4 Weeks to a More Organized Home

Ok. I'm going to do it. One of me goals for this year is to get my house into shape. Meaning: No junk. Nothing will stay that doesn't have a purpose, that isn't something my husband or myself likes, or that has been sitting in storage and hasn't been used in over a year. One thing that I have learned about myself since having children is that I don't handle clutter in my home very well. When my kitchen piles up with dirty dishes (I keep reminding myself that SOMEDAY I will have a dishwasher!), I get completely stressed out. That's one thing that I have been working on...keeping the dirty dishes done during the day, instead of leaving them until the end of the night, and then working on them while making supper. 

Anyway, Money Saving Mom has a challenge going on this month, called 4 Weeks to a More Organized Home. I'm joining the other men and women who are taking the challenge, in order to help me reach my goal! So, from time to time, I will share pictures and updates of how it's going. 

Anyone else want to do it with me?

6 Months Old!

Hey baby girl,

You're six months old already! I'm not sure how time flew SO fast, but you are looking so grown up all of a sudden. Your personality is really coming out lately...you're so funny! You love spitting, squealing, talking, and are sitting up all by yourself. You aren't an easy laugher...that takes a lot of work on my part. I sure wish you would sleep better, but we're working on it. You love watching your big brother, and Katie and Snoop. You are SO good at playing in your exer-saucer while mommy is making meals! I love watching you grow up!

Pretty baby :)

First bite of baby food - mashed avocado!

Peanut Butter Granola

As you know from previous posts, this is one of my favorite blogs. I love her simple recipes, and the fact that they are nourishing and family friendly. One recipe that I have been making since she first posted the recipe is her peanut butter granola. It's actually listed as The granola...but if you look in the red print at the bottom of the post, it shows a variation for peanut butter granola. It is to. die. for. If you are careful to not mix it too much, you will get little chunks of peanut butter rolled into the toasted oats. That's my favorite part! Here's the recipe that I use...I just altered it by one or two steps. Oh, and I always cut it in half, so that it's always fresh when we eat it!

2.5 c. quick oats

.5 c coconut

3 Tbsp. brown sugar

1 Tbsp. cinnamon

a big splash of vanilla

a sprinkle of coarse sea salt

.5 c. peanut butter

4 Tbsp. coconut oil

Melt the coconut oil with the peanut butter. Add vanilla. While the peanut butter and oil is melting, mix together the dry ingredients. Mix the wet and dry ingredients together...but not completely! You want those chunks of peanut butter! Pour onto a sheet pan and put into the oven at 300 degrees. Bake for 45 minutes or so , stirring every 15 minutes. It's SO simple, and will make your house smell ridiculously delicious. I love to eat it with a bowl of bananas, topped with plain yogurt and honey, with granola on top. 

Laundry Routine

I'm all about routine. I love the idea of it...but I'm terrible about executing it. I get lazy, or give up because it's too hard. Plus, with two kids aged 2 and 6 months...so many things can disrupt any routine that we might have. BUT, one thing that I have to keep as a somewhat consistent routine is our laundry. For the past month or two I have really struggled to keep our dirty laundry under control. My word...there were days where I couldn't even finish washing it because there was too much. As a person who has a tiny bit (read: SERIOUSLY LARGE AMOUNT) of OCD, I hate having wrinkled clothes, or trying to pull clean clothing out of a hamper every morning. That was what I was doing, until a friend told me about what she does...she washes, dries, folds, and puts away one load of laundry each day. Holy cow. Game changer! For the past week I have been trying to do that (yesterday was an exception because we were gone to out Bible study in the morning)...and it's been going so smoothly! We have clean clothes in our drawers, AND I don't feel like I can't keep up. Win, win!

What are some tidying up/laundry/organizing tips that you have?

Snacks

As a nursing mom, I'm obsessed with eating. I constantly find myself hungry, and needing a snack. Sometimes I'm happy with a small bite of a chocolate bar, other times I feel like I need a full meal!

Today, I decided to share my favorite snacks that are super easy to put together, quickly!

1. Chocolate bars (really any kind, but I love Hershey's dark chocolate bars

2. Larabars. They were on sale at our grocery store this week, and...I bought a ton.

3. Pirate's Booty Aged White Cheddar puff corn...I buy it for my little mister-but once I take a bite, I can't stop.

4. Fruit- I try to keep a bowl of fruit on the counter, or have some already washed in the fridge.

5. Cookies, cakes, breads...you name it. I'll eat it.

6. Cream cheese and jelly sandwiches- Put cream cheese on one side of a piece of bread, and your favorite kind of jelly on the other. Butter the outsides of the bread and cook like a grilled cheese. YUM!

7. Chips and salsa

8. Leftovers. Sometimes I just need an extra meal during the day!

9. Strawberries dipped in melted chocolate.

Those are things that I usually keep in my house. I'm struggling to eat healthfully right now...but I'm trying to get back into it. The more I keep good foods in my house, the more I eat them!

What are your favorite snacks?

Phone dump!

Just cleaning out my phone! Here's a bunch of pictures from 2013.

 It was a good year. Welcome, 2014.

Sweet babies

A few weeks ago, we had to take our computer in to get fixed. Turns out it needed a new hard drive. That meant that it was going to wipe away all of our pictures, and other documents off of our computer. It wasn't too big of a deal since we had everything backed up already.

 

Brand New. Sweet baby boy.

 

The other day though, I plugged in the memory card, and uploaded all of the pictures from our camera. It has been FOREVER since I had done that. I have been looking through all of our pictures from the previous year and a half. It has been fun, but also kind of sad. I don't know where time has gone! My 2 year old boy used to be a baby! I don't know how he grew up so fast, and I don't know how I remember so little of his babyhood (is that a word?).

 

It made me think about what other things had been taking up my time during that time period. Things like...facebook, pinterest, cleaning my house, trying new recipes, etc. Too many things had captured my attention, and made me pay less attention to him. My heart aches. I want those memories back. I wish I had been on the floor playing with him more than I did. He should have had almost my full attention.

First Birthday

 

In a way, it's a good thing that I noticed this. Yes, it makes me sad. It also makes me want to do better. Better with both of my children. So, this means that I'm going to take less time for facebook. Less time pinning things. More time painting TOGETHER, or reading more books. More time just watching my babies, who are growing up right in front of me. I won't let me babies grow up without me knowing, until it's too late.

Last year at Christmastime

 

Just a couple of weeks ago