Up first... Our garden. It is finally taking off and we are getting actual food from it. :) This year's garden has proven to be our best one yet (we definitely have a ways to go, but it is better). It did have a few struggles in July as the heat took its tole on it and we were wondering for awhile if we would get any food from it this year. All the plants were looking a little sickly and it seemed like our plants were never near as tall as our friend's plants. So we questioned what to do and McKay decided to just be faithful at watering everything really well. We also considered buying some lady bugs because we had some other bugs that were eating our plants, but decided that it was a little too late this year, but that we would have to remember to buy some next year. Last year our neighbor bought a ton of lady bugs and besides it being really fun to have so many cute bugs in the yard, they also really helped keep the pests to a minimum. Thankfully McKay picking things up in the watering department really seemed to help and everything is looking pretty good now. When we picked our first squash we were all SO excited, even the kids, so of course we had to document it...
#2: We recently realized that we had some extra money leftover from our tax return and decided to check off a few things from our "to buy someday list". The first thing that I thought of was a Berkey water filter. I have wanted one of these for a while now, not only for everyday drinking, but to also have for emergency preparedness. These are the best affordable water filters on the market and they are especially great because their filters last a LONG time (like 15-20 years) so no need to worry about replacing them anytime soon. We ended up buying ours from Berkey online during their scratch and dent sale. We were going to go with a REALLY big one, but decided it just wasn't necessary since you can refill them at anytime, so we went with a medium size one and are very happy with it. The last question on the table was where we were going to put it in our kitchen since it takes up quite a bit of space and I really didn't want to waste valuable counter space. My solution to the problem was to put it in the laundry room which is right off of the kitchen and has a counter that we don't really use right now. McKay's solution was to put in the pantry which is attached to the kitchen. His idea was lots better than mine and after he built me a little shelf for it it was the perfect place for it. It is out of sight so my kitchen still looks "pretty" (execpt for 95% of the time when there are dishes all over the counter...) and the water filter is still functional because it is right next to the fridge. Along with building a little shelf for the water filter, McKay also hooked up a hose to the water tap that is next to the fridge. The tap is supposed to be used for the fridge, but we don't use ours with our fridge because they are known for leaking often and McKay doesn't want a flood in our house. The guy grew up cleaning house floods so he knows what things to watch out for and apparently a fridge leak is one of the big ones. Anyways here is a picture of our cute little water filter. We are very happy to have it and the kids love getting water out of it too. I am happy to know that I am drinking healthier water on a daily basis plus have a good system in place for emergencies.
#3: This is huge! Miss Adalyn has finally graduated from diapers and is officially potty trained! Wahoo! (totally relates to water right?) If you recall we started potty training her at the beginning of 2014 and we gave it all we had for about 4 weeks. She was a pro at the night time stuff, but by the end of 4 weeks was still having 2ish accidents a day sometimes more. blah! Also going #2 in the toilet was not happening at all. I was in the throws of morning sickness and the accidents were just too much for me so we stopped all potty training for a few months. Then in June we picked things back up and everything went MUCH better. This time she was actually ready and figured things out fairly quickly. The 2nd time around she never had an accident in her bed and has continued to amaze us with her night time routine. BUT if it isn't one thing then it is another. So while she was really good at bedtime it took the girl 4 weeks to actually go #2 on the toilet! We tried everything to convince her to go #2 on the toilet, and it took a LONG time. But we are finally there and we haven't had a "poop" accident in a few days. Oh the joys of being a young mother! lol Honestly potty training was one of the hardest parenting tasks that I have done up to this point and don't have a single ounce of advice for anyone. lol Every child is different, just wait until they are ready and then try your best to encourage them and they will eventually figure it out. Congrats Adalyn we are so proud of you! Here she is with her donut (her prize for going poop in the toilet for the first time)
And here is Jensen with his donut, because of course we ALL needed to celebrate her accomplishment..it was a group effort ;)
PS. while we are talking about poop, I just wanted to mention that while potty training Adalyn we also started cloth diapers with Jensen.... ya I do some crazy things while I am pregnant. lol We have been using them for about 5 weeks now, but I don't really have much to say about them other than the fact that we are doing it. There are a million and one blog posts out there about cloth diapering, but if you want to ask me specific questions about how we do it then please feel free. I am sure the longer we do it the more we will learn, but so far my knowledge about it is pretty minimal (although I do love the system that we have set up and it has been very manageable thus far, even while being 34 weeks pregnant). Overall it really has not been that bad at all having a older toddler in cloth diapers, although I am a little nervous about having a little one PLUS a toddler in them in a few months. So we will see how it goes...
#4: A quick shout out to my husband who thanks to his amazing garage sale skills got us an almost brand new water softener for our house. We have hard water at our house and over the couple of years since we moved in I have watched the hard water take its tole on our appliances. Also when we moved in the plumber suggested to us to get a water softener, but we have never followed through since their $700-$1000 price tags are a little hard to swallow when all it is going towards is softer water. But a few weekends ago, we found one at a garage sale that had only been hooked up once to a house for a very short time and was priced at $40. Sold! We brought it home and it has worked great and will hopefully save our pipes in the long run. :) Love it when you stumble upon great deals like that!
#5: Just for fun to end this super long, slightly wordy blog post. A few pictures of the kids, in the bath tub. :) McKay has been so good to give the kids their baths/showers the last few weeks since bending over to scrub a little body is almost too much for me these days.
Oh those busy bodies! They definitely keep us on our toes these days!
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