A bomb just went off in our house!

Yes, it has happened again. The laundry bomb went off in our house. It is amazing how quickly laundry piles up in the house when you have kids. Yes, that's right, there is laundry all over the living room!

Not to worry though, it is CLEAN laundry. I get points for that at least. This week has been so busy I just haven't had a chance to sort, fold, and put away our laundry. You know it is bad when you start to run out of laundry baskets. The worst thing is when you have to go rummaging through the piles to find matching pairs of socks. Don't lie! I know you have done this too! The worst part is I still have 2 loads in the wash and 2 waiting to be done. Laundry is everywhere right now!

That got me thinking about how much laundry our family does in a typical week. We do on average a daunting 14 loads a week. That is 728 loads of laundry in a year!!! Here are our numbers broken down:

--1 load of towels a week

--3 loads of cloth diaper laundry a week

--2 loads of boys clothes

--1 load for the baby

--1 load of kitchen towels and bibs a week

--1 load of jeans

--1 load of gym clothes and socks/undies

--1 load of darks

--1 load of lights

--2+ loads of miscellaneous things (Includes anything like sheets, bedding, and of course the "oops the kids" category for accidents and spills).

That is a lot of laundry! That doesn't even include all the other things I do during the day like the dishes, cooking meals, picking up the same toy over and over, and sweeping the floors (which I need to do still today by the way). Forget deep cleaning, I just try to keep it "tidy." Although I should mention I did scrub the floors and bathroom down this week. I surprise myself sometimes!

So husband dear...if you are reading this you should be asking yourself what does this mean??? I will tell you what it means. It means Valentines Day is coming up and that you really really love your wife. Did I say really enough? Because you REALLY just love her so much. I don't ask for much. You know diamonds and jewelry are not my kind of thing. But flowers, well those are nice. Or you could let me sleep in one morning next week. That would be perfect. I am sure you will think of something. You always come through.

Signed,

Your loving wife

Mom needs some donuts!

I think I will treat myself to some donuts this weekend. That is right, THIS GIRL has been working hard at the gym and is finally seeing some results. In January I lost 10 pounds! A huge huge victory for me!

My focus this month was to get my body used to what it feels like to you know... EXERCISE again. I would like to be in a position this spring that I can go jogging with Oliver and Eleanor in the double jogger. However, I have to be decent shape in order to do that. So cardio for me it is!

All month I have been increasing my workout in intervals. Week 1 I started out by walking for 2 minutes on the treadmill and then jogging for 3 minutes. Then I would repeat it. I did this each week until I was able to exercise for a full 25-30 minute period. Week 3 I increased how fast I was running and by week 4 I increased how long I was jogging for. By week five I was running for 5 full minutes and walking for 2 minutes. I now run 1.8-2 miles in a daily workout. My goal is to gradually increase how long I run for until I no longer need walking intervals. To any veteran runners out there this might not seem like a big accomplishment, but for me this is huge progress. You are talking to the person who did not like to run the mile in high school and would walk the last two laps. I am not a runner by nature. Scratch that, I am not an ATHLETE by nature! So *me* enjoying running, well that is just super!

As it turns out, exercising at the gym has some nice perks I had never even considered. On days I go to the gym, the kids all play in the nursery. Why is this so wonderful you ask? Well first off, mommy gets a nice little break from sticky fingers clinging to her legs and baby spit up down the front of her shirt. Even better, the kids tire themselves out and have a blast playing with new friends. In fact, they run off so much energy that they enjoy taking a nap when we get home! BONUS! However, the BEST part is I actually get to take a shower! Not just any shower, it is a "no kids invading the bathroom, no interruptions" kind of shower. The kind you have time to get dressed afterward, and can brush your hair and maybe put on some makeup! Hallelujah rejoice! What a nice little perk!

So maybe I don't need those donuts after all! My perk is getting a shower! Lovely isn't it? Parenthood problem #9017 solved.

Proof I am actually working on my New Years Goals!

Today I did some grocery shopping. Being the awesome mother that I am I even did it with a cranky 3 year old and a 7 month old who has recently decided she doesn't need a morning nap. Using my super amazing powers as a mother, I got all of us out the door and managed not to forget our grocery list. I *may* have bribed Oliver by telling him he could have a sucker if he would be my helper. However, in our house we call that an incentive.

Our goal today was to work on goal #1--feed the kids. I went to the store to buy our weekly groceries and lots of fresh produce and healthy alternatives for us to eat. Our meal plan for the week included several kid-friendly meals with healthy options. Here is our meal plan for the next week:

Friday-- Stir Fry (Happy Chinese New Year by the way!)

Saturday-- Tacos

Sunday-- Homemade Pizza from scratch

Monday-- Pasta with tomato basil and beef sauce

Tuesday-- Crockpot Salsa Chicken

Wednesday-- Church Dinner Night (mommy doesn't cook--YES!!!!!)

Thursday-- Mac & Cheese and Veggies

The next goal was to organize our refrigerator with healthy eating and young children in mind. I filled small containers with fresh fruit and cheese for little hands to have easy access to. I also made sure their favorite yogurts were right in front. Most importantly, I keep water bottles for each of my boys on the top shelf. When I am busy with the baby and they need a glass of water they can grab it themselves. A wonderful lactation consultant from Iowa City gave me this perfect little tidbit of advice and really it is genius! The other thing I did was make the top shelf a place for leftovers. We never seem to grab them unless they are the first thing we see. Knowing this, I put all of our leftovers and extras from this week on the top shelf. Hopefully this will cut down on food waste in our house.

