Closing & Painting

Woohoo! We ended up closing on the house over a week early!

This whole week has been a crazy whirlwind of packing, moving,shopping, deciding....and the kids have been troopers through the whole process so far! I have set them up (in our future reading nook) with some little projects & movies to keep them busy while I clean :)

So, as exciting as it all is, we are in a bit of a limbo situation since we already scheduled a lot of things with the original closing date in mind. Don't get me wrong, there is plenty to keep us busy, but we cannot get ahead of the game with the moving situation since we are waiting for the carpets to be cleaned in the upstairs rooms and 4 rooms overall need to be painted so we are just moving little things here and there. 

The whole downstairs is a blank canvas at this point, every room is either white or a light cream color (as well as our bedroom) so we were excited to pick out some colors to liven things up a bit. The decision over colors was not as painful as I thought it would be, we were pretty much on the same page with everything...I did have to sell him a bit on the yellow in the dining room though :)

Here are the colors we have chosen...all Vaspar paint at Lowe's, but they were nice enough to mix up a shade of my favorite color from Sherwin-Williams ♥

Mink (Family Room)

Bell Tower Stone (Living Room)

Maple Cream (Dining Room)

Sherwin-Williams - Pavillion Beige (Bedroom)

As you can see, we are a big fan of greige colors :) The Maple Cream looks a bit peachy on my computer screen but it's actually a nice shade of yellow and I think it will be a nice accent color to the grey that's in the living room (which is right off of the dining room).

I used the Valspar's Virtual Painter to choose most all of the colors in the house, I highly recommend this if you have digital photos of the rooms you want to paint ...and a little bit of patience! It can be a bit tedious since you need to use the virtual painters tape to tape off what you don't want painted. 

We have painters coming to paint our living room and bedroom on Wednesday and we will be tackling the dining room and family room that day as well....I will post some before and after pics when we are done! 

Moving On!

So much has happened since my last post...I don't even know where to begin! Long story short....we bought a house!!!!! It has been an amazing (&interesting) journey for the Hubs and I since we wanted 2 very different homes. He is more of a city boy and really wanted a town home and I of course wanted a house with a big yard for the kids to play outside. We looked at A LOT of houses and town homes but actually ended up going with the very first house we looked at. At the end of the day it's the only one that really felt like "home" to us and could picture our family living in. We have a few things that we'd like to update but it gives us a chance to really make it our own so it's all very exciting. Our closing is in about 10 days and then we have about a week to get some painting done before the movers come. It will be so nice to finally be in a place that is all ours and not have to worry about landlords and whether or not we can hang up a picture on the wall. I will post pics once it is officially ours!

As far as everything else goes, I have been busy running kids around to school and their other activities and doing the day to day stuff. For the last month though, my life has been these brown boxes....a never ending sea of boxes >.< I have really missed my blogging though and would like to get back to it, slowly but surely! I know this is a crazy time to come back as we are in the middle of packing and moving our whole life of the past 3 years in this house but at the same time I will have a lot more to share :) I am really going to try my best and hopefully not let my followers down! 2013 is going to be filled with a lot of new experiences for our family and I am looking forward to sharing them, so please hold me to it ♥

On another note, I hope everyone had a very happy Easter! The twinkies did an Easter egg hunt in the midst of the packing chaos...but it gave me a lot more hiding places, so it was a real big hit! I'm pretty sure we found all the ones that I hid, and if not...it will be an interesting surprise come unpacking time,lol! 

I'm Still Here-ish!

Hey everyone! So sorry for my lack of posts and updates >.<  Things have been a bit of a whirlwind since we went on vacation, got back, and the kids started school & activities! I thought I would have more time to myself and to blog but it has been quite the opposite....and when I DO get a few mins to myself I am ready to sleep or zone out,lol. I am sure most of you can relate???? So, with that being said....I hope you all can forgive me and I promise I will be back to posting regularly again soon. I just gotta get my sea legs so to speak with having all my kids in school and activities.

