Jack's 3rd Birthday Party!

So first I have to set the scene...since January Jack has been saying he wants a Madagascar Party...so a Madagascar Party he got! If you've seen the movie this will make sense...if you haven't shame on you!!! Stop what you are doing right now and go watch it and the second one too! You will thank me! :)

The party goers were welcomed into our home just like Marty welcomed Alex to his fun side of the island.

We had a bar like Marty's in the movie complete with coconut cups for the kids. They each got to take their cups home with them. Thankfully none of the kids copied the characters in the movie and spitted their drinks out...that would have been messy. Plus we decided to serve Pineapple/Coconut Punch instead of seawater so that probably helped!

The grub!!!

I got this awesome recipe from my friend Tricia...there is nothing bad about avocados, tomatoes, cucumber, beans, onions, lime juice and cilantro thrown together into a summer salad! Yummy!!!

For appetizers we had some Seaweed on a Stick....don't love it 'til you try!

Our seaweed is the sour variety and the kids loved it!

Uncle Ry was nice enough to do the grilling for us! Thanks Uncle Ry!!!

The food was super scrumptious!

 Aunt Michelle, Cooper & Paige had to leave early so Jack opened his present from them. He got a puppy dog Webkinz Jr...it's so cute! Jack has already given him the name Freddy! Great name!

So precious! He also got some frames for his artwork and paper and paint to create artwork. He loves to paint so this will be fun. Now mommy just has to get over the whole mess part and enjoy watching him create.

While the adults visited and finished eating some of the kids played outside...

and some of the kids played inside! Josiah is crawling all over the place now!

What would a party be without a game....bring on...Bite Marty On The Bum! See the bandaids...that's what they were aiming for.

Here is what the kids were trying to stick on Marty's bum...you know since Alex is a lion and he bit Marty on the bum. Seriously if you haven't seen the movie you have to!

Go Birthday Boy!!!

Andrew was so cute because he thought that once I turned him around he was going to be at the wall already and he wouldn't walk so I ended up having to pick him up and put him close enough to the wall so he could reach.

Caleb is either really really good or he can see through the blindfold...but he nailed it just like he did at Owen's Party!

The prize (thanks for the idea Starr)...Zebra Cakes of course!

Look at that...right on the bandaid...good job Caleb!

Then it was time for the cake...I'm going to do a whole post on the cake so I'll explain it more in detail, but I think it's pretty cool!

Welcome to The Central Park Zoo!

Jack has been talking about his Madagascar cake for so long now it was so fun for him to finally get it!

Keeping with our tradition of what's on the cake being his present his Madagascar characters were his present. I got them off Ebay back in January for $15 and of course he slept with them that night.

Time for presents!

 Jack got a Veggie Tales coloring book and a big Berenstain Bear book that was 5 books in 1 from Micah, Kim, Andrew & Josiah.

From Jim & Norean he got this cool Cars book that came with a map of Radiator Springs and little mini Cars to drive around on it.

This awesome Buzz & Woody backpack came from Uncle Ry & Aunt Stephie.

He also got money from Ga-Ga & Pa (his big present was the bunk bed that he and Owen have slept on every night since Owen's birthday), Tow Mater Car and Tow Mater Shirt, Toy Story Cars and the movie Tangled. He's definitely one blessed boy!

And now pictures of the party goers!

Micah, Josiah & Kim...Andrew was probably playing...he's a busy boy!

Uncle Ry with Stephie...oh wait no that's Aunt Becky! I seriously pointed to Becky and asked Ryan to come get a picture with Steph...I guess I was tired! On another note, Becky looks great in her new specs!

Heather, Uncle Ry, Aunt Stephie (There she is!) and Ga-Ga!

John & Tricia. There son Aaron was doing this...

We were talking about how maybe he'll grow up and be a dentist!

Yim aka Jim & Norean!

Ella was having fun practicing her gymnastics and Uncle Ry thought he'd join in the fun!

Yes Ryan I told you this would end up on the blog!!

Group shot...unfortunately 7 people are missing from this shot since they had to leave early. It was a great party though...thank you to family and friends for making Jack's 3rd Birthday so wonderful!!

FlyLady - Day 17

Day 17 - Set A Specific Bedtime And Stick To It!

