Clean Yo' House Up Tuesday! (UPDATEx2)

I'mmmmm baaaaaaaackkk.

I've got my trusty broom & dustpan in hand, & I'm ready to get to work!

Bring it on, 20 Chore Tuesday, I'm ready for ya!

So, here it is. A little of this, a tad of that. 

'The List'-

FIRST FLOOR:

1.sweep

2.sweep stairs/hall

3.steam mop

4.wash table linens

5.dry table linens

6.clean off china hutch

7.clean off/dust coffee & side tables

8.straighten back room

9.set table

LAUNDRY:

10.a 'J'-one load wash

10.b J'-one load dry

11.a 'A'-one load wash

11.b 'A'-one load dry

12.a towels-two loads wash (one load washed/dried)

12.b dry towels

13.put away clean laundry

MISC:

14.Make birthday card

15.get book ready to mail

16.get surprise gift ready to mail

17.continue christmas shopping (kohls)

18.grocery shop

19. take a walk & mail birthday card

20.remove nail polish, finally! ;)

There you have it. I don't usually leave the house when I do the BIG 20, so we'll see how this goes. And don't forget to link up with Emily over at Joyful Abode with your own list, or hashtag it #20choretuesday on IG to share with the other Chore Warriors!

GOOD LUCK!

UPDATE: Noon-So Breakfast, #17 (shopping), lunch & getting the boys down for nap time took up the entire morning! Hoping to quietly get some things knocked off the list while they sleep, but 'A' is a short napper so not sure how much I can get done. On the plus side- I am 2/3 done with Christmas gift shopping! And I am proud to say that I have SAVED more than I spent! I still have 6 people left on the list, plus some stocking stuffers & a basket full of handmade gifts I need to get started. My goal is to be done by Thanksgiving...we'll see how that goes.
8pm- So, I got about 1/2 done. Not as good as I had hoped, but that's ok. I did a few extra things that weren't on the list though: type up/email boys christmas list to family type up my birthday list organize Christmas gifts & write up list of recipients  have a moment to myself & just veg out
Oh well, I'll just have to make tomorrow "pick up where I left off Wednesday" :)

Little Learn & Play Academy {Week 1}

We finished our first week of 'school'!
This week is brought to you by the Letter : Aa, the Number : ONE & the Color : Red.

Here's a little re-cap of how our week went-

Our Science Exploration took us outside during a downpour :)
We filled different sized containers from different sources to see how
fast they filled & talked about where rain comes from.

My Sister & Niece joined us for a visit to our library to help us pick out
some new books for the week. The obvious favorites were Big Fire Engine
& TRUCKS, but I was delighted to hear Amelia Bedelia requested everyday.
We also wrote a note to my parents to mail. The kids dictated, I wrote.
It is sure to bring a smile to their faces :)

Our craft for Thursday was to make an Apple Tree. I had cut out & assembled
the tree beforehand, then 'J' glued all the embellishments on himself. He was
eager to put it on the wall for all to see. Later in the evening we took a walk
to the corner to mail our special note. On the way home we made sure to
take our time & look at all the leaves falling in our neighborhood :)

In Kitchen Class we made Lucky Charm Treats (click here for recipe)!
'J' helped measure/pour the cereal, cut the butter & count marshmallows. After I melted/poured the hot ingredients he helped to press the mix into a greased pan.
As part of our Life Skills for the day he helped wash the dirty dishes & dust the tables
before a family party we were hosting. What a great way to end the week :)

Even with all the 'extras' we had going on this past week (teething baby, potty learning, family party at our house, over night at Nana & Granddads & the hubby's birthday) we still had a great week of learning. Now that I got my feet wet a little, I'm feeling much more confident for the weeks to come. You know what they say, "It can only go up from here"!

School House Rock

Well, the day has come!

Today is 'J's first official day at "school". We were able to finish up our new classroom (of sorts) on Labor Day, & we did it together as a family. Here are some snapshots I took & I'll have more to come after today! If you know me by now, then you know I am definitely one of those mums, the one that takes a picture of her kid on his very first day of school...even if they don't leave the house because "school" is in the backroom.
Yea, that's me.
"Crazy Over Enthusiastic Mum?"
<raises hand> "Present!"

Lesson Planning

Weekly & Monthly Plans

 Daily Activity Center

 All Months, Days, Colors, Letters, Numbers & Weather Drawings are secured with Velcro so he can change them daily/weekly/monthly

 Notice those tighty whities? 

