Friday Favorites

Time for another addition of Friday Favorites!  Linking up with Erika, Narci and Andrea.

Another week is (almost) down in the books.  Sweet Jezabel it was a long one.  And for no particular reason, really.  It just felt like it took for.ever.

This is exactly how I felt, just sayin.

I've been SO exhausted again lately and I get so cranky trying to figure out why.  I'm constantly adjusting my diet and sometimes I just feel defeated.  This week I dusted (literally) off my treadmill and had Brad set it up again.  It's been put away for a couple months because of finishing our lower level.  I have walked/ran everyday this week and it has definitely helped with the energy levels.

This is so me!  I am wide awake around 4, and literally by 10 am my energy is zapped for the rest of the day.  Sucks.  It doesn't help having a desk job.

So besides my debbie downer beginning, here's some of my favorites for this week!

I really enjoyed reading everyone's Balancing Work and Home Life for Working it Wednesdays.  it was SO refreshing to see that I'm not the only who feels like a raging lunatic.  And very interesting that *most* of us moms enjoy getting up at the butt crack of dawn to get some "me" time in.  If you're still on the fence about this one, just try it for one week.  It feels so good to have my workout time and devotions done AND I can usually get supper together.  You can read my post here.

 Despite being super busy this week, we still enjoyed some yummy suppers, here's what we had:

  Layered Taco Casserole is a huge hit with everyone, even mousey ate it up.  So many ways you can personalize this.  I've made it a couple days in advance and it doesn't change the taste at all.

Another fave is chicken wild rice soup.  Rachel got home from volleyball and was jumping up and down when she saw what we were having for supper!!  So glad I can make her day with food, haha!

Picture courtesy of Allresipes.com

One night was venison sausage and another was tator tot hotdish.  Alayna was in heaven!!  As much as I still love to plan my meals and do some prepping, I am trying to not make my entire weekend about prepping for the week, it was starting to make me slightly insane.  So, I'm doing more delegating, and enjoying a little more "me" time.  So far so good!

Emma and Alayna have been in Easter craft mode.  They are both in charge of the treat for Easter with their friends.  Each friend takes a holiday and then does little treats/gift baskets.  Such a cute idea!

And lastly, here are some pics of what we're finishing.  We built our house 10 years ago, and at the time I was doing daycare.  The budget didn't allow for us to finish the lower levels completely (we have a 4 level home), so we finished the family room on the third level and left the other rooms and 4th level unfinished.  We still had an office, bedroom, laundry room and bathroom plus the 4th level to finish. 

Brad has done most of the work himself and it looks awesome!  He's been working on it for about a year and a half and I am SO SO ready for it to be finished!  I have dealt with bins/boxes placed anywhere we have extra room, and dust like you wouldn't believe, ugh.

Here's a pic of my office, the walls are a pale yellow, it looks amazing!  This room is SO bright during the day, I love it.  My treadmill will go in here and then all my craft/scrapbooking stuff.  It is going to be amazing having a place for all my stuff finally!

This is Rachel's room.  We painted the walls a light gray and I love it!  So bright and fresh in here.

We ran to Hobby Lobby last night as all of their pics were 50% right now, we did find a couple things, but my favorite is this cow pic.  I LOVE it!  It is so my 3 girls.  Alayna is the one sticking her tongue out, bossy flossy Rachel is in the middle and posing just so perfectly Emma is on the left.  I saw this and laughed so hard, it totally made my day!  Cannot wait to hang it in my office!! 

As long as we're on the subject of pictures, I recently added to my gallery wall in the living room.  When we were in Mexico there was a photographer that walked the beach and would take professional pics.  Of course he latched onto our girls and took a ton of photos.  And of course we spent a trillion dollars buying said photos.

But seriously, they turned out SO good, how could we not??  Rachel got a pic with a monkey, (who, if you look real close, actually shat on her shoulder) which has always been her fave animal EVER.  Mousey got a super cute pic with the monkey also...

And then we bought this beautiful pic of Emma.  Seriously.  Freaking LOVE this photo!  

Happy Friday everyone!!