This is pretty easy for me. I'm not really a night owl. I think I have become a little bit more of one since having kids just because it's the only alone time I get. I'm by no means a person that can stay up until 2am on a regular basis...heck I usually don't even make it to midnight on New Year's Eve!

Most nights Michael and I are awake until 11pm. After the kids go to bed we usually have an hour of separate time (like right now when I'm blogging and he's playing on the computer in the other room) and then he comes into the bedroom and we watch a show together or read a book together. Sometimes we'll go to bed at 10pm if we are really tired, but most of the time it's 11pm.

Last night was Jack's 3rd Birthday party so unfortunately after 17 days of FlyLady this is the first time my sink looked like this...

This morning I will tackle these dishes and then get back on the wagon!

FlyLady - Day 16

Day 16 - Read An Email From FlyLady!

Okay so I really did just jump right in! I have been reading emails from FlyLady since Day 1! This just proves to me that when you first start you shouldn't read anything in the beginning. I can get overwhelmed easily, but thankfully I just read what I could and deleted what I didn't want to read. But if you get overwhelmed super easy it's good to know you don't have to jump right in to read all those emails.

In other FlyLady news I've made my first couple of purchases...after reading about all the testimonies and one IRL friend telling me I decided to go ahead and get myself some Purple Rags. I also got the Rumba Scruba and am hoping it will make tackling my shower a bit easier! I can't wait for both of these tools to arrive...I keep you updated on how I like them.

Oh and I've also been meaning to blog about the homemade dish soap I made a while back. So far I LOVE it...but I'm not only using my homemade dish soap. I still have about a half a container of those Cascade Action Packs left and I just finished adding the last of my Jet Dry into the dishwasher. So I only put the homemade dish soap into the outside soap area. Once I finish the Cascade Action Packs I'll start using 2 tsps of it during each wash...one inside and one outside. Also once the Jet Dry is all used up I'll be add plain white vinegar instead. It will be interesting to see if it still meets my expectations then.

FlyLady - Day 15

Day 15 - Make Your Bed!

So obviously I have already started to adapt more FlyLady routines than I should have been. I can't even remember when I first heard about the making your bed every morning part, but it was early on and I just started doing it. I'm kind of thinging that when you go through the Getting Started part of FlyLady you should probably just ignore the emails all together. It would definitely help you stick to the Baby Steps concept a little bit better.

Like I said yesterday, making my bed is the first thing I do every morning. Literally I roll out of bed turn around and pull the sheet and comforter over and then walk around to Michael's side of the bed and do the same thing. Thankfully we aren't crazy sleepers so our bed is really pretty neat in the morning so it's easy to make. This picture was my bed on Friday morning and you can see my load of laundry for the day. I set it on the bed so when I get up from my chair I walk to the bed pick it up and take it downstairs. Oh yeah and the weather has gotten a bit better since you can see we don't have our Afghan on the bed anymore.

Friday was a crazy day at our house with a WIC Appt in the morning, then grocery shopping, and then my counseling appt in the afternoon and we watched my friend Erin's kids...so I didn't get a chance to declutter anything and I'm bummed about it. That is probably my favorite of all the FlyLady tasks since you can see such big results. I also didn't get to complete my mission which was to sweep and mop my kitchen floor. We are having Jack's party on Sunday so I will probably take some time later today to sweep the downstairs and mop the whole floor since our downstairs is all laminate floors.

Submarine!

At the MOPS Rummage Sale a month or so ago I got this cool blow up submarine for Ella. It was still in the box and had never been opened. Since it was nice outside I blew it up without any assistance...yeah my lips hurt! But it was worth it...the boys had a blast!

That's right the boys had a blast! Ella was a bit hesitant because the boys can be overly energtic and Ella doesn't seem to like closed in spaces.

So her and Logan hung out in the plastic pool with the balls instead.

The very next day I moved the submarine inside since it was going to rain and when the boys were busy watching a Veggie Tales I put the girls in there to see if they would have fun. All the balls had this layer of dirt on them from being played with outside so I cleaned each one....all 100 balls! I tossed them in through the sunroof as I went, bonking the girls in the head. They didn't seem to mind the balls are as light as air!

Recently Ella has gotten more and more into loving on Logan. I tell her to hug or kiss or wave to baby and she loves it oblige.

Mmmwha! Kisses for Logan!

