Spring Break

What? A week without a blog post? What do you think this is--- Spring Break? Well, it was Spring Break in Louisiana and my entire week has been turned upside down.  All of our normal activities were cancelled. Bowling, Story time at the library, Wednesday night Church, Gymboree... cancelled, cancelled, cancelled, cancelled!  You'd think with a clear schedule, I would have posted something everyday, but I've been too busy.  Here are a few pictures of what I've been up to....

Friday evening, Brendon came home from work to find me.... rearranging the Man Cave! I quickly pulled him into my project and we finished all the rearranging before Owen's bedtime. I couldn't find a great before picture, but here are the after pictures.

The guest bed is now on a different wall and has a nightstand on each side.
 (Before there was a Craftsman tool box next to the bed)

The Craftsman toolbox moved to the small wall, just inside the door. 

The desk looks quite grand in the middle of the bookshelves. This wall has become the military wall---holding B's coins, patches, certificates, awards, flag case, and all that jazz.  The room looks so much bigger now and it's far more organized. 

And, when you give a mouse a cookie....

Well, in this case, she's going to want to rearrange every other room in the house too! So, I moved onto the living room.  When we moved into our apartment, Brendon and my Mom arranged the furniture in every way possible.  That's when they learned that there's only one way to arrange the furniture! But, the living room was looking so cluttered. It was driving me crazy! I decided to give it a go myself.

First, I removed all the toys. Wow--- our little one has tons of toys!!! This was just the stock in the living room.

It looked far better with all the toys out of the living room. BUT.... Owen's room look cluttered with all the toys, too. So, I decided to move the couch out of his bedroom and put it in the living room.  As you can tell by the picture, there's not enough space in the living room for all of our huge couches!  

My favorite part of this picture is Owen quietly reading a book, while I turn the house upside down.  

After moving all the (extremely heavy) couches, vacuuming and returning all the couches back to their original places, I think the living room looks great! We just needed to de-clutter the toys and I moved around the lamps.

I decorated the entertainment cabinet, too!  I made the chocolate bunny poem frame, the Easter Egg bouquet, and added the grass and decorative egg to the jar of decorative balls.  The Subway art in the frame is from Landee See Landee Do.

As you can see, I'm still playing around with the setup. I like the egg plate standing up...so maybe I'll just find a new home for the egg bouquet. We'll see.

After I took out the orange and pink eggs, I like the egg bouquet more. 

 I may also get a different Subway Art printed.  I think I prefer the bright colors of the Subway Art from Hopscotch Studios Designs.  Which do you like? 

Even Owen likes to check out the decorations.  He's figured out how to pull himself up to standing and likes to try standing anytime he can.  He was really proud of himself for standing up and touching the egg plate.

Until he realized that he didn't know how to sit down!  This picture is awful (I know. Shame on me for laughing), but he needs to figure it out. Don't worry--- he finally bent his knees and sat right down!

After all the redecorating in the living room, I needed to figure out something for Owen's room.  The toys were taking over! So, Brendon bought a tall bookshelf.  We replaced one small shelf in his room with the tall bookshelf that holds much more.

 I also put his crib in the corner of the room against the wall.  He needed more floor space for playing.  I'm looking forward to taking some great family photos to go above his bed.  I love having pictures on the walls and Owen's room definitely needs more. After just one nap with the crib in it's new place, I learned that the crib needs to be pulled out from the wall a little bit.  I put him in his crib, walked away, and then heard knocking on the wall. Yes, he was knocking to get my attention and it worked! But, he still had to take his nap. Mommy always wins!

In addition to rearrange the entire house, I've also made some great meals this week.  Monday night, we enjoyed Rosemary Chicken, mashed potatoes, and veggies.  I got the recipe from my good buddy, Buddy Valastro! Here's a link to the recipe!

Tonight, I made Baked Ziti.  I knew that I would like it, because that's my favorite dish to order at Olive Garden.  But, we were very surprised to find that Owen loves baked ziti too!  He cleaned his plate, twice!  

I got the recipe from you guessed it, Kitchen Boss!  But, I changed it a little.  I did use the ricotta cheese that the recipe requires. But, I added in 1/4 cup of grated Romano cheese and 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese.  I left out the Fontinella and Mortadella.  Not only do I not know what those ingredients are, but I don't know where they are at the grocery store--- so they were off the recipe! It turned out great without them. :O)

For Saturday night dessert, we made Bananas Foster.  It was delicious and very exciting to make, too! 

First, you cook the bananas, brown sugar, and cinnamon.  

Then, you set the banana liqueur a blaze!

Brendon did the cooking---- I was too scared that my hair would catch on fire!
(Hey~ While you're admiring the flames, check out the laundry room.  It's not only neat, but all the laundry is done! Whooohoo)

Once the fire burned all the alcohol off, we served the banana mixture over vanilla ice cream. It was so yummy and easy too!  10 Minutes was all the time it took.

So, that's what I've been up to on my Spring Break.  I'm very excited to get back to my routine and to start planning Owen's 1st Birthday Party!  It's just one month away--- We've already decided on a zoo theme and (after checking out several locations around town) we are going to have it at our house. It will be small, but AMAZING!  I can't wait :O)