Category: Uncategorized (Page 34 of 201)

This past weekend I went to see Little Women (the musical) with some friends at the Chaska High School.  The lead role (Jo) was being played by our very own worship pastor’s daughter.  And let me tell you… She.  Was.  Fantastic.  And the music was great.  There are a lot of duets and trios and complex harmonies and they did great.  Especially for a high school production.  I was so moved I cried when Beth died.  I know… I’m a softie.  But it was just done so well!

Our old nanny, Alisa, was the first one to introduce me to the musical.  She loved it and wanted to sing a bunch of the songs in her lessons–which proved to be quite difficult since so many of the songs required another person to sing along, but we managed.  I would encourage you to listen to the music if you haven’t already.

Next weekend I’m heading out to see Shakopee’s musical:  The Addams Family!

I’m trying out a new product.   No, I’m not getting paid to test this product.   I’ve looked into this before, but chickened out… but then I had some more girlfriends express their interest (and hesitation) in it, so I decided to just bite the bullet and try it.   I’ll be the guinea pig for you all.

It’s called EcoEgg.

Here’s what the box says:

Wash Clever: Simply place the EcoEgg Laundry Egg on top of your laundry in the drum of the washing machine, and wash as normal – no washing powder or liquid needed.  It’s the clever way to wash.  The Laundry Egg is packed with our unique powerful cleaning pellets which activate in the water and are proven to gently lift away dirt and grime without using any harsh chemicals.

Intriguing, right?

I’m still working through my feelings of unbelief that it will actually DO anything.  I’m skeptical.  But time will tell.  The one I purchased is good for 720 washes. Yup.  That’s a lot of washes.  I love the idea of the kids being able to start a load of laundry without having to reach or measure the liquid detergent, and I’m also excited about the prospect of not having to remember to buy any laundry detergent for almost 3 years.

Now, there are some pellets inside the egg.  Some you never replace and then there are a few that you do restock after 3 months or so.  Those pellets are the ones that have a very mild scent (I chose Clean Linen) and activate the other pellets.  Those wear down over time.  But all of the replacement packets that I need are already included in the box, so I’m good to go!

So, the question of the hour: Does it work?

I will be smelling my laundry a lot in the months to come to make sure that we are not the stinky family…

But I can tell you I am pleasantly surprised that the first 4 loads I have done smell good.  They smell….clean.  No flowery scent, just a very subtle linen smell, and mostly just, clean.  Crazy, right?!  I have 4 kids, so the laundry will keep piling up giving me ample opportunities to test the EcoEgg again, and again, and again…

I’ll try and remember to post my follow up in a few weeks and months.

As of today, I’m happy!

Levi has officially transitioned to regular cups.  Another milestone.  No more sippy cups.  Yippie!

But the funny part about this is that he learned this summer all by himself.  By playing in his water table on the deck.  We would fill the table with water then give him a bunch of toys (balls, ducks, squirt guns, and yes, even cups!).  So, he made a big mess of water every time he tried figuring out how to drink the water, but I didn’t care since he was outside.

So, thank you water table.  You have served us well.

We got out and voted bright and early today–yay!  The Littles even got a special snack because they were so well-behaved.  Well, ok.  They were probably giving them out to all the kids, but I told them that’s why they got it.  🙂

I helped in the children’s program at BSF this morning.  I love that program, but I come home exhausted when I help in there!  Kudos to the women who serve in there EVERY WEEK.  They.  Are.  Awesome.

We had our annual pumpkin party last Saturday.  I know I posted a lot of these pictures on Facebook already, but I like to have them saved here as well.  We had fun costumes, delicious food, cozy apple cider, and amazingly warm weather.  It was a delightfully wonderful day.

Jennifer made this cool trifle–it was supposed to have a toy spider set in the center of the “web” but I thought it looked just as neat without it.  And it was yummy too! Other goodies included mummy cinnamon rolls, pretzel mummies, forgotten ghosts, pumpkin oranges, an assortment of veggies and chili.  🙂  Sorry, I didn’t take any pictures of the veggies and chili.  You’ll have to just imagine it in your minds eye.

It was not too cold this year when we were carving pumpkins.  Some years it’s FRIGID.  I love the pictures of got of Solveig and Chloe gutting their pumpkin together.  Despite her face, they did have a good time. Maddie decided to help Rebekah and Aaron carve their pumpkin by stabbing a bunch of knives into the top.  They were really good sports about it and let her just poke away.  I did eventually get her to move on to her own small pumpkin and then she proceeded to stab that one instead.  You’ll see her smaller pumpkin in the first pumpkin picture above.

Then we walked down to the haybales.  I just love those haybales.  They’re so cool.  This year they had the Cheshire cat which I thought was a nice addition.  The kids enjoyed climbing on them–although Levi wouldn’t go up with Chloe, only with Auntie Jen.

The costumes the kids wore this year were awesome.  The Aldrich kids were dressed as characters from Alice in wonderland (Mad Hatter, Alice, the Queen of Hearts, a cat, and a bunny).  The Nelson kids were dressed as Peter Pan characters (Tinkerbell, Peter Pan and His Shadow).  And ours were in their Halloween costumes… I feel like I really should up my game next year and have a theme of costumes too!!!

Josiah picked out our pumpkin design this year and was very excited at how it turned out.

I wasn’t myself this year and forgot to get individual pictures of each family, and somehow I managed to go the whole weekend without getting a single picture of myself or Tim.  Oh, dear.  I’ll have to be sure to carry my camera around more next year.

After stuffing ourselves with chili and goodies, the kids played outside until it was dark (and then a little longer!) and the Littles and women watched Ferdinand and talked.  The guys watched the football game in the basement.  Another pumpkin party in the books!

For some reason when I try and log into write on Thursday nights my site won’t let me log in.  It’s frustrating.  And weird.

I guess the moral of the story is that I shouldn’t wait until the end of the day to post… but I have early lessons on Thursday so the day really gets away from me.

Anyway, we’ve had a busy week of just life stuff.  We had the pumpkin parties last weekend, then Halloween on Wednesday which meant I had a lot of displaced lessons at different times throughout the week.  Then our pastor asked us to say something short for church so I’ve been stressing about what to say for days… I’m not meant to be a public speaker.  It stresses me out way too much.

Jen came over on Wednesday and took the kids trick or treating.  I did technically go along too, but she really does most of the work.  I really hate walking through people yards, so I just walk along the road pushing the stroller (that we’ll need eventually, but not at the beginning) and she runs through the yards with the kids.  Everyone has a good time.

She got some super cute pictures from that night…

More to come of these… but I’m tired tonight so I wanted to quick post one of the kids.  🙂  I’m so glad we are just about past the hardest phase of getting nice photos with the kids.  Levi was difficult this year (I know, that smile is deceiving!)… but by next year he should be a peach!  😉

Photo Credit: TGB Photography!!!