Thank goodness for Thursdays. You might never hear from me otherwise!

Of course there’s plenty of excuses for not blogging, but the main one is that we’re still holding down the fort as Haus Meister pulls 60-70 hr work weeks, and sometimes just going to bed twenty minutes after the kids do is the best option. Oh, and then there’s the stomach bug that hit last week and proceeded to make its way through the family. Fortunately it did not hit everyone with the same intensity. Four children had it worse, one boy had it less, Haus Meister and I suffered slightly, and Miss M and Posey missed it entirely. Whew.

One wonderful thing to come from this week is a new family prayer tradition, but that deserves its own blogpost so I will make time to do that this weekend.

Meanwhile…

Pretty

On Tuesday we had snow. Yes, snow. It didn’t stick of course. It came down sometimes in gusts and sometimes like flurries and meanwhile I stood looking at my daffodils bending in the breeze and wondered just what month it is again? 😉 I had already removed my pots of blueberry bushes and the lavender plant to shelter from the frosts of the past three nights. This is most likely Winter’s Last Hurrah down here, but Sunshine at least is still enjoying it. In the picture we are leaving speech therapy (she and Trooper go on the same day–she has an expressive language delay that is rapidly improving, especially based on her charming rendition of “Hot Tross Buns”), and while Trooper had already hopped into the van (he does not like snow), Sunshine wanted to stand and revel in it.

Happy

Happy girlies in the morning. I draw your attention away from their lovely smiles and the cheerio mess behind them and toward the doll in Miss M’s arms. That doll and I go way back; she was a Christmas gift from my aunt and uncle on Christmas Eve, 1986. She was a “preemie” edition Cabbage Patch doll, which was appropriate since nearly six years before I had been the preemie of the family. Her name on the Cabbage Patch papers was Ella Giselle but I had it “legally” changed at Cabbage Patch HQ to “Melissa Anne,” thinking it was more elegant and less like the elderly Avon lady who visited my mom often, whose name also was Ella. Bless her. Anyway, “Melissa” was my favorite doll all through childhood and was the nostalgia item I took with me to college after graduation. And of course after I married she came down South and waited five years for the first girl to show up. Sporadically loved by both Princess and Sunshine–and patched up when the latter discovered scissors and wanted to see what the doll’s stuffing was like–“Melissa” has now found a loving mommy again in Miss M. Only now she isn’t called “Melissa,” but has the very original new name of “Dolly.”

So once again Dolly goes everywhere with her new mommy (even moreso, I think, than she did with me) and has many adventures. Like hiding in the tupperware drawer.

Funny

I feel guilty that most of the pictures on the blog lately are of the younger set of kids. This has nothing to do with favoritism or anything like that, but more because the older set don’t stick around when I’m taking pictures. But last night I took one of Trooper being silly.

Oh yes, it’s haircut time.

Real

My sister and I aren’t exactly alike in everything but often we have similar ideas. This year we beat off the winter doldrums (more necessary in her case with three months of non-stop snow) by planning ways to make our homes sparkle without harsh chemicals.  My older kids are helping with the chores more so I wanted to have something I could trust in their hands. And making citrus-all-purpose-vinegar cleaner is kind of spring like and nice smelling (when you get past the vinegar). Funnily, we each began ours at the same time without knowing it. Recipe found here. While this is great, my other go-to is a 1:1 mix of water and white vinegar with a few drops of Mrs. Meyer’s Lemon Verbena dish soap. But back to the citrus thing now.

Mine:

Hers:

Then there’s the five gallons of laundry detergent I whipped up in my kitchen and the jars of homemade dishwasher soap.  Those are working pretty well so far, although I get the occasional cloudy glass still. I have seen little difference between the store bought laundry detergent and the one made here–except mine smells nicer. 😉 My sister and I are also brainstorming ideas for our Etsy store this spring and comparing orders and label ideas. She’s making lip glosses and moisturizers, I’m making salves. Or at least I will, once the MountainRose Herbs order arrives. 😉 I’m pretty sure our dad thinks we’ve jumped off some neo-hippie deep end, but it’s been a fun way to spend the cold end of winter.