We've entered Potty Learning Territory, yikes!

(Dry-Erase Board is by Crayola)

The bar & cups are from Ikea, the supplies are a mixture of Dollar Store & target. My favorite (& his!) are the Crayola No-Drip Watercolors

RRR-IIIIIIIIIINNGGG! That's the bell, gotta get to class!

Clean Yo' House Up Tuesday- Vol 5

This week I found myself with plans today. A play date, at MY house. Can you see the issues here? Not only would that mean that I wouldn't be able to run around all day cleaning, but I needed my house clean BEFORE Tuesday. The solution?
Monday MADNESS!

I wrote up 'the list' and got it all done yesterday so that we were ready for for our guests this morning. I didn't want to miss out on 20 Chore Tuesday though, so I'm still linking up with Emily at Joyful Abode!

Here's 'the list' I worked on yesterday:

FIRST FLOOR:
1-Sweep
2-Steam
3-Vacuum back room
4-Wash tablecloth
5-Reset table
6-Clean off coffee table & side table
7-Dust living & dining room
8-Vacuum couch
9-Clean couch
10-Vacuum front porch
11-Work on Fall Mantle

SECOND FLOOR:
12-Put away all clothes
13-Straighten master BR
14-Clean 'J's BR
15-Clean 'A's BR
16-Change Master sheets
17-Change 'J's sheets
18-Change 'A's sheets
19-Sweep hall & steps

MISC:
20-Work on meal plan for the week
21-Grocery Shop
22-Wash diapers
23-Measure mantle for bunting
24-Gather items for return
25-Write blog post (Obviously this one got marked off...you're reading it now!)

Not gonna lie, Monday MADNESS was a little hard after the fulltothebrim weekend we had (which included a family field trip, family photo session with Anne Kern Photography & our Baby Group 2nd Bday Bash!). But all in all I'm glad I still got off my bum & got the job done!
Now that you've seen my list, show me yours! Link up over at Joyful Abode so we can all cheer you on!! And leave a comment below to let me know you did so I can give you a virtual HIGH FIVE! What's that? You don't have a blog to link up? Now worries, you can post your WHOLE LIST in a comment below! Come on...give in to peer pressure...do it...DOOOO ittt!

Post Script- If you are going to clean your couch, I suggest doing it like a normal person at night so it can dry while you sleep. Do NOT do it like me, at 10am so you have no where to sit all day. Lesson Learned.

Weekend Reel

How is it that another week has already passed? I can't tell you how many times I finally sit down at the end of the night with every intention of writing up a new post or two, open my google Reader & spend my quiet time reading everyone else's blogs! LOL. Then before I know it, its bedtime. And the weekends, don't even get me started on those. We are moving so fast in every direction that we hardly have time to take it all in. Then *BAM* its monday & the cycle starts all over again.
At this moment I find myself sitting here with the small dude asleep upstairs, & the medium & adult sized dudes sitting a few feet from me creating a new world out of wooden train tracks on the floor. And me with an open laptop on my lap. But the clock is tick tick ticking away & very soon it will be time put 'J' in bed for the night & tend to a house that has seen better days.
So before I go, I'll leave you with some snapshots of our past week, & a sneak peak of the Adventure we went on yesterday (fingers crossed you get the full story in the next day or two!)

Enjoy the Weekend Reel~

-MONDAY-

*Inspiration for a possible gift idea at the Pottery Studio

*Picked up my finished plate from Date Night with my BIG Sister

-TUESDAY-

(Due to frost damage to early apple blossoms, we have a small apple crop. 

As a result, we cannot offer U-Pick Apples this year) 

*I was shocked & saddened to learn that there will be no apple picking this Fall. It is a family tradition & I can't yet wrap my brain around it.

 *Blowing Bubbles IN a Bubble Bath. 

-WEDNESDAY-

 *Self-dressed toddler on a teething/congestion "hunger strike" 

equals long sleeves in 90* weather & baby food pouches

 *New project. Not even close to finished.

-THURSDAY-

*What, me? I'm just sitting on my own. No biggie :)

*Taking advantage of my mum's sewing room while she's away,

this won't be the only visit in the next couple weeks...

-FRIDAY-

*Mmmmm, pears

*Playing. Sharing. Giggling. Brothers.

-SATURDAY-

*Choo-Choo...All aboard!

*Yes, that is EXACTLY who you think it is...Life-Sized!

-SUNDAY-

 *The hit of the party

 *Our 2nd Annual baby group birthday gathering.

