21 day challenge

I know I know I know... I haven't even posted about Christmas yet, but I will get to that!!

But after Christmas this year and having 2 little ones I realized how much CLUTTER is in this house... I am ALWAYS on edge because things aren't clean and organized like they should be, and I always blame that on having little kids (well that is part of it) But there is no reason why most things in my house such as closets, under the sinks, cupboards etc. can't be organized (FOR ME)

I came across A bowl full of lemons through Crazy Domestic!!! This lady can organize let me tell you!! She has so many great tips and ideas!! I already have a list of the rooms and spaces that I want to get to!! So starting Jan. 1st and lasting for 21 days.......



Head on over to A bowl full of lemons now and check out all her wonderful transformations and join me in this challenge!! I can't wait!!!

I hope this post.......

BRIGHTENS YOUR DAY!!!!

Because it sure BRIGHTENS MINE!!!

Love this little girl to pieces (as all 4 of my other nieces too!!)

What we have been up to.....

1st off............

CLEANING CLEANING CLEANING

For the past month we have ALL had the flu around here... BOOOOO....

It started with me one week, then Blake got it the next week, then Seth the next, then me AGAIN this week:(

Almost all of my daycare families have had it as well... So after Sunday nights flu that hit me and a really good nap yesterday I spent 5 hours sanitizing my house!!

I started by filling the bath tub full of toys with bleach... I also had 3 rubbermaid tubs of toys in bleach water!! While all those soaked I went around with clorox wipes wipeing down EVERYTHING that had a surface and toys that couldn't be washed in water!! All the stuffed animals and dolls are waiting to be put into the washer too!!!

This bug needs to be rid of this house and FAST!! Miss Kendra is the only one that hasn't gotten it yet, and I hope she doesn't get it!!

2nd off.........

Blake has learned so much from school so far this year!!! Its amazing how much they can learn and how fast they can learn!!

Last night while cleaning up all the toys Blake was in the daycare room playing with the easel, when I walked in to check on him and Kendra I saw this......

He wrote A B C D E F.... I had tears in my eyes seeing this... I am so proud of my little man!!

THIRDLY

Stealing CUPCAKES off the stove!!! Miss Kendra is quite the little stinker lately, she has learned that she can pull the chairs wherever she wants in the kitchen to get to things... Last week I left the kitchen for 2 seconds and when I came back this is what I saw.....

And last but not least.... CHRISTMAS A LITTLE EARLY

Today we received our package in the mail from my mom... Blake was so excited seeing all the packages in the box, he kept saying, "Dear Blake, From Nana" HAHA!!!

My Mom started a tradition a few years back with getting each of the kids an ornament and socks for Christmas!! She wanted the kids to open their package early this year so they could enjoy their ornaments for a little while!!!

THANK YOU so much Nana!!! Both kids LOVE their ornaments and socks!!! We Love you and Miss you and wish you were here with us to celebrate!!!

Where's Your Nose?

I have been working with Kendra lately on where her body parts are!! Most of the time she just looks at me and laughs!! Last night I asked her where her nose was and this is what she did!!!



Seth and I were laughing so hard at her!! Everytime we asked her she kept doing it!! Kendra will make that face all the time with her mouth and it is just too funny... We all laugh because she totally is me when it comes to her mouth!!

Blake's Skateboard Room

Just wanted to share some 'almost' final pictures of Blakes Skateboard room!!

We are still in need of some window treatments, new blinds, and a few more pieces for the walls... But all in all it is done and I am in LOVE with it as is Blake!!

Christmas is in the air!!

Well its that time of year, I have always loved Christmas time, but over the past years I get even more and more excited about it with having my own kiddos to share it with!!

Thanksgiving weekend we put up our Christmas tree!! Last year I was stressing about the tree situation, because our living room is pretty small and we couldn't figure out a good place to put it, so we ended up moving our entire living room around just to make sure it fit... I was so annoyed the whole time it was up!! HA!!

