We bought a house!!!

Doug and I have been talking for over a year now about buying a house.  Well now the talk is no more.  On March 30, 2012 we closed on our house!!  We have been very excited.  Here are a few pictures from the closing (because I am weird like that and wanted it documented) and some pictures of the outside.  I will do a full picture tour when everything is set up.

PS if you are in the Northern Colorado are we have an EXCELLENT Realtor for you to use!

Potty training adventures!

Masyn has been doing fabulous with potty training.  It has been less stress this time around; third times a charm I guess.  He has his rough days and days that he does great.  I have let Masyn take the lead on training rather vice versa. 

 About a three or four weeks ago Masyn looked at me and said he didn't want to wear "bedtime underwear" (pull ups really).  I was unsure of how it was going to turn out.  I couldn't have gotten a better deal!!  In this three or four weeks he has had only two accidents in his bed but for both he was awake and couldn't get out of bed fast enough. I still check on him before I go to bed to ask if he needs to go potty; more often than not he won't wake up.  Is it bad that I always say a little prayer that he doesn't have an accident at 2 am in the morning just because I don't want to deal with it?

With Masyn potty training he has developed a huge sense of independence.  He wants to go potty by himself (yet he still calls for help), wash his hands by himself (again still calls for help) and he can dress himself (only needs help if he can't reach the drawer).

With his independence I have forgotten one thing related to potty training.  To all my friends and family who have not yet potty trained please remember to. . .

NEVER leave a 3 year old alone in the bathroom while they are doing their business.

Because then you end up with one proud kid of the mess they created and you have clean up and salvage what you can!

Dance

Ryleigh was given a pair of tap shoes about two months ago (Thanks Kalynn!).  Two weeks later I found the musical "Annie" in the $5 bin and purchased it.  The next day Ryleigh was trying tap dance in the kitchen just like Annie.  She is so darn cute!  Ry was trying to teach Masyn how to do the grapevine and shake his hands.  That was the day we decided Ryleigh needed to be in a dance class. We found in the same bag as her shoes a dance outfit and she has loved every minute.  In face she would tell everybody "I start dance class in March".  She is currently in a beginning ballet and tap class and loves being in the class and can hardly wait for the next class which is jazz and tap.  Here are a couple of videos (taken with my phone so there is definitely not quality happening).

This first video Ryleigh is the second from the left; the last video she is second from the right

I did it!!!

I started working out consistently in early September of last year.  With this I have considered running as an option but always talked myself out of it. 
In November my sister in law, Stacy, started the couch to 5K program.  I took a look at the program and it intrigued me.  I talked a lot about it with Doug.  As every good husband does he encouraged me telling me I could do it.

I talked myself out of it once again.

Finally, in January I decided I was going to win the battle and prove I could do it.  So after talking to some friends at church (thanks guys!)  and from my old job (thanks Jo Lynn) I decided it was time to just sign up for one and do it.  Jo Lynn told me about a 5K that happened on St Patrick's day.  I put it out to some friends and we decided we would all join and do the race together. 

I started the infamous couch to 5K program in February and had a hard time staying with it because I was having a hard time getting to the gym.  So I did the best I could to prepare. 
The day of the race came and the goal was to jog the whole thing.

Here is some of us before the race started. We are missing one couple.

Doug was awesome and stayed with me the whole race.  I tried telling him to go ahead because I could tell that he wanted to, but I was REALLY glad that he was there the whole time.  I am not sure if I made it halfway before I had to walk a little bit because of a side ache, but as soon as I started walking I picked a point to start running again.  I think all in all I walked between a quarter to half a mile the whole race. 

Doug had to drag me across the finish line but I did it I ran a 5K in 45:40.  I know the time isn't fantastic, but for never running a 5K I felt great about it and no one can take that away from me. 

Now I am preparing for another 5K at the end of May with a group of friends from church.  I can hardly wait.  The goal on this one is to run the WHOLE DARN thing!  Wish me luck!!

Why did the cow jump over the moon?

