Tuesday, October 13, 2015

My Morning To-Dos

Being a full time working out of the house momma is tough! I'm finding that I spend most Saturday mornings catching up on house cleaning and laundry. The struggle is real y'all. 

Today, I'm sharing a few things that I do every day to help me stay on top of having a "clean" house. 
We make our bed every day. A few years ago I read that people that make their bed every day are more productive. So, I started making my bed each day. 

We also squeegee the shower doors. The shower in our house is all glass, so to stay on top of cleaning it, the last one out of the shower in the morning has to squeegee. I'm amazed at how clean my shower appears!
(This is an old living room picture, and I've yet to update the changes we've made...) But, I make sure the sofa pillows are straightened and the living room is free of toys. I don't want to come home and immediately see all of the toys that I'll have to pick up. 
I load and run the dishwasher. 

I make sure the kitchen is all cleaned up, counters are clean, and everything is ready to go so when I get home, I can focus on cooking and not cleaning. 

Just by taking 5-10 minutes each day to get these things done, I feel like our house is 'clean'. 

What little chores do you do each morning so you aren't overwhelmed?


Monday, October 12, 2015

Life Lately

Life lately has been pretty fun! A wee bit hectic, but fun nonetheless. I'm really trying to focus on quality time with the girls. We are so crazy busy, that I'm relishing in the moments where we have no plans. Where we can sit and watch a movie, read a book, eat a meal, play together. Those are some pretty awesome moments. 
Megan is really in to drawing! She loves to draw and write. She also wants to write all the letters! She asked me how to spell my name, and then she wrote each letter. I love seeing her learn and grow!
Megan also has a "bump" on her knuckle and we've been treating it with oils. Last week, she decided to bite it while she was at after school care, and the poor lady that watches her thought that she had cut herself, but had no idea how it happened! She finally told me that she bit it, and DJ and I finally convinced her to let us cut it off a bit, and we promised her ice cream. So, she got a big scoop of ice cream before bed! And, Gretchen is totally in to photobombing, so there's that. 
Speaking of oils, I made myself an immune boosting roller with Thieves and coconut oil. I apply it every night before going to bed and it's amazing! We're usually pretty sick by this time of year, and I'm using my oils to ward off any germies that we may be bringing home. 
Last Thursday was cray-cray, as Gretchen would say! We left school and I took Gretchen to ballet. I headed back to pick up Megan, grab Gretchen dinner, and then I picked up Adalyn. We picked up Gretchen, dropped Megan off at gymnastics, and then Addy and I took Gretchen to cheer clinic at TU. We hung out with DJ for a little bit before heading back to pick up Megan at her friend's house. We got home late, and we ran around everywhere, but how sweet is Addy Pearl in her pigtail braids?!
And then Friday rolled around. Can I get an Amen? Megan decided to wear her Halloween dress and Gretchen wore a Halloween shirt. So, I took their picture before we dropped off Megan, because you can't pass up a cute photo when they're in Halloween attire!

Friday was a busy day at work. Lots of seeing kids, catching up on some paperwork, writing an IEP, and then off to a district wide speech path meeting. 
When my meeting was over, I picked up Adalyn and then headed back to school to get the big girls. 
Adalyn and Megan decided it would be a good idea to crawl out of the school.
And then we went outside to gather up leaves for a craft project!
Megan showing off all of her leaves! I want the girls to make leaf rubbings, and the leaves right outside of Megan's school were super convenient!
And then we hopped in the car and celebrated that it was Fri-YAY!
We made it home and made a pizza and then settled in to watch Freaky Friday. 
Saturday morning I had a pretty cute breakfast buddy!

I spent the rest of the morning catching up on laundry and cleaning house.
After lunch and naps, we headed to the TU game and hit up the Kid Zone for pizza and bounce houses!
After lots of jumping, sliding, and eating, we went inside to enjoy the game. 

At the end of the 1st quarter, we got Gretchen ready for spirit clinic. I freshened up her pony tail, tied her bow tight, and gave her a bit of make up before she hit the field at half time!
She was showing off her high kick and little sister was taking notes. 
Addy's best cheer pose. 
And Addy's high kick!
Meggie had to show hers off too!
And then she insisted on taking some wacky pictures!
I may have the cutest fans around.
We dropped Gretchen off with the dance team, and then we headed through the offices and on to the field so we could watch her performance up close. The girls have never been on the field during the game before, so I thought it would be a great opportunity for a picture, but Megan wanted to make silly faces and Addy wanted out of the stroller!
That's better!
Once the 2nd quarter ended, and TU was ahead, we headed over to watch Gretchen perform. 
There were so many parents, that I didn't have a good view of her. She was in the middle of the field, and I ended up at the 20 yard line, but thankfully, we had a little insider, who was right at the 50 yard line with his video camera, capturing her dance on film! It sure is a perk to have a hubby working the game!

Gretchen did great and was so excited after her performance! She even ran to the front and did a cartwheel after the dance!
I was super proud of her!
We stayed on the field through the rest of half time and watched the band, and as the pom squad was heading back over, Megan yelled, "Can I take my picture with you?!" It was the sweetest thing to see Megan so excited and in awe of the pom girls, and for her to step out of her shy shell and ask for a picture! She was sweet enough to give the girls pom poms.

