Our Newest Family Member

So, yes, baby #4 is on the way and... 

It's a Boy!  

We're super excited and I'm just a little anxious to get out all of those cute baby boy clothes I've had packed away.  Ella is really excited to have another brother, Cameron is thrilled to finally get a brother and, well, Ashlynn has no clue what's going on, but I have a feeling it'll be a little rough for this mama's girl.  

Baby Boy (no clue on names yet) is due August 27th and since Cameron was a beginning of summer baby and this is an end of summer baby, I will get to do some shopping for baby clothes.  Those 3 month summer clothes just aren't going to work for this baby at Christmas time.  

We've also got our work cut out for us as far as bedroom arrangements go.  We've got three bedrooms upstairs and I usually prefer to keep the baby separate from the big kids, but the kids rooms are tiny and three kids in one tiny room will be tricky, doable, but tricky.  Plus it would be so cute to have a boys room and a girls room, but I'm not so sure that Cameron will cooperate with that plan.  He's kind of a noisy little guy and not so concerned with others sleeping.  I guess we'll see how things work out.

Now that we know the gender, I'm really anxious to start preparing for this baby.  Life has been so crazy busy since we found out we were expecting again that most days if it hadn't have been for sheer exhaustion I would have forgotten I was even preggers.  I'm excited to get going on some cute baby projects and the nursery and I'll be sure to share pics.

How'd I Do... March Goals

Obviously this is really late, but the last month has been insanely crazy.  The hubby was working some crazy hours that involved every Saturday and Sunday in March, I was helping to plan my little sisters wedding for this past weekend, and we had visitors galore.  Fortunately, life should be much calmer now that the wedding is over and all the guests have gone home.  Hubby's work schedule has returned to normal and I'm looking forward to having a real weekend again.  Unfortunately, I've gotten whatever the horrible virus/cold is that's currently going around.  I'm feeling a little better each day, but still pretty lousy.  So, let's take a late look at March...

March Goals:

Homemaking -

Clean and organize guest room

Prepare the house for several guests over the next month

Replace the toilet in the kiddos bathroom... yeah it hasn't worked in a year now - We were actually able to fix it, or so we thought.  It did start leaking again, but Andrew thinks he knows how to fix the leak.

Finish gathering items for 72-hour kits - I still have a few things to gather and I need to get ours done, but the kiddos are pretty much done.

Cooking -

Don't eat out more than once a week... usually not a problem, but lately we've eaten out way too much - Total FAIL, but only because the month was crazy.

Mothering -

Find ways to have the kids help clean more - Still working on this, but I've been trying to include them more and surprisingly they like it.  They really think it's fun to help clean the toilet with the toilet bowl wand.  Weirdos.

Creating -

Make wedding decorations for Caitlin's wedding - DONE

Sew skirts for girls - Fail.  No time for extra crafts last month.

Financing -

Let's just stay in budget this month

Enriching -

Read a book - Fail

Clean out magazines - Fail

Okay, so March wasn't so bad.  Let's see what April has in store:

Homemaking -

Organize storage room

Finish spring cleaning

Cooking -

Try three new recipes

Start sorting through recipes

Mothering -

Keep looking for ways to include the kids with the housework

Set up a chore chart

Creating -

Make some sort of art for entryway

Financing -

Stay in budget

Enriching -

Read a book

A Few Really Cute Munchkins

 This is what happens at 3:30 when naps don't happen.

 We actually got some snow here last week.  Ella loves it of course...

 Cameron isn't so sure of it.

 And now he hates it.  Poor guy fell in the snow and then while trying to fight his way out, his boot came off.  He was pretty cold and traumatized.  I had to run out and save him because he would only stand there and cry.

 This was on our way out to the grocery store this morning.  They were just so darn cute, I couldn't help but snap a few pics before we left.

 This little thing is following in her big sisters footsteps and has become quite the little bundle of sass.

 But how do you get mad at that face!?!

And this little man was hamming it up since he had on his new sunglasses.

