Homemade stick deodorant

This is an easy recipe that I have used for years. There is a roll on recipe that I tried for my last deodorant batch. It helped cover the smell but it didn't prevent the smell and I do not like the smell of body odor. So, here is my tried and true deodorant recipe.

1/4 c baking soda
1/4 c corn starch
4 tbs coconut oil
Essential oil (optional) I used 10 drops

First you mix it all together with a fork. I use a fork because the coconut oil is a semi solid so it is pretty firm when I am mixing this and I don't want to melt it or it will be too soft for the next step.

I don't measure it out well. I go by the texture. It should be somewhat pliable in your fingertips. If it's too wet then add more dry ingredients, if it's too dry then add more coconut oil.

Once it is the consistency you want, press it into an old deodorant container. If you don't have one then just keep it in a jar. That's what I do with the leftover stuff anyways. Then I just rub it into my underarm with my fingertips.

After it's pressed into the deodorant containers then place it in the refrigerator to set overnight. The next day they are ready to use and do not need to be kept in the refrigerator after that. If you just left it in the jar then you do not need to put it in the fridge. Use like you would any other stick deodorant.

Changes to the blog...

Just an FYI... I will gradually be moving all my blogs here so they are all in one place. Well, except my book reviews. I will keep topics separated with tags and on the pages above. Hopefully it won't be too confusing. I have already merged the kitchen witch blog to it. Yay! 1 down and 2 to go. :) just wanted to let you all know what's happening.

Homemade Lotion Bar

4 oz beeswax
4 oz shea butter
5 oz jojoba oil (or grape seed oil)
essential oil (optional)



jar
pot of boiling water
soap molds (or muffin tin)


First, measure 4 oz of beeswax. I put the block in the microwave for about 45 seconds to soften it and then just cut it with the knife. Put the 4 oz in your jar and then place the jar in the boiling water until it melts.

Once the beeswax melts, measure out the shea butter.

Pour it into the jar of melted beeswax.

Place jar back into the boiling water until it's melted. Add oils and stir.
Pour into molds. (Coloring is weird in this pic... sorry.)

Allow an hour or two to cool and then pop out of molds.

Ta-da!! Now, use it on dry hands to moisturize. It's really great. I will be keeping a bar in the kitchen for me to use when I'm finished with dishes. Also, my daughter is getting a bar. She is so excited about it. :)

What essential oils did I use? I used DoTERRA's Elevation on two of the square bars. The other square I will be using for my eczema patches so it has lavender, melaleuca, and frankincense in it. The rectangular one is plain... no essential oils. I thought that way the boys could use that one and not feel too feminine. They don't agree with me so my daughter and I may be using that one too. :)

Kitchen Remodel!!

So, as you know, we've been slowly and gradually remodeling the kitchen. The past couple of days has been the countertops. Yay!! Here is the only picture I found on my computer with the previous countertops and it was taken while we were working on the floors. :) So.... ignore the floor. This is a before picture for the counters! :)

It was tile. May I just say that I HATE tile? It is so hard to clean the grout. The only thing I found that really helped was the steam cleaner and I scrubbed the grout one row at a time with the metal brush. Very time consuming! Also, I whacked a can of biscuits on the corner of the counter one day (that's what you do when it doesn't pop open, admit it!) and a few tiles went flying off. Ooops! They never stayed again so we knew we wanted new counters. So, we bought new counters. Here are our cabinets counter free....

This was actually difficult to deal with. I'd walk in the kitchen and get the kids a drink and no where to set the cup or they wanted kiwi.... really, where do we cut the thing? Also, you must remember that since we planned to do this and add a bar to it, we decided to give our dining room table to another family so we didn't even have a table. I sat on my kitchen floor to do everything. LOL! Very weird. Also, our sink was sitting on the floor in the dining room. Where do your kids put dirty dishes? The sink. Where do you think my kids took their dishes? The sink. LOL!

The bar from the dining room. Yeah! Everything still needs to be painted so no judging... k?

Our new counters!! Paul had just finished the plumbing under the sink and I hadn't yet put the cleaning supplies back in it. Ignore that, too, k? :)

And the bar from the kitchen side. LOVE IT!!! Yes, those are pizza boxes. Our kitchen was a mess so we ordered pizza for lunch and had leftovers for dinner. ;) You think that's a lot for our family? Collin eats one large pizza by himself!!!