The game ended late, and we didn't make it home until almost 10, but TU pulled out a W, so it was totally worth the late night! The 4th quarter was amazing and I was pumped that we beat ULM. 
Sunday morning, we had lots of snuggles in the bed before getting up to start our day. 

We skipped church so DJ could cut the grass, and I had sewing to catch up on.
This is what my Sunday morning looked like.
A friend from college asked me to make her twin daughter's a shirt for their first birthday. She chose this design, and wanted the letters done in a rainbow theme, and she has assigned each of her girls a color throughout their first year. Adley's color was pink and Etta's was purple, so we coordinated their shirt with their colors. 
DJ headed back to football, the girls played with play-doh, had lunch, and then they played upstairs while I did some more sewing. 
I finished this shirt for a precious two year old. Her mom was the blogger behind A Blonde Ambition blog, and sadly, passed away this summer. Caroline turns 2 in a few weeks, and I knew that I wanted to create something special for her to wear on her birthday. I contacted her aunt, and she told me that Caroline loves Minnie Mouse, so we came up with this for her birthday shirt. I'm shipping it out this week, along with several letters written by you all for her daughter's to have and read as they get older.
Adalyn woke up from her nap, and we grabbed her fruit snacks and then headed out the door to the football offices. 
The girls asked to sit at the bar overlooking the field while they ate. We love getting to have dinner with DJ and playing with our football friend kids!

After dinner, we headed back home for baths and bedtime!

This week is fall break and I'm super excited for a short week at school!

Thursday, October 8, 2015

Fall Bucket List

Fall is here my friends (even though it's hovering in the high 80s!) Last week, I had a really ahrd time getting in to the fall spirit. We are so, so busy and October proves to be one of our busiest months yet! Like, I'm seriously doubting how we are going to fit in all of our fall to-dos. But, I'm going to try, becuase I love fall, and, memories.

Today, we're taking a walk down memory lane with a few of our favorite activites we've done in previous Falls, and we're adding a few fall to-do's on our bucket list!
First up, Football games. We totally have football in the fall covered at our house! We have our third home game of the season this weekend and Gretchen is going to dance with the cheerleaders at half time! She is pumped!
Have you ever been Boo'd? Since we are in a new neighborhood, I think it will be really fun to continue the tradition of being Boo'd! You choose a neighbor's house and surprise them with a gift bag or bucket of a few fun Halloween treats! Then, they get to pass on the act of kindness and Boo another neighbor!
We have got to visit the pumpkin patch again! I'm just not sure when or how this is going to be accomplished. Last year, DJ went with us, and the year, we went to our friend's farm where he grows pumpkins for stores. This year, I may have to take the girls by myself and I have no idea how I'm going to wrangle three children and massive pumpkins. But, I'm determined, that we will go!

And of course, after we pick out our pumpkins, we have to carve them! We always let the girls draw their own faces on their pumpkins and then DJ carves them. The girls get to stay up way past their bedtime and love digging the guts out!
Look at baby Meggie!
Bake Fall cookies. Last year we made a chocoalte chip version and added Candy Corns and white chocolate chips. I didn't love them so much, because I don't like candy corn, but the girls ate them up!

Go on a Hay Ride! I love that the pumpkin patch we visit has tons of fun activities! The hay ride is a must! But, I think this year, we need to pick a cooler day to visit the pumpkin patch. I remember when we lived in Indiana, that Gretchen and I were bundled up when we headed to the pumpkin patch, and now in Oklahoma, it's sweltering!
Find Halloween costumes!
In years past, I made the girls Halloween costumes. This year, Gretchen wants to be an Egyptian princess and Megan wants to be The Little Mermaid. I may only get to make Adalyn's costume this year, and then again, I may not. We're scheduled to be at a football game on Halloween, so costumes are still up in the air at this point.
Trick-or-Treat.

Again, this one is totally up in the air. I'm not really sure if we're going to get to Trick-or-Treat this year or not because of our football game.
Dig through candy!!!

Regardless of us trick or treating or not, one of my favorite memories is letting the girls dump all of their candy out in the living room and us go through everything! DJ and I steal a few of the good ones, we throw away the bad ones, and then we let the girls choose a few.
Megan was a fan of the M&M's in Halloween past!

And, here are a few other ideas for our Fall Bucket List!
-Make Fall Art. (I'm wanting the girls to make pumpkins this year, or I'd love to do another footprint art!
-Read our Halloween books.
- Have a campout and make s'mores.
-Make caramel apples.
- Plan a costume dinner.
- Make a jack-o-lantern pizza.
- Go on a nature walk.
- Leaf rubbings.
- Bake a pumpkin pie.
- Make pumpkin muffins.
- Have yummy soups for dinner!
- Buy mums for the front porch.
-Slow down
- Have a "scary" movie night.
- Have a pajama day.


What are a few of your Fall Bucket List items? I'd love to hear them!
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