Homemade Baby Products

This week my girls weren't feeling well so I stayed home from church with them, and daddy took the boys with him.  I was sad to miss church but it was fabulous to have time to spend just us girls.  We spent most of the time in the kitchen.  We made yummy cinnamon rolls for daddy (his favorite dessert) and we also made  baby lotion.  The night before my sweet husband stood by and watched me make diaper cream. I am excited that my recipe turned out and am excited to share it with you.  Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures. :( But I will take one today of my finished product and add it to this post. :)

Homemade diaper cream ( and its cloth diaper safe) 

1/2 oz beeswax
3 1/2 oz of oils  I used a combination of olive oil, vitamin E oil, and coconut oil
Tea Tree Oil
Lavender oil, optional
4 oz tin or jar

Put your beeswax in a glass measuring cup and place it in a pan of water.  Heat over medium heat until the beeswax is completely melted.  Then add your oils slowly.  The beeswax will harden a little when you dump your oils in, but no worries it will melt back down.  Keep heating it until everything is blended and melted back down.  Add 5 or so drops of tea tree oil and remove from heat. Now dump your ointment into a jar and let it cool.

I had some 4 oz tins that I got from Bulk Herb Store I filled it and had a little left so I emtiep out a chap stick tube I had and dumped the last bit in it. Now I have a tube of fabulous chap stick and a 4 oz tube of diaper ointment.

I am glad to report that my ointment turned out well and it improved my babies awful diaper rash in just one change ( by awful I mean blisters and bleeding caused from a food allergy.)  I had tried lots of creams. I m so happy I found one that works.  Don't use to much though it is very concentrated. :)

If you decide you don't want to make your own send me a message at crawleyfamily@ymail.com for more information.

Lotion

I wanted to make my own baby lotion so I found a few recipes and ideas and made my own.

3 Tb. shea butter
3 Tb olive oil
1T coconut oil
1 T vitamin E oil
2 T beeswax
1 cup of distilled water
lavender essential oil

So I put the beeswax, Shea butter and water in a glass measuring cup and then placed it in a pan of water. I then heated it iver medium heat until all was melted together. Then I put it in my blender and slowly added the remaining ingredients and turned the blender on until all was mixed well. Then I put it in a container to let it cool.

Over all I wasn't happy with this recipe because the water separated from the oils.  But after getting most of the water drained out the blend of oils made a wonderful lotion although I used way too much lavender oil. So next time I am just going to use a mixture of oils and have the Shea butter be the thickener. I will post how it goes when I get to it.

Hot Car Crayons

A few years ago someone gave us a whole bunch of crayons.  I decided we would would repurpose them into new cool crayons.  Well two years later they were still sitting in the same bag and had been through 4 moves.  So I finally decided it was time to make them.
   

So we peeled the crayons

and  peeled the crayons

and peeled the crayons!

Then we brok them into small pieces and started sorting by color.  Then we decided sortign was to much work so we just threw them on a cookie sheet.

Don't they look pretty!

Malachi ate a snack and watched us work. 

WE put them in molds. This was a silicone ice cube tray

Then we put them on the cookie sheet and put them in the hot van for a few hours.

A few hours later they where all melted and I took them and put them in the freezer so they would cool quickly! Be sure to use an oven mitt when you get them out of the car. They will be very very hot!

Melted in a muffin tin

After they cooled we had some really cool crayons. 

Our Cute Greenhouse

I want to make a green house! That is what I said to my husband and he gave me this look of like Yeah right !  where are we going to get the stuff to make a green house?  and I said Well, i found an idea on Pinterest!. :) He smiles and nods and goes on.  So Saturday I said Alright lets make a green house.  And so David and David II went into the timber and brought out 4 big green branches and we got to work!. He cleaned them up and I helped bend them over our square foot garden boxes.  

So here is what they looked like before we trimmed the top.  We had to hook two together for one set and he says well "we don't have twine" I say "what about Wild grape vines" he says "I don't think that will work"  But we tried it and IT worked!!! 

Front view of our cute garden. :)

And the top tied together with wild grapevines. :)

And the plastic covering. 