Now we just need to sand and paint and we'll be completely finished. HOORAY!!! :) I love my kitchen and now I don't want to move. haha! Well, you know, except for the fact that this is still a 2 bedroom 1 bathroom house with a family of 4, wanting to be 5 eventually living in it. So... yeah, we need an extra room or two. ;) So, don't  you just LOVE LOVE LOVE my new kitchen? I do!! I really, really do! :)

Christmas at the Smith's

We were going to go to my sister's to hang out with her family and my mom for Christmas Eve but then Ryanne got a bad cold and my sister's youngest is an infant so we were worried about getting her sick so... we decided to stay home. We sent a lot of texts and the children shed plenty of tears. It was sad but we all trudged through and managed to have a very fun Christmas! :) hehe!

We had finger foods at our house and watched Christmas movies until bed time. Christmas morning we got up and watched "A Gift to the World".

Then.... we ate breakfast....

It was gorilla bread (pull apart bread but with cream cheese and apple filling in the center of each biscuit while they're all smothered in caramelized cinnamon, sugar and butter.... yummy! So good yet so fattening. I also made bacon but half the pan ended up extra crispy so Arwen (the dog) got a Merry Christmas gift too and absolutely LOVED it!!! :)

Finally, we allowed the kids to check out their Santa gifts.

Collin got his first air soft pistol (a step down from a bb gun --- plastic pellets and only shoots about 12'). We decided he was ready to learn how to handle a gun and has had the gun safety talk and everything. Before he is allowed to pull the trigger he must say, "May I fire?" and wait for a yes from Paul or me before he may shoot. It works well. :) He also got a Skylander novel. Ryanne got a little tin container of lip gloss and a Cinderella book. They both got undies, socks, an orange, a chocolate orange, and candy canes. They both also got the Guess Who game to share. They were sooooo excited about their Santa gifts. They played with them for most of the morning. They hardly noticed the other gifts waiting under the tree....

We didn't get to the rest of these gifts until after lunch. ;)

Ryanne got from us: a ballet music/jewelry box, clothes, and veterinarian kit with a stuffed animal. From grandparents she also got a new tree ornament, a baby stroller, a doodle bear, high heeled dress up shoes, color wonder coloring book, and a cooking apron.

Collin got from us: a telescope (which was actually passed down from his great grandparents), clothes, and a wooden marble run. From grandparents he got skylanders, an imaginext dragon, beyblades, and a tree ornament.

The kids were spoiled! :) Thank you grandparents!!! :)

Homemade Christmas Gifts

My sister and I spent the day together yesterday doing a craft day with all 7 children! YAY!! We were making gifts for extended family. Of course, my kids no longer want to give up their gifts they made so we'll see how that goes. LOL! :)

 This is one of those Vicks Discs we've all seen everywhere. All we did was combine 1 c baking soda with 1/3 cup of water. We mixed then placed it in muffin tins with the paper (It sticks so I really recommend the paper!). We put it in the oven at 350 for 20 minutes and viola!! Once that was done, we used doTERRA Breathe and put 4 drops on each one. doTERRA's Breathe essential oil is a blend of laurel leaf, peppermint, eucalyptus, tea tree (melaleuca), lemon, and ravensara. This is one of my family's favorite blends and we use it regularly. It is the perfect blend for congestion, snoring or asthma. Yay!! :)

 We also made salt dough hand print tree ornaments. Whoo! That was a mouthful. Salt dough is super easy!
1 c salt, 2 c flour, and 1 c luke warm water. Combine it, shape it and then bake it at 200 until done. Ours took about 4 hrs. If it's an ornament, don't forget to put a hole in it for the ribbon! :) We gave all the kids (except the baby, hers went to her mom) their hands, paint and glitter. Yes, be very scared! :) LOL! They all turned out super cute though. Then, of course, we had to clean up a big, glittery mess.

Finally, my kids' favorite one!! We made aromatherapy playdough. :)

Combine 1 c four, 1/2 c salt, 1 c water, 1 tsp cream of tartar, 1/5 tsp cooking oil. Combine in a pot and put on stove top on low heat. Stir until it turns into playdough. Let it cool and divide it amongst the kids (we did a much larger batch for 7 kids). Let them choose food coloring and fold it into itself and then choose their essential oil. We had pink, blue, orange, purple and red colors. We also had some peppermint, lemon and wild orange scents. My kids love these They love smelling them and it's such a great recipe for playdough! :)

Lemon Essential Oil

One of my favorite oils EVER is lemon essential oil!! :) It is incredibly versatile, which I love. Multi-use oil... who doesn't love that? Retail is $13.33, Preferred Customer cost is $10.67 , and Consultant price is $10.00. So, what can this amazing oil do? Well, let me just tell you!

