Dyeing Hair with Kool-Aid

The girls have been asking to dye their hair since last Summer, and when quarantine started last Spring, I decided that it would be the perfect time. 

We attempted coloring their hair with a Moroccan Hair Mask back in April. Here was their before. 

and the after in Gretchen's hair. 

and Adalyn's hair. 

Megan's hair was too dark and the color didn't show in her hair. 

It showed up just enough that thee girls were happy with the results and it wasn't all bright and in your face. 

To apply, the girls washed their hair, and I combed the mask through their hair when it was damp. They sat and watched a show for 15-30 minutes, and then hopped back in the shower to rinse their hair. We dried it with the blow dryer. It was easy, but my hands were pink- ha!

Since Megan's hair didn't dye well with the mask, we wanted to try the kool-aid method. I looked up two different methods, and decided that the dip dye method would be the easiest. I boiled water, and then added 4 packets of grape kool-aid to the water, mixed, and divided in to 4 glasses. We put the girls hair in pigtails, and the sat the end of their pigtails in the water. 

The girls ended up sitting with their hair in the kool aid for about an hour. Every 15 minutes or so, we'd pull their hair out, dry it off, hit it with a blow dryer, and saw that the color wasn't deep enough for us. They later went to bed, and none of us were really happy with the results. 

But, the next day, we were able to see the color more. Because their hair is so dark, it was just a subtle difference.  Above is the end of Megan's hair compared to the top of her hair. 

And Gretchen's hair, which is slightly lighter than Megan's hair. 

We'll have to try out other colors to see how well they stick to the dark hair, and since Adalyn wasn't home when we kool-aid dyed their hair, I'm sure we would have had better results with her since her hair is lighter. 

Eventually, the Kool-Aid will wash out of their hair, and they'll have fresh hair cuts soon because they're so desperately needed! 

Have you tried Kool-Aid dying your kids hair? What color would they want?

Laundry Room Makeover

We've lived in our house for almost 2 years and we have finally painted some walls! DJ and I were sitting around on Sunday morning and trying to figure out what we were going to do for the day. I joked with him that I wanted to paint our laundry room or the downstairs bath, and somehow he agreed! I had been asking for a year, and he finally agreed! I was shocked- ha! Once I had his yes, I ran to Home Depot and picked up a can of paint and some rollers. 

Here's our Laundry Room before. 

I knew that I wanted a dark paint. I really wanted black, but the thought of it scared me, so I went with navy. We have lots of navy throughout our house, and going that dark in the laundry room didn't scare me. 

I taped off the baseboards, and the lower half of the room, and DJ cut in the ceilings and taught me how to cut in at the bottom. 

Megan really wanted to help, so we let her roll on the wall that the washer and dryer cover. 

It was slowly coming together. 

He may have scared me with this one! 

Eeep!! Dark walls everywhere! 

I purchased a new laundry basket a few months ago from Amazon. It's divided in to two sections and has a liner that is removable, so if it gets nasty, I can wash it. It also has a lid, so it has a clean look. 

I found these signs on Pinterest and had my mom recreate them. We had them already hung, but now I feel like they "pop"

I purchased these baskets. 

I received magnetic oil holders from Young Living, but you can find similar ones here.

Rather than dryer sheets, which contain carcinogens, we use wool dryer balls with a few drops of essential oils. I typically switch out which oils I'm using, but a few of our favorites are Lavender, Citrus Fresh, or Purification.  

We use Boulder Clean laundry detergent. I can sometimes find it at Costco, or I order from Amazon. 

For stain removers, we use a goat milk stain bar, but I've also made our own spray using Thieves Household Cleaner, Thieves dish soap, and distilled water. 

I changed out the rug, just to bring all of the colors together. We bought this rug years ago from Target and had it by our garage door. 

And our finished look! 

I'm absolutely obsessed with the dark navy walls. I feel like our laundry room actually looks bigger and it makes me happy to be in there when I'm folding laundry now. 

Costco Haul

It's been a while since I've shared a Costco haul with y'all! We're big Costco fans around here, but we're only going about once a month right now. Last week, I went to stock up on a few things we were out of, and I purchased a few new goodies, so I thought I'd share what I found! 

I've heard great things about the benefits of Celery Juice, so I decided to try Suja's Celery juice, and y'all, it's nasty. I have been able to get it down, by diluting it with water, and adding in some Vitality drops from Young Living, or mixing it in with my other favorite Suja juices, but I can't drink this straight. Megan liked it, but she also likes celery, and I don't- ha! I'm thinking I can add this in some popsicles or smoothies though for the girls. 

DJ loves Philly Cheesesteaks, so I picked these up for him to try. 

We love the Tilapia in our air fryer. 

And their Chicken Cordon Bleu is always a favorite around here. 

These roll ups are my favorite. I love making sandwich wraps with them, but they'd also be great for a breakfast burrito. 

We were addicted to their spinach dip a few months ago, but I stopped buying it because we were eating it so much that we needed a break. I bought it again and it's still just as good. 

I love that I can buy their turkey breast in bulk and freeze the other two packages. 

Organic Spaghetti noodles. 

I picked up these for the girls. They never get "cheetos" and I thought these would be a fun treat for them. Right now, they're stacked high in the pantry because we have other chips to eat. 

Hands down, my favorite breakfast sausage. 

Our usual spaghetti sauce was out, but I picked up this organic tomato basil sauce instead. 

These meatballs are so good! I made them once with spaghetti sauce and noodles, and once with a pasta and lots of veggies. You can also eat them alone with some side dishes. 

I have no idea what I'm making with this yet, but I thought we should try it! 

Our favorite smoothie mix. We also blend these and make popsicles. 

And I had to buy these biscuits again. I don't typically buy biscuits, but these are easy to throw in the oven, and they're really flaky and delicious. 

What are some of your favorite things from Costco?

Camp Gee: Megan's Turn

Each Summer, the girls take turns visiting their grandparents in Arkansas, in which we've officially dubbed it "Camp Gee." As soon as we got back from Florida, and celebrated the 4th and Adalyn's birthday, Megan and I headed to meet my parents halfway so she could spend 10 days with her Gee and PaPaw. 

We were up early for our 4 hour drive. We met her grandparents, had lunch in the parking lot, and then she was off. 

My mom helps them make a camp shirt each year. Megan designed this one. 

We facetimed a lot! While Megan was at Camp Gee, we were on a camping trip. Megan's cousin showed her how to chat through Facebook messenger, and it has all these different filters. She had me cracking up!

The toaster may be my favorite though!

She spent a few days at my mom's house with her cousin, and they headed off on their own camping trip. They also decided to dress a like and called themselves "Claire and Blair"

They explored the outdoors when they arrived at their campsite, and my mom took lots of pictures.

Camp Gee time is the best time! 

My brother and sister in law took the girls fishing and Megan even caught a fish, but it fell off the line as she was reeling it in. 

After the camping trip they spent a few more days at my parent's house. They painted clothespins and worked on making a wreath. 

They went swimming, to the splash pad, and even had a water balloon fight! 

And they got snow cones. 

Another facetime call, another filter. 

On Thursday, I made the trip again to pick her up and send Adalyn on her way to Camp Gee. 

While Megan was away, she learned all about Smokey bear and became obsessed. She's watched YouTube videos and has learned all about preventing forest fires. She even turned her build-a-bear ito Smokey! 

I think she had the best time at Camp Gee! It's such a fun tradition for the girls and I love that they get to make memories with their grandparents and cousin.