Five 27 Jones: 2013-03-03

Friday, March 8, 2013

High Five for Friday

Linking up with Lauren today for

I love Fridays, for 1) Because I get to stay home with my boys. This week I got a bonus because I didn't end up working yesterday, Daycare was closed and I had a boy recovering from the flu, that made for a 1 day work week (I usually only work Tuesdays and Thursdays, in case you wondered)

When I stay home we get to do things like this....Veg out for a few minutes after an extreme pillow fight!

2) I made this super healthy smoothie today with my new Ninja blender. It was pretty good but I will do a little tweeking. I got the blender on clearance at Walmart for $20. I was amazed at how awesome the blender worked, much better than the cheapo I've had for years.

3) I don't normally take self-portraits but did on Wednesday. I was going to do a What I Wore Wednesday as kind of a joke but decided not to, thought I would include it here instead. I stayed in yoga pants and a sweatshirt ALL DAY! The whole family was home and we had a relaxing day and didn't do much. It was great. I even went to the store in this to get something I needed for small groups that night. I thought about getting dressed before our small group kids got here but decided it was already 6:30, there was no point, I stayed comfy instead. When I said ALL day I meant it.

4) My weekly chores are done! ( at least until Monday) I even grocery shopped early again this week. I have nothing I have to do this weekend. Love that feeling!

5) We survived my 3 year old's first bout with the flu. He did awesome and hasn't got sick since since early Thursday morning! So far the rest of the family is still good and hope it stays that way!

I'm ready for the weekend. We are supposed to have some warmer weather here in Illinois. The sun is shining. I have a big run planned for tomorrow and that's it. Looking forward to a few relaxing days!

Have a great one everyone!

Finish the Sentence Link Up

Today I'm linking up with Holly and Jake for Finish the Sentence.

Here are the Questions we were given.....

1. People always tell me....used to tell me I was blonde. Now that my boys are cute??? That's all I can think of at the moment

2. In the movie based on my life... If it was just about me prepare yourself for boring. I'm not funny or witty at all. If it included my whole family it would be hilarious and dramatic with lots of story lines.

3. Typically, I end up regretting....Saying yes. I'm not very good at saying No, ever

4. I always ask to leave off the....everything, I'm plain Jane

5. Kim and Kanye really...need to do whatever they want. I don't follow them.

6. My Parents always reminded me...10 and 90, 10 % is what happens to you and 90% is how you react or decide to handle it.

7. Every single day I.....kiss my babies! Love them so much!

8. This one time in College.. Shows how boring I am, can't think of a good story

9. My grossest habit is... Picking everything, fingernails, toenails, lips, eyelashes. I have a serious problem!

10. My latest white lie was...Telling the boys a toy was broke when I really just didn't want to change the batteries. Noah is smarter than that so it didn't really work.

11. I know all the words to... Shapes, Counting and Colors, my boys latest favorite DVD

12. When I grow up... I want to own my clothing boutique, maybe named Five27Jones

13. Sexy time is...when I shave my legs

14. I will never, ever...Get a tattoo

If you want to join, head on over here to link up.

Thursday, March 7, 2013

Follow Friend Friday Link Up

Please welcome Jen from Five 27 Jones as our co-host this week. She is a mom of 2, organizer, crafter, clean eater, and runner. Don't forget to follow her and stop by and say "hi!"

ABC's Of Me

Tomorrow I'm co-hosting Follow Friend Friday link up with GlamHungryMom and ABpetite, so since there will be new people passing through I thought today would be the perfect day for a little get to know me post such as this one.

Also this wasn't my idea, I got it from Bubbly and Buttercream whom I just found this week because she is match up for Cara Boxes. If you haven't ever heard of them you can read about it here. More on Cara Boxes later!

A is for AGE: 28

B is for BED size: Queen, would love to have a king

C is for CHORE you hate: Windows

D is for DOGS: Not a fan, had them growing up but don't plan on ever getting one of my own.

E is for ESSENTIAL start to your day: Depends on the day. I almost always take my Genesis Pure Energy and Goyin, Can't feel ready for the day until I get a shower, Try to start the morning with working out at least 5x a week

F is for FAVORITE color: Shades of Pink

G is for GOLD or silver: Love the look of all the gold trendy jewelry, but wear silver a lot more often

H is for HEIGHT: 5 Feet 5.5

I is for INSTRUMENTS you play: Absolutely none, never have and probably won't at this point

J is for JOB title: Part- Time Stay at home mom, soon to be full and Part- Time Office Manager at my hubby's Optometry office

K is for KIDS: Two boys, Noah 3 years old and Carson 18 Months

L is for LIVE: In small town central Illinois

M is for MARRIAGE: Will be 7 years in May

N is for NICKNAMES: My bf calls me Dirks (my maiden name) but other than that I really don't have any unless you count the many names my 3 year old used like Hippo and Koka.

