Halloween fun!

Halloween was so much fun this year!  I am loving two. They are understanding things and having so much fun. They loved getting dressed up in their costumes and going trick or treating. My mom made Penny's costume and made Ben's. I was really happy with how the both turned out. We made little red riding hood from a pattern, and the big bad wolf I just made with some felt and a sweat suit. 

They may have been the cutest trick or treaters of life!

Wonderful Visitors

When I was a preschool teachers I was blessed to make some great friends. I think what made us such great friends is we were all pregnant at the same time. Now we  all live in different places and hadn't seen each other in quite some time, so we decided that needed to change.

So a few weeks ago these 2 special ladies came down and brought their beautiful children with them.  That day my little house was busting at the seams with 3 moms, 4 two year olds and 1 9 month old.  It was wonderful!  The kids had so much fun, but also the moms had so much fun.  This is definitely something we need to do more often.  For the next couple days Penny would randomly say "Where baby Alli go?"  "Gavyn and Scarlett come back?" She had so much fun having her friends over to play.  Keeping in touch with old friends is important and I hope our kids will become old friends too.

Our Future Fireman

This post is a little late, but still cute none the less. On 9-11 my mom's church takes meals to the local firefighters. This year she asked if I would like to take the kids when she delivered to food. I jumped at the chance!

I figured this would be a great way to show Ben and Penny appreciation for those who help us. While we were there the firefighters gladly showed them the trucks and all the stuff. Penny wasn't too sure about the truck or the firefighter but Ben loved it!  He sat right up in the truck with his flashlight and pretended to drive. This was also special for us because this was the firehouse where my grandpa was assistant chief when he was a volunteer fireman. My grandma brought a scrapbook to share with the fireman. She also brought my grandpa's old fire hat which is so much heavier than the new ones. 

This day was a huge success, not only did we feed and honor some of our community heroes, we also gave Ben something to talk about for weeks!

Little Wonders Wednesday is back!

I know I have been gone for a very long time, but I am finally getting used to this new life and missing some of my old bloggy friends.  I have all kinds of new ideas I am working on getting ready to blog about from our new journey in organic farming and our new house to my new working life and balancing it with the two cutest two year olds on the earth.

Speaking of the two cutest kids on earth, here are Penny and Ben hanging out in our new back yard.

We all have a lot to catch up on, so please link up and tell me all about your little wonders!

Homemade Laundry Detergent Flop

So I did it. Everyone posts these and talks about how great they are. They really are a lot cheaper and last forever. So I thought I would give it a try. 

The one I tried called for 2 grated bars of fels naphtha soap, a box of borax, a box of baking soda, a box of washing soda, some purex crystals for scent, and a box of oxiclean.  Easy right?

It was slightly time consuming to grate the soap but other than that I mixed it all up on a tub in minutes  

At first I really liked it. It worked pretty good and smelled good. Then I realized it didn't always get the stains out of my kids clothes. Then after awhile I realized it wasn't getting the deodorant out of my clothes and I was getting those nasty yellow armpit stains. So I started using more than the two table spoons it said to use. When I did that I noticed it was really tough on my clothes and was fading them a lot. 

So after  3 months of using it I have a bunch of faded stained clothes and  not happy about it. I thought of trying another recipe, but I'm not sure I want to with how long it takes to use it up. 

Have any of you used any recipes you liked that were good enough to get out stains but not fade your clothes?  If not it is back to Tide for me. 

Down on the Farm

Yesterday the organic farm Will works for had a farm day. Some of their customers and workers all got together and had a potluck and tour the farm. It was really great to get to see where Will works. It is amazing how much healthy food they are able to provide for people on a fairly small plot of land. They have pigs, chickens, and a big market garden. They have cows on some land somewhere else. It was great to see. 

And let me tell you Ben and Penny had a ball. Penny loved going in and out of the barn. And Ben... Let's just say Ben got a new favorite thing. They had a small chicken out in a pen for all the kids to see. Ben would not leave the chickens pen all afternoon and all we have heard about since is the chicken. We hope we can get some chickens soon. Ben would be so happy!

Penny said "I'm scared."

About a month ago for the first time Penny looked up at me while we were watching a show and said "I'm scared!"  I don't remember what on Curious George had scared her, but it was the first time she ever put a word to her feelings. That was a big moment for me. I remember thinking how fast she was growing up.  Just the idea that she was having an emotion and knew what that emotion was enough to put words to it and tell me. Now she tells me when she's happy, when shes upset, and always when she's hungry.  I have to say my favorite was when she ran into the kitchen and announces "poodles scary me!"  I love this girl. Having communicative 2 year olds is amazing.  Just the fact that she has words for these things makes life so much easier.

Stay at home mom going to work woes

So I was blessed to be able to stay home with my twins for almost the first two year. Recently some life changes and sacrifices for a family goal have put my back in the work place part time. I work 3 days a week.  Will has them one day a week and my mom watches them for two, so I know they are happy and being well taken care of, but I miss being a stay at home mom!

That being said, I love my new job!  I work with great people. I have a fantastic boss. I work with kids who need love and help.  When I'm at work I am happy. I love the interaction and the feeling of helping people.  I get to work with kids, but still have some officey organizey stuff.  For for me that equals fun + my love for office supplies and organization. This is one of my favorite jobs I've had. 

