I can hardly believe it’s the end of January!!! But I LOVE that that means February and Valentine’s Day are that much closer!! Steve and I are going to see “The Vow” with Tatum Channing and Rachel McAdams for Vday!! I’m a real big fan of both of them and can hardly wait!!! No really, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve watched the trailers!!!

We’ve also been doing a little of this…

I must say, I HEART VALENTINE’s DAY. The red, the pink, the chocolatey goodness…a great excuse to steal away for a night out with your sweetheart…what’s not to like?!!!

At the same time, it feels like it was just yesterday that Ashton and Sammi were “helping” me pack up our Christmas decorations for storage.

And a really short time ago that Emma’s cousins Ethan and Bella were over for a slumber party decorating a gingerbread house all decked out in their Sugarplum Fairy Costumes.

Ethan was my best little helper. He was so excited, he stayed through the whole house-making…even watching and waiting while the icing dried (he helped me “hold it all together” while it dried .)

And it wasn’t long ago that we were gathered around our dining room table savoring Christmas dinner.

Sipping my coffee by the light of the Christmas tree…

Waiting patiently for Christmas gifts from Paper Coterie to be delivered…

And now Christmas is just a memory. Here we are in a brand new, beautiful year.

This year I’ve thought a lot about the habits that make for a smoothly running household. Not a perfect home, but an efficient, happy home where there is room to relax, play, craft, and cuddle without all the stress that clutter brings. Here are my top tidy home habits set up in three streamlined routines. Each simple routine builds from the previous one, and when used together, work to make life a lot less crazy with kids. We’ll start with the p.m. routines.

Post-Dinner

1. Clear the table, shake tablecloth/wipe placemats, put leftovers and condiments away
2. Fill dishwasher
3. Wash and put away pots and pans
4. Wipe counters

Evening Routine
(this should only take 15-20 minutes before bed if you did your post-dinner clean-up)

1. Run the dishwasher
2. Rinse out coffee pot and dump old filter
3. Pull items needed for tomorrow’s dinner from freezer
4. Take out garbage (kitchen, bathrooms, desk)
5. Tidy living room, gathering clothes and toys in a basket and putting them back where they belong

(Really finish off the kitchen so that counters are wiped and it is ready for action in the morning!)

Morning Routine
(this should be a breeze if you completed your evening routine!)

1. Make bed
2. Tidy up bathroom, put away toiletries, wipe counters
3. Start a load of laundry.
4. Empty dishwasher
5. Eat Breakfast/Bible Time
6. Clean up breakfast dishes and put in dishwasher
7. Clear table, clean highchair/tray

(Put all those last breakfast dishes away so that the kitchen is ready for lunch-making.)

These routines all sound pretty easy, right? But if you are a busy mom or working woman, you know how tired you can be at the end of the day and how hard it can be to “finish” your kitchen work and take care of business. But, the payoff to maintaining simple routines like these is HUGE. I love waking up to a crisp, clean kitchen beckoning me to make a cup of coffee and bask in the morning stillness, instead of being welcomed by last night’s spaghetti mess (I think we’ve all had those mornings!!); I love having more time for my kids to start right in on the day’s fun activities, instead of spending 45 minutes waiting for mom to clean up last nights glued-on mess of dishes and pots n’ pans (yuck!!)—I hate it when my kids have to wait for me to clean up what I should have taken care of the night before (but was too tired or lazy to do!!), I feel like we both miss out on precious time together! I also love that you can find things easier, accomplish more, feel more productive, and get to enjoy the look of a clean house at least a couple times a day…instead of playing catch-up all day long!!!

If routines are new to you, then just pick one routine or a couple tasks and work on doing them each night or morning for a week or two. When you feel like they are starting to get easier, add another task or routine.

Now, all that said, I need to clarify that my home is working towards these routines, but we are sooooo not there yet. Many mornings you would think a hair care bomb went off in our bathroom for all the spritzes, sprays, and irons I have strewn about the counters or a dinner bomb in the kitchen, you name it, our house has seen it. It’s a journey folks and we have our good days and our bad days.

And remember: there is GRACE in being a Wife and/or Mom. Both are high callings and at the heart of keeping a clean home is to bless your children and husband, not only for yourself or for the sake of CLEAN. It can be easy to go to one extreme or the other…either throw in the towel and let the chaos close in, or become the Cleanliness Nazi. And who wants to live with one of those?!!! I sure don’t and I KNOW my husband doesn’t!! Kids grow best when they aren’t being hovered after and scolded constantly about leaving toys out, so there has to be a happy balance…and moms function best when there is time to put their feet up and just enjoy their home and family! There will be mornings when you only have an hour till you start work, a messy home, and children who need some mommy time…that is when you just need to plop that sweet baby on your lap, hunker down by your toddler and let the good times roll.

Even though my kiddos aren’t in school yet, mornings are still very busy around our house. We have lots to get done (i.e., eat breakfast, brush hair, change diaper/pull-up, get clean clothes on, start laundry, brush teeth, make beds, tidy room, clean up kitchen, empty dishwasher), before we can move on to the fun stuff (i.e., reading books, crafts, abc’s and 123’s, bible time, play dates, outings, etc.). So I LOOOOOOOOOVE a quick, easy breakfast that will fill bellies and provide excellent fuel and nutrition to start the day (minus lots of prep and dishes to clean up). This is my “go-to” recipe. I can make it in 5 minutes flat the night before and have a delicious hot breakfast waiting in the morning…oh, and the benefits of steel-cut oats vs. boxed cereal are incredible, since oats are nutritional superstars boasting B-vitamins, protein, fiber, and calcium—to name a few of the benefits!! As Bob Harper says “The only cereal I eat is oatmeal.”

