Favorite Things

It's been a while since I've done a "Favorite Things" post.  I love it when other people do this, so I thought it was time to update you on some of my favorite things right now.

  MY KITCHEN WORKHORSE!

I love my Kitchen Aid mixer!  I'm always using it for bread, cookies, pizza, you name it.  Some of the best advice I've ever gotten came from a friend in Ohio.  She puts cooked chicken in the mixer, turns it on, and Voila! you have shredded chicken.  Soups and casseroles got so much easier for me when I learned this.  No more time wasted shredding chicken with a fork!  (That's shredded chicken pictured above.)  I've seen several pictures on Pinterest lately of Kitchen Aids that our decked out with cute decals.  I plan on tricking my kitchen pony out with some sa-weet decals soon!

TOKE TIME!

I love this bar soap.  I use it in the shower and no longer have dry itchy winter skin.  It's a hemp based soap, but the number one ingredient is olive oil.  Can you say hello baby's bottom?  My skin is so much softer!

MONDAY NIGHTS!

So this show is actually on PBS on Sunday nights, but since we don't have TV we watch it online the next day.  John and I both love watching Downton Abbey.  If you haven't seen it you should catch up, Season 1 is streaming on Netflix.  That's how we started watching it and when we finished Season 1 we wanted more, so much so that we went online, quickly got caught up on Season 2, and now have been going through withdrawals since the season finale a week ago.  Love it and LOVE my favorite character Maggie Smith as Cousin Violet!  The Super Bowl was of course the most watched thing on TV on Super Bowl Sunday, but guess what number two was?  That's right, Downton Abbey.  

INSTANT SCRAPBOOKS!

I love Blurb.com and Shutterfly.com for printing my photo books.  With digital photography this is by far the fastest and easiest way to create a scrapbook.  I use Blurb to print my blog into a book.  And I like Shutterfly for printing memory books from events like family vacations.  Shutterfly also offers lots of good discounts and freebies which I always like!

MAMMOTH JARS

My mother-in-law gave these to me for Christmas a couple of years ago and I love them (she gave me my Kitchen Aid mixer too).  I got tired of my regular kitchen canisters, because every time I would bake bread or make a batch of cookies I felt like I had to refill the jars.  On the other hand, these monsters hold two gallons each and I don't run out of flour, sugar, or rice.  I also really like the way they look!  Love them!

EASY CLEAN!

Is there such a thing?  Why yes, yes there is.  I seriously don't know how I have lived without this thing! I've heard great things about floor steamers, but never considered getting one until we moved to New York.  The whole first floor of our house is hardwood floor.  My mopping nightmare!  However, this thing makes cleaning them so easy!  Not only does it clean, but it sanitizes as well with no soap, no chemicals, just water.  I spent a lot of time researching steamers online and to be honest I was nervous about using one on my hardwood floors, but in the end the mopping nightmare won and I decided it was totally worth it.  And I don't regret the decision!  The Haan FS20 got great online reviews, people I know love it, and I personally now give it like forty-two thumbs up.  It's great (and affordable) so if you hate to mop like me, check it out!  

JUICY JUICE!

After watching a documentary on Netflix called "Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead" John and I joined the juicing revolution.  We love our Breville Juice Fountain.  Keep in mind we don't drink only juice like they did in the documentary, but we feel what we do drink is a healthy addition to our diet and lifestyle.  Our current favorite is pictured above:

5 oranges + 1/2 honeydew melon or cantaloupe + 1 mango = SO DELICIOUS.  It's like drinking dessert : )  Another favorite is carrots, apples, and celery.  So good and so good for you!

MOVIES WITHOUT THE MOVIE STORE!

I wasn't planning on adding Netflix to my list of favorite things, but I guess I should since I've mentioned it twice already in just this post.  We like Netflix at our house.  We don't have DVDs sent in the mail, we watch everything online.  It's easy, it's cheap, it's fabulous!  It's Netflix.  I should be getting paid for this . . . 

IT'S GREEN!

This is the alarm clock we have for Gabe and Porter.  This thing has been a lifesaver or a sleep saver, same thing if you ask me.  It's the OK to Wake! Children's Alarm Clock and Nightlight.  I was a little hesitant to buy it since it's kind of expensive for an alarm clock, but now I think it's worth every penny!  