O is for OVERNIGHT hospital stays: Only with the births of my boys.

P is for PET PEEVE: Slow walkers in public places, Smoking when I'm out of state, Laziness

Q is for QUOTES: I'm not sure on this one. Went to my pinterest board and here were a few I really like. "Sometimes on the way to the dream you get lost and find a better one" and "Create a life that feels good on the inside, not one that just looks good on the outside"

R is for RIGHTY or lefty: My husband and I are both lefty's

S is for SIBLINGS: Complicated! Most of my life 3 sisters and 1 brother. In my adulthood, I gained two more sisters!

T is for TIME you wake up: 5:30 to 6

U is for UNIVERSITY you attended: Western Illinois University

V is for VEGETABLES you dislike: Brussel sprouts?

W is for WHAT makes you run late: My fate every day depends on the cooperation of my boys

X is for XRAYS you've had: Teeth, Had some after an accident and during my 10 year spell of Chronic hives but not sure what they all were

Y is for YUMMY food: The things I would love to live off- Pasta, bread, ice cream, candy, cake and chocolate! My new health food I found I love this week is Bare Naked Maple Syrup Granola, absolutely love it. Had it every day for breakfast!

Z is for ZOO animal: I always like the water animals!

And because every post is better with pictures and my boys are stinking cute!

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Kids Closet Oranization

This is my real-life boys closet. My two boys share a room and that means they also have to share a closet. The thing can get full, we always only have room for one season so it's about to get tricky come warmer weather. I have a tendency to ~~probably~~ buy a few too many clothes for my kids.

Here is a look at the whole closet

On the very top shelf you can hardly see, I store baby blankets and the bins are for items outgrown and items that I have purchased for the next season that don't need to be hung up yet.

Then the top row is all tops for my youngest and I try to keep them in order from everyday shirts to polos, to button ups that way everything is always easy to find.

The middle bins are for supplies (we keep wipes in there since I buy a massive bulk box from Amazon every few wipes), hangers, and outgrown clothing.

The next row of hanging is for my 3 year old and I organize his the same way.

At the bottom we have shoe shelves for their extra shoes. The ones they normally wear are in the garage.

Then on the left side, I have two hanging sweater organizers. I love these and they worked so well in here I ended up getting one to add to my walk in closet hanging section because I liked putting stuff that I would normally put in drawers in it instead. The far left one I use right now for an abundance of sweatshirts and bulky items so it doesn't take up the hanging space. Then the right one, is all pants. Each boy has 3 shelves 1 for dress pants, jeans, and sweatpants.

The bins on the floor are for out of season shoes, extra blankets and sheets.

Then we are lucky with Noah's current bed because we have some massive drawers in the bottom. We use the left one for pajamas, socks and underwear and the right one to store extra diapers, swim diapers and swim stuff. I love how big these drawers are. I order diapers the same way through Amazon and we get a huge amount of once.

Closets are one of my favorites things to organize. I love the custom cabinetry stuff, but found these items for cheap when we moved in and they work great for us!

Linking up with Semi Homemade Mom for Show and Share Wednesday!

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Pinterest Pantries

I know I'm not the only one who has occasionally or is often drooling at pantries and storage solutions on Pinterest. Why am I so jealous of these pantries?

Don't you just love all the labels and matching containers and how much they can store in this one?

This one is just wow! That's a whole room for kitchen stuff, what a dream. You wonder what is actually in their kitchen cabinets

They have one of my favorite prints for the wallpaper in their pantry, who wouldn't love that?

Love the glass jars and basket combo in this one and of course all the matching chalkboard label decals

Nice and Neat

This one is a cabinet. Since I don't have a pantry this one made me swoon, this is something I could actually do.

Now for the reality check!

Last week I read another writers post about how she organizes her kitchen and she said it wasn't the most creative or the prettiest way to do it but it worked for her family.

I loved hearing that!

The super organizing wannabe in me, desires for everything to be pretty, organized and labeled and would love to have one of these pantries or super organized and labeled cabinets but in the same token, I feel like they aren't real life.

The labels take time, I can't get the things I need to do most weeks let alone designing labels for my glass jars and pretty baskets.

