Life... It's never dull

Well let me start off with everyone is OK!

We had a fire at our house on Saturday morning... Scary! The picture above is just 3 of the 6 fire trucks we had at our house at 5:30 in the morning... What a wake up call right!

Well this fire we had started in our bathroom and was from the heater that is in the ceiling..  Sounds harmless... Should not have caught fire but did! So after that burned up and started burning stuff (insulation, and some 2x6) in the attic... It burned pretty good! They took down the whole ceiling in our bathroom and then the smoke filled the whole house so everyone had to get out!

Then while out side the house we saw all the fireman get suited up in their oxygen tanks and full suits... The kids then got concerned and asked if everything was ok... Though it was they were still scared!

Then they brought out the big hose and marched up the stairs with it and turned it on.... I thought flood here we come.... But they used very little water. So it wasn't bad! Needles to say the aftermath was a disaster... Smoke and debris was all over the bathroom and all over the living room.... and my closet is  were the access is to the attic... well now all my clothes smell like fire! :( now I have a whole bunch of laundry!

It took them 4 hours to get all flames (small ones) taken down and everything secured!


We had 6 fire trucks about 15 firemen and 8 very concerned neighbors not just about their own homes but about us... How nice! I love the community we live in where people actually care about their fellow neighbors!

We left the day of the fire to air out our house and went to the beach for the day! Nice escape from a very crazy and scary morning!

I am just glad it was caught when it did!

Thank God that everyone was safe! But it's also a good eye opener that we need to do a fire drill!
 

Cloth diapers

So when my Abigail was a new born I thought about cloth diapers.. So I talked to my cousin who made all of her own I asked her questions and drilled her about how to take care of them and what about leaks and this that and the other!

Well needless to say we are only using cloth diapers now... With the exception of out of town events and long car rides!

But I am so happy we switched over :) I plan on using them with my newborn right from the hospital...

So we use the following items for our cloth diapering.....

Thirsties Dou Wrap! 

The best diaper cover because it is so easy to use.. and is adjustable to your growing baby!

We also use organic cotton pre-folds... Gonna be making my own here soon wish me luck I have never made them before...

Then these very neat things called snappies...

The best thing ever invented!

Then to wash them... Which I do every other day... I use my home made laundry soap and hang them on our line... So much cheaper and easy to use and not to mention that they are very green :)

I only wished that I would have done this from the start... It's kind of expensive to start out.. But if you look at the savings in the long run... Totally worth it :)
Or even if you can make your own... There are so many websites that give you instruction if you are good at sewing you could do it for sure!

Just thought I would share :)

Cutting ties and fun times a head!

So we have been enrolled in a charter school based homeschool... But as of tomorrow we are no longer going to be with them! I have decided that we will be doing it all on our own!

So the reason behind all of this was.... We had some conflicts of interest (the teacher and I) not terrible ones but ones that could not be ignored! She didn't like the fact that we did unit studies and lapbooks. She was a stick to the workbooks kind of teacher! Well my kids absolutely didn't learn anything!

So our 1st project will be something fun because at this point we need to de-school for a little bit! So we will be doing a project which will include math on the side... But it will be about the Missions... We will start off by going and doing a map of all the California Missions...


So in this will include their reading, writing, spelling, and history! Not to bad... Why the teacher had an issue with doing stuff like this is beyond me!

So keep watch for some exciting pictures to follow on our journey of the California Missions Project!

Lap booking is such a great way for your kids to learn and it will be something that they will remember for a long time!

Update on Homemade dishwasher soap!

OK, so I ran a load through the dishwasher last night! My dishes came out clean but where we live we have too much hard water I think! So I still need to use the regular rinse agent like jet dry or one of those! Bummer kind of but the soap worked OK! So I might try tweaking it!

Homemade dishwasher soap

Well this is the 1st time I have made this!

I am running my 1st load through with it now! So you will have to watch for a follow up post!

Ingredients are this....

1 cup of borax
1 cup of arm and hammer washing soda
1/2 cup of baking soda (optional)
1/2 cup of salt
1/2 cup Lemishine (or Citric Acid) I used lemi-shine because it is much cheaper you can also use no sugar added kool-aid lemon flavored
So you mix it all up together and that is it!

