Continued from Days 1-10:
Day 11:
SO SO thankful to those who have served, serve, and will serve in our military.
Day 12:
After struggling to nurse Leeland for 3
months, I'm thankful that at almost 9 months to still be nursing the
Hayden meister. It's not often that the best in life is free! :)
Day 13:
Siblings. I watch Leeland and Hayden
interact and love on one another and though they can't put it into
words, they have an incredible bond! A bond that only siblings can
share--a love no matter the circumstances, a love that makes it
impossible to hold a grudge, a love that is forever. So happy that
Leeland and Hayden share that together and look forward to watching it
flourish. And I'm so thankful for my siblings too-- Love you guys!!
Day 14:
Thankful for coffee. And thankful for MOPS! :D
Day 15:
Thankful that somewhere down the road someone
taught me how to cook because nothing beats a homecooked meal. And
today I'm especially thankful for baking skills! Baked 2 loaves of plain
amish bread last night, 2 loaves of banana nut amish bread are in the
oven, and 2 loaves of pumpkin spice amish bread are mixing away. :)
Day 16:
Thankful for coupons/couponing. Especially
thankful for the free cough drops I got with coupons yesterday, because
today I need them!
Day 17:
Thankful for my Granny and the brunswick stew that's about to be in my belly!
Day 18:
Thankful that I'm not the only
pre-thanksgiving Christmas loon. Lol. I passed sooo many houses
yesterday that were completely decked out already. I think our Christmas
tree is going up tonight!
Day 19:
Happy 9 months (3/4 a year!!!) to Mr. Hayden!
So thankful to have such a happy little ball of energy. And happy that
the transition from family of 3 to family of 4 has been so smooth. Soon
enough we'll be celebrating his 1st!
Day 20:
Thankful for our awesome new (1st) house :) I really love this place, kind of a miracle that we were able to get it.
A little peek into our nest-- watch us have fun, grow, and time fly by.
Thursday, November 22, 2012
Saturday, November 10, 2012
30 Days of Thanksgiving: Days 1-10
This is becoming a yearly tradition :) Goes along well with my recent post Blessed in the little things.
Day 1:
The love of my life, my best friend, and husband. Daniel we are so thankful for you. Thankful for all the love, support, fun & encouragement you bring to our family.
Day 2:
Leeland, our 1st born, our gentle spirited, silly, smart, smiley little man. I feel so blessed to be your mommy and so love watching you grow. :)
Day 3:
Hayden, our red headed little love bug who is full of smiles and snuggles. Everyday is a joy as he grows so fast and is constantly learning something new. So blessed, and treasure each and every giggle and each and every cuddle. ♥
Day 4:
Thankful for church. In so many places around the world people are forced to worship in secret but here I am able to worship anytime and anywhere.
Day 5:
Today marks the anniversary of my Mom's passing and though I could feel angry, today I'm choosing to be grateful. Grateful for the almost 8 years I had with her, which doesn't seem like much but really is a lot when you know none of us are guaranteed tomorrow. (James 4:14)
Day 6:
Naturally on election day, I'm thankful for the right to vote! And, call me a dork, but the anticipation of the outcome is kind of killing me. Eee! :)
Day 7:
As the weather decides if it's Fall or Winter and temps keep dropping, I'm so thankful for heat, blankets, and warm clothes.
Day 8:
Thankful today for food. The Lord always provides us with just what we need, doing the grocery shopping on a very small budget has been truly eye opening. We are so blessed and so thankful to Him!
Day 9:
Thankful for cloth diapers. Maybe weird to most, but I have a mild obsession with our stash of cloth diapers and am super thankful for all of their benefits-- lack of yucky chemicals, the financial savings, and less trash produced. ...And this morning, I'm especially thankful for clean cloth diapers! ;)
Day 10:
Thankful to stay at home with my littles. :)
Day 1:
The love of my life, my best friend, and husband. Daniel we are so thankful for you. Thankful for all the love, support, fun & encouragement you bring to our family.
Day 2:
Leeland, our 1st born, our gentle spirited, silly, smart, smiley little man. I feel so blessed to be your mommy and so love watching you grow. :)
Day 3:
Hayden, our red headed little love bug who is full of smiles and snuggles. Everyday is a joy as he grows so fast and is constantly learning something new. So blessed, and treasure each and every giggle and each and every cuddle. ♥
Day 4:
Thankful for church. In so many places around the world people are forced to worship in secret but here I am able to worship anytime and anywhere.
