Thrifty Thursday~ Homemade Happiness: Laundry Detergent

Welcome back to Thrifty Thursday!  My friend Lindsey of Apple of Mama's Eye and I are co-hosting a fun, new linky party!!  We have been neighbors for close to ten years. Soon she will moving away with her Army man.  This party will be a nice way for us to stay in touch!  Please join us in a more simple, thrifty lifestyle!!

Homemade laundry detergent has been on my To Do list for quite a while.

I finally got around to making it.

I gathered all of my ingredients

Washing Soda

Borax

Laundry Soap

I got this awesome natural laundry soap from my ,Lynn and Rebecca, at Texadus Family Farm.

Lavender Orange smells great!

First I had to shred the laundry soap.

And shred... And shred.

Once I got down the the end of the bar, it got a little tricky,

but I managed to shred the entire bar without shredding my fingers!

Bunny called the shredded soap, "Hay" and had to run her fingers through it.

The recipe called for the one shredded bar of Laundry Soap, one cup of Borax, and one cup of Washing Soda. But I actually put in the bar and half a box of each of the other.

We will see if this pays off or not.

I blended it all up...

And put it in a cute crock.

Perfect fit!

So pretty and good smelling!

What a good thing I decided to make it too, cause my hubby got a little skunky while outside (we have had a skunk after our chickens). Pee-Eww! We washed his stinky clothes in 1/8th of a cup of my homemade detergent, and it completely de-skunked them!

Now on the THE PARTY!!!

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Wonderfull (Full of Wonder) Wednesday

Looking for the wonder in everyday life! 

I'd love for you to join me on this journey. 

If you find wonder along the way, please leave a link in the comments,

so others can share in your wonder.

It is truly a WONDERFULL thing when the two-year-old molars are FINALLY through!

So WONDERFULL that we had to have a party!!

Happy teeth day to you, Bunny!!

 

Just in time for baby sister to start cutting her teeth, I bet!

Shared with these Link-Ups:

Waldorf Wednesday

The Sunday Parenting Party

Mommy Moments

Mama Moments Mondays

Happy Family Times

The Elfing Begins Again & Eco-Kids Tuesday

I have been very into making presents this Christmas season. I feel like maybe gifts are more meaningful when they are hand made. Either that or I am just cheap ;) No, really I love making things. I put a lot more thought into something I am making, than something I buy.

A tree pendant I made for my midwife, Ruth.

Because she helped me to grow. Spreading my branches, while staying rooted.

A necklace I made for Bunny from beads I ordered on Esty.

Gemstones to help sooth her and ease her discomforts.

An upclcled hat and mittens (that Bunny helped with) and wool boot insoles for The Hubs (Shh, don't tell...)

I plan to make more gifts. Pajamas. Maybe matching hats for my girls. Something for my sister's children. Who knows what I will end up with.

What gifts are you making this Christmas?

Welcome back to Eco-Kids Link-Up!  We had so many great posts shared last week! I enjoyed each and every one of them.  Here are a few of my favorites from last week!

Hey Mommy, Chocolate Milk has the cutest idea for decorating an outside tree with repurposed water bottles!

I adore this simple, eco-friendly Nativity scene over at An Idea on Tuesday!

We have a soft spot around here for gnomes! 

madebyjoey shared her Christmas crafting and this adorable red star gnome.

If you were featured please feel free to grab a button for your blog.  And please keep linking up great all your Eco-Kid ideas!

Now on to the party!!!  I hope that you'll share some great family-friendly posts that are also friendly for the environment. Some ideas include:

•  Nature Activities
• Outdoor Activities
• Crafts made with re-purposed or recycled materials
• Sewing and DIY home projects
• Science Experiments
• Posts on environmental issues for kids or families
• Non-toxic living
• Homeopathic Remedies

Eco-Kids Tuesdays is co-hosted by Organic Aspirations and Like Mama~Like Daughter this means that anything you link-up shows up on both blogs!

Feel free to link up several of your posts.

There are only a few rules:

Please follow both co-hostess' blogs, and visit some of the other posts and give them some encouragement!  Please stick to posts and photos not giveaways or items for sale.

By linking up, you are agreeing that Organic Aspirations or Like Mama~Like Daughter can feature your photos next week with a link back to your site.  

Please link back to my site using this button (once I get it fixed !!) OR simply text linking within your post!

A Good Tree ~ Not A Poor Tree

We may have picked a bad day to go get out Chrsitmas tree. It was wet, and rainy, but we had already told Bunny, so there was no going back.