Then came hugs...

More hugs...

More hugs...

Squeeze me! It was just the sweetest thing! Girlfriends lovin' on each other. Love how Logan was hugging her back with her chubby arms!

Yeah for girl play time!!!

Such sweet precious girls! This is one of the greatest parts of watching another baby girl...built in friendships are blossoming!

FlyLady - Day 14

Day 14 - Read An Essay That Kelly Wrote!

Today I read about the advantages of using a calendar...not that I didn't already know that, but FlyLady also has another free service called Cozi Calendar that helps you keep all your appointments for your whole family in one place. You can even use it on your phone if you have one of those fancy phones...which I do not! I still haven't really looked into the Cozi Calendar that much, but I think that will be one of the next things I do.

Just to recap (mainly for myself) what I do everyday so far here is a list of both my Morning Routine and my Bedtime Routine.

Morning Routine:

Make The Bed (This is literally the first thing I do after shutting the alarm off)

Shower/Get Dressed To Lace Up Shoes

Swish & Swipe

Computer Time

Put A Load In The Washing Machine

Get Kids Up

Breakfast

Do Dishes

Move Clothes to Dryer

Get Kids Dressed & Teeth Brushed

Hot Spots 2 Minutes (Sometimes I do don't have to do this)

Room Rescue 5 Minutes

Declutter 15 Minutes (Today I went through the dresser in my dining room and now I have a whole drawer that's empty)

Fold & Hang Up Laundry

What's My Mission For The Day?

I know that looks like a lot, but the first 5 are done before the kids are even up and sometimes I do the Hot Spots, Room Rescue and Declutter before I get them up. It just depends on the day.

Bedtime Routine:

Dishes & Shine My Sink

Set Out Clean Towels

Pick Up The House (No more than 20 mins)

Brush & Whiten Teeth

So there you have it....this is what I'm up to so far and most of it I do without even having to check my Control Journal. It's getting to be more and more of a routine. One thing that I've noticed the last couple mornings when I'm Swishing & Swiping is that it's getting faster to do. Plus since I'm cleaning the mirror, sink and toilet everyday they aren't nearly as dirty. So I've been branching out a bit more and noticing things that might need wiped down...a picture frame, switch plate or baseboard heater. All things that are close to the sink so I'm not really going very far, but heck if I have a paper towel with Windex on it I might as well use it!

Jack's Birth-Day Party!

Even though we aren't having Jack's Birthday Party until Sunday we had to have a Birth-Day celebration.

I made him a chocolate cake and put a Cookie Monster 3 Candle on it that I got at a garage sale years ago. Jack actually slept with his Cookie Monstor Candle that night and the next!

Birthday Boy!

Owen pretty much inhaled his cake in about 2 bites!

Can you say bathtime!!!

FlyLady - Day 13

Day 13 - Pick One Of Kelly's Missions And Do It!

So I've kind of gotten ahead of myself...natural curiousity I guess! I figured that was part of the process since you get the emails and see what other people are doing. Everyday I get an email about The Mission for the next day. Like I've said before this weeks Zone is the kitchen. So today's mission (which I was already planning on doing anyway) was to clean out the frig. Not like a completely empty the frig of everything and soak the shelves in warm water clean. More like move things over and wipe the shelves off instead clean. This isn't supposed to take 3 hours or even an hour.

I set the timer for 15 minutes, but I didn't finish in time. After that 15 minutes was over I reset the timer for 20 minutes so they kids would know when snack time was and I finished before that timer went off.

Before Cleaning

After Cleaning

Cleaning out the frig has been one of those things I've been putting off. Not because it hasn't needed it, but because I figured this would come up sooner or later as one of the tasks that FlyLady would have me do. Everyday when I get Iced Tea from the frig this is what I see under the pitcher. When I got the email that this was The Mission I was so happy that I wasn't going to have this junk under my tea pitcher anymore.

So nice!!!

Here's all the stuff that I ended up needing to throw away...crazy huh!!!

This morning I did my second round of decluttering for 15 minutes before the kids got up. I decided to go through the silverware and utensil drawers in the kitchen. They look so organized now...I'm in love!!!

A Home Project, A Meltdown & A Little Bit Of Nudity!

On Sunday after we went to Red Robin we also went to Lowe's to pick up a few supplies. Plastic chicken wire and staples for the staple gun!