I hope you all are doing well! I will leave you with a few of my fave pics from my Maine trip with the kids this summer (more to come!) ♥

Counting Down!

I am official counting down to m BIG summer trip to my hometown on the coast of Maine! I am so excited & anxious all at once >.< I am soooooo happy to be going to see my family & friends but I'm always a bit anxious when I am away from the Hubs. He is definitely the glue that keeps our family together and I'm not gonna lie...the kids really only listen to him,lol! This will be our 3rd summer trip there without him though so hopefully things will go smoothly now that the kids are another year older. I do get to see him on the ride up there though as he is dropping us off ^^ My brother in-law is flying in first thing tomorrow morning and he will be going with us on our road trip as well! Fun times!

I can't believe it myself but I have the kids all packed....that like, never ever happens this far in advance.  I'd like to give a shout out to space bags to-go cause they were a life saver in this process. I packed 7 outfits each since I will have access to washer & dryer and I don't want to bring a million things like I normally do. I think I brought their whole closet last year...no kidding! We will be there a couple of weeks (or possibly even a month!?) so I think we will be OK with the clothes situation...and I have been told not to being any toys or activities as my Mom and Grandma have some waiting...yay, less to pack! My personal packing is another story....such a nightmare! I think that won't be all packed until the night we leave ^^

Anyways, I just wanted to give a quick update and let you know I am still here! I will be busy until we leave on Saturday night so I probably won't be updating until next week once we get settled into my Mom's place. I hope you all enjoy the rest of your week and your weekends. Sending lots of love and hugs to you all ❤


p.s., I have lost another 5 lbs this past week and i am so excited! I am down over 40lbs since last year (33.3 lbs since April). I am not getting too attached to the recent 5lb loss since I am going on vacation and I will not have my treadmill...but I will do my best not to go too crazy *crossing fingers* 

{Recipe} 계란말이 Gaeran Mari - Korean Stuffed Omelette

One of our favorite side dishes is Gaeran Mari (계란말이), which is a Korean stuffed omelette. It is very similar to Tamagoyaki, which is a sweet Japanese rolled omelette but ingredients and technique is just a little bit different...both are perfect in any Bento though! We do love them both but I usually make this one more often as the kids love the gim (seaweed/nori) and veggies. 

The ingredients are very simple and you probably have everything you need right in your cupboards (ok, maybe not the seaweed ^^). With Gaeran Mari you can make it without the seaweed and also add any veggies you like...you even add a little bit of diced ham if you'd like!

Today, these are the ingredients I used:

• 3 eggs
• 1/2 cup frozen veggies
• 1 sheet of gim (seaweed)
• 1/2 tsp of minced onion 
• 1 teaspoon of lite soy sauce
• olive oil to grease the pan (you can also use cooking spray)

Preparation:

1. Whisk your egg, then add the soy sauce, onion and veggies until well combined. (I cook and slightly mash the frozen veggies ahead of time).
   
2. In a lightly greased saute pan, pour egg mixture and heat slowly over low heat.
   
3. Wait until the egg is almost cooked through, then place seaweed sheet on top of the omelette.
   
4. Roll the omelette gradually into a tight roll by lifting side with spatula or chopsticks. Let it cook a few seconds longer after the omellete is rolled to seal it up good.
   
5. Transfer your omelette carefully onto a plate then let it rest for a few minutes to cool. I usually tightly wrap a paper towel around it to soak up any excess oil and to firmly hold it's shape while it's cooling. 
6. Once the omelette is firm and cool, slice into 1/2-1 inch pieces depending on your preference (you don't want to slice too thinly or it will fall apart when slicing). 

