Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Case of the Mondays

Yesterday was yet another low key day. Because of the holidays, there haven't been as many MOM group activities and because of the cold weather, we've been stuck inside a lot, so not a whole lot of exciting stuff going on here lately. So, yesterday, I needed to run to Target to pick up some baby wipes and a last minute gift idea for the boys, but somehow I managed to get so behind on the boys laundry that they were out of clothes. They don't have many pants that fit really good, so it doesn't take long to run out of clothes. So, I threw a load in and we waited around in our pjs until it was done so they'd have something to wear out.
This is how the boys entertain themselves.


Greg took the drawers out of the cabinets and the boys love all the room in there now.



 The boys are climbing like crazy now on anything and everything.



Evan appreciating the Christmas tree.


haha, just kidding, he was watching tv. :)


Carter woke up from his nap before Evan did, so I let him look at himself in my camera and took some pictures of him. He loved seeing himself.



I decied to get some plastic balls, I saw an idea on Pinterest of filling a pack-n-play with these balls for a little homemade ball pit. We have a pack-n-play up in the living room blocking off part of the room and I thought it'd be perfect to turn it into something the boys can play in since it's there anyways. We also have another one that we store upstairs, so I got two bags of balls, I thought it might be nice to be able to turn the one upstairs into a ball pit so when I need to get things done upstairs, the boys will have something to do. The balls were really cheap at Target, so it was the perfect gift to get them for Christmas that won't end up taking up anymore room.

Here's the picture of Pinterest that gave me the idea.
I made spaghetti with hot italian sausage instead of ground beef for dinner. We had never given the boys spaghetti before because of how messy it is and because one of us (ahem..Greg) is super OCD about the boys eating messy food. But, I decided to finally let them have it. We stripped them down and gave them each a bowl of it. I was a little worried that it might be too spicy, but they LOVED it. They couldn't get enough. It was really cute.


30 Before 30

I know I've mentioned before that I'm addicted to lists, so it should come as no surprise that I've made another one. I mentioned my 30 before 30 list right after my birthday, so I thought I'd post it. I really, really, want to complete every thing on this list before December 6, 2012. Hopefully, I'll get it done. Here it is.

30 Before 30
  1. Complete Project 365
  2. Join a Church
  3. Read the Bible (at least some of it)
  4. Write a new "About Me" section for my blog
  5. make a full southern meal from scratch (chicken fried steak, green beans, biscuits, gravy, mashed potatoes, red velvet cake, and sweet tea)
  6. Take a fun/creative class (either photography, cake decorating, etc)
  7. get the boys baptized/dedicated
  8. lose 50lbs
  9. floss daily
  10. complete a couch to 5k progam
  11. donate to a charity
  12. send 2 care packages to deployed soliders
  13. find a house cleaning schedule that works for me
  14. get a professional blog background
  15. enroll the boys in a part time preschool (2 half days a week)
  16. take the boys to the zoo
  17. learn how to use my camera and read my "Nikon D60 For Dummies"
  18. Stop cussing
  19. Finish my dad's retirement scrapbook
  20. go on a family vacation
  21. find a babysitter for date nights
  22. start using coupons
  23. plan a menu each week and shop efficiently
  24. clean and organize the entire house (this will take me a year!)
  25. decorate the master bath
  26. switch boys rooms and decorate/paint
  27. cut out soda except when eating out
  28. add pictures to all the frames
  29. be more positve and thankful
  30. join a gym and workout 3-4 times a week
So, there it is. I went through my 101 in 1001 list and picked the ones that were the most important to me and wrote them down. It's a long list and a year will fly by, but hopefully I can get them all checked off. I'll document my progress here on the blog. I'm excited to get started.

*I plan to start project 365 on January 1st.

***since I originally posted this, I have decided to change #29 to being more involved in MOPS and my MOMs club***

Monday, December 19, 2011

Weekend

Greg had Friday off, so we had a nice little 3 day weekend together. But, it didn't seem like it, the days really flew by. Friday, Greg kept the boys while I ran a couple of errands, an appointment and some shopping. Then, we went by ACAC (a local gym) and joined. We tried it in July but the boys didn't seem quite ready to stay in the childcare center, we're really hoping they're ready now because we think it'd be good for all of us. Saturday & Sunday, I finished up the goodies I plan on giving out and ran a basket of them over to our neighbor. Today, I plan on giving out the rest. We wrapped all the Christmas presents, got the basement and guest room ready for my family who's coming on Friday, went grocery shopping, did a little last minute Christmas shopping, and played with the boys. We didn't do anything really fun or exciting, but it was still a pretty busy weekend. We did have time on Saturday to rent a movie and we chose "My Idiot Brother", Greg hated it and I thought it had a nice little message, but I wish we had rented something better. Normally, I wouldn't mind if a movie we got wasn't the best, but we don't have a ton of extra time, so I'd like for something we spend 2 hours on to be worth it.

Here's some of the pics from the weekend.

The goodies I've been working on last week.

I was so excited to make these labels and finally get to use my color printer that Greg bought me the day after Thanksgiving.

I picked up this spread at World Market to stick in the basket. I got us a chocoloate and bananas one. They're delicious!!

Christmas sugar cookies.


I passed this while I was out on Friday. I could not believe all the ornaments on this tree! They must have spent so much time on this.

We had to run by Old Navy this weekend and get the boys some more jeans. Old Navy is right next to Chipotle, so we grabbed some lunch. We got the boys a kids meal, and I thought it was so cute, look at that tiny bag of chips!! I may have saved the bag to scrapbook. It was too cute not too. (the boys scrapbook is one of the 3,567 things I have on my to do list to work on when I have time)

yep, they're wearing their hats again. It's been really cold so we put them on the boys to wear from the car to the store and they like wearing them, so we let them.