First of all, it comes from the rind of the lemon fruit. doTERRA oil is cold pressed from the rind and then gone through rigorous testing to ensure it is the purest it can possibly be. No synthetics or pesticides of any kind in it. Yay! :) It has also been FDA approved for internal use so added benefits that a lot of other essential oils don't have.

It is an antidepressant, antiseptic, anti-fungal, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antiviral, astringent, immune tonic, lymphatic decongestant, pancreatic stimulant, invigorating and refreshing. Doesn't this sound like a useful oil to have around? There is a warning I should give you about this and this is true for most of the citrus oils. If you use on the skin then be careful when in the sun. It can promote photosensitivity (increase risk of sunburn). So, if used on skin, wait 24 hours before going in the sun.

If you are looking for a simple detox, put a few drops in your water. The recommended amount is 1-2 drops in 8-12 oz of water. I always have lemon in my water. You should use a stainless steel or glass container as plastic absorbs the oil and then anything you put in the plastic container will then take on the taste of lemon, which may not be all bad. ;) Also, our bodies are constantly absorbing and inhaling petrochemicals (chemicals from petroleum) from the air, lotions and many other things we come in contact with. Our bodies cannot process this chemical so it wraps it in a layer of fat and stores it somewhere out of the way (my hips). Citrus oils actually destroy petrochemicals. Here's a cool thing to do. Take a styrofoam cup and put a couple drops of citrus oil on it and watch it each the cup. I did this in a used cup I had with dried cocoa in the bottom of it. I flipped the cup upside down and put the oil there. It ate through the styrofoam but left the cocoa intact. I found this quite interesting. Here's a pic. :) Isn't that cool!?

Diffuse lemon oil to help eliminate viruses and bacteria. It is also good for mental clarity by simply breathing it in. (Real estate agents report that by diffusing lemon oil for 15 minutes before showing an open house that viewers seem very relaxed and interested in asking questions.

Cleaning!! :) It is great for cleaning. You can put some in a spritzer bottle with water and clean where food preparation happens. I have a bottle with 1 part water, 1 part white vinegar and 10 drops lemon oil. I use it to clean EVERYTHING!!

You can also use it in food. If you need lemon juice or zest of a lemon, I often just use some lemon oil. If you don't have lemons on hand then you can make lemon-honey tea when sick with lemon oil. ;)

Mix some lemon oil with some coconut oil and you have instant energizing body lotion! Woot! I need more energy all the time! :)

Here is a list of 35 useful things doTERRA recommends lemon oil for. Some I have tried and some I have not but all that I have tried have worked wonderfully. I now always use lemon oil in my laundry and dishwasher. :)

Lemon-Honey Tea Mix

Does it make you crazy when you have a recipe that requires lemon zest or juice from half a lemon and then you have to waste the rest of the lemon? No one in my family just eats a whole lemon. Just not that appetizing. I started pondering things I could do with the rest of that lemon and then I saw a picture on a friend's facebook page. It was a jar of honey with lemon slices in it. This made me start thinking. Wouldn't it be nice if I had a jar to put sliced lemons in with honey (a natural preservative) covering it. Then I could just scoop out a few spoonfuls when necessary and I'd have the lemon and honey all there together for the perfect tea for my sniffley child or husband. So, I tried it and it works!! I have had ours for months now and the honey and lemon is still good. Sometimes we made honey-lemon tea even when we aren't sick. It's just yummy! Lemon is great for healing those sore throats and honey coats the throat and sweetens the tea. Yummy. However, this is not good if you're about to go sing. You'll want the lemon only for that. Anyways.... here is what I do.

Anytime I have extra lemon, I just slice it up and drop it in my jar. When the lemon is poking up from the honey, I add more honey. It is very important that the lemon stay under the honey or the lemon out of the honey will rot. Eeeww! That won't help a cold and will just cause other problems.The honey does become a bit watery from the lemon juices but that's okay. When you feel sick, boil up some water and poor into a tea sized mug and add two spoonfuls of your mixture. If it's a cocoa/coffee mug then you'll probably want a third spoonful. We love this handy little jar! :) I bought a decorative jar so it looks pretty on the counter too.