This year we put it out in our front porch, last year we were under construction out there so it wasn't useable!! I'm not thrilled about the fact that I can't see it in the open, but its so much easier having it out there, especially now that I have daycare in my house!! 3 toddlers and a handful of school kids, it wouldn't stand a chance anywhere else:) HAHA!!!







Also its that time of year for Christmas parties!! Seth's work has a kids Christmas party every year, they have it at our local skate palace. The kids get to enjoy skateing, food, seeing santa and presents at the end!! It is a good time for everyone and the kids really enjoy it!!

I was so excited this year because Kendra was old enough to try out skateing!! Last year she was only 3 months old, so her and I sat out:( It was too cute watching Kendra trying it for the first time!! Blake had a rough time, as his skates were too loose and they couldn't tighten them, but all in all we had a blast!! Seth's company 'ADULT' Christmas party is next weekend, and I am looking forward to a little time with some adults:) HAHA!!

Here is a video of Kendra... Sorry it is sideways!!

We are off to another busy work week, Seth is going on the road this week again, I have to make some Christmas cookies for a fundraiser this coming weekend, and Kendra has surgery Thursday for her ears!! I love having busy weeks sometimes because they seem to go a lot faster!! Wish me luck on my cookies, never really done cookies before so this could be interesting!! Check my 'Jamie's Sweet Creations' Blog later in the week for pictures!

TKD--- Yellow Belt

Blake had testing Thursday night for TaeKwonDo!! They have been working really hard these past couple of months on their moves so we were excited to see how testing would go!!

Blake really had no idea what the testing meant really, he just thought he was going to class like usual!! We practiced his moves before we went and he was doing good, I was nervous because I didn't know what to expect or what they were even going to do really!!

Blake did AWESOME, he is the youngest one in the class and the instructer said he was doing really good for being so young!!

The kids did their normal stretching, then worked on their moves a little... Once done with that the instructor seperated the younger ones from the older ones and they had to do their steps!!

All the kids did so good... They even got to BREAK A BOARD!!!!!! This came as a complete surprise to all of us new comers!! We had NO IDEA!!

Blake was the first one up... I was super nervous, I didn't really know what he would do, if he would get nervous and not do it or go for it, and sure enough he walked right up there, listened to the instructer explain what he needed to do and he BROKE THE BOARD in the FIRST hit!! It was AMAZING, I was on cloud 9 just watching him, he was beyond EXCITED!!!

After all was said and done, the whole class graduated up a belt, from white to white with a yellow stripe!!! I am so glad Blake likes this and hope he sticks it out for years to come!!

CAKE BLOG

Just wanted to let everyone know that I have started a cake blog to keep up with my gallery of pictures!!! Jamie's Sweet Creation's is now up and running and hopefully I will get to some cake making and decorating here soon to add some more pictures!!

Sneak Peak.....

...... of Blakes new 'BIG' boy room!!

About a month ago I decided that Blake needed a change in his room, he is getting to be such a big boy now I thought we would go with something a little 'big' boy like!!

It just happend that one of the blogs that I follow Kelly's Korner did a Show us Your Life- Bedrooms post a couple of Friday's ago, so I literally went through everyone that was titled like a boy and came across one that I LOVED!! I showed Blake the picture and he liked it too!! We had our colors picked out and the bedding just needed to figure out what to decorate with!! Blake kept saying Spiderman, Lightning McQueen, etc. but I had to step in and persuade him into something that would grow with him!! I mentioned skateboards and he was all about it, he has never played with a skateboard nor does he even have one, but to a 4 year old I guess it sounded cool!! I wanted something that could grow with him until he is older to decide what he wants to do in his room!!

We have the room 95% done... My sister Jodi over at Vinyl Expression is working on some skateboard vinyl for me, that we will have to wait and put up in a couple of weeks as we just painted and its best to wait!! Plus we just need a few more finishing touches, but its SUPER AWESOME!! I was very proud of myself on this project, because let's face it, if you know me I have no taste in style AT ALL!!! HAHA!!!