I don't know about you but I know how expensive containers and baskets are, these pantries are not budget friendly and so much of the organization on display on Pinterest aren't. It's expensive for things to look good! We have a budget and I know for us, spending lots of money on containers for food that already come in storable packaging just isn't in it.

And the wallpaper is pretty, but that took time and who sees your pantry besides your family?

What do you do when you buy something that doesn't fit into your labeled items and categories?

And lastly, unloading groceries takes me long enough, I try to reorganize as I put things away and tidy up my fridge and cabinets but can you imagine how long it would take to refill all your jars and containers with what you just bought? You can't just dump it on top either, otherwise you will have the old at the bottom so you have to dump what is in their first, put in new, then put old back on top. Who has that kind of time?

Okay that last one I may have learned from experience. I may have fallen into the trap one day and bought a few containers for some items in our cabinets to make it ~~easier~~ look better after I drooled over pantries one night.

What I need to remind myself is that yes, those are gorgeous pantries and blog worthy but the most important part is that it functions for how you need it to and ours do just fine for this stage of my life.

**By the way in case you have a pantry or cabinets like these I don't think their is anything wrong with having them. I love them, and if I had all the time and money in the world I have to admit I would probably have one similar but I just don't feel they are practical for me and my family right now.

Monday, March 4, 2013

You know you are a mom.. When

I just recently started following The Pink Momma which you can find here and today she did You know you are a mom, when and encouraged others to join!

Here is my list for a mom of two boys 3 and 1 1/2

1) You always carry some emergency treat in your purse for public disasters
2) Each time you clean your floors, they cleanliness is only a sure bet until the next snack or meal
3) You can never go to the bathroom alone, and if you try expect screaming or knocking kids at the door
4) When kids are awake and it's quiet, you know they must be into something they shouldn't be
5) Decorating revolves around my boys, nothing down low, no pretty glass vases or breakables on table, very simplistic
6) Everything dangerous takes much longer to get into, my house sports some sweet cabinet locks and outlet plugs. In a kid free home you could have half your house vacuumed by the time I can get my vacuum plugged in
7) The laundry is never "done"
8) It's never safe to walk downstairs in the dark. You never know what you may step on
9) They say microfiber furniture is easy to clean, not in this house
10) The "fun" apps that are most used on our ipad are PBS and Disney and children's learning.
11) You choose to take a phone call or make one, I need to be prepared for a huge mess all over the house or a chance of some major fighting
12) You buy batteries in bulk packs and you go through them like water
13) Dinner doesn't involve 2-4 courses, it takes half of the kitchen to make because everyone eats something different.
14) You catch yourself wearing character bandaids on a regular basis
15) You randomly hearing crying when it doesn't really exist. I call it phantom crying
16) When you put your 28 year old butt in time in your room to get a break for a few minutes
17) Your style for the day revolves around what you will be doing and where you are going with your kids. Will I be crawling around, chasing, sitting, holding (can't wear something easily pulled down)
18) When new decor is the latest picture that was colored or craft that was made
19) Jewelry becomes toys, or anything in the bathroom for that matter, sometimes a mom just needs to get ready in a timely manner and needs to not be pulled on
20) You start to get ready to leave 30 minutes before you actually need to walk out the door

But also you know you are a mom when,

You have a whole new definition for the word "love"
You get to love on, kiss and cuddle up with the best little things you have ever known!
Giggles and laughs have never sounded so good!
Your favorite place to be is with your family!
You have never felt so blessed than when you look into the faces of your kids!

Being a mom is hard, it's about making sacrifices every day, but at the end of the day I can't imagine life without our two cuties and wouldn't trade them for a thing!

Menu Plan Monday

What a great weekend we had, out to dinner with friends on Saturday then caught a movie with some chocolate and candy, made a quick day trip yesterday to see some family and ate at a buffet for lunch. Now it's Monday I'm ready to get back on the health bandwagon and eat some good for my body food this week! Over the last month I have gained back some pounds I lost and now I'm ready to say good bye to them! I have no excuses, I've ate a bunch lately and a lot of junk so unfortunately I deserved it!

Here's to a healthy week!

Monday- Crock Pot BBQ Pork Ribs (for the hubby, I'm making spaghetti squash for me) Baked red potatoes and Green Beans

Tuesday- Stuffed Pepper Soup from the freezer. Have I mentioned how much I love having food in the freezer before? Because it truly is one of the things that makes me happy! I need to start adding instead of taking away because there is only a few things left.
Also I don't like stuffed peppers so much but this soup I really do like!