Oat-balls

There is probably a better name for these than this but it's what my kids call them. hehe! It is a favorite snack for them. It's our go-to snack because I normally have all the ingredients needed in our pantry and.... *whisper* it's healthy!. Yay! And here's the thing with them, all the ingredients are interchangeable which is wonderful. So, here is what I use but you can change them out.

 Ingredients:

• 1 c oats
• 1/2 c peanut butter, I recommend the natural kind b/c it has no high fructose corn syrup or sugar added. I prefer the peanut only one or sometimes the peanut and salt... no sugar needs to be added. Peanut butter is good all on it's own. (or sunbutter, almondbutter, soybutter, or whatever butter you prefer using.)
• 1/3 c honey (local is the best but it can be very expensive)
• 1 c coconut 
• 1/2 c raisins
• 1 tsp vanilla

Some ppl don't like coconut or raisins. Change them.... nuts, chocolate chips, flax seed...etc. You just need to make sure there is the right amount of wet vs dry ingredients in it. In face, I rarely measure the ingredients. This is just a guess. Sometimes I double it too. I just never know. I add until they can roll into balls.

 Then you just mix them all together until it's the right consistency. You could roll them into balls at this point but they'll be a little too sticky. It's easier if you put them in the fridge for about 30 minutes or so.

 Then, roll them into balls and eat. Ours normally only last a day so I'm not really sure how long they'd last. haha! Sorry. But we all love them and this is the perfect size for our little family. If friends are over or I'm taking snacks to a play date then I'll double or triple the batch but everyone always loves them!

Greatest Hair Cream Ever!

So, my daughter and I both have curly hair. Part of having curly hair is dry, frizzy hair. When my daughter came into our lives 5 years ago, I knew I didn't want to put all those chemicals in her hair. She was adopted and is bi-racial so everyone was telling us different things to put in her hair. I wanted a non-chemical thing.... something that was okay on her skin and in her mouth if it was accidentally rubbed there. I tried olive oil and some other things but then I tried this and it worked wonderfully for both my curly auburn hair, and her deep brown, course, kinky curly hair. :) Love it forever now!

Ingredients:

• 1 c Coconut Oil (the semi solid kind, not the fractionated one used in other concoctions. This one can be found in the cooking oil section at your grocery store.)
• 10 dropsMelaleuca (Tea Tree) Oil

Directions:

1. Mix ingredients together with a fork. 

To use:

• Scoop a small amount into hand (less than you would for gel or moose. A little goes a long way.) and rub your hands together to make the coconut oil turn to liquid from the heat of your hands and then spread through the hair.

Why Melaleuca and not another oil? Melaleuca is actually very good for skin. People use it as a toner. I found that it really helps my dry scalp. It is also good for repelling insects and I don't want any lice in my head. haha! I figured it was just an extra bonus.Technically, you could use whatever type of essential oil you want. This is just what and why I chose this one. =o)

I hope you love this as much as I do.

Homemade Dishwasher Soap

Not pictured -- you also need something to put the mixture in. :)

This was so easy. I mixed it and put it right into my dishwasher... no problem! :)

Ingredients:

• 2 c washing soda
• 2 c borax
• 6 TBS citric acid
• 20 drops doTERRA Wild Orange
• 10 drops doTERRA Melaleuca (Tea Tree) Oil

Directions: 

• Mix all ingredients together and stir. Yes, it really is that easy.

To use:

• You put two tsp into the soap dispenser and then pour a cup of white vinegar into the bottom of the dishwasher and then turn it on. Yay!! Then you'll have clean dishes. 

This actually worked. It wasn't a, "Oh my gosh! I'm never going back to store bought soap!" type of thing. It worked about as well as the average dishwasher detergent but it was sooooo cheap to make! I love that! :) So, enjoy. You could also use lemon oil instead of wild orange. I made a half batch of this so I could try it and I really do like it. :) I am so excited that I tried this. ;)

Homemade Fabric Softener

I break out in hives with fabric softeners... all fabric softeners. I have not used fabric softeners since I was a little girl. So, I was super excited to try this.

