Since we've been home from the hospital...

I've taken what feels like a bazillion days off of work making sure Livi s healthy enough for daycare before I go back.  So what have we been doing?  Enjoying our much needed time together.  And getting a jump start on my New Year's Resolution.  Here it is in pictures, in no particular order...

Hayden being a cheese-ball.  He has the best cheezy grin!  And he's looking so grown up!  Oh I make cute kids!!!  I can't look at this & not smile.

 Being "poppy" {pretty}!!  She loves pretties.  Hair bows, neclaces, bracelets.
{She still looks pretty exhausted doesn't she?  Poor baby.}

 Pretending to change her babies "butt."  She didn't need a diaper, just "wies."  She even had to find this one toy she likes to pretend is lotion, so she could put "low-lun" on her "baby butt owies."

 Meanwhile, Hayden, our future CEO...

That picture surprised me.  I didn't think we changed out of jammies all week!!!  Guess we must have one day?  Ha!

 We opened a few b-day toys that were still in the boxes.  Wasn't sure if they would be able to do this, but he was a pro!  Livi did it too.  Logan didn't care much.  Guess its time to start working on threading macaroni noodle necklaces. 

Where was Logan all this time?  Either playing cars quietly by himself.... Or watching it snow. 

Livi has been asking all week if we can "pay outside" or "pay no" {play in the snow} but we resisted since we have enough sickness for the moment.  Though I am dying to get them out there & see what they think of it!!!

Livi is breathing great.  Poor girl had circles on her sensitive, skin cheeks from the oxygen stickers for days!

And on top of all this playing, I did some creating.  Lots of it Pinterest inspired of course.  Pinterest, oh how I love thee. 

Little Tikes Table we got for cheap off Craigslist a long while back with the missing decorative sticker..

Enter- Crazy Duct Tape

Wish I would have put it on a little higher, but its an improvement either way.

Gift bag I've saved since the kids' baptism.  Love this print...

Perfect toy room art!!

And another piece of gift bag artwork...

Speaking of toy room.... we moved it back upstairs.  Office/storage is now downstairs.  We have debated this on & off for a while.  The kids didn't play well down there, so it made us feel like the office/storage space upstairs was wasted space since we spend all our time on the main floor & very little time in the office.  We thought about moving Livi to her own room.  But for now we're giving this a go.  This time we took out the TV & chair leaving more room just for toys & play.  Got some more storage bins, so hopefully it works!  So for now we're leaving the kids' beds all in the same room.

Cheap foam Target tree decorations

Not completely done with this wall.  There will be some of the kids' art work hanging under the word ART eventually.  And not sure what to all do with what's on the shelf?  For now its just some random clutter.

To display their artwork!

New bookshelf in their room.  Diaper boxes now holding puzzles & other misc. items.... will eventually become cuter storage.....

The only problem is by the time I get to their room in the morning....

As Hayden would say, "Itsa mess!"

So cute diaper box storage you say?  Been pinning the heck out of it on Pinterest.  Here was my first go at it.  I've seen it done with fabric too.  And I will try that as well.  But for this one I used contact paper.  Got a big ole' roll from Walmart for just a few bucks.

Cut off flaps.  Duct tape rough edges.  I duct taped the opening to use as a handle, but ended up covering it up.

From the flaps I cut off, I created an extra bottom piece for extra strength & to make it easier to make the bottom look pretty.

Duct tape & self adhesive contact paper

I did that bottom piece first, before I dove into the whole thing & noticed that the contact paper was just see-through enough that I could still see the Huggies Wipes labels.  So I put on a quick coat of primer before doing the box.  Next time I do it, I'll actually read one of the how-to's on Pinterest.  I totally just winged it

& I think my technique of cutting of the paper to wrap the box made it harder than it should have been. 

Not too bad though?!  Added some ribbon I already had with a glue gun.  A flower & "pull" both cut off of a gift bag I had stored away long ago.  And ta-da....

