Baby Spring Style

Peyton is a shorty! She's so little she's 17 months now and she still fits into 12month clothing. In fact I picked up a pair of cute little jeans from Target the other day from her and I actually bought it in 12 month. Sometimes I forget I should be buying the 18month clothing and other times I just buy what I think will fit her. I am sure she can probably fit into some of her 9 month clothing still. The nice thing about her petite-ness is the fact that it makes it easier for me to put her in clothing that Ellee wore. When Ellee was in 12 month clothing it was summertime. And up until now the girls have been vice versa on all the clothing. When I told people I was having another girl it always came up, "That's great you can use her clothing on the new baby!". Or not. Ellee was born in the heat of summer Peyton was born end of November. Ellee stayed on track with her growth and has been about average the whole time, Peyton is still in the 8th percentile for height and the 30th percentile for weight. 

With Peyton wearing more hand-me-downs lately I haven't needed to purchase her a lot of things. I have bought a couple different things though to help bring her wardrobe together a bit. Specially with spring weather, its nice to have some long sleeve shirts and some pants too. 

 1.Polka dot dress 2. Hair Clips 3. Stripey Shirt 4.Polka Dot Pants

I bought these 'jeggings' which are really not jeggings! They're more like a skinny jean, the material is jean material and is not a legging type material. They look super adorable on and god with a lot, like this coral colored stripey shirt.  Peyton looked so cute when I put these both on here. And I just love the polka dot and stripe contrast, totally works!! And this cute little polka dot dress is on clearance at old navy. Its so cute and nice for church or spring day. And I keep thinking of pairing it with a jean jacket or some cute shoes. Like these moccasins! 

Coral Freshly Picked Moccasins

We got Peyton's in the mail on Friday. I seriously have been tracking the package since it got sent on Friday. I...WE  I mean, are so excited! Peyton was so cute when I first put them on her. I pulled them on, super easy by the way, and then set her down. She bolted through the kitchen in usually style with a little bit more spunk. She kept doing her usually head down bull-run-forward type deal, but stared at her shoes with this giddy little smile. It was so cute, even the Hubs cracked up how shoes girl lover she turned as soon as put those shoes on her feet! 

Camo Collection

Like seriously how cute is this. It would totally go perfect with these moccasins. Really though right? I totally saw a dress somewhere in a super cute dark coral color like this target collection and it would go perfect with the camo moccasins!! 

The best part is I am going to be doing a giveaway this coming THURSDAY, MAY 1ST!! So watch the blog and you might get your own pair of sweet adorable, awesome wonderful Freshly Picked Moccs to go with your baby or toddler's spring/summer style! 

Pictures from Freshly Picked website

Toddler Spring Style

Something I love about having little girls is their dress up appeal. I am sure boys are totally able to be dressed up as well, but there is something so cute about a little girl, you can turn her into this little mini classy toddler. I am not saying I want to grow my girls up too fast but I don't think there is anything wrong with them looking good. I am not a huge fan of baby-like clothing, a.k.a. little frolicking bunnies or soft pink elephants. I like them to wear things I myself would not object to find in my size. With the change of season comes the need for Ellee to have a few more bigger pieces and more weather appropriate pieces. 

My go to stores are Old Navy and Target. Hands down. They both have stuff for my taste that I don't mind my kids wearing, and their prices are a million percent affordable.

                                   

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This outfit, the pants in white, quite possibly will be responsible for the majority of Ellee's Spring/Summer wardrobe being full of blues and whites. I didn't buy these particular pants but are highly considering it since these are on sale, right now actually! I have a white pair of capris that are from last year, but after trying to squeeze her into them today, it is likely they wont last her through the whole summer.

(Links to the clothes directly below the pictures) 

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I love the jean jacket look. My jean jacket is actually one I got in high school and have started wearing again. I bought Ellee a similar to this white jean jacket in the fall when things were going on sale then. Now I have a hankering to get her a real faded jean jacket :) 

This railroad shorts are super cute! I seriously want some for myself. They will totally go with so much, including the cute coral top on the left! The bathing suit is of similar style to the one I purchased for her. Hers is actually red bottoms with a white top covered in cute little anchors. Agh! So cute! And for new girl mommies out there, I am not into bikinis so have resorted to tankinis. Seriously 2 piece bathing suits are sooo much easier to deal with on your girls. Diaper changes and potty breaks especially. Nothing like trying to peel a wet sticky bathing suit from down the shoulders and right off  a screaming child...no thank you. 2 pieces are so much easier!!

These shoes are awesome. Ellee complains that her shoes are too tight and so on. I've been on the hunt for something that could possibly be worn to church and still be doable for outside. I like these so much I keep thinking about getting another pair or maybe a pair for Pey. They're plastic like, so I had my doubts, but they're durable and they'll be so easy to just rinse off and air dry. And even for the beach they would work good too! They had a gold pair and they're so cute, they could definitely work for church too!