So there you have it--I am actually working on our goals for 2012! And now you have proof of all of my hard work!

2012

2011 was a pretty wild year. In a nut shell we moved to a new place, we had a baby, and I officially switched to staying at home full time. Lots of changes in the Schenk household meant mommy was a little bit crazy (I said a little bit so don't lock me up just yet). We some how didn't find the time for blogging.

2012 will be better--I think. Brent just started an executive MBA program which is proving to be harder on me than it will be for him. Week one is over and the poor guy had to endure living in a suave hotel with housekeeping and a catered lunch and dinner for every meal. Hardly roughing it. Meanwhile, our household was on the brink of catastrophe that would match any apocalyptic nuclear meltdown. Our week involved strep throat, a blizzard and a funeral. Oh, and the Packers lost to the Giants. In all seriousness, I am hoping that at this point the rest of 2012 will not repeat itself.

There really is a lot of good things to look forward to this year. I may just be crazy (see first paragraph) but I have lots of goals for this house. In the spirit of making new year's resolutions here is what I would like to do this year.

1) Feed the kids. Starving children just don't look happy in family photos. JUST KIDDING. I feed my kids. However, this year I think we are going to try and incorporate more fresh fruit and veggies in our meals and we are going to try and eat more unprocessed food and organic food. If we can find the time this spring I would like to start a family garden too. Maybe I can make the kids do the work for me! :-D

2) Become debt free. Bye bye student loans! Dave Ramsey says I should kick you to the curb! Cheetah meet budget -- you have met your match!

3) Blog something. 2011 was a bad year for blogging. Even if I said I would double my posts from last year I don't think it would be enough! So here is to hoping for one post for each month!

4) Don't be a hoarder. In 2011 we got rid of stuff. Lots of old clothes and boxes of forgotten items. This year I want to continue to get organized. Less stuff has meant less cleaning. As the president of Bad Housekeeping I can promise that less cleaning is a good thing. Getting organized will be our goal this year.

5) Go running with a donut on a stick. Not really but yeah kind of. Now that the baby is older that means I can send her to the gym's childcare. Which pretty much means mommy has no excuse to NOT use the gym when we pay a nice little price tag for it. What is a mom to do when she hates the elliptical? I think I will just have to find a nice little carrot on a stick for me to chase after. I have some health and fitness goals for this year. I think if I do them I should get something nice, like a piece of chocolate cake that I don't have to share with the kids. Then again, maybe food shouldn't be my reward....

Well that is my food for thought today. Here is to a wonderful rest of 2012!

Photos of Eleanor!

Welcome to the world Eleanor Eileen!

Our precious baby girl was born just four days before her due date on Wednesday June 15th, 2011 at 3:30 AM. She has lots of dark hair and cute chubby cheeks. She weighed 9 lbs 9 oz, was 20 inches long, and had a head circumference of 14 3/4. She arrived after a fast delivery and is doing great. After a lot of discussion we have decided to name her Eleanor Eileen Schenk! We can't wait to bring her home, she is such a joy!

What's happening in the Schenk house!

It has been a while since we last posted anything on the family blog. We have been plenty busy since last December and have made some big changes in our family life. The biggest change of course is that Brent and I are expecting our third child, a baby girl. She is due to arrive any day now this June and we are very excited to meet her. The boys can't wait to be her big brother, they love their little sister already.

We also recently moved from North Liberty to Cedar Rapids. The location is very convenient and is close enough to downtown that Brent can actually bike to work. There area has lots of parks for us to enjoy together as a family and the local school is just blocks away. It is a good fit for us and we really love the new place. It is an older home but has a lot of unique charm. We have 3 bedrooms now and a much bigger kitchen which I love. It really fits our simple lifestyle. Or favorite thing about the home is the GIANT backyard and walk out deck. The boys have discovered there is a lot of exploring to do in the backyard, it kind of feels almost like a farm. We have a little farm shed complete with a ladder and attic, a long clothes line, their big swing set, lilac trees, honeysuckle trees, a mulberry bush, rhubarb and even grapes growing in the back yard!!! Every day we go outside and discover a "new" plant or flower that we hadn't noticed before. I don't have much of a green thumb but I might have to try out my hand at a little bit of gardening. I think we will try to start out small with tomatoes or strawberries this year, maybe even some potted herbs. I will have to post how that goes, I am sure I will have some memorable epic fail moments to share with all of you.

In other changes, I now stay at home full time with the kids. The funny thing about staying at home is that I am finding I have less free time than when I was working part time outside of the home! The kids really do keep me busy. No bonbons and daytime TV for this mom! We make many trips to the park or pool and find fun family activities to do around town. Don't worry though, we are just about all settled in now so I have no excuses for not posting anymore. I will make sure to share pictures and stories once again.

Additionally, Brent and I have started what I would call the second chapter of our Financial Peace journey. As most of you know, we finished Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace course in the spring of 2010. We have undergone many lifestyle changes in the last 16 months. We don't use credit cards or take out loans and we have discovered how freeing it can be to simplify your finances and have a working budget. What is interesting though is that by simplifying our finances we have actually simplified how we live as well. This I think is because our priorities are being reshaped. Money is not important, stuff is not important, and things are not important. Our friends, family and God have become the most important things. I wouldn't say we are prefect as we still have lots of work to do and a long journey ahead of us. However, I do feel that this has really helped us grow closer as a couple and made our family stronger. Financial Peace has changed more than just our finances. It has changed our outlook on life as well. What a blessing that has been! We are excited to see where our journey will take us in the next few years.

We are so excited to blog again and can't wait to share all the happenings our family has going on. Look to see more posts from us very soon!