Modern Houswife Monday {Stay Healthy}

As we make our way into the colder weather, sickness is bound to pop up at any moment! I thought I would share a few natural remedies we like to use to help you and your little ones when sickness strikes!

Flu: We use oscillacocconium, when we have the flu this is our go to homeopathic remedy, it drastically reduces the symptoms of the flu and helps get you better faster. It is expensive, so I buy mine at Costco.

Common Cold: We like to use Cold Calm another homeopathic remedy that can actually stop the cold right in it's tracks if you take it soon enough.

Stuffy nose/Congestion: I do not use Vicks vapor rub it actually has a lot of chemicals in it, and I am all about the natural. I use Eucalyptus oil. Make sure to rub on the bottoms of the feet as well as behind the ears, this works much better than on the chest.

Chest Congestion/Mucus: I like to rub garlic oil on the bottom of the feet this breaks up the mucus really well better than anything else. If you don't have garlic oil you can use a piece of garlic make sure to grate it on one side to get the juices flowing. First rub oil (olive, or coconut work great) on the bottom of the foot so their is a barrier between the garlic and the foot. Otherwise the garlic will burn the skin which believe me is no fun.

Ear Ache: A few drops of garlic oil in the ear twice a day will get rid of an earache. Not only does it cure the infection, it takes the pain away instantly, I also like to up the use of probiotics when treating any bacterial infection.

Fever: I use peppermint oil on the bottom of the feet, works great! In the case of a stubborn fever I will as a last resort use Ibproufen (Advil, Motrin) not Tylenol.


Tips to stay healthy:

1. Take a Multivitamin: I like to take a prenatal vitamin myself, and my kids take a childrens multivitamin with vitamin D and Calcium.

2. Take a Probiotic: Taking a probiotic is such a great idea for every member of the family, it does help with digestion, but it also helps your body have more good bacteria so it can fight bad bacteria better. If you have digestion problems you want to take a higher concentrate, I think about it like this the lower the digestion problem the higher the concentrate. I take a 5 billion concentrate because I am prone to UTI's, and cold sores, and when I am on a probiotic I don't get any. If you don't have digestion problems you can get away with taking a much lower concentrate like 5 million or so. Probiotics come in a variety of mediums e.g, pill, chewable tablet (great for kids), powder (great for kids), or liquid. Make sure to keep your probiotic in the fridge, it keeps those good bacteria alive!

3. Vitamin C: Everyone in my family takes at least a 500mg tablet of vitamin C daily even if your multivitamin already has some in it. When someone is sick we take 500mg 4 times a day, this boosts the immune system! We have gummy vitamin C oranges we love!

**I am not a doctor**I have done a huge amount of research, consulted my family doctor, and taken college courses. Please make sure to consult your medical professional before adding any vitamins to your diet. Some vitamins can cause adverse effects to medicines.

The big bad word battle

It happens to the best of us, your sweet child drops the f bomb, and your cheeks go red, or if you're like me you laugh your booty off! Recently I had a big bad word problem, that was the opposite of adorable.

