Crafts, Chemistry, Christening & Klappenbach

So, let's start with Klappenbach's. It's a delicious bakery in Fordyce, AR. Jason's hometown! I've never been despite all the trips down there, but when you're a native you take these things for granted. Here are the kids cheesing outside. I wish that they would both look at the camera at the same time someday.

I also wish that my darling little girl wasn't so beautiful that I want to cry all the time! ;)

The food was sooo good, this is their Philly Cheesesteak on Sourdough, yummmm!

He is such a little man these days, he'll be 4 on Thursday!!

Now, on to the christening....we christened summer at the pool. Excuse the lack of pictures of Freddie. He wouldn't stand still long enough, nor would he get out of the water long enough for me to snap a decent picture! ;)

This is Addie's "Cheese" face that comes along with a nice baby talk, "Cheeeeeee"





CHEMISTRY: Making Laundry Detergent

I've discussed this before and posted a link, but here is the tutorial I use again. It's great and easy. You just grate up a bar of soap, I used cheapo Ivory on this one.

Melt your soap flakes a little at a time in about 4 cups of boiling water, stir until they are all dissolved, then pour this into a 10 gallon bucket. Add 1 cup washing soda & 1/2 cup of Borax, stir well. Then add about 3 gallons of cool water & stir for a few minutes.

Then you put your lid on and let it sit overnight. It turns out like really watery jelly and it smells great and works like a charm, as well as any laundry detergent I've used. We still use stain remover and bleach when necessary, but this is a teensy fraction of the price of laundry detergent. This batch will last us for over a month!! You only use 1 cup per load.

CRAFTING: Father's Day Gift

The kids had "fun," but I raised my voice a few times and there was a HUGE mess afterward. The end result was too precious though. I got the idea from a craft blog a friend linked me to. Here's the link. Mine are smaller, but it was better with little ones!

Notice those sweet arms & hands are the "tree bone" as Freddie called them! ;)

Other Crafted Goodies:

Knitted baby caps for a set of twin girls, due any time now! One is sort of pointed, but I got better by the second one. Oh well, I think they turned out just darling. I'm so excited to meet Paige & Peyton!


And Finally.....Freddie's Birthday Banner! It wasn't nearly as time consuming to do his as it was Addie's and I had a lot more fun watching it all come together. It's just perfect for him and I'm super pumped to make another for a friend's little girl next month!

Disclaimer: All of these crafts have happened over a course of weeks/months and I just haven't gotten around to posting so don't go be aghast! Ha!