We usually serve our Gaeran Mari with rice but today the kids had theirs with some noodles! Yummy :)

Confessions of a Drama Queen

We got a mini-van! I am uber excited because we will be taking it on our big road trip to Maine in a couple of weeks and now we can ride comfortably instead of squeezing into our car (my brother in law is coming too!). Aside from the horror ride coming back from picking it up, I am really happy about it...and they kids are too as you can see ^^

Now, I will let you in on a little secret that only my close friends know about me. I am afraid of driving....like REALLY really afraid. I didn't get my license until I was 27 and after that I only drove around our little island  in Maine and surrounding towns. If I did drive on road trips I was with girl friends and it was way less frightening. Since I have moved from my hometown about 5 years ago, I have only driven a 4-6 mile radius from my house...luckily we are close by to malls and shops. So anyways, yesterday my Hubs called me and told me we would be driving to Virginia to pick up the new van and that I had to drive our car home....alone. I immediately felt nauseous. I was even more nervous at the fact that I would be driving so far through big cities at night since I am supposed to wear glasses due to my night blindness and I lost those years ago. On the way out there I guilted my Hubs into stopping to buy me an XL Hazelnut coffee for my ride back....I knew I probably would not have made it without my DD super powers of course! So with my ipod playlist loaded with Kpop & Jeff Buckley and with my coffee in hand I was off! All I remember is the van tail lights as I followed the Hubs and the ride taking FOR.EV.ER @.@ (and by forever I mean a little over an hour), the rest of it is just a big blur.We drove through Fairfax, D.C., and into Maryland off the highway cause the 6 lanes would've given me a sure heart attack. Looking back on it though, it probably would've been the smarter and quicker choice. I did learn something about myself from this venture though and that is, I will NEVER be a city girl. I will enjoy my new mini-van while driving it around my comfort zone in my area or on our family road trips with the Hubs driving and I am 100% OK with that :) 

Just Dance

This is what we have been up to these past few days....

We got Just Dance Kids 2 for the Wii and it has been a bit of an obsession for all of us :) I love watching the kids getting into the songs and dances ♥ This is the perfect thing for the kiddo's on days it's either too hot or too rainy to go outside and they can use up some of that energy! I also love that they include songs from kids shows that they recognize as well as some classics like Head, Shoulders, Knees & Toes and The Hokey Pokey ....I could do without Justin Bieber though >.<

You can find Just Dance Kids 2 at your local Best Buy store or online at Amazon.com
 (it's also available for Playstation 3 & Xbox)! 

Here is the full song list::

1. Accidentally in Love - Counting Crows
2. Alright - David Choi
3. Are You Sleeping - The Just Dance Kids
4. Barbara Ann - The Beach Boys
5. Burning Up - Jonas Brothers
6. Crocodile Rock - Elton John featuring Nelly Furtado
7. Despicable Me - Pharrell Williams
8. Dumb Love - Sean Kingston
9. Itsy Bitsy Spider - The Just Dance Kids
10. Feeling Good - Michael Bublé
11. Five Little Monkeys - The Just Dance Kids
12. Follow The Leader - The Wiggles
13. Girls Can Too - The Just Dance Kids
14. On Our Way - The Just Dance Kids
15. Head, Shoulders, Knees & Toes - Nadia Gifford
16. Hold Still - Yo Gabba Gabba!
17. I’m A Gummy Bear (The Gummy Bear Song) - Gummibär
18. I’m Gonna Catch You - Laurie Berkner
19. Intuition - Selena Gomez & the Scene
20. Istanbul - The Four Lads
21. Jingle Bells - The Just Dance Kids
22. Jump Up! - Imagination Movers
23. Just The Way You Are - Bruno Mars
24. Lollipop - The Chordettes
25. Love Me - Justin Bieber
26. Mah Nà Mah Nà - The Just Dance Kids
27. Party Goes Down - The Just Dance Kids
28. Positivity - Ashley Tisdale
29. Rocketeer - Far East Movement
30. Shake Your Groove Thing - Peaches & Herb
31. Something That I Want - Grace Potter
32. Song 2 - Blur
33. Start All Over - Miley Cyrus
34. Summer School - Twirl
35. The Hokey Pokey - The Just Dance Kids
36. The Lion Sleeps - Tonight The Evening Birds
37. The Robot Song - Yo Gabba Gabba!
38. The Shimmie Shake! - The Wiggles
39. Hand In Hand - The Just Dance Kids
40. Whip My Hair – Willow Smith