We got to the green house and decided to snoop around inside for a bit.

Waiting for the rain to let up.

Papa talking to the owner about local produce. 

"What tree you like, Papa?... I like dis one!"

Us girls waiting on the men folk to load up our tree!

Jumping from stepping stone to stepping stone

"Lets go! It raining on us!"

One nice thing about living next door to my parents, is that we share things back and forth all the time. So we borrowed my dad's truck for the day.

Sweet sisters, holding hands with the tree in the back.

Yay! Papa got the tree up!

Bunny, explaining the happenings to Squirrley.

Helping decorate.

I love how even her braids curl up on the ends! 

We can only touch with ONE FINGER!

"Hark the Herald, Angels Sing... Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown!" 

Note to self: NEVER leave the room with a two year old with a popcorn and hot cocoa picnic set up... Not even for a second.

 

Sharing with:

Happy Family Times

 

An Enchanted Childhood Playschool ~ December 3rd-7th ~ Nocturnal Animals

We continued our "study" of owls and other nocturnal animals this week!

We read Owl Babies, a long time favorite with the children!

After reading it, the children made fingerprint owls!

(another Pinterest idea!)

While most of the children were content with the three fingerprints representing the three owl babies,

Bunny insisted on adding in the mama....

...because afterall this is her favorite page, when the mama owl comes home!

We read Batbaby and then made bat finger puppets. 

We used some bats from Halloween to practice counting!

see the little slits on the bats' midsections... double slits to weave your finger in and back out!

We love this book, Lights Out, Night's Out. 

The mama of one of our former children gifted us with this great book!

Once-in-a-while, we like to line coloring pages up by age just to see the developmental growth!

top row ages: 25 months, 32 months, 34 months

bttom row: 34 months, 4 yrs 3 months, and 4 yrs 9 months

On Friday, we let Katie (15) take over the Creative Time! 
She thought up this cute Nocturnal Animal craft!

Bird watching is a favorite activity around here. And apparently so is bird feeder filling! 

All the children lined up to watch Katie fill the feeders!

We were happy to have some Outside Time this week.  We headed to the garden to check on the cool weather crops that Poppaw John has planted!  We were able to feed the chickens some kale, as well as have kale and spinach for ourselves!

Working together to try to push the tree over!

The next two weeks will be Christmas at An Enchanted Childhood Playschool!

The books we read each week will be featured on the Amazon widget in the sidebar on your right.  If you purchase a book through this link, I hopefully (not so far, but maybe someday) will make a few cents!

Shared With These Link-Ups:

Country Kids

Saturday Show and Tell

I Can Teach My Child

Crafty Moms Share

Sharing Creative Ideas

December 2012 Sharing Time

Link and Learn

Sunday Showcase

Montessori Monday

Made by Little Hands

The Children's Bookshelf

Tuesdays Tots

(tot school tuesday)

Show and Tell

tip-toe thru tuesday

Hey Mom, Look What I Did!

We Made That

What I Learned Wednesday

Mom's Library

Kids Craft

Super Link Party

Waldorf Wednesday

Kids Co-Op

It's Playtime

Enchanted Thursdays

For the Kids Friday

Read. Explore. Learn.

Kitchen Fun and Crafty Friday

Preschool and Kindergarten Corner

Hey Mom, Look What I Did!

{this moment}

{this moment}  - A Friday ritual inspired by SouleMama.  A photo capturing a moment from the week.  A simple, special, extraordinary moment.  A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.  If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

  Bunny made herself a repurposed baby carrier...

Repurposed from what??

Any guesses what it really is?

Yes... Wait!! No...

Once upon a time there was a mama. A mama that loved her children with her whole heart. A mama that put everything she had and more into her children. She poured her heart and soul into giving them the perfect childhood. She spent hours a day reading aloud, playing games, and going on nature walks. As she taught them, she learned. and as they grew, she grew in wisdom. When they were no longer children they looked back and smiled. This mama, my mama, is my teacher, my inspiration, and my friend. Now that we run a playschool together and I am a mama myself, I find myself doing more and more things the same way she did. And while I still have so much to learn from her and to learn for myself, I long to give my children an enchanted childhood just like the one she gave me. I guess it's just like mama, like daughter.


If anyone has tried to read my blog in the last little while, they might be wondering what is up. So here it goes:

I changed the name. So different URL and everything. Then, I re-read the very first post I ever wrote... and changed it back. Sorry about the confusion. Mostly mine haha.

Will I change the name in the future? Maybe, maybe not. Time will tell. But if I do, I will be sure to let everyone know ahead of time.