2013 Christmas Tree

Here she is. She has a spring in her step this year. We added turquoise to the traditional silver/crystal and threw in some peacock feathers. LOVE IT! Much prettier in person but this will have to do :)

Owens 4K picture! Can you even believe this is him? So grown up.

Happy 1st Birthday Mahlea and Happy 5th Birthday Owen

Happy Birthday!

Today we are celebrating Owens 5th Birthday and Mahleas 1st Birthday. She is 1 today :)
Mowgli wanted to celebrate too so I asked him if he was ready for cake!

Mowgli got a hair-cut!!

Owens first day of Pre-k

Unexpected!

Today at work I got a call from the front desk telling me I had a delivery. I said, "your funny, I bet its for the other Nicki". Nope its for you! I went up front and here is what I found! There are some truly amazing people in this world who know how to brighten someones day. Totally unexpected! Love you Kayla and Kelly :)

p.s. they are so awesome in person, not sure the pictures do it justice :)

Pets

The boys are "raising" tadpoles in their bedroom in an aquarium. There are three, one has developed into a tree frog, one has just its back legs and has started to grow its front legs and one is still just a small tadpole. Its cool to watch them grow every day. They quickly change once they start to get legs. Here is the tree frog. The boys went out side to find things to add to the habitat and bugs for them to eat.

Fun at the Childrens Museum and Smores in the Wood Stove

Mowglis First Haircut - shorter than I would have liked, but its growing on me.

 Mowgli before 1 of 2

 Before 2 of 2

After 1 of 2

after 2 of 2

Hanging shelves

Evan is measuring, Owen is marking and measuring and Andy is trying to locate a stud :) Priceless!

Operation Re-Decorate!

 Kitchen light/pics Before                                                                Kitchen light/picture (from L. Room) After

 Living Room Before                                                                         Living Room After

My Amazing Kids (and hubby)

A huge thank you to Aunt Kelly for taking our pictures this past weekend. They turned out Amazing as always. Cant wait to see them all..... Thanks to mom for helping make everyone smile :)

Mowgi Baby

Isn't he cute ;)

Homemade Dog Biscuits!

I made Mowgli some dog biscuits tonight :) Homemade and no artificial junk. Only the best for my kids :)

Homemade Cleaning Supplies

So I have been searching out a bunch of homemade cleaning supplies and decided I wanted to try them for myself. If you are on pinterest you can find 100's of recipes. So after searching and comparing here is what I tried: Glass Cleaner, Laundry soap, dish washing detergent and rinse aid and laminate floor cleaner.

Laundry detergent after (use 1 to 2 tbs per load = 500 loads)

Ingredients for laundry detergent

Ingredients for Window cleaner

                                    Window cleaner (after)                       

                                              Laminate floor (After)                                          

Ingredients for Laminate floor cleaner

Ingredients for Dishwasher detergent

Dishwasher detergent After  (use 1 tbs per load = at least 500 washes)

 Note: use vinegar as a rinse aid in the compartment and your will have a spot free clean. If you want add a drop of food coloring to it so you can see when it needs to be refilled.

I purchased spray bottles and pitcher at the Dollar Tree ($1) and the gallon laundry detergent container at Walmart for $5. All the ingredients were under $15.00 and I was able to make all this with with some left over for next time.

Glass cleaner was awesome, streak free. I will update on others once they are done running :)

Mowgli

What better to use as a pillow, he's super soft and fluffy and he could care less, he has his bone. He is a great dog and great with the kids.

Brotherly Love

I hope they love each other this much when they are older :)