Catching up

The last week or so has been a little hectic simply because Killian and I have been sick. :( He caught the worst cold from daycare, and promptly brought it home to me. So every min. possible, he and I have been sleeping- trying to fight this thing off. Our last week and weekend haven't been too exciting. We've simply been doing our usual stuff.. though staying home a little more than usual with both of us taking naps everyday (you should see my house! I didn't realize until this week how much I utilized nap time!) On a happy note, my sister, bro-in-law, and two nephews are coming to WI for a week this friday!! We're very excited. I've been trying to get some big presentations that I'm giving for school done this week, so I can spend more time with them this weekend and next week. :) While they're here, my nephew turns 2! Wow, it feels like he was just born. So.. I just finished up my presents to him- and I'd like to share them with you, because most of them were homemade and extremely economical. The biggest gift is a backpack. I bought it from a local store here, and I'm desperately wanting to buy Kilian one because he's so cute wearing it. I then stuffed the backpack full of stuff for him to do on the plane ride home, and/or out and about with mommy and daddy. So here's what's inside:
1. 3 books (these I bought at half-priced books for a few $ each)
2. A DVD of me reading the books to him, and a movie that I made of a book (I scanned the pages onto my computer, and used imovie to record myself reading it to him- so easy)
3. Felt board story pieces for each of the books that I read/bought him
4. Homemade playdough (I made the recipe I posted - but be warned.. you need to add ALOT of flour, and knead it in. I would only make 1/2 or 1/3 of the recipe.
5. Some playdough tools such as rolling pin, etc. that I bought at good will
6. A file folder game- If you don't know what this is, it is such an easy/cheap learning toy to make: You take a file folder, and some print outs offline (or you can draw your own)- here are the ones I used- you color them in with two matching, so for example, you make two green mittens, two pink mittens, two white mittens, etc. You glue one of each color to the file folder. Contact paper, laminate over top. Contact paper, laminate the other half of the mittens (one of each color), then have your child place the matching mitten onto the file folder. I put pieces of velcro onto the mittens also so they didn't slide around. I also stapled a small ziploc bag to the back of the file folder to keep the loose mittens in. It's so simple, and there are tons of patterns out there for each stage that your child is at.
7. A small tic-tac-toe game that I bought for a dollar at Target (he's a little young for this now, but with in the next 6 months he'll understand how to play)
8. My mom is making him this adorable crayon holder. 

I'm very excited to see my nephew's face when he opens it all up :) I'm hoping to post some food recipes that I've made lately on here later this week, along with a recipe for bubbles! Killian's going through a big bubble stage, and apparently the bubbles from this summer have dried up!? So I'm going to try making some of my own.

Lastly, I wanted to add a recipe on here about homemade/non-toxic cleaning products.  Alot of people try to use green, non-toxic cleaning products, but most cleaning products out there ARE toxic. I read an very interesting article written by a father who stated that he takes such care to lock up his cleaning products from his children, but then he uses them to clean the floors etc, which his children touch, eat off of, etc. It's pretty contradictory. So, I've decided to make my own cleaning products as the ones I own start to be used up. So far, only my floor cleaner has been used up. So here's my recipe for floor cleaner- it works WONDERS!!

First- you need a spray bottle- the dollar tree has them! (make sure you label them!)
Second- Fill the bottle 3/4 of the way up with water. Add a squirt or two of vegetable-oil based dish soap (most "green" dish soaps are vegetable or coconut based), then fill the rest up with vinegar. Now.. you can use as is- but it smells like vinegar- so I added a few drops of essential oil. Tree tea oil would be the best- but any smell will do.
Third- Spray the floor down, and dry mop (I LOVE the imop by Method)- I use one clothe on it, and throw it into the wash.
***If you use swifer right now, PLEASE look into how toxic the spray is. It really is not that much more of a hassle to hold a spray bottle in one hand and the mop in the other. REALLY***