My son Robert, has quite the mouth on him, he tells me things like he is calling the police on me, I am going to jail, I'm stupid, an idiot, a villain, lots of odd things, but mostly he just tells me I am a bad woman when he isn't happy with me, and I am a good woman when he is happy with me, that I can live with. Up until this point we had been giving him timeouts, taking toys/screen time away, and explaining to him about using nice words or explaining his feelings when he was upset. Then he started saying something I could not live with him saying, literally every time this came from his mouth I cringed...Puss. Puss. I have no idea where he got it from (I'm assuming cartoon network) but all of a sudden it was your a puss, dads a puss, Asher is a puss. We did what we had always done timeouts, privledges taken away, explaining that was a bad word, and still he continued. It not only continued it got worse...think add a y to the end of that word...yeah PUSSY. My seven year old was running around calling people pussies! I was horrified! Again the same discipline as always, nothing worked. I finally got to the end of my rope, and I told him "Robert if you say that word one more time I am going to wash your mouth out with soap". I honestly do not believe in doing this, soap is full of chemicals and is essentially poison if swallowed, it can cause stomach cramping and dihareea. That was not something I ever imagined first off saying to my child, but secondly actually doing. Yet there  I was about ready to, at the end of my rope, desperate. Then he said it, he said it that one last time, he was testing me, he wanted to see if I really would make good on what I was telling him, and I did. Well sorta. We use a product in our home called Theives, it is an all porpose product, they make it a mouth wash, toothpaste, breath spray, cleaning solution, everything! It is extremely good for you, it is made with 7 different herbs and theives used it during the black plague to rob bodies of the infected, without getting sick, it boosts your immune system and is antibacterial, it is awesome! But guess what?...It tastes HORRIBLE!! As I grabbed my naughty little 7 year old with a dirty mouth, to head to the soap, I spotted it, I grabbed the breath spray squirted a shot in his mouth and set him back in timeout. Let's just say he was disgusted and I have had the pleasure of NOT hearing Puss or Pussy come out of his mouth since. I call it bad mouth spray and now its my secret weapon.

What do you do when your sweet child gets a sailor's mouth?

The {little} Harvest

In April I decided I wanted to grow some veggies in my back yard... I went to the store bought some organic seeds, then I cleared a space in the back yard to plant a couple things. I wanted to originally do this because, I grew up with a garden every year in rural eastern Washington, every evening my family would all head out to the garden, and water, weed, and enjoy each other. I loved this time and I want the same experience for my children.

 I had plans to plant carrots, cucumbers, and broccoli, as well as strawberries, and a blueberry bush. We planted the carrots, strawberries, and blueberry bush, and hopefully next year we will do more.

I didn't have the summer I planned, but the boys still had fun planting the carrots and watching them grow, and now that fall is upon us we decided to pick a couple...here are the results..

They are super tiny and they taste terrible, I am hoping a few more weeks will yield a better result, but that is unlikely. We still had fun with the process, even if the result wasn't the best!

The story of a flower

It's the little things kids enjoy and take part in on a daily basis :)

~Modern Housewife Monday~ Chores

I don't know about you, but in my house I am responsible for a fair amount of the household chores, and I honestly don't know how those housewives in the 50's did it; they must have been killing themselves! Well actually, they did have a lot less distractions (uh hum blogging, facebook, etc.), and maybe smaller houses?? Who knows, I just know that keeping my house somewhat clean is quite the task, so some chores do get delegated out. I am sure the most common man chore is taking out the garbage and recycling, and yes those are my husbands main responsibilities. He also helps with the dishes, and does pretty much any other chore I ask him to help me with. I noticed though, that the free labor that lives in the house had been seriously under utilized. SO, this modern housewife Monday is all about handing some chores out, to the little people in your house.

Vacuuming: My middle guy loves to vacuum he will run around with the vacuum in the playroom for 20 minutes or so, he also loves the steam mop!

Dusting: Old (clean) sock as dusting glove! I like to set the timer and make it a race!

Washing windows: I cannot stop my kids from doing this, honestly any task they get to use a spray bottle then wipe, they love! (I only use non toxic chemical free cleaners)

Unloading the dishwasher: Both Asher and Jax love to put away the silverware from the dishwasher, Asher will also put away any item that needs put away in his reach!

Laundry: This in my opinion is the best chore for the little people to help with! All 3 of my boys love to load the washer, switch it to the dryer, sometimes fold, and help put away. Great for the littlest to the bigger helpers!

What chores do your kids help with?

MoM Dictionary.... Food edition

Another edition of MoM dictionary but this time let's play a game it's called which definition includes children Sounds fun right??


Grocery shopping: 1. A mini vacation in which browsing and wandering aisles for an hour becomes a sanctuary.
2. A major nightmare of "i want that" tantrums, cart climbing and unwelcome stares and advice.