Day 5:
Today marks the anniversary of my Mom's passing and though I could feel angry, today I'm choosing to be grateful. Grateful for the almost 8 years I had with her, which doesn't seem like much but really is a lot when you know none of us are guaranteed tomorrow. (James 4:14)
Day 6:
Naturally on election day, I'm thankful for the right to vote! And, call me a dork, but the anticipation of the outcome is kind of killing me. Eee! :)
Day 7:
As the weather decides if it's Fall or Winter and temps keep dropping, I'm so thankful for heat, blankets, and warm clothes.
Day 8:
Thankful today for food. The Lord always provides us with just what we need, doing the grocery shopping on a very small budget has been truly eye opening. We are so blessed and so thankful to Him!
Day 9:
Thankful for cloth diapers. Maybe weird to most, but I have a mild obsession with our stash of cloth diapers and am super thankful for all of their benefits-- lack of yucky chemicals, the financial savings, and less trash produced. ...And this morning, I'm especially thankful for clean cloth diapers! ;)
Day 10:
Thankful to stay at home with my littles. :)
Saturday, October 27, 2012
It's The Great Pumpkin (+recipes)
We've been pump, pump, pumpkining it up at the Kroh house! (Yea, I know, I'm a dork.) Just soaking in all of the joys of Fall and one of my favorite is PUMPKIN! I've been making pumpkin chocolate chip muffins for over a month now. I'm not gonna lie, I started baking those before Fall began. This year I've started using whole wheat flour and they've been super yummy.
Also last week I made my version of Pumpkin Patch Pasta... Oh my! Just the cheese/pumpkin sauce alone is to die for! It sounds weird to mix cheese and pumpkin, sure, but it is SO SO yummy and so balanced. MMM!
And we carved pumpkins! Last year we bought three pumpkins so that Leeland would have one, but we actually carved them after he was in bed, so this is the first year that Leeland got to participate. He cleaned out the "guts" literally one seed at a time and he made a tower out of the triangle pieces we had cut out of the pumpkin. Leeland requested that Daniel make a funny face pumpkin, and that I make a happy face pumpkin. And we roasted the seeds and Leeland is loving them!
And then tonight we went to a local orchard who does a movie night every year where they show "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown," which happens to be one of my favorite classics! It is not a holiday, unless there's Peanuts! (Just saying.) We had so much fun, the boys dressed in their costumes (Hayden a cow and Leeland a doctor), we went on a hay ride, had face... or hand paints, smores, roasted marshmallows and then snuggled up on blankets to watch the movie outdoors on a beautiful Fall night. This just might become a yearly family tradition! Tonight Daniel had to work unfortunately but my mother and father in law and my niece joined me and the boys. Leeland loved it and he was so surprised and happy that his Grandma and Papa were there.
Anywho, go make something "pumpkiny".... or a smore! :D
Also last week I made my version of Pumpkin Patch Pasta... Oh my! Just the cheese/pumpkin sauce alone is to die for! It sounds weird to mix cheese and pumpkin, sure, but it is SO SO yummy and so balanced. MMM!
And we carved pumpkins! Last year we bought three pumpkins so that Leeland would have one, but we actually carved them after he was in bed, so this is the first year that Leeland got to participate. He cleaned out the "guts" literally one seed at a time and he made a tower out of the triangle pieces we had cut out of the pumpkin. Leeland requested that Daniel make a funny face pumpkin, and that I make a happy face pumpkin. And we roasted the seeds and Leeland is loving them!
Saturday, October 20, 2012
Blessed in the little things....
This week I've really been thinking about how blessed our family is. I can't seem to shake this overwhemling feeling of humility and how the Lord takes care of us. Of course I'm so thankful for our new home, but I've really been overwhelmed with the little blessings. It reminds me of the Joy Dare by Ann Voskamp. I started the joy dare in August, but didn't exactly finish even august, and it goes a whole year. I have followed along with it on her Facebook page, but missing some days and I stopped writing down my responses. The premise of the Joy Dare is that everyday you are righting down little bits of joy and little things that you are thankful for, gifts if you will, and by the end of the year you have 1000 Gifts.
