Just another shopping trip

Love the Lucy-sized shopping cart!!! <3

We have a walker!

It's official!  Penny started walking last night!  She's been taking a step or two here and there for a few weeks now but last night she took about 5-6 steps and Daniel was home to watch it!  Today she's taken several more steps and she's liking it!

I need to blog more!

Penny has started standing all on her own, without any help.  She's taking one or two steps here and there.  She'll be walking soon! 

First day of PRESCHOOL!!!!

Lucy's first day of preschool has come and gone.  After all our counting down, it's passed!  She said she had a lot of fun and enjoyed playing.

We go there early, as did many other families.  Here are a couple of us goofing off while waiting.

 

Waiting....

After class with her craft.  She was so excited!!!

Those darn phosphate-free detergents really irk me!

I'm in the process of trying to find a good recipe for dishwasher soap because I am so tired of spending lots of money of crappy pre-made stuff.  About 4 years ago I noticed that my dishes began to develop this white film that would NOT come off.  First I thought it was the "new" Cascade soap I was using that was "environmentally safe".  I wrote to them and they said it wasn't their problem and gave me coupons for several of their products.  I tried other detergents but by that time most of my dishes were ruined.  Years later and I find out thru an article a friend posted on Facebook that it all had to do with phosphates being taken out of commercial detergents.  After some further research I found that most people are not having a problem with this ingredient being left out but several are... those with hard water it seems.

I love this picture I found, the caption says "Have fun cleaning dishes like it is 1900 again!"


Thus began my journey into homemade cleaners (well, it started with dishwasher soap but has gone further into all natural and homemade cleaners in my house).  Well, the point of this little post is just this one KEY ingredient:

LEMI SHINE!

This is the description from Amazon "Lemi Shine is a natural detergent additive that removes hard water stains and buildup, iron stains, and hard water haze often seen on glassware. When added to your normal detergent, Lemi Shine will make your glassware and silverware look like new again. Now that phosphates are being phased out of dishwasher detergent, many people are noticing this hard water haze staining their glassware. Lemi Shine can take care of this issue without harming the environment. It also works well when diluted in a spray bottle for removing hard water stains from countertops, shower doors, shower heads, and faucets. It also does a great job at removing iron stains from toilets, washing machines, and any other affected areas. Try Lemi Shine today! (also try Lemi Shine machine clean, and Lemi Shine Rinse agent!)."  So before you get all upset like me  just get yourself some of this and all will be well again :-)

HMB Section 3: Contacts

This will be a fairly simple section.  Here is a list to start you off, add to is as needed.  For each person I have 
all info needed (phone- cell, work, home; address- work, home; etc...).

Immediate and Extended Family

Friends

Neighbors

Babysitters

Doctors

Dentist

Vet

Insurance

Schools

Take-out

Work

Businesses you frequent

Coaches

Kids "friends" Parents

Gas, Electric, Water, Cable, Cell, Mortgage #'s

If you use an online tool such as Google or Yahoo you can export your contacts to an Excel document.  Word is also a great place to type these up.  Here are some FREE printables that you can fill in.  Important contacts, Address List, Restaurants, Emergency Info, another Emergency Info.  Those are some that can give you ideas on what you want to put in and how you want to do it.

HMB- Sections 1 & 2: Calendars & Schedules

Let's jump right in and start with our sections!  Here are the sections I have:

Calendars

Schedules

Contacts

Finances

Menu Planning

Medical

School

To-do

In the front of my notebook, before any of those sections, I have lined paper (the kind you used in school).  I like to have paper handy for jotting down a quick note or message.  This way I don't have to flip right to a section until I have time, sometimes I just need to get a thought or idea down.

I will try and take pictures of what my HMB looks like so you can see the process step-by-step.

Let's start with our first section: Calendars

Here is my favorite weekly to-do FREE printable.  I will try and use free printables for you all to use but let me tell you, while the free ones are functional if you are looking for something cute look HERE.  It's a great etsy seller who has taken the time to get creative with printables.  They seem pretty expensive to me but I really like what I see.  Someday I hope to make my own like those.

