Around Our House This Week

Happy Friday everyone!! We have had a wonderful week around here! 

It started off rough, since Derek and I decided that it was a good idea to jump into a painting project two days after getting home from Christmas travels. We barely got things in order, before we broke out the paint roller. Thankfully, by Monday night we were so excited over the living room's new look that we didn't care how crazy the rest of the house was (or how high the laundry was piled)! 

So... I'm dying to share the big transformation!! 

Here's our living room before: 

The most recent before picture I had were the ones I took when we had just finished decorating! 

and after: 

We still need to hang things on the walls! :) 

I have spent the rest of the week trying to put everything back in order and cleaning! I've finally gotten all of the kids' toys put away and their rooms cleaned. Well... almost cleaned... I think Thomas gets a kick out of seeing how quickly he can mess up his room! :) 

In the process of all that, I've done a little bit of rearranging and some spring cleaning! 

One major change was moving the table and benches out of the little banquette in our kitchen and replacing it with a small play area for Anna-Kate and Thomas! I hated taking our eating nook away but to be honest, it just became a catch-all and was really cluttered. Plus, the kids LOVE being in their kitchen while I'm cooking, so it makes dinner time so much easier! 

Please excuse the crazy paint... the kitchen is on our list to update!

A major accomplishment I had this week was catching up on our laundry!! We have never been so behind on our laundry... it was bad! I took this picture on Thursday afternoon and I put the last load of clothes in the washing machine before I went to bed!

My second favorite thing I did this week was to break out my new cake pop maker and play with it! I made corn muffins, blueberry muffins, biscuits and french breakfast puffs! All but the breakfast puffs were from a mix, because I wanted to test out the machine first. I am hooked! Everything has turned out perfect and the kids are loving having little things that are easy for them to eat!

Last night I got really adventurous and I made omelets!! I was just testing it out, so they just had bacon bits and cheese. I can't wait to try more omelets out! 

These are made with one egg, a little milk, cheese, bacon bits, salt and pepper. I sprayed the holes first (not sure if that's necessary, but I was worried!) I just filled it up to the top and then shut the lid. Towards the end they started to whistle, which meant they were puffing up. I left mine in until the whistling slowed down (sorry, I didn't time it!) and then I took them out and they were perfect! 

I am so excited about these little omelets! Maybe, I can get the kids to eat these too!

Today, Thomas and I are enjoying a "lazy" day... just playing and relaxing. Hopefully we can get in a trip to the park this afternoon! Hope everyone has had a wonderful first week of 2012! 

Backyard Facelift

I saw Amanda tonight and she informed me that I was a big tease for not sharing the backyard improvements yet! :) 

I have been waiting for the right pictures! I know it's not a major difference, but it really does make a big deal! I can't wait to start adding plants. 

A big thank you to Derek's family for helping us out! They all worked so hard to get our yard in shape for the summer! 

Whole yard before and after! 

We started with this flower bed that runs in front of the shed- aka. Derek's "Man Cave." I want to have monkey grass as a border on all of the beds. I will definitely be planting something that covers the ugly pipes that stick up! I'm also thinking of adding some Crepe Myrtles in this bed, but I'm not sure yet. 

We were just working away when I noticed these familiar looking leaves... Poison Ivy! Derek's dad also pointed out the poison oak that was hanging from the tree that is in the bed in front of our chain link fence! I was SO worried that someone would break out and it would be all my fault! We decided to leave the vines alone that were in that section. We will probably spray them and then pull them down later. 

Poison Ivy and Oak! 

The kids mostly played outside, but the girls were in and out. Thomas took a nice long nap while we were working! This is Derek, right in the middle of all the brush! Yikes! 

When we moved the dog house a bunch of nuts rolled out! I guess we know what the squirrels have been up to! Anna-Kate said "look at all the coconuts!" and then she and Kristen spent an hour collecting them all on the patio, so later we could all trip on them! ha! 

There was some vinca ground cover already growing in our yard. It's not my favorite, but it was there and adds some nice color, so we decided to leave it! 

It's really not a lot but it is the start of some pretty great landscaping! I love planning things like this and seeing what a big difference they make. This is definitely a project that will look better throughout the summer and the next coming years! 

Amanda, I hope you read this and that you and Jackson are ready to play! ;) ha!