So I'm not writing down my gifts and haven't completely kept up with it, but mentally the thought of being thankful for little things has remained. I feel like a slacker for discontinuing it, but I don't think I missed the point. In the beginning of the Joy Dare, I wrote down little gifts that went along with whatever she was asking that day and I felt silly. (example she'll ask one day-- "3 gifts green" or "A gift small, smaller, smallest..." or "A gift caught, let go, mid-way...") I felt silly because some of the things that I was writing down seemed silly. But lately I've been struck that it's not.... we should be thankful for the little silly things. The things that get overlooked... the things that we tend to not give God the credit and the glory for.
So this week, I have been struck and humbled and thankful in the little things--
-Having a kitchen windowsill for the 1st time for tomatoes to ripen in.
-A washer and dryer.
-That what I thought was a week's worth of groceries, will last over a week.
-Leeland potty learning.
-Clean cloth diapers.
-Winning an item on Ebay.
-Our sweet Lilly girl (my furry daughter).
-Christmas being right around the corner.
-A vacuum.
-... Clean floors.
-My sewing machine and the ability to make and create.
So I'm not writing down my gifts and haven't completely kept up with it, but mentally the thought of being thankful for little things has remained. I feel like a slacker for discontinuing it, but I don't think I missed the point. In the beginning of the Joy Dare, I wrote down little gifts that went along with whatever she was asking that day and I felt silly. (example she'll ask one day-- "3 gifts green" or "A gift small, smaller, smallest..." or "A gift caught, let go, mid-way...") I felt silly because some of the things that I was writing down seemed silly. But lately I've been struck that it's not.... we should be thankful for the little silly things. The things that get overlooked... the things that we tend to not give God the credit and the glory for.
So this week, I have been struck and humbled and thankful in the little things--
-Having a kitchen windowsill for the 1st time for tomatoes to ripen in.
-A washer and dryer.
-That what I thought was a week's worth of groceries, will last over a week.
-Leeland potty learning.
-Clean cloth diapers.
-Winning an item on Ebay.
-Our sweet Lilly girl (my furry daughter).
-Christmas being right around the corner.
-A vacuum.
-... Clean floors.
-My sewing machine and the ability to make and create.
I will give thanks to the Lord according to His righteousness
And will sing praise to the name of the Lord Most High.
And will sing praise to the name of the Lord Most High.
-Psalm 7:17
Thursday, October 18, 2012
No-pooing 1 month+
I've been wanting to blog about no-pooing for a while but it has taken some time to tweak my routine and get the hang of it before writing about it. I should probably clarify that by no-pooing, I mean that I am shampoo (and conditioner) free. I no longer wash my hair with shampoo... yes, you heard that correctly.
I've been taking steps for a few years now to become a more natural me and to keep a more natural house. I've blogged previously about cloth diapers, giving up paper towels, natural menstrual products, and now going shampoo free has been one more step.
I only have good things about going shampoo free-- my hair looks and feels awesome, we're saving money, and I'm saving lots of time.
For those that aren't familiar with no-pooing, I do still wash my hair, but my hair is becoming less dependent on washings so I don't have to wash it everyday. And yes it is still clean.... I mean unless you're swimming in chlorine daily, or are a chain smoker, how dirty does your hair get daily?
Before no-pooing, I washed my hair EVERY single day. If I didn't wash my hair everyday, it would get greasy, and I also wouldn't know how to style it because styling for whatever reason was very dependent on taming it with the hair dryer. Essentially what happens with shampoo from what I understand is that your hair becomes dependent on it. It cleans up the oil in your scalp and hair and tells your scalp to produce more, so you keep washing and keep producing. When I first started no-pooing there was at least a week of a grease mess that I covered with a wide headband but now things have balanced out even as I have critiqued my wash routine.
You can google no-pooing and find all sorts of information on it and wash routines and really you have to work out what works best for you and your hair, and even your water type. I only say water type because I felt like I had to do even more tweaking after the move (city water to hard well water).