So back to the point!  Start with the basics, I used a weekly schedule to start.  For me that was most effective.  If you prefer to start with a daily schedule try this FREE printable.  Every Saturday I fill in my schedule based off my monthly calendar.  I don't have a printed monthly calendar, I use Google which links to my phone.

Our second section is: Schedules
This section will be unique to every household.  Here is where you can put any schedule that you need: school, sports, work, etc... Right now mine is empty but come September I will put in my very first school schedule!  My daughter starts preschool next month (yay!!!)  I also have the schedule for my mom's group.  I will probably put in my husband's 2nd job & school schedules but I'm not sure about that yet.  You will need to put in here what works for your family and if you don't have any schedules then you probably don't need this section right now.

I will hopefully take pictures tonight to share with you.  For now I just want to get this out there so here you go :-)

Your goal this week: Create your first two sections- Calendars and Schedules
Up Next: Contacts

Home Management Binder

What is a home management binder?

A HMB (home management binder), also referred to as a household notebook, is your one-stop, go-to guide to your household.  This can have pretty much anything you want/need inside it that pertains to running your house from everyday information to holiday specifics.  Every HMB will be specific to the creator's household so what you see here may not apply to you.

  

First we will start with the basics: supplies!  

3 ring binder

Pens

Pencils

Pen/pencil container

Dividers

Printer/Paper

Hole Puncher

Notebook paper

Post-its

Sheet protectors

Get all of your supplies together and make yourself a pretty cover!  Here is mine.  I used Picnik to create mine and it took just a few minutes.

Your goal this week: get your supplies together and make yourself a nice cover!

UP NEXT: Organizing your emergency information

We made crayons!

We finally did it!  After weeks of saying I was going to melt those crayons, it's done!  We had so much fun too, it was a great activity.

We start with our box of broken crayons.

Then peel all the paper off.

Use as eyebrows... wait that's not part of the plan!

Naked crayons!

Bye bye paper wrappers

We used a mini muffin tin to get a smaller size

 Ready for sorting! (feel like there needs to be a Harry Potter reference here but I'm too tired....)

 Sorted with like colors 

We baked them at 200* for about 10 minutes.  Some of the crayons didn't want to melt and some got too melty (is that a word?).  I think next time we will check them at 7 minutes.

 

We let them cool and dry completely.

 When I pressed down on the side they slid right out.   A couple stuck so I twisted them and they popped right out.

Enjoy!

Happy 8 months Penelope!

Eight months already... wow!  She's enjoying life and being a baby.  She is babbling away, saying Mama and Dada.  She's pulling herself up and can walk around holding on to sturdy objects.  She has started eating food like bananas and crackers.  She sticks everything in her mouth!  She's drooling like crazy, and spitting all the time as a result.  Lucy keeps telling her to stop spitting, that it's not nice- haha.

Darn those peas!

So you remember how peas were Lucy's fave when she was 7 months?  Well guess what, they are Penelope's fave too!  They both disliked peaches and liked peas at this age.  Oh so funny.

My girls!

Let's see how this turns out.  It's a new app to blog from my phone!  Here are a couple picts if the girls.

She's got a tooth!

Daniel and I went away for the weekend, leaving the girls with Joe and Margaret.  We came back and Penelope's tooth was sticking out!!  I just knew it was going to happen.  I had noticed a bump earlier in the week and figured it would be out within a few days.  My big girl!  Picts to come if I can get them ;-)

Happy 5th Anniversary!

Today we celebrate being husband and wife.  In the past five years I have learned many things about being your wife.  Mostly I learn that I love you a little more every day.  I miss you when you are not around.  I enjoy your company when you are around.  I love learning to parent with you, even thru the difficult times.  I love to brag about you to my friends.

Thank you for 5 years and I hope for decades more!

Milestones

This week Penelope has learned to pull herself up.  She has mastered crawling in the last couple weeks as well and now she's all over the place!  Her favorite room seems to be their bathroom, yuck!  At least it's got a door I can close.  She's also eating pureed foods and rice cereal.  I've given her some of those Gerber "star snacks" as Lucy calls them.  They melt in her mouth, when she gets them in that is.  They mostly end up on the floor.  We tried a generic version but the didn't dissolve as well so I got the name brand.  She's always babbling and has a great smile!

