Fall Porch

I love a good porch! A big porch with cozy seating and a general feel of welcoming. We don't have that :(

We have a decent sized porch but it's lacking!

I've been working on it though to make it better.

Here is what ours looked like before

Sad little chair, missing table, over ripe apples from last month, cob webs 

and a tipped over bucket. Nothing Fall like or inviting!

Taking inspiration from Pinterest

 (of course) and other blogs. 

These are some of my favorite porches, like you could sit and stay a while (with no 8 legged friends)

Love the clock!

Never thought of using rugs, other than door mats. Clever!

Love the floor, and the mismatched chairs!

I know I love Mums for fall

I like the white and the dark red ones

and pillows! We need pillows!

These are ADORABLE!

I LOVE love this sign, this style!

Ok, I have some inspiration and our porch is mostly cleaned off. Naptime tomorrow  well whenever I have a few minutes here and there I will work on it, Hoping to be done before Thursday!

Weekly Plan

Now that our birthday weekend is over, I REALLY have to get in gear!

I usually grocery shop on Friday but we left Friday so I have to do it today, along with a bunch of other stuff.

This week needs to be the end of some projects, the start of some fall/easy cooking and the beginning stages of Christmas planning. I know, that sounds crazy, but I am just planning on making a
 plan to start homemade gifts.

Meals
So easy meals means cook once eat multiple times
Monday~Crock Pot Pork Roast
Tuesday~Pork Soft tacos (with leftovers)
Wednesday~Spaghetti
Thursday~Beef Stroganoff
Friday~Mini Pizzas


Errands
~Oil Change (least fave thing to do, but the 30 minutes of scheduling time I can use)
~Grocery Shopping
~Switching Banks.. another ewww!

Fun Stuff
~Horse Riding Lessons
~5k this weekend
~Soccer, Soccer and more Soccer!
~Playdates, lots of playdates!

Around the House
~Finish Painting Blue
~Finish Kitchen Fall Cleaning
~Finish Family Room Fall Cleaning
~Pretty up the Porch
~Prep for Halloween decorations (clean surfaces, put non seasonal stuff away)

Reading
~My stack of magazines (and pass them on)
~ A few chapters in my fun book (The Night Circus)
~Daily reads in my Devotional


I will say that making these weekly plans has really helped me feel like I get a better idea of the big picture!
And I have not been going to the gym as much lately, thinking I need to add exercise to the list of planning! Failing to plan is planning to fail right?
If this week doesn't manage to have a few good workouts in it, I will for sure be adding it to the list!

Fall = Changes

And not just the regular leave changing, new classroom changes. 

Around here something about fall makes me like to change EVERYTHING! From hair color to bedroom furniture placement and the way I drive to and from school.

I talked about changing Finnley's room, well if you can call it changing, more like finishing.

But we also have been doing some work in Ramsey's room!

Haven't really shared much of his.

Here are a few from when Hubby built his bed, and we got his little locker desk put in.

We painted his room when we first moved in, before the dresser and bed. Obviously since they all clash!

Just finishing up painting, already put the bed back together, a few things to take care of and I will share the changes. I miss that tiny face, the picture was taken in 2010! He looks so big and grown up now, with HUGE teeth!

When we get back from our weekend adventure we should be able to finish it all up!

Fall Cleaning.. little bedrooms

I don't know if I would really call it cleaning, but Finnley's room had a few things I have been putting off.

Filling in nail holes, touching up paint, trying to fix a bed skirt. Stuff like that!

I shared his room here, forever ago, when he was still in a crib!

This was really the only picture

It really has changed and like all our rooms here will be changing forever. I am not the type to just go buy to fill a room, I would rather wait until something is perfect!

We ended up getting him this IKEA bed

Wasn't what I want exactly, but the price is not horrible. Just waiting for the iron bed that will be perfect for his room AND our budget. Something like this

But maybe not SO rusty.

The only problem with the Ikea bed is that it makes having a bed skirt nearly impossible, there are slats underneath and the bed skirts just don't lay right, the slats move when you have kids that are for sure jumping on the bed. The bed skirts just move and bunch.

What I ended up doing was using some fabric and some sticky back Velcro to make a "skirt" really its just strips of fabric, not sewn or anything fancy. I probably could have used a bed skirt and cut the pretty part off the center but I already had the fabric.

I also moved some of the wall decorations around, felt like everything was scattered and I wasn't loving it.

I am hoping to get hubby to make a shelf like this, found on Pinterest and just LOVE it!

and I also love this, also from pinterest!

Hubby is already mid project, painting the Ramsey's room so I can't really ask for either of these right this minute, but I can do a bunch of other stuff in Finn's room. 

I will share as I finish stuff up!

Before and Afters so far

I am embarrassed to share these before pictures! 

But keeping it real, and I wouldn't want anyone to think our place is always clutter free!

Pantry Before (well partway actually)

I finally went through all my cook books, and got real about the ones I might actually use. Got rid of the ones I won't use. Fixed the snack buckets. There were about 30 pieces of pirates booty in there just floating around, eww!

Scrubbed the shelves, and the floor. Moved our stock to our outside pantry. SO much better in there now!

And now I remember what I needed at IKEA last weekend. Darn! I was hoping to get a couple of the big file boxes to use to hold our cookie cutters and the other stuff in the green bucket. Those work just fine but I can't stack them and they just look messy.

After

the green bin and cookie cutters I need to replace

Those pictures are horrible.. but really it IS much better organized!

The Pantry actually looked clean compared to this!

Craft Cupboards

It really was a lot of Halloween fluff and a few Back to School left overs.

Moved everything to the bins they SHOULD have been in to start with.. SO much better!

And I have a whole little section of projects I NEED to finish!