Depends on who you ask as to why the cow jumped over the moon.

Masyn - to find some milk

Ryleigh - to see if he could do it

Ayden - because Phineas and Ferb took them there

Recently the kids came across this joke and have told it over and over sometimes with varying answers.  The funny thing is to hear the different answers they have created.  They have even taken to changing up the question.  On St Patrick's day it was all about green and what the leprechauns did to the moon and the cow.  It was all nonsense but the kids had a blast coming up with different ideas. 

The real answer. . .

Because the Farmers hands were cold.

Green Eggs and Ham

When the kids were in daycare there was always a celebration for Dr. Suess' birthday.  I had to keep up the tradition.  So for dinner one night we had green eggs and ham (and green pancakes for fun!).  The kids thought it was great.  Masyn even said "I do not like green ham" I couldn't help but respond with "Try it and you may. . . " 

President's Day

It seemed like the stars were all aligned just for us that day.  Doug was off from work, I didn't have any daycare kids, and Ayden was off from school.  So we knew we had to do something fun.  A year ago we purchased a deal for the Children's Museum in Denver, since they expired on Presidents day we decided it was the perfect day to go.

We met up with Doug's brother and his family, we spent the morning at the museum and then went to lunch together.  The kids had tons of fun.  Here are some pictures (forgive the quality they are from my phone).

There was a room where the kids could pretend to be vets.  They had lab coats, stuffed animals, food dishes, kennels, everything they would need for their imagination to go wild.

Their bubble room has changed a lot since I was there last.  They had a table that the kids could experiment with funnels and tubes and how bubbles work with them. 

I know that this is blurry, but Doug was helping Ayden make a bubble and stretch it as far as he could across the room.  They did pretty good and had quite of few people watching them.

The kids all built cars in the invention center. 

It was  beautiful day to be outside, yet Masyn was convinced he had to have a hat and gloves. At lunch we discovered he was wearing his hat backwards, the was no changing it.

I love this kid. . .

Masyn Kahana Savage

I L-O-V-E this kid!!  He has a special way of making anybody laugh.  Masyn can be somewhat,  extremely stubborn (no idea where that came from , hee hee).  He just turned three on January 18.  It has been wonderful seeing him grow and create his own personality.  I know there are lots of pictures, but it is the only way to show his silly personality.

Masyn adores ketchup!  He will ask for it on salad, chicken nuggets, pizza, steak, sandwiches (peanut butter and ketchup has been made more than once), EVERYTHING!!!  He will lick that plate to get all of the ketchup.  Which is exactly what he is doing here.

Masyn loves to read any and all books!  He will always ask to take a book to wherever we go.  The car is also a wonderful napping place.  Masyn is just like his momma in that cars put him to sleep, no matter the time of day.

Masyn took his first trip to the dentist this past year and did amazing!  He sat calmly and even giggled when it came time to brush his teeth.  Masyn's favorite part was wearing cool sunglasses and then picking out the toy at the end.

Masyn knows exactly where our winter gear is kept.  He will put it on no matter the weather outside.

Masyn also loves to find his daddy's hats and wear them around.

We have had issues with Masyn picking his nose this year.  We have had several times when we would find him using his thumbs.  This time he thought he could get more with both of his thumbs.

Masyn's favorite story at this time of the year was " Go Dog Go".  We had just bought this toilet seat to introduce him to potty training.  He came out with it on his head and said. . . "Like it my hat mommy?"  I couldn't help but laugh and say yes as I took the picture.

 Masyn thoroughly enjoyed camping this year!  He loved "mallow samwichs" aka s'mores. 

 Masyn also enjoyed playing in the river and finding rocks, twigs and who know what else.

Masyn again adores his Dad, here he was being a solider just like daddy. 

Masyn loves hats!!  He will always find one and wear it.  This is a duct tape Santa hat that was given to Doug from a fellow teacher.

Doug had just gotten his formal police hat, and of course Masyn had  to try it on.