How'd I Do... February Goals

Sorry that I haven't posted much lately, but life kinda happened and last month was crazy busy and the next five weeks is just going to get worse.  I didn't do great on my goals, but I still did decent and I managed to get a few house projects done that I still need to post about.  So here we go...

February Goals:

Homemaking -

Finish up laundry room - This is roughly 70% done.  I need to paint the shelves still, but that will have to wait until spring when the weather is warmer and I have a little more time.  I also need to decorate.  Things are organized though and are working great.

Finish touching up paint in basement stairwell

Finish decorating toy room

Clean out master closet/dresser

Cooking -

Stock the freezer with some meals again - I didn't any meals made, but I did stock the freezer with some meat again and I made some homemade chicken stock.

Finish my part of family cookbook

Try new recipe each week - I tried several new recipes last month and most were really good.  There really was only one recipe that was a complete fail.

Mothering -

Spend more one on one time with Cameron - It's been nice to spend a little bit of time with Cameron while Ella is at preschool and Ashlynn is napping.

Date with Ella

Creating -

Make some art work for toy room

Financing -

Start saving money for new camera

Enriching -

Read a book - I've got a book on hold at the library, but unfortunately my hold number is 136.  Hopefully I'll have it by the end of this month.

So let's see what we have for March...

March Goals:

Homemaking -

Clean and organize guest room

Prepare the house for several guests over the next month

Replace the toilet in the kiddos bathroom... yeah it hasn't worked in a year now

Finish gathering items for 72-hour kits

Cooking -

Don't eat out more than once a week... usually not a problem, but lately we've eaten out way too much

Mothering -

Find ways to have the kids help clean more

Creating -

Make wedding decorations for Caitlin's wedding

Sew skirts for girls

Financing -

Let's just stay in budget this month

Enriching -

Read a book

Clean out magazines

Feeling Thrifty

It's been a while since I posted anything thrifty.  To be honest, the couponing thing hasn't been too great lately; blah sales and blah coupons do not a great deal make.  And I just haven't had the time to do any really good thrifting trips... I'm waiting for my sister to come up for that.  So that said, I had to do this post because last week I had a great night as far as thriftiness goes.  A friend of mine was getting rid of her baby girl clothes and invited me and a few friends over to take what we wanted.  So I got some great things for Missy Ashlynn to grow into.  Here's a few pics of my loot:

 I love this raincoat... I wanted to buy this when Ella was little.

Super cute Baby Gap Dress... Ashlynn will look adorable in this this summer.

 These little Gymboree socks are some of my faves.

And what is not to love about these little ballerina tights!?!

After I was done at her house, I figured I didn't have the kids and I had time so why not make a quick stop at the DI.  I'm glad I did, because I found some cute things there as well.

 I spent $13 and was able to get a pair of Sorel snow boots for the kids, a cute Baby Gap shirt for Ashlynn, some warm fleece lined jeans from Old Navy for Ashlynn, an adorable Carter's dress for Ashlynn for summer, some sandals for Ella, a Charlie Brown book (some of our faves are Charlie Brown) and some craft twine.

This shirt will look so cute with some little plaid shorts this summer.

Once I finished at the DI, I ran to the grocery store for a coupon shopping trip.  It was nice to finally get some good deals again.  

I was happy to only spend $33 for 30 items.  All of this pre-sale and coupons would have been $95, so I was more than happy to get close to a 70% savings.  So yeah, it was a good night and I was feeling pretty good.  

I also recently ran into the DI in the search of some shoes for Cameron.  I didn't find what I was looking for, but I did find these adorable sandals for Ashlynn for $1 each and the shorts for $1.  I didn't feel too badly about spending $3 that day.

So have you found any good deals lately?

How'd I Do... January Goals

So, where did January go?  That went by really fast.  I was able to get quite a bit done on the home front though; probably mostly due to being trapped at home with sick kids for half the month.  So let's check in:

January's Goals:

Homemaking -

Pack away Christmas decor

Sort through Christmas boxes and purge unused decor

Organize toy room with new toys

Deep clean laundry room

Paint laundry room - Finally, two and a half years after moving here, the laundry room is painted.

