Nora woke us up nice and early again… and even though Dave and I were both super tired, we pumped out a bunch of house work before it got nice outside.
Dave tackled the bathrooms… with my bathroom cleaning bucket.
I did LOTS and LOTS of laundry.
If you don’t live in Michigan, you don’t know how dreary it can be… but the sun was shinning SO brightly through our kitchen windows; it almost made waking up early worth it!
Also, I have to confess that I did some of my Virtual Assistant work… however, after our day of fun yesterday, I don’t feel too bad about that!
We found out that Nora has 2 new favorite hobbies…
One is drooling.
The other is covering her face with her blankie — I can understand the drooling, but not the blankie!
Lunchtime… I’ll confess, I absolutely LOVE mac and cheese, but only Kraft 🙂
After lunch, Dave headed outside to do MORE yard work… which involved raking and shoveling lots of pine needles (we have tons of pine trees on our lot and they all drop their needles.) In the future, we’re hoping to use these pine needles as mulch around many of our planting beds.
We still have 2 more days to add to our dumpster… hopefully we can make a little more room!
While Dave was doing yard work, I got out my most favorite cookbook ever…
And a few of my favorite recipes from my recipe box in preparation for a little baking.
We found that Nora REALLY likes watching Baby Einstein (or pretty much any cartoon) on TV… and since she doesn’t take naps, her TV time is the only free time I get.
No, I don’t feel bad!
Time to bake…
I went through a full pound of butter, one dozen eggs, 2.5 packages of cream cheese, 2 packages of caramels, 2 packages of chocolate chips, and a lot more delicious ingredients!
Here’s what about an hour in the kitchen produced…
Chocolate peanut butter brownies
Almond bundt cake
Oatmeal caramel bars
Chocolate chip cheese cake bars
Plus a whole lot of dirty dishes!
Oh, and thanks for all your concerns about our dishwasher malfunction… everything seems to be working properly again!
After my mini baking marathon, Nora and I walked to the bank {yes, we live in an old farmhouse SMACK in the middle of town so we can walk to the bank, library, grocery store, post office, etc.}
By the time we were home from our walk, the laundry was dry and Nora was sound asleep, so I had a few minutes to make up the beds.
I absolutely love the smell of clean sheets… and the look of a well-made bed. Yes, we make our bed EVERY single day!
My youngest sister is home from college for the Easter weekend and since my parents are gone on vacation, we had my siblings over for a pizza dinner and “Survivor party” {I think Dave has watched every episode of Survivor since the very beginning!}
It was nice to have a full table… and now even Nora got to sit at the table with us in her new chair!
By the time we finished dinner and Survivor, I was practically ready for bed… thankfully Nora went to bed on time, which means I could go to bed on time too 🙂
I sound old…
Julie says
May I say Bravo to you-No when to say no-I am terrible at that myself and your staycation sounds pretty busy too. The most important thing in the world is taking care of you so you can be the wife and mom you want to be!!!! (that is good advise and I am always putting me last lol) Maybe if you even started taking a half day media break weekly, and a moritorium on cooking and cleaning or anything but what is essential you might feel less stress too. You have a very full plate, Wife and all that entails, new mom and all that entails and we all know both of those are 24/7 plus church, friends, house and all that entails, cooking, work, blogging etc. I vote you quit your outside job-I know no one asked but you have to much on you!!! Yes I have had burn out a few times and it was so bad at one point I was hospitalized for a week-You are an amazing person and to be most effective in what matters the Lord, husband, family and so on you need some time to fill up your cup each day-I encourage you to some how find time 4 prayer
Julie says
I use the pine needles as mulch around my blueberries, and hydrangeas (they both like acidic environments and pineneedles provide that. I also have strawberries and when I googled what kind of mulch strawberries liked, it said pine needles were one of the options. The needles provide protection over the winter (I live in Wisconsin) and a nice bed on which to fruit in the summer. I guess its better to fruit on the pine needles than on dirt.
Melissa says
Hi Andrea-
I stumbled upon your blog a while ago when I googled hot cocoa mix recipes and I have been reading ever since! I was thrilled to find out you are also local to me too. Small world the internet is. 🙂 I want to thank you for what you offer on your blog. It has been so inspirational and motivating to me. I have purged ALOT of stuff from our home. I think I have made 7 trips to Goodwill since the beginning of the year and made 3 before the end of last year. I still have more to purge, but our house and my burden is so much lighter. You have made getting out from underneath the clutter doable and I thank you big time!!!! You are my go-to website for organizing info. Enjoy a blessed Easter and thank you again!
Andrea says
Wow Melissa — sounds like you have been on a roll lately! So you live in West MI?
Thanks for the kind words and keep up the great work — one bag of clutter at a time… your house with thank you!
Dolly says
I love how you said you did not feel guilty for letting Nora watch TV! I do want to make a suggestion 🙂 Invest in “My Baby Can Read”. I started my son on it when he was 6 months old. The DVD’s are about 30 minutes long and he loved it. By the time he was 1 1/2, he was able to read over 80 words(from the flashcards included). He turned 3 this past February and he can read a whole book! I was skeptical at first, but it really works. I don’t mind him watching TV as long as he is learning at the same time 🙂
P.S.
Nora is adorable!
Dana says
Oatmeal caramel bars sound ah-mazing! Any chance on getting the recipe?
Andrea says
I’ll work on that Dana — it will probably make an appearance in a couple of week 🙂
Kim says
Sounds like you are having a great Spring Break! By the way, we still love Survivor. Can’t wait to see what you are planning for your kitchen this summer.
Donna says
Nora is such a beautiful baby! She reminds me of Brooke Shields as a baby, when she did the Ivory soap ads. That probably makes me sound very old! Glad you are enjoying some R&R.
Tammy Skipper (@Tammy_Skipper) says
Sounds like a wonderful day to me. We got together with friends for an informal Easter Egg Hunt and we were grateful to have no rain for the whole afternoon (south of Seattle). Talk about feeling old…10 of the 14 kids were under 4 but I had teenagers 😉
Janet says
We live in Michigan but winter in South Carolina. Down here pine needles are called “pine straw” and people buy them for mulch. That really surprised us.
Elisabeth says
Hi Andrea, do you like the little clip on high chair that Nora is pictured in above? It looks like a real space saver. If you would recommend it, what brand is it?
Thank you!
Andrea says
Yes, we LOVE this chair — it’s a Regalo brand… from Amazon.com
Elisabeth says
Thanks Andrea! Just an idea…maybe a future blog post could be your take on baby equipment that is the most essential/best/simple and organized! I would definitely take notes:-). Have a great rest of your spring break!
Shannon says
Nora is so adorable! Sounds like teeth are coming soon!
You are so full of energy!