Greg feeding them some rice and beans.

Well, that was our weekend. We don't have much fun stuff planned for this week, just getting the house cleaned up for my family on Friday, doing a few last minute Christmas things, and hopefully going to the gym a few times this week.

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Cooking, Baking, Shopping, and Playing

The title pretty much sums up the week. I have been working on gifts to give to some people, just some cookie mix mason jars and baked goods, but with two little ones, it's taking up a lot of time. I made some pretzle/kisses things to go in the gifts, some Pilsbury sugar cookies, snickerdoodles, and I'm making some chocolate covered pretzles tonight. I'm hoping to give them out tomorrow.. All the things I've made have taken the entire week and many trips to the store to get more ingredients. I also made a trip to Joanne's to look for pretty baskets to package the gifts in, and World Market, where I picked up some delicious chocolate spread (one for us and one for one of the gifts) and then to Michael's. I wanted to use a basket for all the gifts, but that was too expensive, so for most of them, I'm just using gift bags. I really enjoyed making and baking this week, but I'll be glad to have the gifts handed out so I can have my counter space back.

 Here's a picture of the boys "taste testing" the cookies



Evan looking for more, he saw where I got them from.

Look at that dirty face. (and those dirty windows!! maybe I should spend more time cleaning and less time baking)

Greg had a Christmas party at work today, so yesterday afternoon he took the boys out and I cooked a ziti for him to take. I also went ahead and made Paula Deen's Beefy Mac and Cheese and it was awful. It was so bland!! I normally like all things Paula Deen, so I was really disappointed in how it turned out. Greg didn't like it either, but the good news is that the boys loved it. They both ate it for dinner last night.

Tuesday afternoon, we took the boys to Bounce and Play again, and there was only a few people there. We took advantage of how empty it was and let the boys play on some of the smaller bouncy things. Then, we climbed up and went down the bouncy slides with them. The boys really loved it. They had so much fun. Right before we left we went on the biggest one there, after climbing to the top I realized the slide basically went straight down. I was so nervous and had Carter in my lap with the same expression on his face that I had. Greg wasn't worried at all and Evan was squeeling and couldn't wait to go down. It's funny how Carter really takes after me and Evan takes after Greg in so many ways. Afterwards, we went to Vinny's for dinner. The boys love their moose hats and wore them while they ate.

This afternoon after Greg got off work, I went to a pizza making party with the MOMs group. The host provides the dough and sauce and everybody brings their own pan, cheese and a topping to share. You make the pizza there and bring it home to bake it. The kids get to play, you get some hang out with the other moms and then dinner is already taken care of when you get home-just pop it in the oven. This was my first time going and I just brought Carter and Evan stayed home with Greg. They have one of these every month, so next month I'm hoping to go again and bring Evan with me and leave Carter with Greg. It was fun and I think Carter had a good time.

Carter loved this little bench/stool there.

This little boy was born on the same day as Evan and Carter. They got along really well.


Carter was watching the older kids make their own pizzas and looked like he wanted in on the action.

So, I sat him down and let him help me with the toppings.

He was doing a great job until he tasted the pepperoni, and then he decided it was much more fun to eat the toppings.

Yum!

It's been a pretty busy week and I'm so glad that Greg has tomorrow off. I really love that he gets a 3 day weekend every other week. I'm looking forward to relaxing tonight, watching some Friday Night Lights, and opening this bottle of raspberry Italian Spumante that I found at World Market yesterday.

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

What I'm Loving Wednesday

It's been several weeks since I've been able to participate, so I'm excited to link up with Jamie this week for What I'm Loving Wednesday.

I'm loving my new Keurig. I'm seriously addicted.

I'm loving that all the great gifts I got for my birthday last week, like my Jo Tote from Greg and the Paula Deen Southern Cooking Bible from my friend Brandi.
Now I can carry my Nikon camera around and not have to worry about it getting scratched up in my purse or having to carry around an ugly, bulky camera bag.



I'm loving Cinnamon M&Ms, I've had my eye on these guys everytime I go into Target and I finally broke down and bought a bag to try them. They were delicious.

I'm loving that Kelly over at Kelly's Korner is having a "Show Us Your Christmas Decorations" link up this Friday. I can't wait. I'm going to fix me a cup of hot cocoa (from my awesome Keurig ;) and sit down and look at all the Christmas decorations. I can't wait. I will not be participating of course, because my house is a hot mess this year, but I will be taking notes for next year.

This is my tree this year, looking pretty pitiful.

I'm loving all the fun, Christmas things I've been finding on Pinterest lately. I'm definitely making an Advent calendar this year, I want to go ahead and get the supplies while Christmas stuff is out in the stores so it'll be all ready to go for next year. I can't decide what kind I want to make. Here's some of my favorites.



and this one I found on I Heart Organizing, it's just a decorated wooden box with 25 cards inside with activities. Might be the easiest way to do it and would take up the least amount of space.


I'm loving Friday Night Lights. We bought seasons 2-5 online the day after Thanksgiving and have started on season 2.

And of course, I'm loving these two little stinkers. They have been playing so well together lately, they seem so grown up to me now. I really do love every single time they get to do something new. Even the small things, like riding in this fun cart at Kroger. (there's only one, and it's always taken when we go). They rode it for the first time on Sunday and laughed and squeeled the ENTIRE shopping trip.


What are you loving this Wednesday?