Cooking -

Try three new recipes - I tried some really good ones last month... I'll have to do another post on those.

Gather recipes for family cookbook - I've started compiling recipes.

Mothering -

Take Ella on a date

Patience, Patience, Patience

Creating -

Begin organizing craft closet

Financing -

Work out 2012 budget

Enriching -

Read a book

Give myself permission to take a nap when I'm tired - Finally catching up on some much needed sleep after pulling several late night/early mornings in December.

February's Goals:

Homemaking -

Finish up laundry room 

Finish touching up paint in basement stairwell

Finish decorating toy room

Clean out master closet/dresser

Cooking -

Stock the freezer with some meals again

Finish my part of family cookbook

Try new recipe each week

Mothering -

Spend more one on one time with Cameron

Date with Ella

Creating -

Make some art work for toy room

Financing -

Start saving money for new camera

Enriching -

Read a book

While The Cats Away, The Mice Will Play

Sorry that I just sort of disappeared.  The hubby was out of town all last week and I decided to take advantage and get a few projects checked off my list.  But first, the weekend before Andrew left he helped me to demo the laundry room.  Yay!  That means my laundry room has to actually get done now... we can't just talk about it anymore.  Of course since he was heading out of town and the laundry room only got torn apart, the house was left in major disaster mode.  We've tried cleaning up a little bit, but the guest room and bath have been taken over by laundry stuff.  Not such a big deal, except for the fact that my sister and her fiance were visiting last weekend.  Hehe... sorry Caitlin.
Anyways... back to the projects... the minute Andrew left for the airport, I headed down to the basement and started moving furniture to the middle of the room.  That's right, the toy room finally got painted.  I'm not even sure that I mentioned the toy room had been moved to the basement in June, but we, and by we I mean I, decided we needed to utilize some spaces better in our home.  The basement wasn't being used at all except as a large storage dumping ground and we were always climbing over our guests down there to get to anything including the food storage room.  Since we have visitors a lot, it was kind of a big deal.  So the guest room got moved to the old toy room on the main level, which has worked out much better and the toy room went downstairs.  It really has been win win.  Unfortunately, I didn't have time or energy to decorate the toy room, but just getting it painted and the furniture arranged was a huge undertaking in and of itself.  So without further ado... here is what we have so far...

 This was in June when we were moving stuff around.

 Freshly painted... I love the color.

 Unfortunately, the lovely pink carpet stands out that much more now.

 The file cabinets in the corner of the picture here actually need to go in the storage room, but that room has to be addressed before there is room for these file cabinets.

 The kids spend hours cooking food in their kitchen... it makes me happy.  They also love to race those strollers.

 Nice and organized... I just need to make up labels.

 They also love the chalk board and their table.  I found this table with the four chairs at the DI for $35 a couple summers ago.  Score!  Unfortunately, three of the chairs have been broken... I'm still hoping to be able to fix them though.  I think it would be cute to paint the chairs some fun colors.

And of course, the horse, the very fancy horse.

Once the toy room was done, I moved onto the laundry room.  I'm convinced that the previous owners really liked to put holes in the wall.  They were also really big fans of wall anchors (I kid you not, there were wall anchors for small picture frames) and toggle bolts (oh please shoot me).  The laundry room was no exception, in fact I'm pretty sure this was the favorite room for this.  I don't even know how many holes I patched, but it was a lot.  After I finally got everything patched and sanded and patched and sanded again, I was able to paint before Andrew got home Friday night.  Now we just need to get the new shelves built and installed and then I can decorate.  I'm so excited to have a nice laundry room.

 One of the few times the laundry room has been clean and organized.

 These pictures are actually two years old... I forgot to take pictures before we started tearing things out.  The room was actually a huge disaster before we started and the washer and dryer had been buried for at least two months... when I did laundry I just moved the huge pile to the couch and brought it back to the washer when I was done.   Yes, that is embarrassing to admit.  We're working on it.  Don't judge. 

 Cameron enjoyed helping.

 Just imagine all the holes from that shelving unit... half of which were in toggle bolts.