Masyn is always taking the shoes out of our shoe baskets whether in the front room or in his room. 

 Masyn also enjoys his naked time.  If he could he would run naked all day long!  Today we found him playing in his room in the buff.  A lot of the time I have to have him compromise on at least underwear.

Happy birthday little man, your momma loves you more than you could ever imagine!  You bring so many smiles to my face and others.  I promise you will have challenges in life, I only hope that you will keep your wonderful outlook on everything.

Sometimes you can't catch a break. . . .

GOODBYE CAST!!!!

On January 11 we took Ryleigh in for her LAST orthopedic appointment for her broken leg.  We went and started with taking an X-ray to check her femur.  When the doctor came in the room afterwards, he was glad to report that her leg looked fantastic and that she didn't need her brace/cast any longer.

YIPPEE!!!!

This is what the back of her leg looked like the next evening after a bath.  It is hard to see, but you can tell how high her road rash went.  The area that is the deep red is approximately where it was broken. 

Ryleigh was sooo excited to be free and out of her cast.  On the following Saturday my sister came down with her kids to play before the adult session of Stake Conference that night.  Ryleigh and her cousin, Katie Jo, were twirling in the living room.  The girls lost their balance and fell several times; but the last time Katie Jo fell on top of Ryleigh's left foot.  Ryleigh let a scream out that had me revisit the day her leg was broken.  I was able to get her calmed down and some ice on her foot but the swelling was already starting.

My parents came down to watch the kids that evening.  Once I returned home my mom told me that Ryleigh refused to stand or even walk; she scooted around the house like she did when she first broke her leg.  Her foot was pretty swollen on Sunday morning, I considered taking her into urgent care but decided against it.  We continued to ice her foot and kept her on ibuprofen for the pain and Monday morning we called the doctor. 

Lucky for us we got in to see our family doctor (which is an added bonus because she is hard to catch on the fly).  They took an X-ray but wasn't able to determine if anything was broken right away.  The doctor requested a radiologist take a look at it.  The doctor told us to keep icing her foot and Ryleigh in her tennis shoe for support.  Tuesday Ryleigh started to get a little braver and tried walking on it, but the foot still bothered her quite a bit.  In the afternoon I got a call back from the doctor with the results of the X-ray. . . . her foot was fractured.  Yep, fractured!  I was supposed to call the orthopedic center to schedule an appointment for that day to get her taken care of. 

All I could do was laugh.  (Please don't think I am a bad parent!!) It took me a good 5-10 minutes to stop laughing after I got off of the phone with the doctor.  I felt horrible that she had been out of her cast a mere three days and then broke something else; not even something else the foot of the leg she broke. 

Seriously!!!

After visiting with the orthopedic doctor was unable to determine if she had fractured her foot or not.  So, he is treating as if it is fractured.  Ryleigh now is sporting an awesome post-op boot that she is wearing for another week.  We go back mid-next week to see if she can take the boot off and finish remembering how to walk properly. 

Now I am trying to decide if I should put in her bubble wrap to make sure she doesn't break anything else for a LONG time!

Homemade Laundry Soap - Review

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I have been addicted to pintrest.  The social media program has a plethora of ideas for anything that any one person may want to do.  A couple of months ago I saw my neighbor had pinned a website that had a recipe for homemade laundry soap.  We had talked about it and I asked her to tell me about how she thought it worked; next thing I know she brings me a sample.

I used to use Tide free and gentle and also I used Downy for fabric softener.  With these products I was finding I had to run my rinse cycle twice to ensure I got all of the soap and softener out for Masyn.  As some of you know Masyn has eczema.  His eczema flares up really bad in the winter.  I have tried using lotions, and various creams to help him.  The eczema just turns his skin to leather and using "regular" lotion is painful for him.  Once I started using this laundry soap his issues minimized A LOT!  I still used fabric softener so he still had small issues.  I re-read this blog and she stated that you can use white vinegar for fabric softener and it would work great.  I was skeptical but gave it a shot. 

