Lego cupcakes

After Ivy baked the cake for Ian all(most) by her self

http://idasjungle.blogspot.com/2010/04/baking-cake-with-ivy-in-her-own-words.html

It was time for Ian to decorate his Lego's so he could pass them out for this birthday celebration at school.

so on with the frosting

on with the Dots candy.

very scientific process.

Ian was quite happy with his Lego's and I was very proud of my baking crew.

Homemade Laundry Soap

I basicly copy and pasted this post from here
http://pflugervillepfinds.blogspot.com/2010/03/homemade-laundry-soap.html (one fine day I will figure out how to embed the link in something else.)

I think this sounds awsome and I can't wait to try it. This post was written by the one and only Angela Walters.

Homemade Laundry Soap

HERE IS WHAT YOU NEED:

Small Batch

1/3 bar Fels Naptha (or bar soap of your choice)
1/2 cup washing soda (see note at bottom)
1/2 cup borax powder

Water

(Optional)2-3 oz essential oil or fragrance oil of your choice

small bucket, about 2 gallon size

Large Batch

1 bar of Fels Naptha (or bar soap of your choice)
1½ cups washing soda (see note at bottom)
1½ cups borax powder
Water
(optional) 2-3 oz essential oil or fragrance oil of your choice
Bucket, 5-6 gallon size


DIRECTIONS (large batch in parentheses)*

Grate the soap and put it in a sauce pan(stock pan for large batch)*
Add 6 cups (18 cups) water and heat it until the soap melts*
Add the washing soda and borax and stir until it is dissolved.*
Remove from heat.*
Now add 1 gallon plus 6 cups (4 gallons plus 2 cups) water to your bucket.*
Now add your soap mixture and stir.*
Let the soap sit for about 24 hours and it will (should) gel.*
Use ½ cup per load.


Note: Plugerville Wal-Mart does not have "washing" soda on the laundry aisle, just regular baking soda. HEB has the washing soda. I've made the large batch twice now and it's lasting me about 4 months, at an average of 8 loads per week. The cost breakdown is about 2 cents per load. A great savings.

The picture on top is one of the homemade hand soap bars I used to make. I've been wanting to get back to that as well.

Baking a cake with Ivy, in her own words

This is me when I was getting ready to cook.

I am gonna wash my hands and put on my apron.

You have to grease the pan. You get a paper towel and put it in the grease stuff and rub in on to the pan.


You have to open the bag for the cake mix.

You have to pour the cake mix into the bowl.

Then you measure the oil.

Then you pour the oil in the bowl.

Then you pour the water into the measury cup.

I pour the water into the bowl.

I'm putting eggs into the bowl.

I'm mixing all the stuff I put in the bowl.

I'm still mixing all the stuff I put in the bowl.

I mixed it all up.

Then you have to pour all the cake batter into the pan.

Then you have to spread it around.

I'm all done putting the cake dough into the pan.

My mom put it in the oven.

I finished it and mom took it out of the oven. And I have a picture of me holding it when it's done.

Annas gluten free bread, the suprising result.

It's a bread bowl!

Besides the consistently odd shape, this has turned out to be easy, economical and most importantly delicious gluten and dairy free bread.
Follow the link for the recipe.

http://idasjungle.blogspot.com/2010/03/baking-bread-for-anna.html

Next time you shop on ebay, travelosity or any other online retailer....

I go through ebates every time I shop ebay. It is easy to sign up and I resived my first check from them a few months ago. If you sign up through my referal link we both get a $5 bonus. So next time you shop online, Please go through them, and once you do I will get my extra $5 so even if you think it is to much trouble and don't want to mess with it any more you can feel good about earning me $5.- and If you like it then you can be happy to know that every time you shop online you will get a persentage back from it. When your balance hits a sertain amount (not including sign up and referal bonuses), they send you a check. It is very quick to use everytime you hop online to shop and if you use debit or credit card cash back programs then it is like doubling the savings.

So please even if you think this is not for you just try it once, make me happy and who knows maybe you'll love it!

here's the link.http://www.ebates.com/rf.do?referrerid=beLmR9GqAT%2FXTtxB54XSlQ%3D%3D

Astrid vs. the eye doctor!

Last summer we first noticed that Astrid was a bit cross eyed. We made an appointment and explained to her that a special doctor was going to be looking at her eyes. Because I was terrified of the eye doctor when I was little, I wanted to prepare her for what was coming. Jed and I both did our best to describe the process to her and explained that she might had to wear an eye patch to her her eyes work the same well she had the biggest panic attack of her little life. After about 30 minutes I finally convinced her to stop screaming and calm down enough to tell me why she was so upset. Somehow she had gotten the impression that the eye doctor was going to cut out her eye and give her an eye patch like the kind pirates wear. well I can understand why she freaked. However instead of getting her excited she was now terrified. We then spend a lot of time searching google and YouTube of videos of kids at the eye doctor. We finally found one that sorta worked. She watched that a lot and as long as it was going she was fine but as soon as the video was over she would freak again. In the end time helped and she was less nervous. This first picture is of her in the waiting room after she had her eye drops. Still quite nervous.

Finally! With Astrid sitting on my lab and half hiding her face the Eye doctor quickly figured out what my little bugger needed and she never even had to sit in the chair. This picture is when we were done and Astrid was very happy to have it over with.

Then it was of to Target to pick out her glasses. She was not scared at all this time.

And the final result.

She's a mini me!