This is what you get....

when you ask a 2 1/2 year old to smile...

Uggggghhhh!!!!! I HATE LOSING THINGS!

I haven't been posting many pictures lately but that's because I haven't been taking any. The battery in my camera is dead and somehow we can't find the charger. We must have lost it in the move. It is so frustrating because I specifically brought it with us on our cross country drive instead of packing it just in case I needed it and obviously that was the wrong decision. Now we are searching and searching.... we may have to suck it up and fork over the money for a new one. I'll keep you all posted.

Laundry Soap

Today was the second time I've made my own laundry soap. The first time turned out really good so I thought I'd give it another shot. It is very economical and nice to know that I'm doing my part to help with the environment. I'm not usually this crunchy but I am always open to saving a buck or two. Some people were asking me for the recipe so here it is....(I can't take the credit for this though, my friend Meredith passed it along to me)

What you will need:
5 gallon bucket with a lid
Recycled and rinsed out laundry detergent jug
2 cups Washing Soda
1 cup Borax
1 bar of Castille Soap
Essential Oil of your choice

Fill saucepan with 4 cups of water and heat over medium. Grate bar soap and add to water slowly, stir occasionally until disolved. Fill 5 gallon bucket half way with hot water. Once soap is dissolved pour the mixture into the bucket along with the Washing Soda and Borax. Stir until all ingredients are dissolved. Fill the bucket the rest of the way full with hot water. If you wish to add essential oils, do so at this point by dropping 25-30 drops into the mixture(I just use Lavender scented Castille Soap and omit the oils). Cover bucket with lid and let sit overnight. (I do all of this in the tub and then move it to the laundry room the next day so that it doesn't get too messy.) The soap will gel overnight but will not be uniform and not as thick as the store bought stuff...at this point you can fill your recycled laundry jug half way with the soap and half with water. Shake the jug and it's ready to use. You will need to use about 1/2 cup of this mixture for a full load. All in all you will get about 10 gallons of detergent. This isn't as thick as commercial detergents and doesn't suds up because the commercial detergents add sudsing agents. It will get your clothes very clean. I still have to spray the kids stains but that is to be expected. I found all of the ingredients, besides the Castille soap, at Fry's on the laundry aisle.

It's pretty easy and doesn't take much time. Let me know if you try it...

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

This is a video of Suki from before we moved but I just found it and couldn't resist. She loves singing and rocking her babies to sleep. What a good little mama!

Suki's New Favorite...

This morning I took the kids on two mile walk along the lake. We stumbled across this playground at Lincoln Park. It was huge and had so many fun things to do. Suki was in heaven and asked if we could go back every day - too cute!

Wrigley

Carlos' sister and niece came to visit last week. We were so excited to see them plus we got to see her fiance play at Wrigley Field! It was our first time at Wrigley and it was awesome. If only the weather would've been nicer (It was a scorching 97 degrees) it would have been the perfect day. Here are some photos from the day and our visit. Thanks Meshell for coming to visit us!!!!!

My Happy Guy

We Have Arrived!!!!!

We made it to Chicago!!! Yeah! We got here last week and are finally settling into our new place. The drive was not as bad as we had expected. Max slept probably 20 of the 28 hours. Suki was pretty good too. She just watched her movies and as long as we let her out of the car every once in awhile she was happy. Of course, what would be a road trip without a few mishaps along the way... 1) I insisted on bringing this box of trash bags from my mom (these are not just ANY trash bags - anyone who knows how great these bags are knows that it would be worth it to travel 1800 miles with them) and we ended havin to strap them to the roof of the Sequoia. Well, of course they flew off while on the Interstate and Carlos had to get out and pick up all the bags scattered all over. He looked like he was on work detail. He didn't think it was so funny since he thought I was being ridiculous in the first place. 2) Suki had to go potty, well poop to be exact, so we stopped at some beat down gas station in Amarillo and the bathrooms were closed. We had brought her little potty with us just in case so Carlos set her up in the back of the Sequoia and closed the back hatch so that Jackson wouldn't jump out. When he opened it she was hanging by the strap attached to the door with her bare butt to the world and of course the poop flew out the back too. That one was pretty comical. Everyone recovered just fine!

Since we got here it has been exhausting and exciting at the same time. We are exploring this beautiful city everyday and even rode the El downtown the other day with the kids. Of course, Suki thought is was so much fun (Max couldn't care less). We are starting to adjust to our daily life here...going grocery shopping, playing at the park, taking Jackson out to pee and poop (that's been different!), and baby-proofing all over again. I should be back on track and start posting more now that we are all set up. For now, here are a few photos from the past week...

Our New Home

Living Room and the "dog"

One of the three bathrooms...

Kitchen

Master Bedroom

Ahhhhh, beautiful Texas :)

Carlos on work detail

Carlos and Suki on the train

Max chillin' in his new stroller

Me and Suki on the El

Are we having fun yet?

The fam in front of the old water tower

A beautiful park on the way to Navy Pier

Carlos, kids and Chicago Skyline