November Nor'easter

Last week we had a storm system stall out over our area for a few days. Conditions were horrible, with tons of rain and 60+ mph winds. Our trampoline ended up across the street in the middle of the neighbors empty lot, alllll the way from the far back corner of our backyard.

This shot is from our front door. Our poor trampoline landed upside down!




This is actually whats supposed to be the "top" side.


This is what it looked like after we flipped it back over!




And finally back in our own yard.


Also damaged in the storm was our shed door, our grill, grill cover and siding from our house. These things were only slightly hurt and can be fixed easily.

We are VERY thankful that the trampoline didnt cause any damage while on its "adventure"! It used to sit directly out from our patio doors... they could have been smashed - only recently did we move it over to the far side of the yard. Also, our oldest son's room is on the end of the house that the trampoline went cartwheeling by - it couldve also struck his window. It totally missed the electic box on the side of the house and didnt tear down any large branches. Most importanly, it didnt strike our neighbors house or do any sort of damage over there. Thankfully it blew into their empty lot next to their house, insted of into their actual front yard. Whew!

We did lose our trampoline, which is upsetting to the kids, BUT, all in all, we are very fortunate.

Fabulous Fighter

So, Im technically in remission, but I will be fighting cancer for the rest of my life. Fighting to keep it away, figthing it if it comes back, figthing to find a cure. I came across this cute little retro picture last night and just thought Id share - I like it!

~♥~ Learn from Yesterday ~♥~ Live for Today ~♥~ Hope for Tommorrow ~♥~

Deal of the Week

These are Huggies Pure and Natural diapers made of Organic Cotton. They generally run around $11.99. Recently I stumbled onto some of these diapers on closeout for $6.89. I also had a $3.00 off coupon for these diapers! Lucky for me, there was ONE pack left that would fit Caleb, so I snatched them up! One bag of Huggies brand diapers for less than $4.00 is hard to pass up! They work wonderfully too!

Some new things...

Not too much going on to blog about lately, but Ill see what I can do.

First, here is a super cute picture of my boys.


Ive made several sweet potato pies.. my Grandma loved them so much that she told me to figure up a price and she's take orders, LOL. I might consider. This isnt a good picture at all, bad lighting I guess... but here is one of my scrummy pies!


Ethan got straight A's on his very first ever letter grade report card. We really ♥ our new school!


Savannah made a Jonah and the Whale in Bible Class! Cute! If you look hard, you can see Jonah on the end of the whale's tongue.



Ethan recently had a minor surgery to remove a stint from his body at the children's hospital. This is him nicely medicated beforehand... he was saying funny things, like the Monsters on Monsters Inc like to eat waffles for lunch and he was really concerned with the color of the mattress on the bed. Was it green, or was that just a green sheet? Was the sheet made specifically for that matress in particular?


The surgery went very well and this is him knocked out on the way home!


These are our punkins out on the front steps! Spoooooky!


My sister recently made some delish-looking apple butter and I had a bunch of apples, so I thought I would too. After a vote, we decided that I'd make cinnamon applesauce instead. The apples were so pretty and smelled SO good!


All the ingriedients in the crockpot.


Just out of the crockpot.


I took a picture of the end result, but honestly it looks too much like puke to post! LOL, tastes great though ;)

Just a cute picutre of my little man watching his older siblings outside playing. If you're a Parker... you'll note the ears :D


And ooooone last picture! Ethan always makes robots out of his food, whenever he has the chance. Here is the latest, made of popcorn shrimp.


It also looks like a face in his applesauce (not homemade ;)).

Nothing else much to say... thanks for reading! :)

Perler Bead Creations

Its been SO rainy and cold lately, we havent been able to get outside to play or do anything really. The kids have always loved the perler beads so I dug them out for a few hours of fun. If you dont know, perler beads are little plastic cylinders made of plastic. You use them to make designs on templates, then iron them so the design melds together. Then you have a cute little decoration. Fun and pretty inexpensive.

The Eder Kids hard at work:


The creations:

Laundry Detergent

Recently I made a new batch of homemade laundry detergent... Ive looked around online for a while now and this is the best recipe Ive found:

I use Fels Naptha soap for my detergent. You can use Ivory, Octagon, Zote and the like, but honestly, NOTHING works as good as the Fels. I buy Fels Naptha here. Recently it was on sale for half price, so I bought a case.. it will last years. Washing Soda and Borax can normally be found on the laundry or cleaning aisle, also pretty inexpensive. Recipe cost approx. $2.

Homemade Liquid Laundry Soap for front or top load machine.

4 Cups hot tap water
1 Fels-Naptha soap bar
1 Cup Washing Soda
½ Cup Borax



- Grate bar of soap and add to saucepan with water. Stir continually over medium-low heat until soap dissolves and is melted.

Hannah nearly ate the shredded Fels Naptha... she thought it was cheese :)



Careful, it WILL boil over.


-Fill a 5 gallon bucket half full of hot tap water. Add melted soap, washing soda and Borax. Stir well until all powder is dissolved. Fill bucket to top with more hot water. Stir, cover and let sit overnight to thicken.




Looks like Jelly!

-Stir and fill a used, clean, laundry soap dispenser half full with soap and then fill rest of way with water. Shake before each use. (will gel)I use gallon jugs... they come free with milk and are easy to save!



-Optional: You can add 10-15 drops of essential oil per 2 gallons. Add once soap has cooled. Ideas: lavender, rosemary, tea tree oil.

-Yield: Liquid soap recipe makes 10 gallons.

-Top Load Machine- 3/4 Cup per load (Approx. 180 loads)

-Front Load Machines- ¼ Cup per load (Approx. 640 loads)

Using this recipe costs between 1 and 2 cents a load. Store brand detergent is about 25 cents a load and Tide is about 35 cents a load! This detergent works fantastically, it really gets clothes clean with little effort!!

North Carolina III