A side pic

Evanny is standing infront of my other miniature green house (AKA an old lettuce container. I started herbs in.  We will see how it turns out.

  So My green house worked.  And we didn't have to buy anything!! Yay! for being resourceful.
We where also given tomato, pepper, broccoli and cauliflower plants. I am so excited to see how well they produce. :)

The End of a Chapter

Okay,  I have wanted to share this for so long but never felt like I had an end to the story so here it goes.

About two years ago God called us to follow him and go serve at Gods Mountain Youth camp in Rushville, MO.  So we had a huge garage sale and sold everything we had and loaded our three kiddos up and headed out.  We moved in June 1st so we could be there for camp season.  When I say we sold everything I mean everything!! We sold pretty well everything we owned including our second car to pay off debt.  So here we were where God wanted us to be and the summer was fabulous!! I led a beautiful girl named Hannah to Christ and I met some wonderful people.  Then winter came and it wasn't bad, but a bit more stressful.  We were not payed staff, we raised support as a missionary would.  Well our support wasnt cutting it so David had to get a job.  Which meant he was at the camp less, so I had to take on his cleaning duties as well as my kitchen duties plus I was pregnant and puking all the time and homeschooling my other kiddos.  I had a lot on my plate!! But We were following God and all was well or so we thought.  

One beautiful April day we had a fabulous time as a family.  We cleaned the camp together then planted our cute little square foot garden only to have our sunshine turn to a storm within minutes.  We had a meeting with the camp directors. We thought we had been doing better and that we were getting everything done but they didn't feel the same way and after being there just under a year we were asked to leave.  

I wanted to give up I felt like God had left us.  I was 8 months pregnant and my baby who was to be born at home was due May 10th and we were supposed to be out by May 1st. I was depressed and basically cried for an entire month. I couldn't face the staff because I didn't want them to see me cry.  I was an emotional wreck (remember I was 8 months pregnant and if you have been pregnant or know someone that has you know what that is like.) So I never left my house, except to go to church which I didnt want to do either but I did.  During that terrible time in my life this song struck my heart.

Sometimes every one of us feels
Like we’ll never be healed
Sometimes
Sometimes every one of us aches
Like we’ll never be saved
Sometimes

I felt like I would never have faith again. I felt like God had abandoned me.

When we’ve given up
Let Your healing come
When there’s nothing left
Let Your healing come
‘Til we’re rising up
Let Your healing come
Where You go, we will follow
Where You go, we will follow

I Knew I was going to go, but was so confused because we followed you God Why are you leaving us?  I wanted to give up on myself, on God and on all of my friends at Gods Mountain.  I felt betrayed.

It’s Your love that we adore
It’s like a sea without a shore
We’re lost in You, we’re lost in You
It’s Your love that we adore
It’s like a sea without a shore
We’re lost in You, we’re lost in You
Sometimes

I loved God, But I didn't want to trust him.  I felt so far from him but I knew he loved me.

And risk the ocean there’s only grace
Let’s risk the ocean there’s only grace
Let’s risk the ocean there’s only grace
Let’s risk the ocean there’s only grace


Today at church I heard a new song and ended this chapter in my life. 
 


Standing on this mountain top
Looking just how far we’ve come
Knowing that for every step
You were with us

Now I can look back at the valley I was in and see just how far I have come.  Not only in life but mostly in my faith


Kneeling on this battleground
Seeing just how much You've done
Knowing every victory
Was Your power in us

Seeing that this was Gods plan the whole time brings tears to my eyes.  How could he do that for me?  How could he have my life laid out and have a plan for me?

Scars and struggles on the way
But with joy our hearts can say
Yes, our hearts can say

Not to say there aren't scars, I have plenty.  A lot happened in my life during that time.  We had no home, and no one really wanted to take us in.  I was alone or so I thought.  God was there the whole time!!

Never once 
Did we ever walk alone
Never once 
Did You leave us on our own
You are faithful
God, You are faithful

He was faithful, even though I didn't think so at the time.  I am ashamed to say that I had  a part of my heart that wanted to say God didn't care about me.

