Change of Plans

So I was going to do the 30 Day Cleaning Challenge and Run a 5K this month. But, there has been a change of plans. 

First we are moving. Not far just down the street to a new rent house that has 4 bedrooms, Whoo Hoo!! All our kids will now have their own rooms. I am so excited about that. However, this means I need to start packing, like yesterday. It is only down the street, but it's not like I'm going to be walking down there  with 2 plates in my hands at a time. LOL. It's actually about a half mile away, so I won't be walking anything down there. I've got to get started boxing up all our junk... and maybe tossing some junk too. So, I will be doing a thorough cleaning of this house, but it will be after we move everything out.

OK and the 5K is also a "No Go" because I've hurt my ankle. I sprained that ankle in Junior High about 20 years ago. It's really silly to me that I could still be hurting  from that fall on the ice walking into piano lessons that long ago. I knew Piano Lessons were dumb. I may still do the "Fun Run". I think I can push through the pain for a mile, especially if I run it slow with my daughter. I'm pretty bummed because I was really making progress in my running.

OK, that's all for now. I hate not following through on what a set out to do, but you gotta know when to scrap Plan A and go to Plan B. 

Moving is so stressful for me, so I am quoting this scripture to my busy mind....

30 Day House Cleaning Challenge: Projects #5-#10

For the month of April I am participating in the 30 Day Cleaning Challenge over at Money Saving Mom.

Project #5 Surface clean living room and kitchen
I just have afters of this, forgot to take before shots...

Don't mind Penelope chillin' on the couch watching "Dorda" (as she likes to call her.)

Project #6 Clean bathrooms
Last time, I cleaned the Master Bath, so this time I focused my attention on the kids' bathroom. Why is there a Darth Vadar Mask in the bathroom??... I have no idea!

Project #7 Clean all interior windows - Nope, didn't do this one. I just figured I would do the windows as I made it to the "deep clean" on each room.
Project #8 Sweep and vacuum all floors in the house

Little Sissy helped me vacuum the Living Room. :)

Project #9 Surface clean bedrooms

Honestly, I just did the girls room for Project 9. Hudson's and ours weren't  too bad, but I ran out of steam.

Project #10 Deep Clean the Living Room (mirrors, baseboards, dust, etc.)
Didn't realize how badly, I needed to dust. This was my job at home as a kid, I hated it then. But now, look how nice and shiny it makes things. :)



I cleaned the windows, vacuumed out the window sills, wiped down the TV, and mopped the wood floors.

I haven't been keeping up with blogging about everything or even doing all of every project, but I've definitely gotten a lot more done around the house so far this month.

30 Day Cleaning Challenge: Project #4

For the month of April I am participating in the 30 Day Cleaning Challenge over at Money Saving Mom.

Yesterday was Project #4 Clean an Extra Room (Office, Laundry Room, etc). I picked our Play Room. With the kids being home for Spring Break, it needed some extra cleaning in there.

 Basically we just picked up the toys and vacuumed the floor.

30 Day House Cleaning Challenge: Projects #1-3

During the month of April, I will be participating in a 30-Day House Cleaning Challenge over at Money Saving Mom -Read more about it here). 
Find the printable list here

OK, ya'll.... this is hard for me, but I'm gonna do it. I am going to show you pictures of what my house looks like when it's messy. That is so embarrassing, but for this is for you fellow disorganized moms... you are not alone. I am not a "born organizer".  Now, don't get me wrong, I want my house to be spotless. I want it to be clean and organized. But it's hard for me.  I have to work really hard to keep the chaos under control. Now if I invite you over to my house, it's gonna be clean-ish. I mean it won't be spotless, but it won't look like a big mess... but what you don't realize is that I will clean non-stop for 2 days before you show up at my door... and I will be sort of grumpy at my kids when they mess up the freshly mopped floor... or whatever I just cleaned for an hour that they undid in a millisecond. So I am challenging myself to keep up with my house better this month and hopefully create some better habits in the process.

I'm getting off to a little bit of a late start, but here are my pictures of each challenge so far...

Project #1 Surface clean Living Room and Kitchen

In the Living Room, I picked up junk that didn't belong, dusted, and swept. (What you don't see is off to right there... just out of the shot is a chair full of clean laundry. My goal is to fold that tonight.)

Kitchen was basically a big wreck. I did the dishes, cleared off the counter, and wiped everything down.  And do you see my cabinets in the before shot? I always forget to close my cabinets... it drives my husband crazy. 
Project #2 Clean the Bathrooms

Ugh, one of least favorite chores. I put away some junk, wiped down the counters, cleaned the toilets, swept the floors, and then tossed the rugs in the washing machine.

