Homemade Laundry Soap

So, I like to think that I am pretty good at being ecofriendly and trying to do whats best for my family. We have used cloth diapers on both our kids, sometimes dry clothes outside, eat lots of fruits and veggies and limit the processed foods. I am not crazy, I do still like my sweets. So lately I have seen a lot of DIY homemade laundry soap on pinterest and it peaked my interest. There were many recipes but they all had the same main ingredients so I figured it was worth a shot.

I adapted this recipe by adding 1 bottle of Downy Unstopables for scent.

DIY Laundry Detergent
3 Bars of Fels-Naptha - grated
1 - 5 lb box Oxiclean
1 - 4 lb 12 oz box of Borax
1 - 4 lb box of Arm and Hammer Baking Soda
1 box of Arm and Hammer Washing soda
1 large container of Downy Unstopables

 All the ingredients mixed in a 5 Gallon Bucket

 It made A LOT of laundry detergent. The jar on the left is a 1 gallon jar and the container on the right is a pretzel container. I have heard stories that this will last at least 6 months and sometimes longer.

Today was a lazy, rainy Saturday. We had planned on going to watch Wally in his bike race in Massachusetts then head to CT for a visit and some other to do list stuff. When I found out that we couldn't bring the dogs into the park where Wally was racing the whole plan changed. We had to bring the dogs because we were then headed straight to CT and you obviously can't leave the dogs home alone THAT long. I decided that it would probably be easiest if I just stayed home. Which meant that I had time to get Faelyn's 2 year pictures done. It is about 6 weeks late but thats ok.

 She loves coloring.

 Isn't he happy? He only let me get in a  whole 2 miles before he started crying. I will try and get back on the treadmill later.

  Happy Saturday!! Hope you enjoy your day :)

3 Things I Love - Running Edition

1) The new addition to our stroller collection ;)

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It was bought mostly for Wally as a bicycle trailer. We bought the double before we were even pregnant with Walter knowing that we wanted to have a least 1 more kid. Faelyn loves going for rides with her Dad. She gets her helmet and climbs right in. I got to use this as a stroller for the first time last weekend at Wally's bike race. The large wheels are great on the dirt roads. I am currently using a Phil and Ted Double on our back roads and it is not as easy to push as my Mountain Buggy (which I LOVE) but it is a single stroller.

2) Road ID 

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As I mentioned in the last post there was a very large crash at Wally's last bike race. We both have Road ID's and I was thankful for it at that time. Even though it was needed. You are able to customize it with whatever you want, important medical information, inspirational quote, phone numbers...

3) Foam Roller 

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I think this is probably most athletes favorite tool, once they start using one. It definitely has the hurts so good type feeling.

These are just nice additions to the usual, shoes, socks, shorts, tank, headbands, and jackets.

What are your favorite running tools?

Monthly Update and DIY project

So I am really trying to get into the habit of this blogging thing again. Life has just been a little crazy over here in NH.

Little miss Faelyn is getting big. She turned 2 about a month ago. She got this bow and arrow for christmas and loves practicing with Daddy. She is getting pretty good at it and starting to pull it back on her own.

 Walter is just about 10 months old - he LOVES standing. He is pushing everything around the house and will walk while holding onto your hands.

 When the weather was nice for a few days we got to spend some evenings outside. This little girl did not want to come inside. I can't wait for the weather to get nice again. I really need to drag the patio furniture out from the basement so we can start eating dinner outside.

 She started to really love the dogs. She started giving them hugs. She helps with feeding them too :)

 She is also obsessed with climbing this big rock in our front yard. It is the prefect size for her to try and climb it. Last year, Wally would just sit her on it because she couldn't get down on her own.

Wally's race season has officially started - we went to MA for his first race. It was definitely an adventure. It was supposed to be a 20 mile race which would have been 4 laps. Just as the pack was coming around for the finish of their 2nd lap half the pack didn't come around. There was a HUGE crash. Luckily he did not get hurt. He ended up on top of someone. Once he got up he started pulling bikes off of other people to help them. There for 3 major injuries. It took quite some time for him to ride back to the finish. I was getting really worried and actually packed the kids up in the stroller to start walking to find him. I just couldn't imagine what I would have done if he was one that was lying in the street unable to get up.

In the mean time we had a great time running around and playing while Daddy did the little bit of racing he did do.

My current project is going to be this -

DIY Laundry Detergent

I will let you all know how it goes and how it works. I have heard great things about it so I am very excited to try it.

The kids are making easter crafts in daycare today, can't wait to see how they turned out. I am very lucky to have found such as great woman to watch me kids.