Dinner: 1. A three course meal involving hours of prep and luxurious ingredients, including wonderful intellectually stimulating conversation, ending with a big "thank you".
2. Macaroni.

Reservations: 1. Reserving a table for any number of guests at a great restaurant i.e. put me down for two at 8 o'clock.
2. A feeling you get when you even think about eating out.

Menu: 1. A long and detailed list of food items or choices usually with decadent ingredients and a hefty price tag.
2. Appetizers: Smoked Arti..... that's all I got to read

Kitchen: 1. The sanctuary of the home where plump rolls, tantalizing smells and culinary delights you handcrafted over hours for your family are created with love.
2.An asylum filled with lots of bodies running in circles, yelling, and the occasional food fight.

:) Hope you enjoyed! What would you add? Can you guess which definitions children were involved in?

Cloth Bins Labeling {Tutorial}

Okay, so I have some cube like shelves in the play room at my house, and in those shelves live cloth like bins or boxes, whatever you want to call them, and in those bins there are supposed to be toys. My children do not understand, or better yet, they pretend not to understand the concept of cleaning up, and putting their toys away; but that is another post. I have tried and failed to label these bins to encourage and help my kids with the tedious and never ending task of keeping a clean play room. The first time I did this, I thought I was a genius! I labeled the bins, and for a month or so til the labels started to fall off, the boys did rather well at keeping the toys picked up, and put away; but as soon as those labels were gone, so was my children's temporary OCD.

Here is my first attempt:

Before

After

I made up some labels using clip art and words, printed them out, cut them, and taped them to the bins using packing/shipping tape. Like I said I *thought* I was a genius...sadly I was wrong.

The playroom again became a mad house, and it was a constant daily struggle to keep the toys contained! At one point we even removed 80% of the toys as a punishment (this did not work). Then I actually did come up with a genius idea! I remembered that the one, and only time the boys were actually able to, and liked, to keep the playroom clean was when we had the bins labeled, but I knew that I couldn't again do the paper taped on labels. Then it hit me, as I was looking at them one day...Fabric Paint! I already had an abundance of fabric pens and "puffy" fabric paint from my cousins baby shower you can read about that on my sister blog HERE, and I already had the bins, so I got to work, and I am tickled with the result!

Before

 (plain old cloth bin)

Get those supplies!!

Get Creative!!

After!!

I just love them! I free hand drew them, but I could also see using a stencil. I did smear a couple times so be careful, and use the pens (if you choose to use pens) to draw first, and then go over with puffy paint. I also used the bins I had already, and yes some of them were dirty, in a perfect world I would have bought all new ones to do this to, but I was spontaneous (and my kids would have got the new ones dirty I'm sure). I am very happy with how these turned out and all the kids love them! 

What do you think? How do you label things?

Back to School!!

My boys are loving being back at school with all their friends and teachers, the best part is they are at the same school this year, and riding the bus together, which they love! I however have been completely overwhelmed with all the paperwork and 20 different checks you have to write at the beginning of the year! Some day I will get used to (and remember) this! Here are some back to school photos! Enjoy :)

P.S. I will be talking about that cute "Back to School" sign I made soon!

Almost Back to School

Well the seasons will be changing soon and with that school will be starting. It is kind of bitter sweet, I love the spontaneity of summer, the ability to go anywhere anytime, the schedule less bliss that is waking up at 11 am and laying around til 2pm. I also love the fall, the smells, the changing colors, and the excitement of the impending holiday season. Back to school this year is going to be both exciting and nerve wracking, I will have a 1st grader and a kindergartner, I will be buying school supplies for 2 kids this year, I will be dealing with twice the homework, twice the events, and twice the craziness. This will be quite the experience, but I'm heading towards it with excitement and hoping all things will work out.

First day of School last year 2012

Where Have I been??

