Renaissance Fest!

Saturday, for my birthday, Shanna and Bobby took the kids and I to the Renaissance Festival. It was a blast! Despite being rained on for about an hour. I got my hair braided, a henna tattoo on my belly, a cool lotion candle for labor, and to hang out with my sissy! Her friend Alex joined us too. Alex was the only brave adult in our party to dress up (I would have but I don't fit into my Ren dress right now. Boo!) but we did turn Mika into a fairy princess!

Urijah playing in the kids play place


Our Fairy Princess petting a goat


"The goat's funny!"


Bobby, Alex and Shanna hanging out while the kids play.


Shanna and Mika on an elephant!

Ezekiah's Belly Pics

Here are my belly pictures taken while pregnant with Ezekiah!

13 weeks!


22 weeks!


31 weeks!


34 weeks!


Henna Tattoo

Not Just for Baking

I love baking soda. It is really cool stuff.

First there's what it does with baking - combining with other ingredients to make dough and batter rise and become light and fluffy. It creates the big air bubbles in sourdough, too (mmmmmm....sourdough).

Then there's that science experiment that if you didn't do, some other kid in your class did at some point with a volcano.

You can also use baking soda for health! Dissolve a little in water for an antacid. Women - put a cup in a bath to help balance your vaginal PH (Besides the cool reaction to acidity and vinegar, baking soda's main use is to regulate PH - that's why it's great for cleaning, too) and help soothe yeast infections. Use it to take the sting out of a bee sting.

And cleaning? Why there are dozens of ways to use it for cleaning!! Although there are many more, I wanted to mention the ways that I've been using it frequently in my house. For more you can visit the ARM & HAMMER website, or google "cleaning with baking soda".

One thing I've always done is create a paste to help clean those pans I've seriously burned food onto. I put it on, let it sit for a minute, and voila, I can get that gunk off. I pour some into the sink and use the residual water to scrub and sanitize the sink, too. Then there's those cool fridge/freezer boxes to help deodorise the fridge/freezer and to help stop smelly stuff (pastrami, anyone?) from ruining more delicate flavors (cheese!). And yesterday? I re-created that volcano experiment in my sink (one cup baking soda, one cup vinegar) to clean out my pipes! Mika thought the bubbles were really cool.

Now most of you know I cloth diaper my kids (for the most part, lol). This is what made me start LOVING baking soda. First I sprinkle a little in the bottom of my diaper pails with a little lavender essential oil to absorb smell. (This also helps when cleaning out the pails, which I do about every other wash). If they start to get really smelly before I'm ready to do laundry, I'll sprinkle a little more in with the diapers to help with the smell. Then when I do wash them, I add another cup to the diapers (and actually 1/2 cup to all my laundry) because since the baking soda helps balance the PH balance of the water and boosts the liquid laundry detergent (we have and HE washer) my diapers (and all laundry) gets cleaner, and fresher. And no more diaper rash thanks to it balancing the diaper's PH!

What do YOU use baking soda for in your house?

PS

Don't forget to scroll down to look at our fabulous pictures MckMama took for us, but this is what April 23rd looks like in CO:

Pictures

A couple months ago, MckMama was in town! We were able to have fun meeting her and Prince Charming (her husband) at Focus on the Family. She was also doing photoshoots, so we decided to participate. Here is the end result. Thank you, SO much MckMama! We love them!!

It's a.......

BOY!!!!

That's right!! I'd like you to meet Mika and Urijah's li'l brother! No name quite yet, but soon, I promise.

The umbilical cord was being obnoxious and was hanging out between his legs, so at first the midwife was like "giiiiirl? maybe?" but he was a good boy and moving around being cute, and got that cord out of there to show us the "goods", lol!! He was opening and closing his mouth, kicking around, and at the end was sucking his thumb. So cute! Our other kids were usually pretty still during u/s's so I loved this one! A treat to see him being so adorable!

Since these were taken by our midwife at her home, we didn't get a good "money shot" to take with us, but it's 100% sure!

His li'l face!


Sucking his thumb!

Denver Museum of Nature and Science

Wednesday we decided to take the kids to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. Zarik and I have been there once before, about 4 years ago, and I brought it up as something fun to try with the kiddos. Since they're both under 3, they were still free, while the basic museum was just $11 for each of us. Not bad! Our favorite part was the space exhibit. There's a TON for the kids to do in there and they loved it! They liked the animals too, but I think there were a few too many of those exhibits, lol. All in all it was a fun day!