That being said also, I miss staying at home with my babies. I miss all the activities I used to do. I miss all the things I had planned to do with them at this age. 2 is so fun!  I miss the spur of the moment picnics. I finally have a backyard for messy art projects. AND it's summer for backyard water fun.  I know I still get time with them, even more time than most working moms, but I still feel I'm missing out. Being a stay at home mom was the first time I was truly content. The first time I felt "I'm really good at this and I enjoy this". Now I'm not saying I felt that way everyday, or even most days.  Sure there were days I wanted to pull my hair out, but I Loved being home with them. 

So here I am loving my new job and really missing being a stay at home mom.  I feel like I am trying to pack so much into all of my time. I know I am helping my family in achieving some dreams we have but I still have mixed feelings. At least I like my job.  It would be even harder to leave for something I hated.

I know many other mothers struggle with these same problems. Do you have any advice on reconciling these feelings?  I am open to what life has to bring and I'm just trying to figure out what life has in store for us.

Here is Penny and Ben swinging at grandma's with the other kids she watches.  I may miss them like crazy, but Atleast they have a good time!

And I'm back!

Wow!  I can't believe it was been so long since I blogged. Life definitely has changed since I blogged last, some of these changes are why blogging got out on the back burner for a bit.  We have dealt with major life changes, moving, job changes, career changes, and still tried to keep up with our precious little ones.   Needless to say it got crazy.  We are now moved and settling into jobs.  I will be blogging about our new house, Will's new career, my return to work, and of course our crazy (almost 2 year old. Ahh!) twins.  So stay tune.  But in the mean time, here's a picture of Ben and Penny.  

I can't wait to catch up with all of my old bloggy friends (by the way I will be selling a blogher ticket bought at the early bird price if any one is interested)

Incredible Personalized Special Gift Idea

I love my sponsors!  I love learning about new little business and new little blogs.  This is a great
Etsy Store  There are some really great gift ideas.  This is the towel she sent me for Valentine's Day.

I am excited to have  this around for Valentine's Day when the kids are old enough to know what is says.  I think it is important for them to see Mom and Dad as not just mom and dad, but as two people who are in love with each other.  Little things like this help them to realize stuff like that.

She also has this really cool really special gift idea.  We all have those special people in our lives who are known for preparing a special dish.  Whether is is your grandmother's cookies or your mother's spaghetti sauce.  She will put the recipe card on a kitchen towel for you.  The recipe card just the way it is, hand writing, stains from years of use, it is all there.  It is such a great idea to share with your family and remember your loved ones.  I would definitely check it out!

 

So I would stop by Small Home Design and check out all the amazing things she has to offer.

Little Wonders Wednesday

Sorry it's up a little late!  We have been busy.  We have had a super fun visitor the past few days.  Will's sister and the twins Aunt "Emmie" as they call her.  She's been here a few days and it has been a really nice visit.

But please link up!  I can't wait to see what you all have been up to!


<center> <a href="http://adayinthelifeofthekuesters.blogspot.com/"> <img src="http://i1250.photobucket.com/albums/hh539/Maryk81/Blog%20Design/link-up-button.png" border="0"/> </a></center>
Join us!

 Just follow these 2 simple steps.

1. Link up a post about your "little wonders".  Anything mommy related from easy recipes to funny stories.
2. Make friends!  Click around and find blogs you like.  Don't forget to leave comment love and follow the ones you like.

Optional steps

I would love it if you would follow me to stay up to date on Little Wonders.
Also
Spread the word!  Grab the button.  Tweet about it.  However you would like.  The more the merrier! :)

Ready.. Set.. Link Up!


 

February Decluttering challenge over and I am feeling much lighter.

So this past month I made a commitment to get rid of 10 things every day.  If first I thought the first half or even three quarters of the month would be easy, but them I might have to make some tough decisions towards to end of the month.  Let me tell you I was wrong....

And I was wrong in an unexpected way.  After getting rid of 280 items I didn't even finish going thru the nursery and didn't start on the kitchen.  I had no idea how many things I had been holding onto.  I am not a pack rat and can pretty easily get rid of things, but why then did I have clothes from 12 years ago I hadn't worn in years.  Also we are moving in a couple of months so I was really inclined to get rid of things.  I think I could continue thru the month of march and still have more stuff to get rid of.  It is amazing all the stuff we keep and all the stuff never use or use so seldomly we would not even miss them.

I really enjoyed this challenge though.  It was great to get rid of stuff.  It felt really good to just get it out of the house!  You should try it, I think you would be surprised how easy it is to find stuff to get rid of.

Make sure you check out my March Challenge.  Spring Cleaning!

March Challenge: Spring Cleaning!

For the month of March I have decided to do a bit of a continuation on February's decluttering challenge and I am going to get down and dirty and do some much needed deep cleaning.  I am going to spend  each week of march deep cleaning another part of the house.  With the move coming up in a few months there is no time like now to start working on things like this.  It always feels so good to sit down at the end of the day in a clean house.

So here goes with the March Challenge: Spring cleaning.  Week one I will start in the kitchen.  Time to make is sparkle.

What are you challenging yourself to do this month?