Basement bath! 
{This bathroom floor is SOOO on my to do list too by the way!}

And after all the toy room-office moving, we ended up with a cleaned out-ish corner in the kids' room, so we have an "extra" spot for more toys.  I'm thinking baby doll or other girly stuff??!!  We need some girly space.  So bring it on Christmas!!

And I cleaned out a drawer in preparation for what this next year will hopefully bring....

All that we have left of onesies.  Growing up too fast.

Another little project.  The kids have this clock in their room with spots to put pictures.  In 2 years, I've never done anything with it.  There it hung on their bedroom wall with the factory stock pictures.  The circles are pretty little, so I always wondered how well you could really fit a face in there.  Instead, I found this piece of scrapbook paper when I cleaned the new office space....

Cut some circles.... and Ta-da!

The boys "working" in the basement office/craft room while I cleaned & started organizing.

Logan watching "Rawr Choo-Choo!"  {Dinosaur Train}

Another Pinterest inspired craft...  Cereal box, duct tape, scrapbook paper & Mod Podge.....

Add a few magnetic clips......
...and viola!  Fridge storage bin for This & That!  I have plans for another smaller one. {One piece of advice: Pick patterns that are easier to match up than stripes & hide flaws a little easier.}  Its far from perfect, but it holds everything that was cluttering up the side of my fridge in a little prettier of a fashion.

Livi sat for a LONG time, like 45 minutes or more with my scraps from the cut up gift bags & did her "working."  She is such a little girl & I love, love, love it!!  We are going to shop & craft our little hearts out very soon Livi.  Just get a little older.

Can't wait til they are old enough for glue sticks & scissors.

We are perfecting the art of a HUG!  Mostly enforced after a time out that were the result of a hitting or pushing someone incident.  Something that is happening way too much for my liking.

Basement.  Office/family/craft room.  The kids have a table down there & some storage bins for future craft/coloring items.  Just a few colors & coloring books down there right now.  We'll have to wait & see what Santa fills their stockings with....

This is where I stopped.  I have some work to do here.  Or maybe just stick it in storage & forget about it for a while?  But I do have 3 empty storage totes that I think will end up in the toy room after Christmas.  {And just for something fun to think about... those 3 storage totes with the white tops, were the kids' bath tubs in the NICU & when they first came home!}

I've seen some things on Pinterest that I hope to do with those clear plactic bins on top of the computer armoire (as seen top right of picture) to make them just a tad less ugly.  Did I mention that I love Pinterest?



So what does all of this have to do with my New Years Resolution?? 

My resolution- GET ORGANIZED! 
{& find some places to save on our budget}

Some might feel that I AM organized.  In some fashions, yes.  Organized about the kids' stuff, keeping it all clean & straight.  But in terms of our actual house way, way, way less than I'd like to be.  A house just clutters up over time. PLUS I feel like over the past 2 years kids have taken over everything.  Which they have, & thats perfect.  I wouldn't change it for the world.  But we have packed up 1/2 of the things in our house as they took over more & more space in a gradual fashion.  And things just got shoved here & there to make room.  And I need to take it ALL out & put it ALL back in, but in a more organized fashion.  Life is crazy enough, I want to at least go home & feel like things have a place.  I'm hoping organizing my kitchen helps my grocery budget a little bit too.  {An always on-going goal in my life!}

I have plans for the kitchen & main bathroom mainly.  Those are the worst spaces.  But I'm hoping to do a little bit everywhere.  I think the kids' room & now the toy room are the only ones that I'm fairly content with.  I have seen something on Pinterest for the laundry room that I would LOVE LOVE for someone to built for me! 

I'm also hoping to dabble in making my own laundry soap & dishwasher detergent as I dig into each of these rooms.  I know some people who have done it & it seems to work great for them.  So I've been pinning a variety of "recipes" on Pinterest for that as well.  This should feed in well to my save some money resolution.  I spend a small fortune on laundry & dishes.  Honestly!

Thats what we've been doing....
Who else is thinking about New Year's Resolutions?  Whats yours?