Juicing and Leaf Preservation!

Well, tonight we finally tried out our juicer and it was SO wonderful! The juice is delicious and it was simple to make it. We made a carrot and orange juice for our first go round and the votes came in very positive. Little Bug loved it and so did Mama & Daddy! Of course it was kind of a mess to clean up, but really, I think it is so worth the health benefits.

We all have the crud. Daddy was gone today helping some friends to move, so Mama and the kiddos hung out at home. We were able to go for a walk this afternoon, and it was lovely! Little Bug and I chose a bunch of gorgeous leaves to bring home. Then I remembered a fun project from my YMCA day camp counselor days, and I found the directions for it in a kids craft book that I have...and we preserved the leaves by placing them in between wax paper and ironing them. If you do this, you have to first put a layer of newspaper on the ironing board, then a layer of wax paper, then the leaves, another layer of wax paper, and another layer of newspaper. Iron away for 30 seconds on each leaf, and then when you're all done you just pull the wax paper away from the leaves, and voila - you have preserved leaves! I have no idea how long they are preserved for, but I'm excited to find out!

Invasion of the...

BOX ELDER BUGS!!!!!!! People, they're back, and they're getting in our home through every possible crevice. I remember last fall when we found this home and we visited several times before we bought it, I saw GIZILLIONS of box elder bugs everywhere. Needless to say, they kind of creep me out and I have this tendency to want to squish them and get rid of them. They're perfectly harmless, and just happen to enjoy hanging out with us, but I don't like their presence one bit. We have four box elder trees in our backyard, so I think that is one huge reason why there are so many bugs. The trees look kind of pretty though, so perhaps we'll keep them around...even though my original plan was to cut them down and replant with something else.

On another note, we're hanging in there in our house, except that three of us are sick. Yup, me and the kiddos are sick. My illness just crept in today, so I'm trying to get rid of it using my SinuCleanse pot, taking vitamins, and not eating so much sugar! I gotta stop the sugar. It just doesn't help things in general. Also, I'm really excited to try my new Jack LaLanne Power Juicer! I've actually had it sitting in our kitchen for the last several weeks. It was a fun purchase while hubby man was gone in Asia, and now I am looking forward to using it and seeing if it might help me overcome this yucky buggy inside of me!

Despite being ill, two kiddos are surprisingly happy much of the time. Green snot runs down their faces and they keep smiling at me - precious. And to top it off, we had a chance to take some outdoor photos today when Daddy came home from work. We were jumping in the leaves and it was fun and colorful!

That's all for now! Gotta go feed the littlest bug...