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! 

Making A Comeback

I have SO much to catch up on since I was such a slacker the last couple of months!! I'm hoping to get to that, but I want to keep things up to date as well.

Sunday was the start of 2012 (wow... where did December go?!) and Derek and I sat down and share what our resolutions were. We are actually both pretty much on the same page!

This year we have very simple resolutions!

1. I want to maintain (housework, routines, budget, blogging, healthy diet, etc.) 

2. I want to grow (spiritually, emotionally, in our marriage, home improvement, {our budget}, etc)

3. I also have a little project for our family that I will introduce at another time!

That is pretty much it! It sounds simple, but when you think about it... it's really all inclusive and that's a pretty tall order. I am kind of nervous about exactly what needs to happen to make our goals work out. 

I know that one thing I really struggle with is overcommitting myself. I get so much fulfillment when I am busy. I also feel really guilty because we can't financially help others, but I feel like I can help in whatever way I can. I realized that I have been so busy, I've been neglecting the main reason I am staying at home... my family! So, I am going to try to slow down and focus on getting our family into some better routines. 

I am so ready to feel like our days are monotonous! ha. I know that's crazy, but we have gotten so used to not being at home in the evenings and most days we get home and crash, wondering where the day went. I am so ready to be bored with another night at home! 

Last June, I started working hard on losing weight and by the end of October, I had lost 30 pounds! I have gained about 5 pounds over the holidays :) and I am ready to lose another 20-30 pounds! Hopefully I can get more determined about that one... so far this week I have been really undisciplined! Plus I had to get another steroid shot for yet another ear infection... so I've been extra hungry. Derek is on board with the plan and ready to join in with losing weight. Right now, our plan is to drink plenty of water, watch our portion sizes and get plenty of exercise! 

I want to spend some time focused on Derek and I's marriage. Having a child 4 days after our one year anniversary and then another one 2 years later... tends to take it's toll on the romance side of marriage. I want to dedicate more energy into improving our relationship and working on my role as a wife. 

Another huge resolution for us is to get back to the home improvement projects! Ever since we bought our house, we have wanted to paint the living room and dining room the most! When we first moved in we focused on our bedroom and Anna-Kate's room. Painting Anna-Kate's room was so difficult it just kept me from wanting to paint the living and dining room.

 I am so excited to say that we have already made progress on this resolution!! We finished painting the living room on Monday and are going to paint the dining room Saturday... it only took us three years! :) I am going to share the before and after photos when we finish the dining room! I know that if we start off the year with the projects, then I feel like we are really going to be crossing off things on our to-do list! 

So that's where we are at! Here's to keeping all of our resolutions!