Happy 4th Birthday Ayden!!

Whew!  It's been a crazy couple of weeks, but I made it through to the other side and I still have a smile on my face (and a few pictures to share)!

First, have I mentioned yet how incredibly blessed I am to have such a supportive family?  Because I am...I really am.  I'm a stay-at-home-mom who recently decided to learn how to make soap, and with no questions asked, both of my children's grandmothers agreed to help with the kids while I was off learning this new craft.  Then my neck went out and the grandmothers/heroines stepped up their game BIG TIME, taking shifts and coordinating schedules so that I wouldn't re-injure myself caring for and picking up the littles.

I tried to take it easy...I really did.  But it's taking so long for my neck to heal and I was anxious to do something productive and I just so happened to have a bunch of soap-making ingredients nearby and a lovely husband who was willing to do the heavy lifting for me.  (That bordered on a run-on sentence but you get a picture of the frantic voices in my head).  Anyway I had a great excuse...one of my best friend's son was turning 4 (adorable Ayden) and I was doing the party favors!  Take a moment to soak in the adorableness that is this little boy...

I know...those eyes, that smile.  He's too cute for words!  The kids had so much fun at the party.  There was a petting zoo...

...and a bouncy house...

...and did I mention that Ayden's 10-year-old cousin made his birthday cake??  

Now the party favors...each child received a bag with one bar of soap with little farm animals embedded inside, and three miniature bath bombs with water-soluble images melted on the front wrapped up in a pretty little package.

Ninety miniature bath bombs with water-soluble images melted on.  And I really did have fun doing it!  

 Here's a close up of the soap...the kids love them!!

Happy birthday, Ayden!!

Lucy Kat Soaps

Howdy!  Thanks for stopping by my blog!  As many of you know, I am starting a business selling homemade bath and body products called Lucy Kat Soaps.  La La Lucy Kat will be ground zero for said business; there is so much that I probably should have accomplished before setting up an online presence, but I found it hard to move forward until this was done.  I am so excited!

As I type, Madeline (3.5 years) and Danny Sam (15 months) happily chase a rubber ball up and down the foyer, Mike sits in the Lazy Boy surfing Reddit, Pandora's classical music station plays something from the Pirates of Penzance, while I sip my coffee (still hot without having been reheated in the microwave - unheard of!).  This is the definition of a fantastical family morning; the kind that my pre-motherhood brain imagined would be the rule but is the exception.

So it seems this is the perfect day to "go public" with my plans.  

Lucy Kat Soaps is still an infant...a newborn actually, more like a preemie.  I have yet to register for a Tax ID, yet to make a single dollar, though I have been commissioned to make some adorable soapy party favors for one of my favorite little 4-year olds at the end of the month!  Oh yes, there will be pictures and posts.  

So there is much to do, much to learn.  I have a short-term vision and I have a long-term vision.  I have supplies.  But most importantly, SO importantly, I have a support structure.  My husband didn't even blink when I told him that I had already spent over a thousand dollars on supplies, equipment and learning; my amazing mom and mother-in-law have tirelessly donated hours and hours of babysitting time while I attend my apprenticeship with the generous owner of a local handmade soap business in Austin.  My daughter is always happy to test out my latest bath fizzies...

Halloween bath fizzies and cupcake bath fizzies turn bathtime into a spooky and swampy experience

...or lip balm...

Beeswax, shea butter, coconut and sweet almond oils and tinted with dusty rose mica

...and my little boy only cries a little when I tell him he cannot eat the petit four soap...

The Tangerine Cupcake fragrance from Bramble Berry is my absolute favorite!

...and bath truffle that smells like a cross between marzipan and a box of chocolate...

Decadent combination of cocoa and shea butters and Himalayan Pink Sea Salt

...gratuitous picture of lavender bath truffles...

Cocoa and shea butter, lavender essential oil and kaolin clay...over.the.top.

I am the luckiest woman in the world.  

Coffee is now cold and Pandora is playing ads; the dog is barking and the kids are eerily quiet.  Follow me, won't ya?