Here is how I make my oats. The ratio of steel-cut oats to liquid is 1 cup of oats to 4 cups of liquid, so around 9:30 p.m. I pull out my slow cooker, coat the inside with Pam and measure in the following:

Slow Cooker Oatmeal

• 2 cups of Steel-cut Oats
• 1 cup of Milk
• 7 cups of Water
• 2 tsp. each of Vanilla and Cinnamon

More milk, say 2 cups of milk and 6 cups of water will produce an even creamier oatmeal. Give it a quick stir and turn it on Low. Cook for 7 to 8 hours.

I usually make this on the days I’m getting up early to work out so that I can turn it off about 5:30 a.m. If you let it cook too long it will keep cooking down till it disintegrates or gets super sticky on the side of the slow cooker and impossible to get off. Basically, if it sticks too heavily to the sides or not grainy enough for you, then you cooked it too long. Scrape sides gently with a spatula and turn off when you wake up…it will still be nice and warm when you return to eat! This oatmeal reminds me of thick, tapioca pudding. Feel free to add pumpkin, nuts, raisins, chopped fruit, banana…experiment with all kinds of ingredients to see what you enjoy and to up the nutrition.

Here is my new oatmeal mug…it was a Christmas gift from my hubbie. Isn’t the bird cute on the back?! Gotta love those Starbucks mugs!!

Buddy says good morning!!! He is enjoying some Pumpkin Yogurt. Hope you have a wonderful start to your last week of December and 2011!!!

If you missed some of the holiday savings, no worries!! Papercoterie.com runs deals all the time and for pretty much every holiday, so just Google coupon codes to get some great savings!!

Here is how Ashton’s memory keeper turned out.

Top

Spine

Back

Up-close

I’m excited to stash baby booties, ultrasound pics, cards, favorite onesies, and all those fun things inside.

I can’t wait to get this little gem in the mail!!! So sweet.

Hope your holidays are going smoothly!! Just a few days left till

 Christmas .

Overstock.com

Overstock.com

Martha Stewart

As well as these super cute, durable totes for corralling everything from rolled towels in the bathroom to scarves and socks in the closet, to scrapbooking supplies and paper goods in the office. They would also be perfect by the front door or in the hallway closet for returns, warm weather gear, the options are endless!!!

I especially like these two:

Rugby Tote: Container Store

Jute Tote: Container Store

Currently, our closet is in desperate need of some proper storage containers to help us maximize the space, so I’m planning on snatching up a couple of the striped totes come January to get our closet organized.

Okay, that was completely un-holiday!!! Back to Christmas…

**Deep breath** In all that seeming chaos, it’s been one of my favorite years. God has been so good to us and I couldn’t ask for better children or a sweeter, more thoughtful, hotter (whoops, did I just say that?) husband to share life with. He has such a soft heart and a kind soul. He notices and cares about everything and I love that we are so much alike. Instead of being salt and pepper…ham and eggs…peanut butter n’ jelly, we’re more like this:

We’re kinda the same person …except that he listens to a little too much Mat Kearney music and I’m pretty sure he thinks I’ve watched the crazy Target Lady commercials from Black Friday a few too many times . I can’t help myself.

All packaged up and ready to go!!! I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving full of delicious food and those you love!!

Happy

Thanksgiving!!!

This is where labels come into play, but not just any labels…we’re talking stylin’ labels. For those of you who have neither a label maker or a laminator—perfect!!—this method is for you. Oh yes, and it is super, duper cheap…which is always a bonus!!

Here’s what you need…

supplies

• badge holders (horizontal or vertical)
• paper cutter (or scissors)
• gorgeous scrapbook paper
• printer
• Velcro dots (or tape)
• ribbon

Super simple, right?!! I found this awesome paper at Craft Warehouse…love the damask print, I’m going with the orange damask today.

Badge holders come in both vertical and horizontal. These babies were $1.98 for a pack of 12 at Wal-Mart!!! Whoa girl, it doesn’t get any better than that!!!

I mostly use the horizontal, but vertical are great for some container shapes as well. All you need to do is measure your badge holder and use a paper cutter to cut the scrapbook paper to size. Scissors work just as well if you’re a straight cutter (not me!!), but might take a little longer.

Once you have the paper cut to size, head to the computer to type up and print out titles for your labels (i.e., Emma’s Winter Clothes, Baby Toys, etc.…). Have fun experimenting with fonts and sizes, just make sure they will be super visible for whatever you are using them for. You can also use a labeler for this step depending on how wide it prints and what you are using the label for.

The badge holders are also great because you can use the top to lace a ribbon or some pretty twine through to dress it up and hang it from a  basket. If you don’t want/need the tie top, you can simply trim it off with scissors. Many containers don’t have a place hole for threading ribbon (think big, plastic storage bins), no problem, just stick a Velcro dot on the container and the back of your beautiful, new label. Then you have the lovely option of changing it out whenever you feel the urge!! What I love about this method over lamination is that you can change out your background paper and label at any time.

L.O.V.E.

entry labels

office labels

happy labeling!!!

I fixed dinner after work…and forgot the green beans in the microwave; the rest just didn’t come out quite right.

Photo Credit

Yesterday my kitchen glimmered from a fresh mopping…today I could hear raisin bran crunching underfoot.

Yesterday I ate homemade butternut squash soup for lunch…today I ate pizza—and lots of pie.

Some days we get out the door with counters wiped and clothes stacked neatly…today socks and diapers led the way down the stairs making a trail to the door.

Some days I wish the minute-hand would slow down…I wish that every day.

For a moment tonight, I felt like a failure.

Then I realized I was using the wrong
scale to measure my day.

I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit apart from  from me you can do nothing.

John 15:5

Graphic Credit

Ladies, let’s Abide instead.