family

A Frozen Inspired Bedroom & Birthday

It is not a secret that we love Frozen in this house. My husband would probably say that I love it even more than Abby. I love music, what can I say?  So when Abby’s birthday drew closer, we not only started planning her party but started planning to create her “big girl” bedroom. Her request for both was Frozen.

Of course I scoured Pinterest for ideas and I am actually proud to say that I actually completed some of the projects I pinned! Crazy, right?  

After painting and redecorating, her Frozen inspired bedroom was complete:

Frozen Themed Bedroom

Instead of having a big birthday party, we spent the day at the local Merry Go Round Festival with friends and family and of course she had to have her face painted to match her Frozen dress (created by 5 Little Elephants). It comes around every year on her birthday so she thinks its pretty cool that they set up a fair just for her birthday 🙂

Custom Elsa Dress

If you have a little girl who loves Frozen, then you might have gone through the same insanity of trying to find an Elsa dress (or any Frozen merchandise for that matter). Dresses that were originally sold at the Disney Store for $50 were being marked up online for $200 or more which is INSANE so I took to Etsy and found an amazing seller, Merry Mary’s Creations, who created this gorgeous Elsa dress:

Custom Disney Elsa Dress

Abby was so excited to open her presents to find her Frozen dress which of course had to immediately be tried on! If you ask her, she looks exactly like Elsa. Dramatic performances of movie scenes and songs quickly followed.

I cannot leave out the amazing Frozen-inspired birthday cake created by Keystone Confections! It was gluten-free and absolutely delicious:

Frozen Birthday Cake

In this picture it looks like Olaf’s arm is on fire but as he said in the movie, some people are worth melting for!

While it is hard to believe that Abby is now 5 and will be starting kindergarten in the fall, it was definitely a birthday to remember!

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Saving Spoons – Cleaning Schedule

If you are anything like me, keeping a clean house with chronic illness can be completely draining. Add children on top of that and at times you feel like you may as well give up the battle. In the past, I have always waited until the weekend to do major cleaning so I ended up spending my entire Saturday morning cleaned and by the time I was done I was completely wiped and didn’t want to do anything the rest of the day. When you work during the week, you want family time on the weekends and I just didn’t feel like I was getting as much as I wanted or even needed.

Enter my cleaning scheduled. Hubs thinks I am a complete dork for having a typed up schedule on my fridge (and maybe I am!) but it has helped me tremendously! If I plan out my cleaning a little each day, I can keep a clean house with spoons to spare. Obviously it requires disciple and there are certain things that must be done everyday but it really helps to space out the big things, like scrubbing the bathroom or sanitizing kitchen. I love that it not only helps me energy-wise but also it saves my Saturday from being spent cleaning all day!

Here is my cleaning schedule (I have a 3 bedroom, 1 bath house so your schedule may be different depending on house size):

Weekly Cleaning Schedule

Daily

Straighten Up
Make Beds
Dump Garbage
Clean up any spots or spills
Hang up clothes

Monday

Deep clean kitchen

Tuesday

Vacuum Carpets
Sweep floors
Mop floors

Wednesday

Deep clean living room (dust, fabric sweep furniture, etc)

Thursday

Bathrooms – clean mirror, sink, tub & toilet, dump trash

Friday

Deep clean playroom & Abby’s room (dust, etc)

Saturday

Change bedding on all beds

Deep clean bedroom & office (dust, etc)

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Going Green

Lately, I have been trying to make the move towards living an eco-friendly lifestyle. As a Christian, I feel that God has called us to be stewards of the beautiful earth that He created. In addition to that I believe that it is a healthier lifestyle all the way around. I have finished reading Green Chic which I highly recommend! John & I have started recycling and we have made the decision to cloth diaper when our baby comes home. In addition to the massive expense of disposable diapers, our landfills are packed enough without adding tons and tons of diapers. I am working on working more organic foods into our diets and I am really REALLY trying to kick the soda habit once and for all. ::raising hand:: My name is Jamee and I am a Dr. Pepper-a-holic. It has been 1hour since my last Dr. Pepper. I am really wanting to start weening off my medications as well (esp those that I feel like aren’t helping me). So I will keep you all posted on the great things I come across on my journey to be eco-friendly! I have added a list of “green” links and I will be adding to it as I come across more fabulous things!