Happy 2015 Everyone!!

Hello my friends!! I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas holiday with your families! I know I have been enjoying every minute with my family, even when they drive me bananas.

Sorry, don't have a photo credit, it was on facebook :)

As I tuck my littles into bed after watching the ball drop for New Year's Eve in New York (which is 9pm our time), and settle in for a relaxing Homeland marathon binge watching session, I'm reflecting on the amazing year that I've had. Now, not much of that year was chronicled on this blog, but that's something I'm hoping to correct in the future.

Like many of you I am making some resolutions, but hopefully ones that I can keep! Last year our family had one main resolution, and we stuck to it most of the year!! We made a plan for the girls to try new foods, specifically try a little of whatever the hubs and I were having for dinner. For the most part, the girls were brave and tried, and I'm happy to report that our family dinners are much more peaceful and include many more options and even - gasp! vegetables!!

For 2015, our family is going to try another new plan together. Where up until now, this mama packed the lunches, packed the bags, put most things away, made all the plans, picked all the outfits, did the hair and generally organized all our lives. This year, our hope is to instill a sense of pride and responsibility in my girls and get their help to have our home run smoothly.

Here are the littles, after completing one of their Christmas Lego presents!

I found a list of age-appropriate tasks and we are going to put them into place this week, so hopefully we'll have some things under control by the time school starts on the 5th. Wish me luck!!!

I'm hoping to get a few blogs posts put together this week before I go back to work.  I have some organizing projects on the go, another household purge in the works and a couple of recipes to share with you all.  Please check in again soon!

Wishing you and your family a happy new year!

 

Christmas Morning Sanity Saver!

Hello once again my friends!! Can you believe it?? Two posts, two days in a row, and right before Christmas!! It’s a Christmas miracle! Truthfully, I have about ten posts that I could have done this month, but life is crazy, so I’m happy that I managed to get two done!!

One of my biggest pet peeves on Christmas morning…. Scratch that…. One of my biggest pet peeves when I scrapbook/post to Facebook our Christmas morning photos is the big black garbage bag sitting right in the middle of the room, to corral the gift wrap that has been quickly ripped from our Christmas morning presents.

My solution? One of my ugly blue recycling bins and a roll of wrapping paper! Rather than a big old ugly black garbage bag cluttering up my photos, I’ve wrapped a blue recycling bin with my holiday gift wrap, and then, when the girls (and the hubs and I) unwrap all of our treasures, the paper can go straight into the recycling bin! Bonus, the bin being covered in gift wrap makes it pretty. And that makes me happy.

Another few pet peeves? Presents that are impossible to get into, and gifts that need a little something extra.

To keep my sanity (and mild OCD) in check, I found a basket and put some Christmas morning necessities in there!

• Scissors for opening crazy-wrapped gifts
• Pliers to open the toys out of the boxes with the insane amount of zap straps manufacturers use to make sure dolls don’t slouch in their boxes
• My favorite pic-quic screwdriver – you never know what needs to be put together, or to take off battery pack covers
• Batteries for those gifts that require them, but that are not included in the box
• My spare camera battery (because knowing my luck, the Christmas eve photos would drain the battery and I’d be using an Iphone to capture my girls’ joy)
• Scotch tape (in case we accidentally unwrap a gift that we need to re-wrap!!
  

All of these Christmas morning necessities fit nicely into this little white container from the dollar store, and can be tucked away until we need what's inside.

I hope this post has inspired you to help keep your Christmas morning organized! This season is total chaos, so a few bits of calm and preparedness are like gold!

Christmas Eve Gift Box

I know we’re cutting it close to Christmas, only a few days left, but I’m back with a quick post with one of our Christmas traditions.

Ever since I was little, Christmas Eve always meant new pajamas for my sister, brother and I. When my girls came along, I always made sure that we had new jammies all wrapped up and ready to go for Christmas Eve.

This year, I decided to go one better and put together a Christmas Eve box filled with fun things for my girls and their little cousins to do after Christmas Eve mass. 

I found a box in the house and wrapped it in Christmas wrapping paper and then got to work filling it up! 

I hit up my new favorite place – the Dollar Spot at Target!! There, I found some adorable little craft fun packs and some new pencils for the girls.

Also into the box went some packets of hot chocolate and a bag of marshmallows (we use marshmallows as a hot chocolate topper and as a bribery tool for good behavior!!),

and a few Christmas mandarin oranges. I'm sure the girls are going to love having an extra present to unwrap at Baba's this Christmas Eve!!

Thanks for stopping by my little corner of the internet today!! Merry Christmas!!