Evermore
We are breathing in Your grace
Evermore we'll be 
Breathing out Your praise
You are faithful 
God You are faithful

He is so faithful, so loving, so kind.  I pray that next time we get in the a valley I will remember that he brought me out last time and he will do it again.


Scars and struggles on the way
But with joy our hearts can say
Never once 
Did we ever walk alone

There were days I felt alone and there were days I felt Gods presence.  I know that I had struggles and I have scars.  But I am joyous that he was there.

Carried by Your constant grace
Held within Your perfect peace
Never once 
No we never walk alone


So in conclusion to this chapter in my life I would like to say Thank you God for the time spent serving you at God's Mountain.  Thanks to the camp for allowing us to serve there.  Thank you friends at the mountain.  I am sorry if I hurt you during my last month there.  and most importantly Thank you God for ending this chapter in my life and helping me move on to the plans you have for us now.  

Yogurt, You can make that!?

I had friends that make their own yogurt and thought well how hard can it be, I can do it right?  Wrong! I failed many times until I found this really great blog here.  So here are some steps and pictures of my successful yogurt making!!

First gather your ingredients you will need

1 gallon of milk

some nonfat plain yogurt

a thermometer(i used a candy thermometer)

a large pan

a whisk

a cooler

 hot water

put your milk in a heavy stock pot and heat over medium high to 180 degrees , stirring frequently.  Then remove from heat and let cool to 110 degrees.  This step takes a little while but you don't have to tend it other than checking the temperature occasionally.  While waiting for your milk to cool begin heating water and dumping it into your cooler.  You want the water to be  110 degrees.

Once your milk has cooled to 110 degrees whisk in your yogurt. I had good luck using about 1 cup of cascade fresh  brand yogurt that I bought from Whole Foods. After you have whisked it in dump the milk and yogurt mixture into a gallon jar. 

Now place your jar into the cooler of 110 degree water. I put a cup and clipped my thermometer on it so I could quickly check the temperature to make sure it was holding  110 degrees.  Close your cooler up and let set 4 hours.  

Here is the cooler I used.  After 4 hours open up the cooler and put the yogurt in the refrigerator until it is cooled.  I left mine until the next day.  

Here is what my yogurt looked like after I got it out of the refrigerator.  The plastic yogurt container is because I couldn't fit it all in my jar.  Notice the yellow layer on top?  

Here is a close up picture of that yellow liquid.  I didn't want to stir it in because I didn't want watery yogurt. 

So I put a towel over the top of the open jar and put a rubber band around the  top to secure it and then I flipped it upside down in a strainer over the sink. It didnt take long but the longer you strain it the thicker your yogurt will be.  Mine was alittle thin I may strain it a little longer next time.

Here is my finished yogurt!!! Yay!

So is it cheaper to make your own yogurt? 

32 oz yogurt  4.00

8 oz cup of yogurt around 1.00

1 gallon of milk 4.00

So one gallon of  homemade yogurt costs 5.00 

One gallon of store bought yogurt costs 16.00 

So Cheaper I think so!

These prices are not for Organic yogurt but I think it woudl still be cheaper to make it yourself even it you used organic ingredients which I plan to do next time!

Yes, They are all Mine!

I was just thinking about when I go to the grocery store with all of my kiddos. Ages 6, 4, 2, and 10 months.  and I wanted to share my experience and thoughts.

It seems that our society is so negative about large families, and why is this?  The bible says that children are a blessing from the Lord.

Here is a list of  common questions I get asked when I am at the grocery store.

1. Are they ALL yours??
2. Oh, any twins?
3. Is this a daycare?
4. Wow! your hands are full?
5. Well you know what causes that right?

And some answers, That I wish I was gutsy enough to say.

1. No I enjoy picking up other peoples kids to go grocery shopping!
2. Nope, I've just been pregnant alot! LOL
3. A daycare really?! What daycare takes kids grocery shopping?
4. Yes my hand are full and I think that full is much better than being empty
5. Of course I know what causes it!! and It is fun or I wouldn't have these 4 beautiful babies.

