First road trip!

On the weekend of November 16-17 we took Charlie and Adella on their first road trip!  It was also their first time staying in a hotel.  They did FABULOUS!   We headed up to Sedona Friday afternoon with Rachel and Jordan so Rachel could take some family pictures of us in the beautiful Sedona canyon.   I love Phoenix weather this time of year, but I so miss the trees and changing of the leaves that a 'normal' fall brings - hopefully we can make it an annual trip up there!

Charlie and Adella loved playing in a new place.  They were never bored as there were so many things to explore.

Like crawling half on the carpet, half on tile.  Fun Fun!

Finding new cords to play with (yes, we blocked them off once they found them)

And crawling in around and through tables and chairs.

We also discovered that these guys love to ride on shoulders!   Adella had a blast up there with daddy as we explored around the beautiful resort.

We also went to dinner in Sedona and the babies did fabulous there too.   We timed all of our driving perfectly with their naps so we enjoyed a nice quite road trip together.   

    And Just wait till you see the family pics, they are going to be awesome!

Triple fun

I already put this on facebook, but for sake of continuity and for grandparents I have to share here too.

My friend Laurel and I decided to brave (in so many ways) the grand opening of the new outlet mall in Glendale.  Oh my it was sooo packed out there!   These three all fell asleep on the drive over.   But they all were GREAT shopping and we all had fun!   We also learned that we can fit three car seats in our car, which is awesome because now we don't have to take separate vehicles when we want to go shopping together!

Good bye you wasteful, expensive swiffer pads!

Now that Charlie and Adella are eating in a high chair, my floor has seen better days.   I can no longer get away with just mopping every week or so, I pretty much need to do a spot cleanup at least every day or two.  But I don't want to pull out the whole huge mop and bucket and those swiffer pads ares so stinking expensive!   I've seen reusable swiffer pads before, and even though they looked simple enough I didn't think they would work so great- now I never tried them so I don't want to proclaim mine is better, but in my mind mine is PERFECT.   The ones I've seen before seemed thin and more like a dusting pad, but I wanted something that could hold water and actually clean the floor (an in between cleanings kinda clean anyway).

So as I was contemplating what to do with some used microfiber diaper inserts (I had recently switched to bamboo inserts) I had an idea.  Why not turn them into reusable pads?   I mean they are super absorbant and pretty much already the right size and I didn't have to go buy anything which is a super added bonus!

So here is what I came up with!

Reusable Swiffer pad

So simple yet soooo perfect!!!   I simply sewed two strips of elastic onto the edges (I made the elastic about half the length of my pad so it would be nice and tight).  Then I tested it.  You know what?  It is PERFECT!  It stays on awesome (even better than the swiffer ones) and I can get it sopping wet.   I usually just put it under the faucet to wet it (after it's on the swiffer) and then I use a spray bottle with my cleaner (vinegar) and spray the cleaner right onto the floor.   Let me tell you what, this baby picks up so much more dirt than a swiffer pad EVER did.   Obviously its not going to replace full moppings and it doesn't get stuff that's crusted on (but neither does a swiffer pad), but for general spots and dirt in between full mopping jobs it's amazing.  When I'm done I just throw it in to wash with my normal rag washing.  Easy peasy!

Now I realize not everyone is going to have diaper inserts laying around, but you couuld easily take a microfiber cloth (I think you can get them at the dollar store even) and fold it over a couple of times, serge or sew the edges shut and do the same thing.   

And if that's even too much work for you, I happen to still have several of these inserts lying around and would be happy to sell them to you for pretty darn cheap.   Just send me a message and I'll see what we can work out!

Have fun, go green and most importantly save some dough!!!

Team Work

I tried to get better pictures and video, but since I didn't I'm just posting the one and writing the story so I remember.

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Charlie and Adella like to stand up and play around the 'new' rocking chair.   And Charlie still loves these balls.  Well he was having fun rolling the ball on the chair, only he couldn't reach to all the way back far enough to get it once he let go of it.   So Adella decided to help.  She would stand at the back of the chair and reach through the bars and push the ball a bit so Charlie could grab it.  They kept the game up for awhile, but of course stopped once I got the video camera out.  

Adam said the other day they were chasing each other around it and laughing.   It makes me happy that they can make up their own games and enjoy playing with each other!

Can you see it?

Look close... do you see those little hands.  Sometime I can't believe the stuff these guys are able to do.    It's pretty funny to look over and just see little hand on top of the dresser.