spring cleaning the kitchen

the seriously messy kitchen. i wish my kitchen was spring cleaned weekly. ah the shine. um-hum.

i have to have a list, cause i'm for sure a list girl. and cleaning is always a lil nicer when your list is in pink and you decorate the page with flowers and such. it works for me.

-i go from ceiling to floor. the vacuum hose for cobwebs and just dust that accumulates there. the stove hood for sure.
-pine-sol and hot water in a bucket for the fronts of the cabinets
-good time to throw away tupperware with missing lids and things you just never use. dusty dishes can go through the dishwasher
-wipe out the shelves and inside of cabinet doors
-i wipe the walls down and touch-up the paint where needed
-go through spices and all your cooking crap to see what might need to be replaced
-if you're like me you have lots of stuff that sits on the counters and so forth. now's the time to windex it. you can pine-sol for sure, but windex leaves everything shiny. i love shiny.
-pics on the walls-ugh for dust and food splatters. pine-sol for sure
-soak your stove knobs if you have them in your pine-sol. actually soak anything you can find :)
-lift the stove-top up and use oven cleaner to clean well
-if you have drip pans you can clean them or just replace them. only a few bucks at the store
-use oven cleaner and go at the oven. i hate this part. don't forget the oven racks. so it's not so bad the next time invest in an oven liner. again a few bucks :)
-windex the outside of the stove and oven. shiny is good. 
-the microwave doesn't have to be so bad. zap a bowl of water for about a minute and everything will come right off. windex the outside
-clean out baskets and so forth
-pick-up a dishwasher cleaner and run it through a cycle, and then windex the outside from top to bottom. especially the bottom
-wipe down the top of the fridge and clean out those cabinets above it that never get opened
-take all your loot out of the freezer and fridge and spray everything down with pine-sol, let it set a few minutes and wipe it down. the food and such usually comes right off. windex for the shine. throw out old food and get together a list of what you need. windex the front, throw away papers that have been on there for 2 years
-clean out other appliances the same way
-wipe down all those things on your sink like the hand soap
-scrub the sink with pine-sol and polish with windex. throw some ice and lemon in the disposal
-pine-sol the outlets and switches, change plug-in air fresheners
use the vacuum hose to get under appliances or better yet if you can pull them out
-don't forget to disinfect things like the dog dishes
-sweep and sweep again
-mop and mop again
-windex everything again just for prettiness :)

sleepovers

so blake is going to a birthday sleepover tonight and i'm so nervous. he has gone to many sleepovers but with family and close friends. i watch too much dateline i think. he will be 11 on monday and i just can't believe how fast time flies. i'm not doing a party this year, yes i feel guilty. lots. of. guilt. instead i'm still doing a cake and ice-cream, and i'm letting him pick whatever he wants me to make for supper, and presents!! yay presents :) 

that is all. :)

i'll admit it. i'm old fashioned!!

yes yes i know, most people think i'm behind the times. but i really feel this way, i like it, and it works for me. i'll probably be old-fashioned a very long time :)

i love being a stay at home mama. i really do. and here are some of my many old-fashioned beliefs.

i think when a mama is a stay at home mama for me anyway, i like to take good care of my babies and good care of my man. i make dinner every night and i have it done by 5 so it's hot and ready when he comes home. i like to have the house cleaned and the toys picked up and all the rooms vacuumed. just spending 15 minutes on that makes a huge difference in the way the house looks. and then we daddy gets home from work things aren't all messy and dinner is made. 

i could go on and on about my old fashioned beliefs but i will likely get slammed with mean comments hehe. especially when i talk about naughty things like sex lol.

later peeps :)

happy valentine's day peeps. so here things are normal but busy.  blake will be 11 on feb.25th and i think this year we are going to skip a big party. it gets harder every year to buy him a gift he will love and i'm so trying not to do a gift card. i love them and he does too; i just want to pick him out a personal gift as long as possible :) he will be in honors math next year and i'm super scared lol. i am so bad at math i think he will be teaching me. who am i kidding i know he will be. he got glasses a couple of weeks ago and he already looks like a doctor hehe.

liam is moody. i'm thinking and hoping this is a phase. if i cook something for dinner he doesn't like he goes running to his room in tears and then throws a tantrum. he gets upset about everything. phase phase phase. if i say it enough it might come true.

sawyer is sweet sawyer :) still a cute punkin head :)

i'm going to paste my facebook status from earlier. give a little thought to congenital heart defects. so prevalent in our children and yet so not talked about/researched/and sadly not funded enough. like barely funded at all. 

I rarely talk about this because it’s so difficult to relive but on this Valentine’s Day I want to mention my son Blake’s heart. He was born with several congenital heart defects and had open heart surgery when he was only 2. If you have a moment please pay attention to the following facts:

*Congenital heart defects are America’s and every country’s #1 birth defect. Nearly one of every 100 babies is born with a CHD.
*Congenital heart defects are the #1 cause of birth defect related deaths.
*Congenital heart defects are the leading cause of all infant deaths in the United States.
*Each year approximately 40,000 babies are born in the United States with a congenital heart defect. Thousands of them will not reach their first birthday and thousands more die before they reach adulthood.

***In the United States, twice as many children die from congenital heart defects each year than from all forms of childhood cancer combined, yet funding for pediatric cancer research is five times higher than funding for CHD.
***Only one penny of every dollar donated to the American Heart Association goes towards congenital heart defect research.

Let's support and love little hearts everywhere ♥

http://www.marchofdimes.com/baby/birthdefects_congenitalheart.html
http://www.childrensheartfoundation.org/about-chf/fact-sheets
http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/heartdefects/facts.html

arts & crafts

what kid doesn't like arts & crafts? 

what mom loves the mess? not i said jessica. haha

you know the cleaning caddy's you can buy just about anywhere? they make perfect art supply holders. the handle tops off the awesome-ness so that it can be carried away anddddd put away in a closet etc. 

our rule is--all the art/craft supplies are kept in here or they go to mommy. you can carry your bucket anywhere you want and color as long as you pick everything up, and more importantly that you color on paper only hehe. when everything is put away when done it's awesome to quickly grab this when you need the kids occupied while you finish dinner, and then it all goes back in one place and is carried away. 

old navy

here's what i can do with $150 at old navy. love them. just love them.

a new pair of jeans, which can you know, be worn with anything. i love the jeans that are soft when you buy them. for spring i stocked up on tanks and camis. love them both. both are the perfect fit style. i have a heather grey lightweight hoodie that will go with everything i bought while temps are still cool.

red cami with grey striped tank

cute lobster jammies with a white cami

old navy has the cutest baseball tee's. this one has pink sleeves. they have 5 colors to choose from

cute striped tank and teal cami, i also wear this cami with the new jammie pants

cute plain white shorts with a top that will go with them or jeans or even a skirt. they also have this top in blue

just a pink tank. love pink tanks!

love these shoes. there were over 5 patterns and colors to choose from. the cool thing is that these just slip on which makes them perfect for taking out the dog

orange tank which makes me think of dreamsicle ice-cream and the white cami

the all purpose-ful white tank and black cami

cute jammies with the teal cami.

i love that everything i bought is all so purposeful for staying home with the kids or going grocery shopping. once again, i love old navy.