This is almost 1/2 the amount at last years, but it was

still fun to see the toddler hijinks that ensued.

I see your 4 & raise you a 5, K?

So let's point out the obvious...that Post title is pretty lame. No? These are the things that pop in my head. Stupid, stupid things that I often chuckle at. Nay, LAUGH at.
ok, now that that is out in the open, we can move on.

This past weekend we got outta Dodge & headed a few hours NorthWest to our dear friends, the Martins. Oh how we adore the Martins. What's not to adore- they are funny, they are nice, they are fun, their daughter is a gem & they let us stay at their house whenever we want. Our trek was for 2 reasons. First: they are the ones that talked us into doing a 5K (remember I mentioned it a while back in this post?). Well we needed to be at the starting line at 8:30am Saturday morning. And the second reason was really more of a BONUS reason... there is this thing called The Dream Cruise. Its an annual event where car crazy people hole up in/around our town all week & on the weekend they drive their (mostly, but not always, sometimes not even close to) classic/specialty cars up & down a certain road for miles. A certain road that we just happen to live off of. Which means we can't leave our house if we stay in town. Therefore we leave town. We have taken to calling it Nightmare Cruise. And it's not a little event either, it's huge. Like millions of people huge. Like celebrities have been known to come (like Jay Leno!) huge. Like a lot of Local Businesses just shut down for the weekend because you can't get to their store & there is literally NO parking for miles because the lots are all rented out HUGE.

Ok, moving on. Back to the 5K. We said in May we would start training for this. Take it seriously. Do our best. Well...we managed to do 1 out of the 3. We did out best. And you know what...it wasn't half bad! My last 2 races I finished in 51 mins. I said I wanted to do this race in 45. I thought that was a reasonable goal seeing as how I didn't really condition myself for it. Well I didn't make it in 45...I made it in 39.16!!! And the Hubs was a RockStar & finished just ahead of me in 39.09...and that was pushing 50lbs of kid in a double bike trailer!!! Then we all celebrated, napped & relaxed the rest of the day. We headed out Sunday morning so we could get home in time to see my WONDERFUL Grandmother before she left town. She came in for the weekend to watch my smartypants cousin graduate from UofM's accelerated Nursing Program. On a sad note, it was also the day I had to say goodbye to my smartypants niece before she heads North 4 hours to Ferris State for their Honors Pharmaceutical Program. That's all I can say about that...or I will cry...more...

Overall another jam-packed, fun filled weekend!

Here are a few highlights from the weekend:

We're so awesome at doing 5K's that we even
walked the 1/2 mile there, and back! That's an extra mile folks.

Turns out...this is a pretty big race. There were so
many runners it took over a minute just to get to the starting line!

The Hubby, stretching out. Work it baby.

Meet the Martins!

Post Race & feelin good :)

These two did SO good in the trailer!

Know what happens when your son poops/pukes
all over all of his packed clothes? You borrow some
hand me downs from your hosts & get a daughter for the day ;)

Oh Yeah, and THIS!!! He is sitting. On his OWN!!

I was able to finish an embroidery project for a friend :)
(I used this pin she posted as a template.)

This is what happens when you start to celebrate after
the kiddos hit the hay & somehow start talking about
 how crazy scientology is...one thing leads to another
& you're checking your electric output...

Cheers!! We did it!

The boys & I with their BisNonna.
(Don't mind 'J', he was a little annoyed to have
to stop playing to pose for a picture.)

My last picture with my college-bound niece!

There you have it, a looksee at how we spend our free time :)

"Clean Yo' House Up Tuesday" (UPDATE x5)

Welcome back boys & girls to 20 Chore Tuesday, Vol 4.

After not really committing to the Full 20 last week, then going out of town for the weekend, this casa is in desperate need of a clean sweep. Somehow the boys must have sensed this & little 'A' was up 8 times last night, nursing for 5 of them. Not wanting to be left out, 'J' got up at least 4 times. I'm dragging a little, to say the least, but really want to get the job done today. There can be only one winner, me or the house, & I'm not going down without a fight! As usual I took the liberty of linking up "the list" with Emily & her Joyful Abode. Whether you have been following along for a while, or this is your first visit, feel free to join in! Just jot down 20 things you want to get done, & do it! Pretty easy, right? They don't all have to be "chores", heck sometimes making myself stop to eat lunch feels like a chore! Am I right, or am I right?  If you think 20 is not yet in your reach, don't fret, just do what you can. Or, if you think 20 is a breeze & you want a REAL challenge, by all means link up & share your MEGA list!! Whatever way you roll, let me know you are playing along so I can cheer you on :) And be sure to link up you list with Emily too so you can get MORE cheerleaders.  And now, the moment you have all been waiting for, "the list" FIRST FLOOR:

1. Sweep
2. Steam mop
3. Clear dining table
4. Clear side tables
5. Dust side tables
6. Organize Craft Nook
7. Clean Kitchen
8. Clean Learn & Play Area
9. Clean Windows
10. Clean couch

SECOND FLOOR:

1. Sweep steps
2. Clean J's room
3. Change J's sheets
4. Clean A's room
5. Change A's sheets
6. Change our sheets
7. Put away clothes

MISC:

1. Call Ped about Rx
2. Make dinner
3. Pack up unneeded baby items

(If you have been following along all month, then you may have noticed that certain things on the list keep carrying over. The simple answer is: they are things that get done a LOT, so if I'm cleaning, they are gonna be on the list. I'll try to switch it up a little next week...maybe...we'll see...no promises...) And don't forget to check back later to see the UPDATED list.  Did I?  Didn't I?  Only one way to find out...  See ya later gator UPDATES: #1; 10am check-in:  sweep clear dining table clear side tables dust side tables clean windows call ped about Rx (left message) pack up unused baby items *All crossed off "the list"!
#2; 12pm check-in: clean 'J's room change 'J's sheets clean 'A's room change 'A's sheets put clothes away  (also made/ate lunch with the boys, put the boys down for naps, unpacked from our weekend away)
#3; 2pm check-in: organize Craft Nook clean Learn & Play area clean kitchen sweep stairs (baby woke up at 1 so add that to the list ;)
#4; 4pm check-in: called ped (again) started dinner *'A' is putting the Fuss in Fussy McFusserson & it has been a nursing & cuddles marathon. Which means the list is on hold until the Hubs gets home to lend a hand, preferably two hands & two arms. 
#5; 7pm check-in: Soooo, Hubster came home not feeling so hot. Which means I'm most likely done for the day. I still have hopes of getting the furniture cleaned after the boys go to bed so it can dry overnight. We'll see. I DID cross 'make dinner' off the list though. As of now I finished 17 out of 20. Not to shabby. Pat Pat... <-patting myself on the back, cause I deserve it!

Chomp-Chomp {Road-Trip Snack Necklace}

A little bit back in time I happened upon this pin originally from Blondie and Brownies  and knew exactly when to do this.

Today!

Because today is the day we hop into our (already) loaded car & head out for our camping adventure!

So while shopping this week I picked up a few items that would work and were dairy-free/appropriate. Then for fun (hey, it's supposed to be an adventure, right?) got a surprise treat to toss in the mix :)

Mom's Best Honey Nut Toasty O's, Trader Joe's Fruity O's,
mini pretzels & Lifesavers GUMMIS. I used some sock yarn
I had in the craft room for our string & a plastic crochet needle.

I thought the best time to do this would be in the morning during Little 'A's 1st nap. I thought wrong. That plan only works if the baby actually takes a nap. In my case he went down great, I set up our 'station' in the front room & right when we were in the middle of things he woke up. Oh well, it worked out in the end.

We had a lot of fun making these! It was great for so many things- following directions, hand eye coordination, dexterity & of course, snacking fun :)

 I knew we would snack while we worked, but in hindsight I probably would make this an 'after nap' activity since we did have a candy in the mix. And as far as the candy is concerned, I did not set those out in a bowl, I left the bag right next to me & handed him them as he went along. I kept it to 3-4 gummis a necklace. 

 He wasn't quite sure what to do at first. He kept trying to pull them off, lol. But once I showed him that you EAT it off, he was pretty jazzed about it :)

We made several, one for him to wear in the car during our drive, & a few to share with our friends' daughter while on our camping adventure. This activity went so smoothly that we went ahead & made 2 dozen Chocolate Chip Devils Food Cupcakes (dairy-free) & some meat pie filling for Hobo pies tomorrow :) All before 10:30 am! And I know what you're thinking....

Yes- I take cupcakes camping. You make them beforehand & just wait to frost them until you are there so transport is easy!

and YES- I will most definitely be frosting them with Chocolate Marshmallow frosting, we are CAMPING after all ;)

Hope you all have a fun, adventurous weekend....I know we will!