For an all natural rinse agent use white vinegar!

I will let you all know tomorrow if it is any good!

I posted to tonight about the homemade laundry soap.... But wanted to add that the arm and hammer washing soda is not the same as the baking soda..... You can add baking soda to both recipes as a booster but the washing soda is totally different!

You might have a hard time finding it but I got mine at Albertsons Grocery store... But most grocery stores should be able to order it for you or you can find it on line!

Homemade Laundry soap

So I have been making my homemade laundry soap for about a year now! I love it it is so cheap and easy to make... I started making my own when I chose to use cloth diapers! They need to be washed in an all natural soap... No special additives!

Well I use the following ingredients

1 cup Borax
1 cup Arm and Hammer Washing soda
2 Ivory bar soap or 1 Zote (I don't usually use that one... Seems like it leaves a strange color on the clothes)
1/2 cup baking soda
And Fragrance (to make it smell good) I use plain fragrance for soap if you have sensitive skin I would use an essential oil!

So 1st you have to grate your bar's of soap
Then in a sauce pan you add the grated soap and 4 cups of water

Then you take a 5 gal. bucket and fill it half way with hot tap water and add the borax, arm and hammer washing soda, and baking soda

Once the grated soap is complete dissolved you then add it to your 5 gal bucket.
Then fill up the bucket the rest of the way with hot water

Let sit over night

Stir in the morning add your fragrance what ever kind you like to your taste!

Then add the 1/2 soap and 1/2 water to a rinsed out older laundry soap bottle... I use my old one from those leading competitors... The fancy ones with the spout...

Then to wash I use about 1 cup or so for my laundry but I have smelly boys you might not need as much!

We also hang our clothes on a line outside in the beautiful sunshine... We are lucky to be having such nice weather these days!

Homemade salt scrub

Here is how I make my salt scrub... All of my friends ask me how and it's so silly easy!

So start off with like a cup of sea salt
Then add extra virgin olive oil and add to the consistency that you like.  Add less if you want it more coarse or more if you like it with more oil.
Then to make it smell pretty I add some essential oil or simple soap fragrance.... I like the tropical sent with a hint of vanilla.. But you can choose any combo that you like!
And that's that! Easy as can be!

My intro to my life

So I have started a new blog site that I hope to stick with this time! I will 1st start off by telling you a little about our family!

I am a mom to 6 (almost 7) beautiful kids and a wife to an amazingly hard working loving man! We are a homeschooling family. Yes I homeschool 4 boys ages 11-7 and have 2 beautiful daughters 2 1/2 and 1 1/2 and another daughter on the way due in May! The day is never short and never dull... We get up at about 6 everyday and end our day at about 9 pm every night. 

We are living in a rural area in the mountains of California... We live about 45 min away from any major city... And the nice thing is we love it. We lived in the city that they recently started calling Awesometown.... Really! Now we live in a small mountain community that has about the same number of people as a neighborhood in our old city! Nice, calm and relaxing!

When we moved up here I decided then to homeschool our kids and though it is tough we love it! The time that we spend together is so worth it! This 1st couple of months has been a challenge but the benefits out weigh it all! We started with a homeschooling charter school but now have decided that it is not the right fit for us.  So living in California we have filled a private school affidavit.  We will be from here on out doing it 100% on our own.  So we have been looking into some curriculum but for now everything is done off the computer.

We also have been dipping into a lot of homesteading traditions and learning the old fashion way of living! We are a pretty green family..... We recycle, we make almost every meal at home, I make my own laundry soap and dish washer detergent.  We also cloth diaper our babies.  This upcoming spring (we live where it snows) we will be planting our 1st garden.  A great family friend gave me for Christmas the whole canning process... Every single thing I need to can I got it!  So very excited to start doing this :)

My husband works a lot of long and crazy hours he works in the entertainment industry and is on a t.v. show right now! So I pretty much do a lot of this on my own with the help I get from my kids during the week and the help I get from the hubby when he is home on the weekend!

So to wrap it up I will be sharing with you the joys and challenges of raising a large family, while homeschooling and trying to live the homesteading life style... I will start by sharing some recipes and some tips of homeschooling I have learned along the way! Hope you all enjoy :)
Lori