I have had quite the hiatus from this little blog of mine, I have been having one of the roughest years of my life. I have had so many negative and hard things happen to myself, and my family so far this year, and I am about done with it! I last blogged in February, In March a pipe burst in my master bathroom and leaked down through the ceiling in the play room. We spent a week in a hotel room and are still finishing the master bathroom from this. In May right after Mothers Day another pie burst, this time in the kitchen, this fix wasn't as easy as the bathroom. The entire kitchen had to be gutted the floor, counter tops, and eventually the cabinets were all replaced. I lived for 6 weeks in a 600 sq ft 2 bed 2ba hotel room, this would have felt like a vacation except for the fact that I have 3 very active boys and a little girl I nanny on top of that. I was also driving both boys to school and picking them up, normally they take a 15 min bus ride. It was a nightmare to say the least.

Once we got home we got busy, working on projects that had been on hold while we lived in a hotel. My husband and I were excited to have our 3 boys stay with relatives for a week so we could tackle most of the projects we had left and really get our house in order. On July 22nd I met my mom in Ashland, Oregon as the half way point and dropped the two older boys with her for a week. We slept there for the night, and early the next morning we went our separate ways, I was almost to Salem Oregon and about halfway from home when I glanced to the south bound side of the freeway, their was an accident, and as I glanced back in front of me, I saw all the cars almost stopped and I slammed on my brakes.....the next thing I knew I was laying on my side in a completely totaled vehicle. I thought I had felt and heard a splash so I quickly freed myself so that I could get out to swim, when I stood up I realized I was not in any water, and that is when I noticed the waterfall of blood streaming from my mouth. I was taken quickly to the hospital and checked out top to bottom.

 I had a 3rd degree burn on my shoulder and chest from the seat belt that saved my life, my tongue barely in one piece and a very large and deep cut in my mouth. I had several stitches and pain medicine, and waited for my husband to arrive so we could make a 4 hour trek home. I can honestly say I had never felt so terrified in my life, nor have I ever felt so relieved not to have my children with me. I have recovered physically from this accident but emotionally will take awhile. I feel like I am crashing whenever I step on the brakes, or feel the motion of stopping in a car. I feel trapped to my close surroundings, and impatient to get better so I can again be the driver I once was, the driver who loved long trips, and driving for hours. I hope you will share in this journey of healing with me, I already feel better after writing this.

You {drive} me crazy Valentine ~tutorial~

I really love making my boys valentines every year. I try to do a different valentine for each one every year, I remember was younger I never had cool valentines and I always felt embarrassed, so it is really important to me that my boys have some really cool ones and it also gives me a chance to be creative :) This year I had planned on doing some really cute Valentine printables I had seen on Pinterest, but it didn't work out, I did use the LOVE BUG ones which turned out great but I had to rethink my little guy Asher's valentines. I headed to my favorite store to buy anything, Fred Meyer, for some ideas,I browsed the toy aisle and came up with 3 different things that could work, a 10pk of play doh, a 9pk of hot wheels and a big pack of little dinosaur toys. I started looking at my swag and decided the hot wheels would be the way to go, I even came up with a few sayings "you drive me crazy" and "you make my heart race" another good one would be "I never {tire} of you friendship".

 What you'll need:

• red card stock
• black paint pen
• yellow paint pen
• white paint pen or gel pen
• hot wheels car
• strong adhesive or cable ties

To get started I took 4"x5.5" red card stock and drew a windy road with a black paint pen, I use Elmer's brand paint pens, next use your yellow paint pen to make the dashed lane lines, and finish it off with the white lines on either side, add your saying and voila cuteness! The last thing to add is the car simply place the car on the road where you think it looks best and punch a small hole on either side, then use a cable tie to secure the car to the card stock. This is an incredibly quick and easy project, and because I snagged this 9 pk (exactly the number i needed) of hot wheels for only 5 bucks and I had everything else this averages to about 75 cents a card! I am pretty happy with how these turned out and I heard that Asher's classmates really loved them!