 Ingredients:

• 1 c Baking Soda
• 6 c Distilled Vinegar
• 8 c Water
• 15 drops Essential Oil (I used DoTERRA Wild Orange -- optional)

Supplies:

• a gallon container (mine was 1.5 gallons and I was grateful for the extra space for the foaming of the baking soda and vinegar.

Directions:

1. Start with 1 c of baking soda in your container.
2. Pour in 1 c of water.
3. Now, SLOWLY add the vinegar. It will foam so keep it slow so it doesn't foam too much. This is really fun for the kids to watch. On the bright side, if it does spray all over your kitchen then you have a head start with cleaning. The cleaner is already spread across your kitchen. ;)
4. Pour in the rest of the water. Stir slowly, again, it will continue to foam. This is when the extra space for half gallon of liquid was handy to have.
5. Add in your essential oils.

How to use:

Okay... there are a couple of different methods. You can put 1 cup of mixture with load of laundry into the dryer. Make sure to shake it up well for the oil if you chose to use any. Or... you could do it the way I did. I took an old hand towel and cut it into fourths then put them all into the container. Now, I pull out one of those towels and toss it into the dryer with the rest of the laundry. YAY!! Now I have fabric softener that doesn't break me out into hives. LOVE IT!! :)

Homemade Liquid Laundry Soap

Ingredients needed:

• 1/4 c Borax
• 1 c Washing Soda
• 1 bar of natural soap
• your choice of essential oils. I used doTERRA lavendar, lemon, and clove (30 drops of each type of essential oil).

Materials needed:

• 5 gallon bucket
• Pot
• Something long to stir with
• Cheese grater (I used an old broken one)
• Empty, cleaned laundry detergent bottle

Directions:

1. Grate the bar of soap.
2. Boil 4 cups of water. Add the grated soap to boiling water and stir until it's melted.
3. Fill 5 gallon bucket half full with hot water then poor in water/soap mixture and stir.
4. Add washing soda and borax and stir until powder is dissolved.
5. Fill the the bucket to the top with hot water, stir, put lid on and let sit overnight to thicken.
6. The next morning, add essential oils, stir and put in empty laundry soap bottle.

Pictures of process:

The grated soap in the boiled water.

This is step 4.

I filled it to the top. This one was kind of tricky b/c  the soap kept bubbling all over. haha! I had to position the nozzle correctly so as not to churn the water to much and make it bubble. :) Fun though. Then I put the lid on and let it sit overnight.

The next morning I was super surprised!! When I put the lid on the bucket the stuff inside was the consistency of water. I will be honest, I was worried it wouldn't turn out but, by morning, it was thick and soapy. Yay!! Absolutely perfect! So excited to know how to make this now. One bucket will last a LONG time! =o) And SOOOOO cheap! Hooray for savings! :)

How to use: A front loader uses 1/2 c per load and top loader uses 1 c per load. This batch will wash 95 loads of laundry for a front loader. Woot!! Enjoy!

Advent Activity Calendar

So, every year we do an advent activity calendar. Once again, it has started today. YAY!!!

1: Every year we fill David's stocking with slips of paper that list acts of kindness or gratitude on them. So, we start that today (there are already a few in the stocking) and we made a gingerbread village. Here are some pics.

Building our village -- did I mention that we gave our table and chairs away to a family who needed them? Yeah, we did so now we do stuff on the floor. hehe! But, we are building a bar in our kitchen and the supplies have already been ordered so not much longer.... I hope. ;)

Our village! I put them all together then the kids each decorated 2 buildings and I decorated 1.

The post office --  by Ryanne.

The chalet -- by Collin.

A regular house --  by me (Linda).

Gabled House by Ryanne

Toy shop by Collin

2: First Presidency Christmas Devotional

3: Christmas Orange.... On Netflix Streaming is a movie called The Christmas Orange. It isn't the traditional story of it. The kids know that story and have heard it over and over again. Santa even brings them an orange every year because of that story but this one is a bit different.

"Anton Stingley was born on Christmas Day -- so he's entitled to double the amount of Christmas gifts that most kids get, right? Well, when he wakes up on Christmas morning, instead of the 600 toys that he asked Santa for, all he sees under the tree is one single orange! So he does what anyone in modern society would do -- he sues Santa! But through a series of touching and humorous events, Anton comes to learn and appreciate what Santa was trying to communicate to him with just that simple piece of citrus fruit."

