Lotion Bars

I've been wanting to try making my own bath and body products for awhile. I finally got around to ordering some shea butter from Amazon and immediately set out to try some recipes from Pinterest! 

 I purchased the coconut oil from Costco (GREAT deal!) and the beeswax from Craft Warehouse. 

I had to grate the beeswax...

 

My cheesegrater and I never get along. It's a love-hate thing.

I melted the oil, wax, and butter in a mason jar, then added Young Living Lavender essential oil after.

Using my handy silicon cupcake molds, we made some pretty cute flowery lotion bars!  I did learn that one MUST put the mold on the cookie sheet BEFORE pouring if one wants to be able to move the bars somewhere *safe* to cool.  Just sayin'- so you can learn from my mistakes :-)

 

Of course, the kidlings couldn't keep their hands off the cooling bars, so I ended up melting them down again and re-pouring.  Nobody wants lotion bars with fingerprints in them!  It's like the traditional fingerprints in every wedding cake! 

 

Lotion Bar Recipe:

1/4 cup coconut oil

1/4 cup shea butter

2/3 cup grated beeswax or pastilles

approx 20 drops essential oil (optional)

 

Coming soon... Homemade vaporub!  And just a note, I think I will add more beeswax next time... these are a little soft for little hands to use (or adult hands who don't pay attention to what they are doing... like me!)

Funnies

Isaac:  "Mom!  I did ONE HUNDRED chores.  Now I NEED ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS!"
*******************************

Kiera:  "Mom, do Indian people have arms?" 
She saw a stick person drawn by an African individual... it didn't have arms.

Not a bad place to get stuck!

Glad I get to be the one to correct these...

I love finding evidence of how the brains of my children work.  Kiera is perfectly bright, but she expends quite of bit of energy towards being lazy :-)  For example:

Her assignment was to write A-Z from memory.  She brought me this paper... I looked at her and said "You didn't just do this."  Nope, she actually traced over the letters of the last two lines....

 On her second try, she flipped the paper over and worked on writing them again... Notice anything fishy??  :-)

When she had to start over (again) she wrote all the letters minus V, with only the J backwards.  She knows it- she just doesn't want to work :-)

 

 These are just funny examples of her doing her own thing, writing what she thinks it is without considering how she's supposed to figure it out...  Silly girl.



Homemade Kettle Corn

I just can't get over how cute Caleb is.  I am completely biased, yes, but those eyes!

 

Our New Favorite Popcorn Recipe:  For use with a Whirleypop Popcorn Popper (found ours at a yard sale!!)
**** from Miss Vicki (VCC, Schweitzer trip 2012)****
1/4 c oil
1/4 c sugar
1/2 c popping corn

Heat oil in pot, add sugar and popcorn.  Then stir until all popped! YUM!

Excuse the Unmentionables...

And enjoy the baby in his nest... courtesy of his sister Kiera :-)

Our Homeschooling is all about being Flexible!

Yesterday, we read this book:

The kids became all excited about making "stone" soup and having a feast, so I let go of the lesson plan and watched their plan take shape!

Kiera drew up the recipe.

Melia made the soup.

Kiera and Isaac set the table and planned games and prizes.





And we all had a lovely, kid-home-made feast for lunch!   

Honestly, it fostered much more creativity than my measly lesson plans!  I need to let go more often!

Bath Baby

One lovely thing about Caleb is that he LOVES bathtime!  This is especially fun after Kiera and Isaac, both who do not prefer getting their heads wet.  He's SO cute splashing away, having the time of his life!

Good Morning World!

I check in every so often, and finally found that blogger seems to be communicating again with my friend IE... So I'M BAAACCKKK.... As much as possible with four darling, never-stop-talking blessings running circles around me...

Here's a little teaser for you... which is all I have time for this morning.  Baby's awake...

 

Have a great day!  We always do!

 

Don't hyperventilate...

I know.  I'm posting.  UNBELIEVABLE.

Here's why:  Blogger won't work with Internet Explorer.  And that makes me mad.  Gabe uses Firefox, I use Internet Explorer.  We can't share.  Period.

Blogger?  Do you hear me?  I'd like to be able to use Internet Explorer without downloading Chrome.
Thanks- I'm looking forward to your response.


For Everyone Else:  I ate brussel sprouts.  And liked them.  Life is good.  Kids are awesome.  Chaos and Confusion are themes of our life right now... and God is Good, all the TIME!  Even when I don't know what's going on...

And I'm adding a "Cold Hardy Avocado" Tree to my wishlist.  Just in case anyone wants to spend $70 on my Christmas present :-)