Unforgettable Childhood

We have survived our first week of Back to School. Nadia misses her sisters during the day, so she will be happy to head to preschool next week. It is hard to believe it is already Friday. Of course we have to start the weekend with a friend sleeping over tonight. (Sleepovers are very important to our 8 year old). I am surprised that they like to do them here, because my husband actually makes them go to bed. He isn’t a very fun sleepover dad.

I am going to share one of my favorite pictures of the week with you today. We headed to the park on Tuesday. Nadia dressed herself before we left. Her sisters couldn’t believe I let her leave the house dressed this way. I didn’t care. At least her clothes matched. She looked better than she does on the days that she is wearing horizontal stripes on top and vertical stripes on the bottom. When I try to get her to change those days she says, “I do to match mom, see stripes and stripes.”

She thought she would try to attempt the monkey bars, but this is all the farther she got. . .

I am linking up with Lolli’s Give me Your Best Shot today. Head over to her blog to check out more great pictures.

Okay, I admit it, my family does not live very green. Our town does not have curbside recycling. I bought CFL light bulbs almost a year ago and still haven’t replaced the old ones. However, I am trying to teach my Daisy Girl Scouts all about helping the environment so I decided I better start doing what I can for the world.

So as my first “Get Real Girl – Goes Green” post I am reviewing two products from Ecostore USA.

What does EcoStore USA have to offer?
Our eco friendly, plant-based household cleaning products are as effective as the leading supermarket brands, and our body and baby care ranges are gentle on your skin and are simply beautiful to use.
All of our products are made from plant- and mineral-based ingredients, free of toxic chemicals that bring people closer to nature with non-toxic, environmentally safe solutions that also help to reduce our carbon footprint.

Our products also help to ensure value for the dollar for our customers. We know it can be expensive to buy natural or organic products but we’ve found a way to safely super-concentrate our formulations. Our super-concentrates means that a little really does go a long way – saving you money by cutting down significantly on cost per use.

What product did I review?
I chose to review the Aloe Vera Shampoo and Conditioner. My oldest daughter and I are always looking for Shampoo and Conditioners that will add moisture. Both her and I have been using these products for the last two weeks.

What do we think?
My daughter can’t believe how soft her hair is and we both have had no problems with dry scalp. We both have hair that requires more conditioner than usual, but this has been with any conditioning product we have used. The product smells good. We both think this product works great and it is safe on the environment.

Would you like to try this product?
Ecostore has sent me another set of shampoo and conditioner that I am giving away to one of you. The only thing you have to do is leave a comment.

The contest will end on Wednesday, August 26th at midnight CST.

My oldest girls headed back to school today. They were so excited (I was, too!)

I am linking in with Seven Clown Circus Wordful Wednesday today so I can share our pictures from the day!

Madelyn is headed to her first day of 1st Grade. (I think she thinks when she comes home today she will magically be able to read the books that were too hard for her this summer). She didn’t even want me to walk her across the street this morning. I still did, but she was not going to hold my hand.

Taylor headed to 3rd Grade this year. She is excited to learn how to write in cursive.

Nadia wasn’t too excited that the girls were leaving without her. She was yelling, “Wait for me!”

The girls were ready to leave at 7:40 this morning. School doesn’t start until 8:25. Madelyn’s school is only about 5 blocks away and Taylor’s is about a 5 minute drive. . .

I love the first day of school!

Tuesday’s MckLinky Blog Hop is sharing a favorite recipe. I decided to give you one of my favorite bread recipes. This recipe stays moist and it is a favorite of everyone in my family. It is even pretty healthy! I have it on a recipe card in my box, but I got it from Taste of Home Healthy Cooking or Cooking Light. I can’t remember which. . .sorry.

Makeover Pumpkin Spice Bread
2 1/4 c. sugar
2 c. flour
1 1/3 c. cake flour
2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
4 eggs
1 can (15 oz) solid packed pumpkin
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 c. unsweetened applesauce
1/3 c. canola oil

In a large bowl, combine the first nine ingredients. In another bowl, whisk eggs, pumpkin, buttermilk, applesauce and oil. Stir into dry ingredients, just until moistened. Transfer to two 9X5X3″ loaf pans coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350 degrees for 45-55 minutes or until golden brown and a toothpick comes out with moist crumbs. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks.

Enjoy, YUMMY!

Vacation was wonderful, but it is so good to be home. I am working up a few posts, but for now, I wanted to share a few photos with you.

Exploring Sylvan Lake

South Dakota really is a beautiful state!

Cooking at the Campground. For now, our camper is our summer home. (I keep telling my hubby we are going to retire someday at a cottage by the beach!)

Reptile Gardens – touching the Giant Tortoises.

Have a wonderful Monday!

I am in a fog as I write today. I am still on vacation, which is wonderful, but I am a little under the weather.

I can’t remember if I told you that one of the reasons we headed out to the Hills was for my husband’s state softball tournament. So it wasn’t all play, we are cheerleaders for the next two days. (well, hopefully two days, they have to win another game to play tomorrow).

We moved our camper from our beautiful campsite in the Hills to a campsite in town. We thought we were brilliant because the campground is close to the softball complex so we could come back and hang out in between games. . .(we should always wait to claim brilliance until we have all the details).

Last night we decided to get everyone to bed early. We were all tired and the first game was bright and early this morning. Unfortunately, as we were sitting by the campfire we realized there was a lot of revving car engines. Turns out there are car races right next door. The campground told us they should only go until 10:30, (yeah, more like 11:30). I am not sure how we did it, but the girls actually fell asleep to the lull of the motors.

Not me, honestly, it sounded like our camper was preparing for take-off on the runway. I thought that we were going to be flying over the great blue yonder. Oh and did I forget to mention that I have a sinus cold. Yeah, so my head already felt like it was going to explode.

So much for our brilliance. It is nice that I got to run the girls back here to play in between games. . .and spend a little time at the computer. But tonight, I am taking a couple of tylenol pm and I am going to sleep like a baby.

Okay so I am on vacation and I was one day off on What We are Reading Wednesdays over at Simple Kids. Today is the day that my first review was posted. . .

I can’t wait to have time to write about the events of our day today. We are having so much fun. I thought I would share a couple of pictures with you. I probably won’t have much to share the rest of the week. The internet access I have is a little slow and unreliable.

It is raining right now, but we have had beautiful weather so far.