 

Weekend Recap-Easter

It was a great weekend. Beautiful weather! 

We got to the park plenty and spent time out in the backyard too! 

I got some of those "trees" Ellee and I had been growing inside into the ground and hopefully they don't get devoured by the rabbits. Who am I kidding, the rabbits are probably going to eat them. Seriously, the rabbits here are crazy! They ate my rose bush. Thorns and all, and if they see a flower bud, they claim it. My tulips are just opening and earlier this week I could see the entire bud of one of them was gone. I dumped a tonne of cayenne pepper on them and around them and I think it's been keeping them away ever since. 

Saturday we had an awesome time, went downtown with a friend and hit up the Lincoln Park Zoo! On top of it being right in downtown, it's also FREE. Yea, free. I explained to Ellee we were going to see monkeys and every time we got close to an exhibit she would should loudly "monkeys! Monkeys!" I had numerous people laughing at us and of course some looking disgustingly at me as if to say How dare I not duck tape her mouth of course so that she doesn't shout near you and disrupt your quiet time staring at the apes. Oops, my bad. I'll try NOT to remember that for next time too. I don't take much time to figure out the type of people who are annoyed with her over excitement and if they asked, I'd explain to them that they should be jealous of her over enthusiasm for life :) Life is not dull with Ellee. 

Have you ever seen the movie Up? You know how when the old man, Carl, is young and he meets His future wife, and she never stops talking and is super excited about everything? Guess what her name is? I wonder who God has intended for my Ellee and I wonder if he'll be anything like Carl...

I came prepared for my wild child and had her in a 'harness', A.K.A. a leash. And no I am not ashamed of it. Totally used to be the pre mom who would say I'd never do that to my child, and I stand corrected and apologetic to any I criticized. The thing is Ellee is one to bolt, and she tried to numerous times, and she may be hard to find or get back. That risk isn't an option for me. So Ellee was able to walk and have some freedom while still being reined it. It also helps her learn and get in the habit of staying close.

Peyton enjoyed herself as well but she was more distracted by the people then by the animals. She looked cute as usual and very content with life. She's pretty easy going. 

Matt spent his spare time this weekend working on a lounge chair for our patio. He pretends that I found it on Pinterest, when really he should have no shame in his secret love for Pinterest!

The girls had an awesome time with their Easter baskets of goodies and hunting for eggs outside. Peyton was obsessed with the eggs and wasted no time in figuring out taking her sisters were easier then finding them herself! Ellee was thrilled and still has not stopped talking about eggs. 

Here's the girls dressed for church on Sunday. When at the gym on Friday the girls in the day are center asked me if I had their Easter dresses picked out. I'm sure they thought I was some weirdo. I couldn't explain myself on how I feel the majority of Easter dresses are just too froo froo for me. I like cute stuff just not super froo froo, as in fluffy, white, super girly, super poofy, it's hard to explain I guess. So here are the girls in a little less super eastery clothing, but still uber cute :)

And let's not forget the reason for this weekend. It's more then Easter. 

My sister in law had a great quote that I really appreciated. It wasn't a biblical verse but was just very well said,

"Why do bad things happen to good people? It only happened once and He volunteered."

Christ did something amazing many years ago, and the best part is he volunteered to do it for me.

Caught.

Today I caught Pey picking her nose for the first time. It wasn't really picking the nose I suppose you could say it was more realizing there's a hole there. I'm already concerned about the possibility of it becoming a storage spot...I never worried about that with Ellee, but Peyton is more intricate. Ellee definitely thinks about her moves intricately and chose when to do things (see below) but Peyton is very pensive. When she goes to sit in her chair she backs up slowly before plopping her bottom down. She waits till the backs of her calves make contact with the chair to insure safety. This, by the way, reminds me of a dump trunk and I just want to make a beeeeep beeeeep beeeep when she's doing it. She thinks about her food on her plate before slowly picking the plate up turning it vertically and seriously watches the food slide down. She also likes things that seem to just fit perfectly. If it fits perfectly in her mouth she'll put the whole thing in. I've found her walking around with round caps in her mouth lips completely enclosing it. She constantly is sticking her finger in small things to see if it fits and she picks things up very thoughtfully with her thumb and forefinger, frequently food, then throws it on the ground. She likes the area behind the couch and chairs. Shell take blocks back thete or try to squeeze into little spots. Now that she's found storage on her person I'll have to watch out.