I'm the kind of girl who needs eight hours of sleep a night or else I turn into the wicked witch.  Our kids had a consistent bedtime every night, but they never woke up at the same time in the morning.  Some days it would be 5AM, some days 7AM, some days, 6AM.  Point being it was never the same and it was making a very ornery mommy.

A friend in Ohio told us about this clock and we decided to give it a try.  How it works is you set the clock for the time it's okay for the child to get up.  For our kids the clock is set for 6:40AM.  At 6:40 AM the clock turns from white to green (no noise involved in case the kids are still sleeping) and the green light lets the kids know it's OK to get up.  

It took a couple of days for our boys to get it, but now they know that even if they are awake they stay in their beds until the clock turns green.  SO WONDERFUL!  The clock also works as a nightlight, alarm clock, and has a nap/quiet time feature.

Welcome! Welcome! Tuesday Morning!

6 AM Gabe comes into my room.  He's lucky he was not immediately beheaded at the door since our kids are not allowed out of their beds until 6:40AM, but that's another story.  He wakes me up and says: Mommy, I have some bad news.
What is it?
Porter pooped in his pull-up.
How do you know he pooped in his pull-up?
Because he showed me.

When I hear that there's poop "show and tell" going on upstairs I spring out of bed and race up the stairs to see how bad the damage is.  Thankfully, Porter had just far-ooped in his pull-up.  (I had to invent a new word to describe what Porter did in his pants, since John hates it when I use the word sharted.)  Anyway, Porter made it to the bathroom and was taking care of the rest of his business on the potty.  I'm flabbergasted because I don't remember the last time he had a #2 accident, but I get him cleaned up, turn Netflix on for the kids, get them each a cup of chocolate milk, text my hubby (who's already at work) about the fun he's missing, and I go back to bed.  Few minutes later . . . Mommy, we're hungry, can we have cookies?  Sure, whatever you guys want, just let me sleep.  (Great parenting, I know.)

By the time I drag myself out of bed at 8:30 I can just tell it's going to be a rough day.  We say prayers and watch a few Mormon Messages, anything to help bring the spirit.  I am in desperate need of help today.  I fix breakfast, we do some chores, the fighting, the yelling, the whining, the mess making continues.
 
Mommy needs a time out, so I go in the office and close the door.  My sister calls and it's a much needed break to hear an adult voice, but soon the kids find me and they are hungry again.  So I make lunch while enjoying my sister's company and the kids continue to whine and try to kill each other in the background.  Finally it's nap-time.  I have finally found the peace I was searching for so desperately this morning now that my two little demons are sound asleep.  Hopefully they will awake more like little angels.

I jump in the shower and decide I need to blog about our day.  So here I sit with wet hair recording just another day in The Life.  It's funny because yesterday we had such a good day.  Things just went well.  And I found myself thinking (this doesn't happen very often) that a third kid will be okay, I can handle this mom stuff.  Yeah right!  Somedays, actually most days, I think the Lord is really testing my patience.  And unfortunately I am often found lacking and my kids see the result of it, but I want them to know I'm trying.  I love them so much and want everyday to be the sunshine, lolipop, and rainbow filled kind of day we had yesterday.  However, I know it's not possible.  I'm just so grateful for our Savior's example, love, and forgiveness so that I can get past days like today and have better ones ahead.

We started off on the wrong foot this morning, but I'm determined today is going to get better.  One thing I've learned is naps are miracle workers and I'm counting on a miracle!  Gabe starts swimming lessons today, so hopefully we can all put on a happy face and have a good time this afternoon.  So I'm off to do my hair and makeup now, so I can put on the act of having it all together : )  Loving The Mommy Life!

Office Makeover

One of my favorite things about our new house is we have an office that is JUST an office.  If you ever visited us in Dayton you would know that our office was not only our office, but also our guest room, storage room, junk room, we don't know what to do with all this stuff room, etc.  Everything ended up in there and it was a mess!  

Over the last week I've been working hard at getting our office put together.  However, we are still in the phase of life where we have quite a few "lovely" pieces of laminate furniture.  So I decided to do a  laminate makeover so our new office didn't look so mismatched.

The Before

Here's Porter with the all the mismatched furniture.

