Thankful Thursday

  • For Amelie and her funny personality coming out more and more each day. She loves to make anything and  everything a game.
  • That we decided on all the curriculum for Nadia’s school and got it ordered.
  • For flowers in our front yard. It makes me smile each time I see them.
  • For the birds that come to our feeder each day. I love the little songs they sing.
  • For my Square Foot Garden shaping up to be a lot better this year.
  • For the 31 days to clean challenge I am taking part in.
  • For all the little projects that are being completed because of the challenge.
  • For a sweet mother’s day. (post coming soon)
  • For Nadia and Amelie playing outside joyfully for 2 hours yesterday.

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Royal Watch Party

Our fearless MOM’s group leader Kaye and Gail decided to have a Royal Wedding Watch party for us. Emily hosted at her house and DVR’d it off 2 channels and we met for lunch prepared by Kaye and Gail. All the other mom’s dropped their kids off with some babysitters at the church, but we were late because of museum school and I didn’t want to stop. Plus we have not left Amelie with anyone yet, so the girls tagged along and played with the boys toys.

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When we arrived they had a bag full of facinators so we could each have one to wear during the party. (I proceeded to wear mine all day. Cooked dinner, did the dishes, everything. What other reason do I have to wear one?) And notice “The Queen” in the photo below?

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The part that made me laugh because it was such a fun touch was the fake “Kate Engagement Rings” for each of us to also take home.  What a hoot!

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Thanks Kaye and Gail – you guys are so fun!!

31 Days to Clean: Day 1 – 5

I decided to join in on the 31 Days to Clean challenge because I saw quite a few other mommy bloggers that were going to take part. I felt it would be motivating to see other people posting/tweeting/facebooking about the challenge. So I bought the Kindle version of the book and read through the first several days and jumped right in.

My basic description of this book would be moms devotion meets the flylady special forces. Each day the author goes over the topic and in the end you have a Mary Challenge and a Martha Challenge. On day one she asked the reader to make a “mission statement” on why you want your home to be a haven. Then read through all the Martha Challenges to see that you have all the cleaning supplies to complete the 31 days. ( after this week I realize that I need to get more Magic Erasers and Pledge to finish)

Here was my mission statement:

“Our home is a blessing from God and I am want my family to feel that our home is the best place to be. I want to show my husband that I am grateful for how hard he works and be a good example to our girls. A clean (but not perfect) home is less stressful and open to guests.”

I took some photos to show some of the cleaning part of the week (I didn’t take a photo of everything I did):

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Cleaning out the fridge and freezer. I can’t believe how handy this list of stuff in the freezers has been in deciding what to make for lunch and dinner each day.  P.S. The shelves and drawers fit in the new sink Mike put in last weekend.

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Cleaning the outside of the fridge.

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Cleaning the inside and outside of the microwave and oven. When I was most of the way through the oven Nadia came in the kitchen and said, “That’s some serious cleaning.”

The author Sarah Mae has offered interesting questions with Bible Verses and quotes each day. I have been journaling through this and think it will be interesting to see the end result. The best part so far has been the feeling of accomplishment at doing all these tasks that are not everyday chores.

New Sink – YIPPIE!

When we built our house it had a porcelain sink and over the years the enamel has worn down, was chipped and impossible to clean. The sprayer broke in my hand before we left for China and we were ready for a replacement since it was looking mangy. Mike did research and found a great sink (single bowl), and a matching faucet, soap dispenser and filtered water system. I think it’s AWESOME and keep finding things that make me like it even more. For example, the drawers of our fridge fit inside it to soak and be washed. All the pots and pans and baking dishes fit in there to soak also.

Before:

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After:

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AHHHHHHHH!