Outside Annoyances Come With Spring

Today is the first day of spring break for my children. I was really hoping we would be able to get outside and get the yard all cleaned up from the fall and winter. We did get out there for a little bit today but by the time we really got anything going the sprinkles started and then quickly it turned into a downpour.

Even though we can’t start using these awesome sprays yet, we will need them soon enough. When the weather starts to warm up, the outside annoyances come out. While moving wood into the fire pit today, flies were moving! I know they were only flies but my goodness, if they are moving all of those other things are not far behind.

We love to spend time outside. We live on a smaller piece of property and we are in the city. But we are off where we are not house on top of house. That has given us the opportunity to create a fire pit that isn’t close to our house, our neighbors house and we can still reach it with a hose for safety reasons.

We also have some hills on our property that don’t really get taken care of. What I mean by that is maybe once a year we mow down all the weeds and call it good. So that leaves a great location for creepy, crawly, flying, critters, better known as outside annoyances.

Now I have never been a huge fan of bug sprays they sell. They stink, they leave you feeling tacky, they have some toxic chemicals in them I am not really fond of, and anytime you use them I feel as if I have to shower before going to bed. Not that showers are a bad thing, but when you are camping and you hit your tired point, you just want to climb into bed and not have to haul all of your shower things down to the bathroom to get cleaned off.

Growing up my mom used to sell S.O.S. and we used that a lot. My grandpa used it on his farm, on his animals and we used it when we went fishing, in the woods for a walk and just played outside around the farm. Now that stuff wasn’t that bad but it was an oil that didn’t really absorb into the skin, so again that left the option of a shower before going to bed.

Again, I am not against showers! Still after a long day, sometimes I just want to crawl into bed and sleep and not have to take the time to shower before doing it.

So when our family discovered our essential oils we were very excited to see if we could find a combination of things that worked for our outdoor annoyances. It was one of the very first things I did mix up on my own. Really it was me who was excited to see if I could come up with something.

I didn’t have to look far for ideas. There are a lot of recipes that friends had used in our online group. I played around with a lot of them. We now have four that we mix up on a regular basis. All of them work fabulous for our family and where we live. They even work where we go camping in the summer. It really just depends upon the mood I am in when I am mixing one up.

We use them from the time it warms up all the way into fall. We use them when we are working in the yard. We use them when we are going for a walk or a bike ride. We use them when we are going swimming. We use them when we are going to sit and enjoy an evening outside. We use them for a walk in the woods to a fishing on the lake.

I do need to make one huge disclaimer for parents who have more than one child! It is important that your children understand that they can not spray their others siblings to make that annoyance go away when they are outside! My daughter sprayed her brother trying to make him go away because he was outdoor with her and he was annoying her! It did not work!

He is still here both inside and outside. They still annoy each other. They still annoy me from time to time. They have an amazing love hate relationship. Just a day or so ago I found myself posting on Facebook offering them to people!

Free to first taker: two children who do nothing but scream, argue, torment, cry, with each other but can’t stand to be apart and refuse to be in different rooms. #WelcomeToSpringBreak

They are so sweet though to each other. Jack David is such a caretaker and is always willing to share. Bella well she has hit preteen years, that is for sure! Still even when they would like to get rid of each other, they can’t tear themselves apart.

So back to the whole outdoor annoyance spray – it is not meant for children to use on their siblings (or parents for that matter). While it will allow the parents to send the children outside and not be eaten alive by the annoyances out there, they always return back to the house to annoy you!

It is a good thing I love my kiddos the way I do! We do use our calming spray a lot though when they are cranky! It really helps to mellow them out and then they are not such an annoyance to themselves, to their siblings and to you!

Heck I even use it on myself when I am feeling anxious, irritated or just in a darn right awful mood. It just has something about it that mellows you out!

So are you getting ready for the warmer weather season? Are you excited to get outside and enjoy the sun and have some fun? How do you plan on defending yourself and your family against the outdoor annoyances that exist in your area? Maybe one of these recipes will be your new go-to? Maybe you already have one! I would love to hear what you use!