I am so blessed by my four kids and yes we plan to have more.  No we don't have a number as to how many. We strongly believe that children are God's Blessing and we like receiving God's blessings.  So next time you see a large family don't question them just let them know you think it is awesome that they have so many Blessings running around!

Special Clothes for a Special Day

I decided to make the kids matching Easter outfits this year! It was so fun and they looked so cute!

My handsome little 6 year old and his really cute tie . I found the pattern  here

My sweet 10 month old in his homemade vest onsie that I found here
( the onsie was white put this picture makes it look green)

I made the girls a twirl dress. I found the pattern here.  It wasn't difficult it just had a lot of steps!!  I cant wait to make them another one.  I think I will do a different style of top thought.  They took such great pictures I had a hard time choosing which ones to share So here were my top picks. :)

Easter, What is it really about?

We decided before we even had kids that we would not teach them that Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny were real.  We didn't want them to lose sight of what Easter really is about.  A few years back we started making Resurrection cookies.  It is a great tool to teach them about Easter.  This year I also decided to make new outfits for church on Easter Sunday. Something special for a special day.    So here is a few pictures of what Easter looked like for our family.

Ingredients to our cookies
* Note don't use stevia just break down and use sugar. 

I love this man soo much!! and I am glad that he desires to raise our kids to follow our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 

These are to be made the evening before Easter.  Preheat oven to 300F.
*** (this is very important --- don't wait until you are half done with the recipe).
Place pecans in a bag and let children beat them with the wooden spoon
to break into small pieces.  Explain that after Jesus was arrested.  He
was beaten by the Roman soldiers.  Read: John 19:1-3

Let each child smell the vinegar.  Put 1 teaspoon vinegar into mixing bowl.
Explain that when Jesus was thirsty on the cross He was given vinegar
to drink. Read: John 19:28-30

Add egg whites to vinegar.  Eggs represent life.  Explain that Jesus gave His life
to give us life. Read: John 10:10&11

Sprinkle a little salt into each child's hand.  Let them taste it and brush the rest
into the bowl.  Explain that this represents the salty tears shed by Jesus' followers,
and the bitterness of our own sin. Read: Luke 23:27
Alexis had a little to much salt to taste, LOL

So far the ingredients are not very appetizing.  Add 1 cup sugar.  Explain that the
sweetest part of the story is that Jesus died because He loves us.  He wants us to
know and belong to Him. Read: Psalm 34:8 and John 3:16

Beat with a mixer on high speed for 12 to 15 minutes until stiff peaks are formed.
Explain that the color white represents the purity in God's eyes of those whose sins
have been cleansed by Jesus. Read: Isaiah 1:18 and John 3:1-3

Fold in broken nuts.  Drop by teaspoon onto waxed paper covered cookie sheet.
Explain that each mound represents the rocky tomb where Jesus' body was laid.
Read: Matthew 27:57-60

Put the cookie sheet in the oven, close the door and turn the oven OFF.

Give each child a piece of tape and seal the oven door.
Explain that Jesus' tomb was sealed. Read: Matthew 27:65-66

GO TO BED!

Explain that they may feel sad to leave the cookies in the oven overnight.
Jesus' followers were in despair when the tomb was sealed. Read: John 16:20&22

Daddy had to console Evanny she was so sad to leave the cookies

On Resurrection Sunday (Easter) morning, open the oven and give everyone a cookie.  Notice the cracked
surface and take a bite.  The cookies are hollow!  On the first Easter Jesus' followers were amazed
to find the tomb open and empty. Read: Matthew 28:1-9

Our cookies Didn't quite turn out like they were supposed to.( I didn't beat the egg whites long enough) :(  But no worries we turned it into another object lesson.  We decided that our cookies didn't work because the empty tomb is not the end of Jesus story!!  Not that it isn't an important part of his story but it isn't the end.  One Day God is returning for us!!! Then we will be in eternity with him and that will be the end of Jesus story!!

Sunrise service at Granddads church. David had to be in front with Granddad.  Maybe he is a pastor in the making. :)