 Ella thought it was pretty cool that she could touch the roof.

 It was so hard to find a paint color for this room.  Everything looks like some variation of concrete on the walls.

I think I'm happy with the color.  It's certainly better than the yellow that was in there.  I also got a new light fixture for in here.  I'm excited for this to be done.  Hopefully everything gets finished up on Saturday.

Laundry Part 2

As part of organizing the laundry room we need to make our entryway uber functional so that it can be used for coats, shoes, backpacks, etc, which will free up tons of space in the laundry room.  Our laundry room is just way too small to be used as a mudroom/laundry/storage room.  So thanks again to pinterest, I've found some great inspiration for our entryway.

 I love this chest of drawers, the rug, the mirror, the chairs and that glass vase.

 Love the red door and entry table.

 We need hooks...

 ...lots of hooks

 I love the railing with hooks and kids art. 

I love this way of displaying the munchkins art work.  I'm pretty sure Ella would love to help with this project.

Laundry Love

I have three organizational goals for the house this year... 1) makeover the laundry room, 2) revamp the kids closet and 3) organize the storage room.  Now, the kids closet should take priority, but I'm really wanting to do the laundry room first.  After all, I walk into and through that room countless times a day.  So after scouring pinterest (oh, how I love pinterest), here is what I've come up with for the laundry room.

 I love this serene wall color.

 I love everything about this room... the wall color, the mirror, the wire basket and the light fixture.

 I need these shelves above my washer and dryer.

 Shelving for the opposite side of the room.

Love the glass containers for laundry soap, stain removers, vinegar, etc...

How'd I Do... December Goals

My goodness, I can't believe 2011 is over.  2011 was a crazy busy year for us.  I'm hoping that 2012 will slow down a little, but we'll see.  I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas... We had a great time in California visiting grandparents, aunts and uncles and cousins.  The munchkins loved it and had so much fun playing with cousins.  We were sad to leave family, but it's always so nice to come home.
So let's review December's goals:

Homemaking -

Decorate for Christmas 

Deep clean before Christmas - I was pretty to happy to actually get the house cleaned before our trip.  It was well worth the frantic cleaning spree the day before leaving to come home to a clean house and fresh sheets.

Cooking -

Make a fabulous cake for Ella's birthday party - Bummer... I did make some cute cupcakes though.

Try three new recipes - I've gotta be honest... I could have tried three new recipes, but I don't remember.

Christmas baking/goodie plates - I had the best intentions, I even bought the stuff, but then I just ran out of time.

Mothering -

Take Ella on a date - January is the month.  It was kinda hard to do this since we were so busy and when I was planning on shopping it was for Christmas.

Remember to read Christmas stories with the kiddos - The kids loved unwrapping a book each night to read.  Definitely need to do this again.

Creating - 

Finish all the homemade gifts I've planned... there are a lot - With a lot of late nights, it all got done.

Sew a scarf for me... I need something for my stocking too - Nope, but I've got plans for one or two.

Finish the flowers and gift bags for Ella's birthday party - Yep and they were adorable.

Financing -

Figure out a new budget for 2012 - This is on the calendar for this week.

Plan budget for the month of December... there is a lot to cram in this month - I actually stayed in budget.

Enriching -

Read two books - I think I did this, but like the recipes, I just can't remember.

Host our Cooking Group - We had so much fun.

Have a date night with Andrew... it is our anniversary this month after all - We actually got to go out a few times this month.  We especially had a great time in Santa Monica.

Let's look at January:

Homemaking -

Pack away Christmas decor

Sort through Christmas boxes and purge unused decor

Organize toy room with new toys

Deep clean laundry room

Paint laundry room

Cooking -

Try three new recipes

Gather recipes for family cookbook

Mothering -

Take Ella on a date

Patience, Patience, Patience

Creating -

Begin organizing craft closet

Financing -

Work out 2012 budget

Enriching -

Read a book

Give myself permission to take a nap when I'm tired

As you can see, there are quite a few homemaking goals this month.  Our house has kinda become a disaster in the last few months and it's time to address that mess.  What better time than the beginning of a new year.