But when you can't see them it makes them easy to forget.

Tomorrow I think my projects need to be out of the kitchen!

Last Monday of Summer

I am SO SO excited for Fall that I am not even a little sad to see Summer go!

This week I am still working on all that fall cleaning 

and we have some fun stuff planned around here. 

Our little guy is turning 3 this weekend!

Meals

Monday~Chicken and rice

Tuesday~Tacos 

Wednesday~Spaghetti

Thursday~ Pork Tenderloin

Friday~Dinner out

Around the House

Fall Cleaning 

Finishing up some projects

Fun Stuff

Riding Lessons

Target Tuesday

Baking, Soccer and

Great Wolf Lodge for the Birthday boy this weekend!

Fall Cleaning/Organizing Mashup

Well I am trying to do a little of my HUGE fall cleaning list every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

Yestrday I did the windows, inside and out of all the ones I could reach (sadly, that is not that many). 

Planning Fridays job right now. I KNOW it has to be the pantry! It needs organizing, I like to organize on Fridays, I have all weekend to take stuff to Goodwill or find the perfect piece for the space.

I don't know about you but our pantry is a DISASTER after the kids have been ransacking it all summer!

So my plan for Friday is to wipe down all the shelves, make sure nothing is expired, put stuff where it goes and move our stock to the bookshelf in the garage. I kept thinking we were out of PB, kept buying a couple, wondering where they went. When you have 6 containers of PB you know it's time for some pantry TLC!

Our Pantry is no new comber to the blog, oh no, it is constantly needing organized or re arranged or cleaned, or made a little prettier! And I am doing my best to keep things real here, yes I organize and NO it doesn't stay that way forever, it's not a 1 time job, it's constant.

Here are some past posts, just in case pictures of pantries are your thing ;)

Clean and Canisters

HORRIBLY Messy picture of it!

Organize and Snack prep

MORE organizing

Making it a little prettier

my FIRST ever sharing of my pantry.. SO bad!

Maybe I will share some before and after pics again.. if there is a big difference!

Facebook

I'm sharing my fall cleaning a little each week, come join in on facebook!

HERE 

Fall Cleaning

I love having a clean house for the holidays. But also for school and for the changing seasons. After months of dirt being tracked in since spring, everything needs some tidying!

Usually I do it by room and do everything over a couple days, a week max. But I just do NOT have that kind of time this year. But it still has to be done!

So I took these lists and went through them all for how long each job takes me.

Kitchen

Living Room

Bathrooms

Bedrooms

And now I have my list by either 15, 30, 45 minute sections and a few that were longer than I split (like going through cupboards)

So now on my least busy days I will try to squeeze in either a 45 minute job, or a few 15 minute ones!

Planning on starting today, Monday and then sharing a couple options every few days on Facebook! Come join, and share some before and after pictures to help keep us all motivated!

Weekly Plan

This week is the start of school for Kindergartner and also the start of an even crazier schedule. 

This week we add, 2 play dates for the little one, 2 daycare kids 2 days a week, 4 soccer practices. And Hubby will be gone 3 days this week out of town! Bring on the crazy, we are ready for it!

Today it is suppose to finally feel like Fall and I love that.

We are taking advantage and using the slow cooker as much as possible!

Meals

Monday~Chicken and Pasta (in the crock pot)

Tuesday~Tacos (in the crock pot)

Wednesday~Breakfast for Dinner

Thursday~ Salmon and Rice

Friday~Pizza

Around the House

 I am thinking I will start now with the Fall Cleaning, and instead of doing it all in 1 week I am going to do a little everyday. Split up into the 15 min jobs. I'll be sharing those coming up!

My usual weekly chores

Prep for Halloween Decorations

Fun Stuff

It's all fun, even the crazy parts!

Back to School Party

As far as grades go, I get a big ol' F for pictures!

I forgot until the last minute and took just a couple before people came over, so they aren't great.

I was going for all the things that made me think of School and Sack lunches. Apples, books, PbnJ, Twinkies and juice boxes but with a kind of retro feel. We don't do anything too perfect here. 

Stole the lockers from the big boys room for the day and the books off the bookshelf.

I usually do pennant banners but I actually am glad I ran out of paper and could only do this, I LOVE it! I just sewed the letters together with some fishing line.

I used the lemon cookie sticks from Cost Plus and some candy melts for the little pencils.

And the white dish has my favorite "Back to School Snack Mix"

TWINKIE Cupcakes (the recipe ALLL over Pinterest) and pencil cookies.

 Chocolate Chip Cookie Taffy

 Please excuse my coffee in the background, I needed about 3 of those!

 Chalkboard with Lunch Steps for brown bag lunches 

Little Favors to go. Pencil Cookies

I love these apple cups! I have another stash just in case some little muffin needs a Snow White Party!

Very lacking in pictures but it was fun! My theory is if no one leaves bleeding it was alright! 

There were about 25 kids there and only 1 lost tooth in the bounce house!

First Day!

I totally skipped our weekly plan yesterday! 

We were too busy enjoying the last day before life gets even more crazy than usual!

Kids are soo excited for school, and soccer and horse riding. Me, not so much. I'd rather they just wanted to be with me all day! I miss their little faces when they are gone.

Meals

Tuesday~Tacos

Wednesday~Chicken & Pasta

Thursday~Mini Pizzas

Friday~White Chicken Enchiladas

Around the House

~Weekly Chores

~Work on Beadboard in bathroom

~Organize Soccer stuff in the garage

Fun Stuff

~Soccer Practice x4 (sooo fun, or not)

~Riding Lessons

~Play Date

~Park for the littles

~Possibility of Target Tuesday starting again (depends on how the morning goes)