So here is a sneak peak of what it looks like now... I will add some more pictures once we get the vinyl up and the new curtains and a couple of other things!!! Just couldn't wait to post!!

BEFORE

AFTER

The room before was blue and that was it!! There was NOTHING on the walls the whole 3 years we have lived in our house!! HAHA!! His bedding had cars and trucks and tools on it!! His new bedding is something I have been looking for for a long time!! I wanted stripes with a little color but could never find anything!!! I found this set at WalMart.com!!!

We left the blue on the bottom because it almost matched the blue in the picture I found!! We painted the top half gray and added an orange stripe around the room!! We got him this funky chair and lamp to make the room look a little 'older'!! He LOVES it, well as much as a 4 year old can I guess, LOL!! I guess I LOVE it more then him!!! We hung up some skateboards for shelves, super easy and cheap!!

Thinking about CHRISTMAS!!

As the holidays are approaching I have been thinking about my Christmas cards for this year!! Since having children I have gotten even more excited about Christmas cards and figuring out something new every year for them!!

For the past few years I have been using Shutterfly for all my printing needs, whether it be for pictures, birth announcements or Christmas cards!! So I was super excited to find out that Shutterfly is offering 50 free Christmas cards to bloggers for writing about this offer!! Click here to find out more!!

Shutterfly has a TON of different cards to choose from here is a link to their Christmas Photo Cards!! There are soo many fun ones its hard to choose which one I like!!

Also for those of you that host holiday parties they have fun invitations as well here is a link to their invitations!! So wish I had holiday parties to use these invitations!!

And for those of you that aren't into the Christmas card idea Shutterfly offers so much more, they have some fun holiday gift ideas as well, their desk calendar's would make great gift ideas!! With pictures on each page for each month your sure to brighten someones month with pictures!! Click here to see more!!!

Can't wait to get started on my card, I am still looking for the perfect outfits for my kiddos and hopefully can get pictures in the next week or so, while the weather is still nice!!

I will share our card when it gets closer to Christmas!!!

Steam Mop

For years now I have been so disgusted with how dirty my kitchen floor gets!! I have purchased a swiffer wet jet, swiffer sweeper vac, mr clean magic eraser mop, and LOTS and LOTS of mops and I always felt like it was still disgusting after I would mop!!

Since starting daycare in my home a couple months ago my floor has gotten WORSE, with 4 extra kids eating in my kitchen everyday, was really taking a toll on my floor!! It was HORRIBLE!!

So for the past couple of weeks I have been looking around for a steam mop, I REALLY REALLY wanted the Shark Van then Steam mop, but the price was a little over what I wanted to spend:(
I reached out on Facebook to get some advice and looked at a ton of sites reading reviews and finally went with the Dirt Devil steam mop!!

I got it in the mail today and I instantly took it out of the box, it took me 2 seconds to put it together and read the instructions and I was on my way to steam mopping my floor!! I only did a little part of my kitchen just to test it out, and waited until after lunch to do the WHOLE thing!! OH MY LORD it was AMAZING!!! I LOVE LOVE LOVE it!! I don't know why I ever waited so long to get one, but totally worth it, and a lot cleaner then when using chemicals!! Plus I don't feel bad now for the little ones crawling around on my kitchen floor!!

So if you are interested in getting something for your hard floors this is it, I chose the Dirt Devil because of the price, but there are lots of others ones out there that I'm sure would do great as well!! I think no matter what steam is the way to go!!!

LOVE my Steam Mop... I'm going to use this think like every day!! HAHA

Little Learner Daycare Openings

Little Learners Daycare now has 2 part time openings available!!

Ages 1 and up as my infant age is full!!

Little Learners offers a safe and fun place for your children!!

Please email Jamie at corbinjamie@gmail.com for more details!!

Thank you!!

ENJOY

No excuses here just been super busy!!! ENJOY all the pictures from the past couple of weeks!!
Starting with the oldest to the newest!!