For Travis & Harmony

Hi there!  I'm so sad that we haven't been able to connect on Skype.

I've just caught up on your blog.  Looks like you are having a great time!  Are you enjoying it as you thought you would?  How is it different from your expectations?  Well I'm sure you would like to know what we are up to over here.

Lucy sure is growing into a very spirited little girl.  We have been working on potty training the last month and it's not going so well.  Heck I'd like to give in and just put her back in diapers because it would be easier for me.  It wouldn't be good for her tho so we'll just stick with this.  We signed her up for preschool at a local church preschool.  She will start in the fall but she must be completely potty trained by then.  Wish us luck!  She seems to be adjusting well to having a new baby around.  She's a little rough though.  She wants Penelope to play with her but she's just not old enough yet.  Lucy keeps pulling her arms (and hair!) to get her to move around.  She also keeps picking her up and rolling with her.  Penny loves it all (except for the hair pulling) and truly seems to enjoy when Lucy gives her attention.  This past week Lucy took a fall and has a nasty cut (more like a hole) on her gums and lip, as well as a little bruise on her eye.  She's OK though no major damage, I was concerned about her teeth but they seem to be OK.  Oh, she has an imaginary friend!  Her name is Emily and they play together every day, every where.  She's gone with us to the grocery store, the library, and Disneyland.  She seems to live in our hallway, Lucy always comes out holding her hand.  They play, hug, have tea, it's very cute.

Penelope just turned 6 months old!  My goodness she is growing so fast.  She is 14lbs and 26 inches.  She started crawling/scooting around last week, oh my!  She constantly is babbling and I am pretty darn sure she can say Mama and Dada.  She also will wave (fingers up and down, not side to side) at you if you wave at her, adorable!!  She LOVES food!  Well, carrots anyway since that's so far all I've given her.  She has rice cereal, carrots (pureed), and rice cracker snacks.  She is such a happy baby, we just love her so much.  Oh and as well as her sister, she had a little trip to the doctors next week.  Lucy took it upon herself to poke Penelope in the eye.  Penelope had a hard time opening her her eye which was red and swollen for the entire day, so we took her to the doctors.  Turns out she had two scratches on her eyeball for which she has to have antibiotic eye drops three times a day for seven days.  It's actually not as hard as I thought to get the eye drops in.

Well, Daniel's 31st birthday is this Tuesday.  Just as we did for my birthday last month we will probably go out to dinner that night.  He's been teaching art classes thru the city of Irvine one evening a week for several weeks now and he really seems to enjoy it.  He's almost finished with the current session and has agreed to a second session.  He is also still enjoying his time with Pepperdine.  I'm so glad he's happy there.  A happy Daddy helps make a happy family.  We recently attended a dinner for the Pepperdine donors... um I think it was called the Pepperdine Associates dinner?  We got to get all dressed up and Daniel sure does clean up real good!

I turned 30 last month.  It's really not much different than 29 but I think it feels weird since it has the stigma of being "old".  I have decided to stay home with the girls and not return to work.  It's been tough being at home all the time with the two of them.   Lately I've been searching for local mom groups, friends, and the like to get us out of the house.  I'm doing publicity for our MOPS group next year and I've decided to switch up from an e-newsletter to a blog.  I'm very excited about getting it going and I'm working hard on it.

As a family, we are enjoying this time in our lives.  Hopefully we will get to Skype soon but I wanted to update you now since the girls are both sleeping!  I show Lucy your blog and she loves looking at your pictures!  She misses you both and still talks about you.

Much love,

Heather, Daniel, Lucy, and Penelope

It's been quite a week!

I've ended up taking both the girls to the doctor's this week for a couple little accidents.  First, not really an accident, Lucy poked Penelope in the eye.  I wasn't too worried at first, although she did cry like she was in pain not like she was annoyed, since Lucy has done that before.  But the eye was still red and swollen after a couple hours which it usually isn't.  She also would close her eyes for several minutes, squeezing them shut... so I took her in.  Penelope has two scratches to her cornea and got a prescription for eyedrops with antibiotics to keep an infection away.  Ugh, try giving eyedrops to a baby......

