I have friends and family that live all over the US and most of them don't know what my house looks like so, I thought it would be fun to take some pictures of my home for them to see.  This first post will show my kitchen.  This is where I spend most of my time each day. 

While were in the kitchen I wanted to share my favorite cookbook with you.  It is called Make A Mix.  I have used this cookbook for about 8 years.  My copy is actually falling apart and I need to buy a new one.  This cookbook shows you how to make your own mixes such as:  cakes, muffins, breads, brownies, taco and chili spice all the way to main dishes for supper.  Then it gives you recipes to use the mixes in.  This cookbook saves me so much money and time. 

My Kitchen

My favorite mixes from Make a Mix.

Ok, by request from SchoolinRhome more on the Creation Museum.  Where do I start the entire museum is fabulous!  They have wonderful biblical displays as well as fun informative short movies.  You really need to make sure you attend the show "Men in White" it was great.  It will take at least 4 hours to go through the entire museum if you go through at a good pace.  They have a walking path outside as well as a petting zoo.   I was amazed at how organized the museum was and how much information is covers.  It covers creation and also teaches about salvation in Christ.  

Take some money; you could go wild at the bookstore.  I could have spent hundreds of dollars there.

I don't want to ruin it for anyone, but, I have included just a few snapshots of some of the displays we saw.

It was wonderful taking my kids to a museum and not having to spend the entire visit being bombarded by all the evolutional crap that most museums try to teach.  The main point of the museum is this:  We were created by a loving God who cares deeply for us; we were not mistakes of chance.

I have not done this museum justice by this post. It is well worth the trip and money to see it for yourself.

We recently enjoyed a short vacation to the Cincinnati area.  While we were there we enjoyed an evening at Newport Aquarium and the Creation Museum.  The aquarium was enjoyable but the Creation Museum was AWESOME!  It is a must see, so if you can add it to your field trip list. 

My kids at the aquarium.  Kayla 14, Kassi 12, Karri 9 & Kade 1.

We prayed so long for you.  I hope you know how much you are loved and what a miracle you are.  Happy Birthday my precious boy!

Back in May I decided to try cloth diapering with my son.  I wanted to try cloth before he was born but Hubby didn't like the idea until we found out blessing #5 was on the way.  So I ordered the trial pack from Green Mountain Diapers.  After about 2 weeks I decided that I really liked using cloth instead of disposables and then started building my current diaper stash.  Below is a picture of what I first ordered.

What I started with was:

2 1/2 dozen prefolds

8 covers    (My personal favorites are the Bummis Super Whisper Wraps.)

6 Snug to Fits

6 Small Hemp Doublers

6 Baby Greens Day Doublers

6 Hemp Doublers

Imse Vimse Flushable Liners ( I don't really use these since Hubby put in a diaper sprayer for me.  You can purchase a diaper sprayer through Green Mountain but Hubby bought the parts from Lowes and made his own for me.)

10 flannel wipes

1 Snappi

1 Large Diaper Pail Liner

1 Large Mommy Touch Tote ( goes in the diaper bag to hold soiled diapers while out and about)

Diaper Lotion Potion Concentrate

I also made a few homemade fitteds out of flannel and 3 pocket diapers.  I also used scraps of terry cloth and flannel and made about 2 dozen more baby wipes. I used a Serger around the edges.

The flannel fitted pattern I used the free Mama Bird Fitted Pattern.  It was easy to sew up but I rarely use them.  I usually just stick with the prefolds.

I used the KCK One Pattern for the pocket diaper.  I really like this pocket diaper.  It is really handy to keep in the diaper bag for errand day!

About a month ago I added the following to my stash.

For Kade (almost 1 year old)

1 Aristocrats Wool Cover

1 Nikkys Wool Cover

3 Night Stay Dry Doublers (I really like these they are so soft and keep moisture away for baby's skin.)

The wool covers are very soft and great for nightime diapering.  I use the Imse Vimse Wool Cure to lanolize my wool and the Imse Vimse Wool Shampoo to hand wash them.

For Blessing #5 I ordered:

5 GMD Infant Fitted Diapers

2 dozen Newborn Prefolds

2 dozen Infant Prefolds

1 Cot N Wrap Newborn

1 Cot N Wrap Small

2 Bummis Super Snap Newborn

1 Newborn Super Whisper Wrap

3 small Super Whisper Wraps

2 Litewraps Newborn (these run big)

I would like to add a few pocket diapers in the future.

My favorite places to order diapers are Green Mountain Diapers and Babyworks.

If you are on a modest budget I would suggest you stick with the prefolds and covers.  They are more cost effective than the fitted diapers, All in Ones and Pocket Diapers.

Washing

I wash all my diapers with Charlies Soap.  I wash about every 2 -3 days.  Here is my washing routine:

I use a front loader.

2 cycles of Rinse and Spin

1 Whitest White Hot Cycle with 1 TBSP. Charlies Soap and an extra rinse.

1 Whitest White Hot Cycle no soap and extra rinse.

I dry my diapers on low.  I don't machine wash or machine dry my covers.  I wash all covers by hand and let them air dry.  Machine washing can be hard on them and I want them to last so I can use them with furture children.

I was very shocked how easy cloth diapering is and I wish more people would give it a try.