Jodi's Surprise 30th birthday (Only picture I have)


Halloween FUN DAY at 'Little Learners Daycare'

Kids painting their pumpkins!!


Malia showing off her awesome rice krispie treats she decorated


Lauren's rice krispie treats


Margo's treats


Blake's treats


HALLOWEEN 2010

Blake- Iron Man Kendra- Ladybug


LOVE IT... He was excited!!


Here we go peanut!! She had a BLAST!!
Hard to believe this time last year she was a month old!!


***Trick or Treat***


Costume Birthday Party

Blake got invited to his first birthday from one of his friends Sam at school!! He was super excited!! It was a costume party, so Blake went as spiderman (last years costume)!! The kids got to play a few games, got to hit a pinata, opened presents, and had cake and ice cream!! It was a really good time!!

Blake playing "Toss the pine cone into the bucket"


Pin the mouth on the pumpkin and swinging at the pinata!!


CANDY!!!!


'Look what I got Mom'


Last I got this video of Kendra giggling at Blake playing with one of her hair bows!! It is too cute!!

LOVE LOVE LOVE little giggles!!

Happy Birthday Jodi

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE BEST SISTER IN THE WORLD!!!!!!

We have had our ups and downs as all siblings do, but in the end we have been there for eachother through thick and thin, and I couldn't imagine a better sister then you!! I dont tell you very often how much you have influenced me and inspired me to be a better wife, mother and sister!! You have grown so much in your life through the years, and your the strongest person I know and I look up to you for that!!!

I hope you have an AWESOME day!!!!!

LOVE YOU

(This is the only picture I have of me and you!!!)

Kendra

Just wanted to update everyone on Kendra!!!
For the past month on and off we noticed Kendra walking with a limp, the first time we noticed it we thought maybe she had fallen down the night before in the kitchen playing with Seth and I. We gave it a couple of days to get better and it did, so I didn't think anything more of it until this past weekend, when she started limping again. She wasn't feeling good on top of it, but she didn't want to walk, when you would put her down she was real grumpy and would just sit down. I knew after this happening twice now I had to take her in to get looked at, so Monday they did x-rays of her knee, ankle and foot and everything showed just fine, no broken bones no nothing. After talking to the doctor a little more and a few more tests, we found the Kendra's left leg is longer then her right, so our doctor suggested we see a orthopedic doctor, so we go to Omaha on Friday to see what is going on for sure!!

I will keep everyone updated on what we find out on Friday!!!

Sleepover Weekend

So this weekend we had planned a trip to the pumpkin patch in a nearby town!! I thought it would be fun to have my two nieces Ellie and Malia join us while their parents enjoyed a night with some friends!! We also decided that it would be fun to have to sleepover while we were at it!! The kids had SO much fun at the pumpkin patch, they were giggling and running around looking at all the fun stuff!! Miss Kendra hasn't been feeling the greatest, not sure if its allergies or what but her poor eyes look terrible!! So if she doesn't look to happy in the pictures this is why!!
After enjoying the pumpkin patch we headed to burger king for supper and to let the kids play in their play area!! We headed home so the kids could have some fun playing!! It was a great day and night with them all!!
I love being able to spend time with my nieces and I am so thankful that we live so close so that we can have fun weekends like this!!

I also have a couple pictures of our sleepover part, but am too tired to upload them now so I will edit the post in the morning!!

Enjoy all the pictures, they speak for themselves!!!

Picking out their pumpkins!!


Kendra on the hayrack ride!! Poor thing:(

Daddy and Kendra on hayrack ride

The 3 amigos on the hayrack ride!!

Seth helping Malia!!

Malia on the bounce house!!

Blake

Ellie

Silly kids!! Blakes face kills me:) HAHA!!

Haunted House!!

Miss Kendra

The kids in a corn tp!! (spelling not too sure)

Ellie in a tp!!

This picture says it all!!

Oh how Blake loved seeing spongebob!