I also caught Ellee, I left to throw a load of laundry in a time span of about 1.5 minutes...and she had gotten into the dishwasher packs under the sink, which IS childproof I might add and was gleefully peeling them open when I returned.... As she saw me she bolted from the scene in obvious knowledge of her bad behaviour. Oh dear. I panicked and asked if she ate any. "Yes a I eat it" "let me see you mouth. Did you eat it?" "Yes I eat it"...then I ask " did Peyton eat it?" "Peyton eat it!" I'm pretty sure no one ate anything. If so they're fine, it's been about 12 hours :)

Homemade Laundry Detergent!

I am so excited to share this DIY laundry detergent. It turned out better then great! My sister in law sent me a picture about a month ago of a whole bunch of jugs of homemade detergent. If you've been on pinterest you've seen a tonne of different recipes. But if you're anything like me, you may have a bit of misfortune with recipes. I always know what I want to make or cook, but somehow I don't find the right recipe and need up with something random. That's why I lean more towards baking, and my husband tries to get me to cook just my "specialties" as he calls it, instead of trying new things. 

Anywho, I hit her up for the recipe after she said it did a good job cleaning. And it does!!

Here are your ingredients. These are what you need to have to make it. 

 

You can also purchase an essential oil, like I did, and add it to the soap to make your clean laundry have a nice scent. I chose jasmine, lavender, vanilla or anything that you think smells good. 

 

So here goes. 

Grate the bar of Fels-Naptha soap. And melt it into 4 cups of water in a pot. I used a whisk to melt the soap nicely into the water. Stir over medium heat until it's dissolved.  

 

I forgot to mention you will also need a 5 gallon bucket. Matt had one in the basement for me. 

So you fill the 5 gallon bucket half full of warm/hot tap water and then add 

1 cup of washing soda

1/2 cup of borax

and your soap mixture

Stir that till it's well dissolved and then fill the bucket up almost to the top with more water. 

Then let it sit over night. My sister in law told me it would be jello like in the morning and it really was. Now this is half strength so you would mix 50% detergent with 50% water and then put that in your wash. I decided the easiest way for me was to fill a mason jar half full and then top off with water and add my 5 drops or so of jasmine oil. I just shake up the mason jar each time before I put some into the wash. And I use approximately 1/3 of a cup each time. 

I filled a milk jug with the detergent but I left the majority of the detergent in the bucket and covered it with saran wrap then tinfoil. Its in the basement and when I run out I go down stairs and refill my supply upstairs.

Now It says to add your scent once the soap is cooled. Since I did mine at 10 pm it wasn't cooled down before I hit the hay. So I decided to add it in my mason jar.   

On exciting news in the Dudgeon house....MY PRINTER IS WORKING. Thanks to the hubby and youtube he was able to keep at least $80 in our pockets :) 

So I've been doing a lot of coupon printing!

Ellee has had an obsession with marshmallows so one afternoon I had her help me roast some over the stoves flame and make some smores.  

 

Oh and I should mention, it was 27 today and I woke up to snow :( not cool Spring... 

Weekend Recap - Sunshine, smiles, and golf balls

It's been a gorgeous weekend. Of course today it is raining. We spent time with my 2 younger sisters and my soon to be brother in law, Uncle D. Probably one of Ellee's favorite people in the whole world. She thinks hes the best and will happily greet him above all other people in a room. Silly girl.

 

 Do we look related??

We milked the nice weather by hitting the park every day we possibly could.  

 

With My sisters in town of course we did some shopping. Sweet Pea joined us on this adventure but was not interested in taking pictures or being her usual happy self for this adventure. We left the wild one with the boys but apparently she decided to take a 4 hour nap (the result of spending some amazing hours outside. Summer truly does wear out the unwearout-able!) And then had her first opportunity to become the next Michelle Wi! 

Taking a swing. We'll have to work on her hands. He stance isn't terrrrrrrible. :) 

 

She came home declaring "You hit the balls. Watch out! Be careful! They hit you, you die. That be crazy!"

She is such a funny one. And so clever too. I am sure she loved it though. Ironically our first outing after she was born, was to the same driving range. Maybe we've en grained golf into her bones, I am sure its in her genes from the Kelly side of the family!! 

We also took the time to flag down the ice cream truck, ironically right after our Saturday AM workout. Go figure. Ellee loved it and is quickly learning 'munee', as she says, is important. And when wants something she doesn't hesitate to ask for some!! 

Shes still on a serious 'Frozen' addiction, and I am just not quite sick of songs yet. Here's her belting out some tunes while I cleaned the bathrooms. She decided to add some hand gestures and dance moves to spice it up a little! 

I finished off the weekend, as in last night at 10, by completing my history homework. making a large batch of banana cupcakes and a 4.5 gallon batch of homemade laundry detergent. Stay tuned for the recipe and review.