See we have this cute little girl at our house that is WAY to fearless for her own good. Our deck rails aren't quite close enough and she likes to stick her upper body through them and last week she decided it would be good to start trying to step through them. About give me a heart attack!!!

She was a great supervisor while Daddy was working so hard to keep her safe!

 Then the boys asked if they could go downstairs and run in the sprinkler in their undies. I told Ella she couldn't go and this is what happened...

Total...

Meltdown...

City!!!

The boys were excited though!

She got over it fast though...this was her about 2 minutes later!

Of course before you run in the sprinkler you need to pee in the yard! This picture is what I got when I asked Jack to say 'cheese'...evidently Owen didn't want to feel left out! Unfortunately I did want part of him left out!

They had a blast jumping over the sprinkler!  

Project all finished...baby girl all safe!

FlyLady - Day 12

Day 12 - Delete All The Emails From FlyLady!

What?!?!?! Seriously ALL of them! She does send A LOT and it can be overwhelming, but I've been really good about not getting sucked into reading them all. She tells you that. Just read the ones you can and don't read the other ones. I can usually tell by the first sentence if I want to read it. For example if it's a testimonial and the person says I'm a single woman that has 2 dogs...okay doesn't apply to me...delete! I do actually have a FlyLady folder in my Outlook and I had moved a few emails over to that to reference back to later, but really am I ever going to check them out EVER again. So I listened and obeyed (can you tell I have young kids that don't do that!) and I deleted EVERY email this morning. Let me tell you...it felt SO good!!!

So I guess this whole weeks zone is the Kitchen so today it was all about cleaning off the cabinets. I got out a rag and some 409 and went to work making them look all nice and shiny...picking off pieces of who knows what with my fingernails....ewww!!! And...wait for it....I actually remembered before and after pictures. Okay I didn't remember until the VERY last part of the kitchen, but at least I remember something.

Before with fingerprints and yucky stuff!

After all shiny and clean!

Red Robin Celebration!

On Jack's actual birthday we went out for lunch at Red Robin just like we did for Owen's birthday this year. 

I could just eat him up!!!

Papa & Grandma Martin stopped by to see Jack and give him his present. In all my planning for Jack's party I decided to change his party from the 5th to the 12th, but I forgot to change the date on Papa & Grandma's invitation so they showed up at our house and we weren't there. Seriously where is my brain sometimes!

Jack got this cool airplane from them that can spin around when you squeeze the trigger. He loves it!

Of course in Red Robin fashion they sang to Jack and brough him ice cream. The video is hilarious for numerous reasons - 1. The look on Jack's face when they are singing is priceless. 2. Owen will not stop talking about getting the cherry or the ice cream or the balloon. 3. Jack eats his cherry around the balloon strings!

FlyLady - Day 11

Day 11 - Add An Inspirational Page To Your Control Journal!

This was an easy day! Although I'm not really an inspirational quote kind of person. I did add a couple that I could think of off the top of my head. I will add more as I hear them and now I will have a place to keep them all. Like I've said before on my blog music is what really speaks to me so I went ahead and put some of the lyrics down of songs that I like right now. The one that I've been really cranking up in the car whenever I hear it is Beautiful Things by Gungor.

I also added another thing to my Morning Routine...it was something that I have read both when I looked at FlyLady's Control Journal and I've seen it mentioned in the emails that are sent to me. It's "A Load A Day Keeps the CHAOS away!" I have absolutely been against this from the beginning because I liked having my routine of doing all my laundry on Wednesday. As I've gotten further into this process though I have seen that this really is benefical. It leaves Wednesday open for other possibilities and it really doesn't take that long to do one load a day. At night before bed I figure out what load I'm going to do and then in the morning when I go downstairs for the first time I put it in the washer. Then after breakfast it's done and I can put it in the dryer and once it's done drying I hang it up right away. It was quite nice to know that that was it! I done for the day!

Monday's zone was the kitchen and FlyLady encouraged us to clean up high so I got my broom out and cleared away the cobwebs around the ceiling and then I dusted off all the picture frames and shelves and cleaned off the top of the frig and got rid of a bunch of junk that had just accumulated up there. So refreshing!

And of course my sink is still shiny...and yes I did just take this picture on Monday night!