4: Write letters to Santa

5: Dollar Store Shopping --- the kids have saved money for Christmas shopping from doing their chores around the house. This day, I will take them to the dollar store and they will buy gifts for each other and their parents. I like to do this each year so they aren't only receiving but giving as well.

6: Cup o'Sunshine -- This is something we do each year. This can be a gloomy time of year for some so we get flower pots, fill them with treats and then use suckers to stick out of them like candy. The kids then choose people to give them to. :)

7: Christmas party at our church

8: Snowglobes (can't tell much about this one b/c it's going to be a gift for some people who read this blog. I'll tell you more about it AFTER Christmas. ;)

9: Polar and Mini-Van Express -- We are going to watch The Polar Express. Then I'm going to have the kids get ready for bed while I make cocoa and popcorn. When the kids climb into bed they will find a golden ticket for 1 round trip on the mini-van express. So, we'll all load up in the van with hot cocoa and popcorn and ride around to look at the lights.

10: S'mores by the fire -- we are some of the fortunate people who still have a wood burning fire place in our home. ;)

11: Christmas Cards!!

12: We will watch the classic movie of Rudolph (also on Netflix Streaming)

13: This is Collin's birthday so we'll be going out to eat for his birthday

14: Ice Skating

15: Collin's birthday party

16: Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol movie night (on Netflix Streaming)

17: Christmas at the Gardens -- in our community there are Christmas lights set up at the local gardens. They decorate them with lights, have Christmas music playing and give our free hot cocoa and cookies to everyone. We love it and go every year!!!

18: Surprise soap -- this is a fun activity. You grate a bar or two of soap, add a tiny bit of warm water to it so you can shape it into balls. You get a small toy or something you picked out and put it in the center of the ball. Then you let it dry and it's a ball of soap but inside is a small toy. hehe! The kids give these out to friends and teachers b/c they are so easy for them to make themselves.

19: Veggie Tales: St. Nicholas movie night (again -- Netflix Streaming)

20: Craft Day at my sister's. We're getting together and making a bunch of little handmade crafts to pass on to extended family. We make gift bags of these things. The kids will also make handmade cards for each receiver.

21: Yule Log activity: This is the first day of winter and the longest night of the year. So we talk about how a long time ago people would get the yule log. They decorated it and then burned it all night. So, we go on a hike in search of a log we can use and stuff to put on it for decorations... holly branches and such... all from outside so it can burn in our fire. ;) (this is also our 10th wedding anniversary!!)

22: We will finalize our gift bags and deliver them to the appropriate homes so they can be given out to the families at Christmas.

23: Special Christmas Program at Church

24: We have a book with a story, song, and scripture to read/sing each night. On Christmas Eve it has a whole little program in it and we do it every year! YAY!!

25: MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Thanksgiving

We went to my sister's for Thanksgiving. They live on 10 acres of land and have a large, beautiful house so there was plenty of room for the kids to play. YAY!! Especially since there are 7 kids when both our families get together. We need plenty of room. =o)

Before we went, Ryanne and I made rag dolls that my mother in law gave us the material for. She has decided she is grateful for all the toys she has now. ha! Silly girl. Anyways, here are the dolls. :) The purple one my mother in law gave us as a guide and then she gave us the pre-cut materials for the brown one. It took about 5 minutes to make... no sewing involved. Just knot typing. Kind of cool how simple it really was to make.

Then, food!!! Okay, Paul and I are trying to lose weight so we made a stuffing with brown rice instead of breading. Healthier. ;) Also, salad... ;) Trying to avoid all the bean casserole. LOL! Then, we had to have the mashed potatoes. Yes, high in calories but a necessity of Thanksgiving.

That was all we had planned on taking to my sister's house (my mom was there too so there was lots of food!) but then the kids all piped in. Last year I made cake bites and apparently they were a big hit. I had no idea b/c all the kids decided they wanted cake bites again. So, I added 80 cake bites to the menu. ;) True, they are simple to make but they are quite time consuming. So, here are the cake bites!

YUMMY!!! :) So much for the counting of calories, right? Actually, Paul and I still stayed within our daily range for Thanksgiving. Hooray for us!

It's official! He's certified!!

So, it's official. After a week of training, weeks of studying the text book and then a final test, Paul is finally a Certified Forensic Examiner!!! :) I'm so proud of him!!! YAY!!!