Lemongrass essential oil - Mom fail!

So I read that lemongrass essential oil can work as a mosquito repellent. Mosquitos LOVE me so I was excited to use this oil as a repellent. About 6 months ago, I dabbed some on myself before I went to an outdoor mountain bbq, and I had zero mosquito bites - hooray! So this year, my family and I were out watching fireworks on the 4th of July and we could see mosquitos flying about. I put the oil on myself .... and my kids. I was fine, but a minute later, my kids were screaming and saying that their skin was burning. I felt terrible!

Our neighbor (who's front yard we were in) invited us in and I remembered that water won't work to get the oil off (because water and oil separates), but olive oil will work to dilute the oil. So, my neighbors and I dabbed olive oil on my kids (you could see where I had dabbed the essential oil) and within a minute my kids were both calmed down and fine. I'm so glad that worked and that we were still able to stay out and see the fireworks (I was initially thinking we would have to leave and go bathe the kids).

Lesson learned..... kids skin is so much more sensitive than adults skin is. Essential oils are amazing, and potent, so remember to always, always, always DILUTE the oils with a carrier oil (like fractionated coconut oil or olive oil) BEFORE applying to kids' skin. But there is good news.........none of us had mosquito bites that night, so the lemongrass oil really does work!

Easy chicken dinners for two days in a row!

So sometimes on Sundays, I will buy a rotisserie chicken from Costco. We have it for dinner that night along with a can of Bush's baked beans, corn on the cob, and whatever fruit we have on hand; watermelon, pineapple, peaches, etc.

I use the leftover chicken for the following night's dinner.  I use the leftover chicken with this recipe from Real Mom Kitchen, which has so many great recipes! It's so good and easy but most of all, my kids like it too! Here is the recipe, enjoy!

Easy curls without the damage

My hair is pretty damaged but I prefer it curled rather than straight. I have been trying other ways of curling my hair without using heat. Braiding it when almost dry and then sleeping on it while braided, or twisting it up into a bun after a shower and sleeping on it. But I recently came across Savvy Curls on Instagram and decided to give it a try. It's a thermal headband you wrap your hair into and it produces curls.

I just got mine and tried it for the first time last night. You can do it when your hair is about 70 percent wet, or you can do it from completely dry hair, with some mousse. I tried it last night with about 70 percent wet hair. This morning it came out VERY curly, which is fun and I got really bouncy curls. Granted, I did have to use the flat iron a little bit, to iron out some kinks (see third picture down), but other than that I left the house with bouncy curls without using hardly any heat at all.

Next time I want to try it with dry hair + mousse and see if the curls come out looser. You can even work out with the headband on and the body heat you produce while exercising helps curl your hair. It will be fun to experiment with. I am excited to see how long the curls I did last night will last. I usually go 5-6 days between washes and when I curl my hair with an iron, the curls last 1-2 (sometimes 3) days (by day 3 they are extremely loose). So... we will see! I wanted to pass this info along to my Know It Mom followers, because the more arsenal we have when it comes to easy hair, the better, right?

Here are some pics of my first time using my Savvy Curls headband. Oh they have one headband that is a single band, or a "convertible" band that has two bands to get curls that are a little higher, and I'm guessing makes your hair even curlier than just the single. I bought the convertible band and used it as the convertible. The cool thing about the convertible is that the second band is removable so it turns into the single band. Next time, I also want to try just using it as a single band to see how it compares to using the two bands that I did this first time. The website for Savvy Curls has easy video tutorials that show you exactly how to use the headbands. Check out the headbands here Savvy Curls

How to raise awareness in your kids to being thankful ...

One thing I've started doing during dinner time with our family is to ask each person to name one (or more) thing that they are thankful for. Or they can tell us about something good that happened during their day, or the best part of their day, etc.

It has been a fun way to get my kids thinking about what they are thankful for and to help them realize that we have so much to be thankful for. Try it with your family today!

Create more room in your refrigerator . . .

As our family has grown, we realized that we probably need to get a larger refrigerator, as it seemed like we never had enough room in there to fit all of our refrigerated foods and drinks. However, buying a larger refrigerator these days is so expensive. So . . . we came up with a solution that worked very well for us.

We purchased a mini-fridge at Costco, for $150, which was a much more affordable option. Luckily, we have a large pantry and we adjusted a shelf or two and installed the mini-fridge there. We keep all of our drinks in that fridge ... jugs of orange juice, juice boxes, milk, waters, etc. Whenever guests want to grab a drink, we just direct them towards the mini-fridge.

It has cleared up a ton of space in our regular fridge and solved our issue of not having enough space. We love having all or our drinks/liquids in one area and have loved this solution. It saved us a lot of money and it could save you some too if you are running out of space in your fridge.

Picky Eaters . . .

My kids are such picky eaters!!! I worry that they are not getting enough variety because they will only eat certain things. Thank goodness for vitamins, right?

I've tried bribing them, threatening 'no dessert', asking them to have 'just one more bite', etc. So I came across this article tonight and loved it and wanted to share it with you . . . unfortunately,  it looks like that article is no longer available for some reason.

There were a lot of great ideas in the article but the main thing I took away from it was: you decide what to serve and when, and they decide what to eat and how much. No bribes, threats, or un-happiness at the dinner table.

The article recommended a book from Amazon, there is the book they recommend.  Check it out!

Central Computer Area

Our kids are getting old enough now, that it was time to get them a computer. Actually, I had a very outdated one, so I got a new one, and we passed on my old computer to the kids. My husband suggested getting them desks for their bedrooms and eventually they would both have a computer in their room.

That did not fly with me! I don't like the idea of kids having a computer in their bedroom. There are too many online predators out there, too many inappropriate images, and it's just plain dangerous.

So, we came up with the idea of having a central computer area in our home where it's out in the open, in a common area. This way, it will lessen the opportunities to hide what they are doing or get into a bad situation. Since it's in a central area, I will check them as I walk by to do laundry, etc. and the kids can keep a check on each other because they will be side by side.

We invested in a long desk/table type of unit and for now, we have my old computer there, which they share, but eventually they will both have their own, next to each other. This is a great study area and I recently found the cutest maps to hang on the wall, above their workspace.

I admit, I am terrible when it comes to geography and don't want my kids growing up not knowing where places are in the world. These maps are custom made so you can choose your colors and personalize whatever you want it to say at the top, etc. They look pretty and they are educational... win-win! I found them on Etsy by a shop called Urban Tickle. Here is the link to the Maps