I have fallen in love with this soap hook, line, and sinker.  Not only has it helped my little man be more comfortable in his clothes but it saves me a ton!!

Here is the recipe in short:

1/3 bar of Fels Naptha Laundry Soap
1/2 C Borax
1/2 C Super Washing Soda (different than baking soda)
2 Gallons of Water (divided)
3+ gallon bucket/pot

Grate your laundry soap and add to 6 C of water.  Heat on low temperature (careful not to boil).  Once the soap is melted add your borax and washing soda.  Continue to stir mixture until it thickens (similar to honey).  Remove from the heat.  In your bucket pour 4 cups of hot tap water and then add soap mixture and stir.  Then add 1 gallon plus 6 more cups of hot tap water.  Stir for few more minutes and then let it sit overnight.  The next morning you will need to whisk it or blend it to break up the clumps (she said this was normal) and then it is ready to use. 

You use 1/2 cup of the laundry soap per load and if you use the vinegar, for your softener, also use a 1/2 cup.  Now I will offer a caution; this is not stellar on flannel or fleece, only because it creates static in all of the clothes in the load.  I plan on keeping some commerical soap on hand to assist with that specifically. 

The cost of making this soap. . . . well I bought a the bar of soap (which is good for 3 batches of soap) for $0.97, the borax for approximately $3.00, and the washing soda for about the same.  I have more than enough borax and washing soda to make laundry for at least six months.  So now laundry cost me pennies per load.  I also am using the vinegar because I can buy 2 gallons of white vinegar from Sam's club for just under $4.00. 

So. . . if you have eczema I highly recommend this soap, my parents and my sister have already converted who have eczema much worse than Masyn.  They all swear by it now. 

*The recipe and step by step directions can be found at http://frugallygreen.blogspot.com/2008/05/how-to-make-your-own-laundry-soap.html

Christmas 2011

I know that this is late but, better late than never right?  Christmas this year was a ton of fun.  I always thought growing up Christmas was fun.  Something about waking up at some horribly early hour and running upstairs to see what Santa left for me and my family.  We would always go and peak and try to count how many was for ourselves.  I see my kids doing that now.
This year we stayed in a beautiful large house in Fort Collins with all 19 members of Doug's family.  We had a blast.  We were able to meet three new (two are identical twins) nephews while everyone was together.  We were able to get everyone together for pictures. Here are a few:

Having the entire week together was a blast.  On Christmas we went to church at 9:00 and then came home and everyone put back on the PJ's and we opened presents.  The kids thought it was great becuase they stayed in the PJ's all day!

Masyn opening his Sheriff car from his stocking

Ayden showing off the new favorite toy.  This was constantly played with!!

Ryleigh was super happy about her dollhouse

The books from Grandma Savage.

What the tree looked like when everything was done.

Santa was smart and even seperated the gifts by family.

Santa's plate, he was hungry!!

Masyn playing with his "docker" set

Ryleigh opening a dress

It was so wonderful having evveryone together.  I only hope I can remember the difference between Logan and Brennen!

I try to be crafty. . .

Recently I have discovered the wonderful world of Pintrest.  Doug thought this was a silly website to get involved in, but now he has changed his mind.  If you haven't been on yet it has been best described as "looking through a bunch of neat magazines and being able to tear out the pages and then organize them for your use."  I have found several new dinner ideas that my family L-O-V-E-S and they are easy too (always an added bonus!)

I got this super cool kindle for Christmas from Doug and was more than excited to make a cover for it, so I turned to pintrest to help me find the answer.

I used information from this blog but wanted it to look this cover.  Here is what my mom (who also received a kindle for Christmas) and I came up with. 

 

 

I am pretty happy on how it turned out and it only cost me about $3 in supplies to make. 

Here is another find.  I wanted to make this for my mom and my mother in law for Christmas, but got too busy.  So I just finished this yesterday (thanks Michelle!)

If you are not on pintrest yet, let me know I can send you the invite you need to get started.

I highly recommend the website, and dare you to not get addicted!