This picture doesn't do her poor eye justice.  She had a very, very hard time keeping it open.

The next day Lucy was playing wedding (dressed up in the flower girl dress from Josh's wedding) and spinning in circles.  She tripped and hit her face on the bottom corner of a wood stool that was on its side.  She fell crying and when she looked up at me she had a mouth full of blood.  I put ice on it and tried to get it cleaned up but the cut was on her gums and was hard to see.  I had called the nurse hotline first to see if there was a need to go in and they advised me to bring her in.  Well, the doc looked at her for a minute and said he couldn't do anything, what a waste!  Oh well.  She was promptly spoiled with chocolate pudding and popsicles when we got home.    I don't have a picture of Lucy's owie since the worst is on her gums, but her lip as a cut on it too.

Tomorrow we have to go back to the doctor for Penelope's 6 month visit and to have her eye checked.  It's looking much better today.

Potty Training Update

I am SO SO SO excited!  Lucy has pooped in the toilet for 2 out of the last 3 days.  HOORAY!  Yesterday she went in her nighttime pull-up before I got out of bed otherwise I think she would be 3 for 3.  The BEST part is that she TOLD ME she had to poop.  She's getting so big!  So far she's earned a Barbie and a Polly Pocket.  The best part of the Polly Pocket is that the clothes and the doll are in separate bags so I can give her a new item of clothing for each time she potties!

Oh and we had a doctor's appointment for her today.  She needed a doctor's evaluation to start preschool in the fall.  She is now 28.9 lbs and 3'1".  She impressed her doctor with her excellent speech and she impressed the nurse by not crying or flinching when she got a shot.

Happy Birthday!

Happy 70th Birthday Harry!  

I miss you so much.  I would give almost anything to hear you say "Hey Birthday Girl" or "Hey 4-26" again.

Harry Provance

April 26, 1941 - February 25, 1998

Happy Easter!

Well we had SIX Easter egg hunt's this year.  Oh my goodness that was just too much.  By Lucy (3) loved them all.  Here are some photos of our celebrations.

Penelope is sitting up!  Well, for a minute or two before she falls... but we are getting there!

Happy Easter!  

Fun at Disneyland

Today we went to Disneyland with my friend Julie and her daughter Ashley.  Today's pre-park picture was adorable (IMHO) so I thought I'd share :-)  I take a picture of her before we go in every time so I have a photo of what she is wearing... just in case.  So there's my tip-of-the-day for all you Disney mom's.  :-)

 We rode the carousel, Penny had a blast!  She was laughing the whole time on that horse... well except for when I wanted to take a picture of course.

We were walking along and saw Woody go buy, then Jessie came up and took Lucy's hand.  It was so cute! They walked together for a bit then stopped.

 Jessie tried her hardest to consol a crying Penny but no luck (for real tho she spent like 5 minutes with Penny!  I almost wonder if it was someone we knew.)

We had lots of fun today!  Thanks Julie and Ashley for meeting us there.

Finally!

For the first time in almost two weeks they are both napping!   Lucy hasn't napped at all in almost a week and a half now so this is exciting for me!  I'll take advantage of this time to catch up on what's going on in our lives.

Penelope (4m) and Lucy (3y)

Chubby cheeks!!! I LOVE THEM!

Dr. Lucy performing Penelope's 4 month checkup.

Lucy and Daddy playing with some of her birthday toys :-)

Last weeks Lucy started two classes.  One is a theatre class where she sings and dances to music.  The other is a ballet/tap combo class.  She just adores them both!  Here she is warming up for ballet and inspecting her tap shoes.  She did not want to take off the tap shoes!

She and a girl, Isabella, became fast friends.  :-)

Enjoying a beautiful sunny day

Last night, April 7th, we gave Penelope her first taste of 'solid' food.  I use the term solid loosely as the rice cereal is rather runny :-)  She was concerned at first about what was going on.

Hmmm... maybe it's not so bad?

But in the end she LOVED it!  She got most of it in her mouth, she did much better than I expected.