And After

  

My big helpers : ) 

Our house is still a work in progress.  People keep asking for interior photos, but this is what most of the inside looks like right now . . . so you get why I'm not posting pictures yet.  We still need to get boxes put away, pictures on the walls, and curtains hung.

Yes, that is packing paper covering the windows.  I ordered blinds this last weekend.  I am so excited to have blinds and not have to look at packing paper anymore!  We ordered one blind first to make sure we liked them before ordering them for the whole house.  Here's a sneak peak at our kitchen while John is installing our sample blind over the window.

Here's John's not so happy face, because he knows the above picture will be posted on our blog : )

Love you Honey!

Military Ball

Last night was the New York Capital District ROTC 61st Annual Joint Services Military Ball.  Even though it involved duct taping my belly button (so it was no longer an outie) we thoroughly enjoyed our first date night together since being in New York!  

Although there was no grog at dinner last night, after three attempts to stab a cherry tomato with my fork I remembered a story my aunt shared with me once and I quickly gave up the chase electing to simply not eat the dumb thing.  (I'm sure my Aunt Sue will appreciate the wisdom I have learned from her experience.)  No tomatoes flying across the table or rolling onto the floor for me last night : )  Thanks Sue!  

Sorry, these pictures aren't great, but keep in mind our photographer is only five years old : )

My Valentine is a Stud!

Seriously, check out the awesome shelves my Valentine made for me in the basement.  I couldn't ask for a better gift!  And he's got a second set of shelves in the works.  Being organized just makes me happy inside!

Our Valentine's day started off with opening packages from Papa and Grammy, as well as Nana and Grumpy.  Since we've been so busy with unpacking I neglected to plan anything special for the kids, so thank goodness for wonderful parents and grandparents who made Valentine's Day special for our kids!  They LOVED the cards, candy, crazy straws, cookies and money!  Thank you!!!

When John got home from work we all went out to dinner at Taco Bell - more proof that my Valentine really loves me since he hates what he calls Taco Hell.  After dinner, we went shopping at Sam's Club.  Am I an easy Valentine or what?  Taco Bell, Sam's Club, and I'm as happy as a clam!  Hope you all had a Happy Valentine's Day!  XOXO

Unpacking

Not much going on here lately . . . just unpacking boxes, boxes, and more boxes.  I'm not complaining though, it's so nice to be in our own place and in our own beds again!  Speaking of beds, this is kind of funny.  While we were staying in the hotel in Troy (for almost two months) John and I hated our bed there.  We would sometimes take turns sleeping on the couch, it was so bad.  It wasn't until our last week there that we realized we just didn't have enough space in the bed.  We were sleeping in the full size bed while Porter was in the queen.  That's right, the smallest person had the biggest bed.  What genius made those sleeping arrangements?  Oh, that would be me.  Oops.

The first thing we did when all of our stuff got here is set up the boy's bunk beds.  The boys have waited a long time for these beds!  We bought them back in March when we thought we were moving to Alabama.  They've stayed in the box since then, and we have been promising the kids that we'd set them up when we got to our new house . . . little did we know it would be almost a year later!  So here they are enjoying a story before bedtime in their new beds!


The kids have also discovered the "photo booth" on the computer.  Today I found a ton of pictures they've taken of themselves lately.  Here's some of their best work and a few of me and Gabe from today  (I may like to play with photo booth as much as the kids do).

     

       

Our New Home Sweet Home

Many of you have asked to see pictures of our cute new house.  So here it is.  

This is the before picture.

And here it is after the remodel.  

 

It doesn't even look like the same house.  I promise to post interior photos soon, but I want to wait until we have it put together a little more.  I'm sure we'll be posting a lot more 'before and after' pictures.  We have a long list of projects to work on!

One of the first projects we've started tackling is cleaning out the basement.  Saturday while I was using 'The Kraken' (our shop vac) to vacuum cobwebs out of the basement we stumbled upon an old coffee can hidden up in the rafters.  Seriously!  A hidden coffee can in the basement of an old house . . . it could be anything . . . we were hoping for money . . .  

 When we opened it up we found two socks full of . . . 

 Gold.

Just not the kind of gold we were hoping for.

 That's right folks, we found a coffee can full of condoms in the basement.

And so the adventures begin in our new

 Home Sweet Home!