending on liquid hand soap with 16 hands being washed numerous times each day) I rather looked forward to the pump. Amazingly, it lasted a lot longer than the liquid we’d used in the past. Foaming is the way to go, it would seem. If your kids are more easily trained to use one pump and not six, you might be able to make it last a really long time. Mine cannot get it through their heads that less is more.

While I’m not certain I’ll switch over from my own hand made bar soaps that I’m having fun with, I really appreciated Dial’s scents and the fact that it lasted several weeks. That’s a lot longer than anything we’d used in the past!

No giveaway with this one. Bummer. But keep an eye out. Borax is up for grabs soon – and that white box and I are good friends in the laundry room!

Diets, physicals, and being stared back at.

Sterling and Ruby had their yearly physicals yesterday. Sterling was one inch taller and 2/10 of one pound heavier than Ruby. He didn’t care how much; he just wanted to know he was still bigger. I think Ruby passing him up is his worst fear. The look on his face when the doctor told him that she would eventually pass him up, for a season, confirmed my suspicions. It’s hard to be a little guy. Both got shots. Sterling didn’t even flinch and was oh so proud of himself for that. Ruby sang what we commonly refer to as “the owie song” around here. It was a strange moment, watching my two middles acting so big.

I’ve gone on a no-carb no-sugar diet. Once I got past the first few days of not having a clue what to eat and choosing nothing as a good option (effective in the weight loss category, but it makes for one very crabby me) I’m finally figuring this out. So far, so good. I’d have a hard time eating like this long term, but it’s fun to watch the scale drop. Having never really attempted anything like this before, I’m seeing why people don’t stick to it. It’s just not that fun.

Our new fridge is in the garage. It is, at the moment, full of vegetables. Full. I look all healthy or something.

The girls all got owl necklaces for Christmas. Ruby’s owl promptly broke in half, just below the eyes. She still wears it. There’s something eerie about two bright blue jewel eyes staring back at me from my daughter’s chest.

Discovery Center

We went to the Discovery Center in town on Friday. We…

wore the kids out on a giant gerbil wheel,

played with a bit of static electricity,



played doctor,



used the blood pressure cuff as a doll diaper changing pad,



and attempted to anchor the evening news.



It was a fun day. The kids were really tired. Really, really tired.

Pierce: 15 months

One dear boy, fresh into the world of walking

practices his steps every chance he gets

hauls toys around to prove brute strength

and busts a bronc or two in his spare time.

It’s a hard life.

Purex BABY Giveaway!

Purex has, once again, come out with a new product for your review. New for babies is Triple Action Purex BABY. Hypoallergenic, dermatologist tested, Purex BABY is gentle on baby skin and great for baby stains.

 

I’ve been using Purex BABY for a couple weeks now, and while the smell is definitely baby and I’m strangely lacking a baby at the moment, the clothes are clean. I’m happy with it, and with the price of Purex beating the price of it’s competitors, that’s pretty cool too. If you’d like to try Purex BABY, leave a comment below for a chance for a free bottle of Purex coupon. An extra comment saying you “liked” this post and leaving a comment on my page on facebook will earn you a grand total of three entries. Drawing is on Thursday at noon.

Overachievers.

Liberty and Eden were sent up to the woodpile in the pasture to put a week’s worth of wood in the back of the pickup.

They were pretty excited to hear that the amount they threw in the pickup would last at least twice that long.

Overachievers.