Project #3 Surface clean the Bedrooms

Our Bedroom needs a make-over. I don't like much about it, but the worst is the paint color and we are renting, so... Anyway, I made the bed, swept the floor, and put away some things on my dresser. There is a lot more to do as far as organizing, but that will be for another day. (And yes, I have a bed rail on our bed. It's not for me, I haven't fallen out of bed in a long while. LOL. Penelope still comes to sleep with us every night about 2 or 3am and it's nice not to have to worry about her falling out of bed onto a hard wooden floor)

The girls bedroom was a big fat mess. There were toys, clothes, junk everywhere. Ella made her bed and then she helped me pick up all the toys and clothes. I dusted and swept and we were done.

Hudson's room was crazy messy. We made his bed, cleaned up a ton of toys. We got rid of a few toys, but I may be sneaking in to get rid of some more.

So there you have it Days 1 through 3... already things are looking much better around here. And I made sure the kids made their beds this morning and picked up their toys. Hopefully we can keep things in a little better order.

Training for a 5K in 4 weeks

Just click on the image and it will take you to the website. 

Yep, I am crazy. But I've decided to do it. There is a 5K on April 27th and I'm going to run in it. I've lost 28 pounds so far this year, but I've gotten bored with my routine and need another boost. So this is it. I've completed Day One! It was great. There is no way I could have just gone out and run a 5K today, but what they had you start with was just perfect. I did about 2 miles in about 30 minutes. Just a nice easy pace of running and walking. Looking forward to improving my endurance and being able to meet this goal. 

Wish me Luck!

Happy Easter

John 11:25-26

Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.

My Redeemer Lives!! Reflecting today on the Grace and Love of my Savior. So thankful that Christ died for my sin and rose again from the dead. 

Here's a few pictures of my silly children. We had a wonderful weekend celebrating Easter.

Ella, Hudson, and Penelope

Easter 2013

Sweet hugs!

How sweet is this picture of Penelope?

Me with Hudson and Penelope at Hudson's school Easter Egg Hunt. I had a cute bunny shirt for Hudson... he wasn't having it this year. He had to wear his flag shirt. 

 

Me and the kids after our church Easter Egg Hunt

Little House on the Prairie Party

She is just so pretty as a little prairie girl. 

This beautiful girl turned 7

 and requested a "Little House on the Prairie" Party. 

At first she was torn between My Little Pony and La La Loopsy, but finally settled on "Little House". We've been reading Laura Ingalls Wilder books for awhile now before bed at night. Ella has really gotten to love the stories.

I ordered some fabric from Hawthorne Threads and used some from my stash to make Ella's shirt and skirt, birthday banners, and bonnets for all the girls. 

The three new fabrics I got were: 

Cindy Walker Main in Cream, Kaufman Small Spots in Aqua, &  Michael Miller Tea Blooms in Pink

I found this sweet quote from Laura Ingalls Wilder that I used to make a little graphic in PicMonkey. 

I made a big sign with it on our mantle and then printed small ones out for the goody bags.

I used the Red Lantern that I bought for Hudson's Camping Party, some flowers, and candles I had on hand for a center piece on top of some old doilies and a vintage table cloth I picked up at a thrift store in college. And layered that all on top of a red checked vinyl table cloth that I got at Target years ago.

I found a great little coloring sheet for the girls to work on while waiting for guests to all arrive.

I bought some popcorn flavor shakers from the grocery store and just peeled off their labels and made my own pretty ones and just taped them on. The girls got scoops of popcorn in simple brown paper sacks and then got to shake in their favorite topping.

That empty spot to the right of the strawberries was filled with apples, but I took this pick awhile before the party and I didn't want them to get brown. 

The plate is from Hobby Lobby. I love it. Really wish they would have had more pieces to go with it.

Here's a shot of Ella's birthday outfit. I am in love with that big floral. So pretty. I will be hoarding the last bits of that fabric for something special. 

The punch was 4 cans of frozen Pink Lemonade, with four cans of water and 2 (2 liter) bottles of Sprite. I also, sliced on lemon and threw them in there. It was delicious. I couldn't stop drinking it. I got the cute straws from Dime Store Buddy on Etsy.

This was Ella's Candy Store. We probably could have had more candy to choose from, but it worked out just fine. We gave the girls printed circles that we called "pioneer coins" that they exchanged for candy. (I wanted to do pennies, but I forgot to run by the bank.) Then Ella just scooped candy into their paper sacks and I tied them with twine. These also served as their "goody bags", and they also got to take home their bonnets.

We played a clothespin game that I found on pinterest. We played it at a relay, and I think the girls enjoyed it. 

The cake was a just a simple cake from our neighborhood grocery store. I usually try to make the cakes myself, but just ran out of time. I did make a little fabric banner that I attached to some pretty striped straws and found a sparkly #7 for her blow out. :)

Ella enjoying some yummy punch!

Ella with some of her friends! One of the moms texted me later on and said her daughter wore her bonnet to the grocery store and to church the next day. That made me smile! Glad they liked them.

Another mom said that her daughter insisted they check out "Little House on the Prairie" from the Library. So I think overall it was a hit!

You should be able to click on the image below and then be able to print it. Let me know if you have any trouble with it.