I keep 2 jars in my shower-- an old salsa jar and an old spaghetti sauce jar. (Yay recylcing!) In the 1st jar I sprinkled a few tablespoons of baking soda and then added warm water. In the second jar I have about 1/3 full of apple cider vinegar and the rest water. On days that I wash, I start with my baking soda jar and scrub well at my scalp and roots and work my way down. I rinse and rinse and rinse really well and often times have a comb on hand to comb it out. Once that is done, I pour my ACV/water all over and "lather" it in and then rinse. (Maybe I should clarify, I don't use the whole jar... I just keep jars so I have it at hand and refill when I need to.) Simple as that! As far as wash cycles it goes something like this currently--
Sunday- BS and ACV
Monday- none
Tuesday- ACV
Wednesday- none
Thursday- BS and ACV
Friday- none
Saturday- ACV
etc. etc.
It took some tweaking and learning with the baking soda. I have sensitive skin and subsequently a sensitive scalp, so I found a constant baking soda wash to be harsh, but at the same time I really need to do occasional baking soda washes to keep the oils down, so this is what works for me right now is every other day washing but not with baking soda each time. From my understanding with no-pooing is that gradually your scalp gets to where less and less washes are necessary, so I'm sure that this will change even further.
Oh, and as far as styling... I've learned that I don't need that hair dryer every single day. I can style my hair without washing and without it being wet. I have fallen in love with hot rollers since starting. I can throw hot rollers in my hair after even having my hair tossed up in a bun for 36 hours and when I pull the hot rollers out it looks like I spent an hour curling. They really are genius! I also occasionally pull out my Chi and straighten my hair. It works! I'm loving the versatility and loving the look of no-pooing!
I've been taking steps for a few years now to become a more natural me and to keep a more natural house. I've blogged previously about cloth diapers, giving up paper towels, natural menstrual products, and now going shampoo free has been one more step.
I only have good things about going shampoo free-- my hair looks and feels awesome, we're saving money, and I'm saving lots of time.
For those that aren't familiar with no-pooing, I do still wash my hair, but my hair is becoming less dependent on washings so I don't have to wash it everyday. And yes it is still clean.... I mean unless you're swimming in chlorine daily, or are a chain smoker, how dirty does your hair get daily?
Before no-pooing, I washed my hair EVERY single day. If I didn't wash my hair everyday, it would get greasy, and I also wouldn't know how to style it because styling for whatever reason was very dependent on taming it with the hair dryer. Essentially what happens with shampoo from what I understand is that your hair becomes dependent on it. It cleans up the oil in your scalp and hair and tells your scalp to produce more, so you keep washing and keep producing. When I first started no-pooing there was at least a week of a grease mess that I covered with a wide headband but now things have balanced out even as I have critiqued my wash routine.
You can google no-pooing and find all sorts of information on it and wash routines and really you have to work out what works best for you and your hair, and even your water type. I only say water type because I felt like I had to do even more tweaking after the move (city water to hard well water).
I keep 2 jars in my shower-- an old salsa jar and an old spaghetti sauce jar. (Yay recylcing!) In the 1st jar I sprinkled a few tablespoons of baking soda and then added warm water. In the second jar I have about 1/3 full of apple cider vinegar and the rest water. On days that I wash, I start with my baking soda jar and scrub well at my scalp and roots and work my way down. I rinse and rinse and rinse really well and often times have a comb on hand to comb it out. Once that is done, I pour my ACV/water all over and "lather" it in and then rinse. (Maybe I should clarify, I don't use the whole jar... I just keep jars so I have it at hand and refill when I need to.) Simple as that! As far as wash cycles it goes something like this currently--
Sunday- BS and ACV
Monday- none
Tuesday- ACV
Wednesday- none
Thursday- BS and ACV
Friday- none
Saturday- ACV
etc. etc.
It took some tweaking and learning with the baking soda. I have sensitive skin and subsequently a sensitive scalp, so I found a constant baking soda wash to be harsh, but at the same time I really need to do occasional baking soda washes to keep the oils down, so this is what works for me right now is every other day washing but not with baking soda each time. From my understanding with no-pooing is that gradually your scalp gets to where less and less washes are necessary, so I'm sure that this will change even further.
Oh, and as far as styling... I've learned that I don't need that hair dryer every single day. I can style my hair without washing and without it being wet. I have fallen in love with hot rollers since starting. I can throw hot rollers in my hair after even having my hair tossed up in a bun for 36 hours and when I pull the hot rollers out it looks like I spent an hour curling. They really are genius! I also occasionally pull out my Chi and straighten my hair. It works! I'm loving the versatility and loving the look of no-pooing!
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