For the Love of Mexican

 A fresh blanket of wet snow fell over night making today a great day to get some deep cleaning done (and bake of course). On an especially nice morning last week I tore apart the basement windows and cleaned all of the mold out of the nooks and crannies. I have been slowly making my way around the house, one window at a time. As I clean I always think about the whole, "how do you eat an elephant" thing. Sometimes all of the work that needs to be done around here can seem pretty overwhelming. I constantly have to remind myself to take things "one bite" at a time, or else nothing would ever get done. The trickiest thing for me to clean is my kitchen floor because the table has to be clean enough to put up the chairs and the floor has to be vacuumed and kid free for me to even decide to fill up a pail of water and wash it.

 This morning I tackled the upstairs bathrooms and our bedroom while Ollie bounced in his jolly jumper. Fin ran in and out with the puppy, Joe played quietly on the iPad and Hyrum did his schoolwork at our desk with a little help.  Lately I have a huge desire to declutter everywhere so I've been going around one room at a time doing a deep clean and getting rid of things we never use.

I also updated my bathroom decor with this cute printable. I like to be greeted each day by some words of wisdom, and having this quote roll around in my head all day helps me to be a better mother. It reminds me to smile in the face of challenges and laugh at the little mishaps that come along with having little children.

 We had a few extra littles here for most of the day. Finley and his friend slept away a lot of the afternoon. Oliver sweetly fell asleep pretty much on his own as soon as I wrapped the blanket around him. I Gently placed him in his crib and admired his round little face before quietly sneaking out. They grow so quick!

 As the day went on, the snow slowly melted. By mid-afternoon the walks were clear and dry again. Camilla got home from school and ate a snack while I did some dinner prep. I realized I had forgotten to pick up a key ingredient for dinner and didn't really feel like hauling everyone out for a quick trip to the store. I tossed around the idea of grabbing McDonalds... But I was so excited to make this dinner! I mustered up all of my remaining energy, got everyone out the door in a timely manner and headed to the store. The kids are used to shopping with me and are usually pretty great.

 With all of the ingredients now on hand I followed a new recipe and made up Grilled chicken & Quinoa burrito bowls with a homemade avocado salsa. It was a labor of love (all of that chopping!) I loved it so much I had two helpings. Some of the kids picked their way through it while others sat and cried over it. A mamma can only eat so much mac & cheese. This was a nice change (and I love me some mexican food). The colors were so bright and pretty. Daddy made my night by arriving home earlier than I thought he would. He also loved dinner.  Quinoa, tomatoes, and all. I added it to the "make again" list. Sometimes trying new recipes is awesome!