I know February has fewer days than the rest of the month of the year, but you’d never know it around here. We were able to tackle a lot of projects as well as start thinking ahead toward Spring.

Around the house, I painted the upstairs bathroom and spruced it up with some homemade artwork and a crafty storage solution. Then Brian and I started working on the family room. We are currently in the middle of painting it as well as swapping some furniture. My shoulder is a little achey from the painting. Finally, I did what I think is my favorite craft project so far for the kids. As a part of Young House Love’s Pinterest Challenge, I made DIY growth charts for each of them.

In the kitchen, I was so happy to try a few new things like salted carmel and dark chocolate truffles. They were delicious! Another new recipe, and one that I think is one of Brian’s new favorites is the Jambalaya I made for Fat Tuesday. I also shared a great recipe for homemade pizza. Finally, I loved the Greek Pasta Salad I put together, and have already made it twice. It is perfect for a quick grab and go lunch.

So far, I have been keeping up with one of my New Year’s resolutions to take care of my writing. I first was able to finally finish my redesign with some help of Kevin West. I then, shared my quick and simple tricks for editing pictures using PicMonkey to help make my photos a little more clear. I also shared what I am currently reading, and many of the books have been very helpful with my writing especially, The Happiness Project and Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking.

The kids were busy helping me with a lot of these projects, but I think their two favorites were putting together their Valentines and making Snow Cream.

While there were a lot of accomplishments this month, but I was honored to know only be a part of the 2013 Homie Awards, but the highlight was getting chosen to be a part of the Chicago cast of the 2013 Listen To Your Mother Show (tickets are still available). I still cannot believe I have to stand up on a stage! What am I going to wear?!?!

March is going to be full of fun. I cannot wait to make the kids some Irish Soda Bread for St. Patrick’s Day and start planning the vegetable garden!

While we have had a pretty warm winter so far (I just realized I probably jinxed all of Chicago by even saying this), it has still been pretty gray. Fortunately, I have done some cooking and a few projects to help get us through until we get some real snow to play in (again, jinx. Sorry).

In January, I tried a few new recipes and was thrilled wit the results. I was very happy to add some healthy new recipes to our meal rotation like Deconstructed Greek Salad with Roasted Salmon, Dr. Oz Raspberry Smoothie, and Banana Berry and Almond Oatmeal. The Beef Bourguignon in the slow cooker was so easy and simple and perfect for these cold days. I also made Cranberry and Turkey Roll-Ups and will again this weekend for the Super Bowl. The Smart Cookie Recipe this month was Brian’s Grandmother’s recipe for Italian Butter Cookies with Lemon Glaze. Finally, I offered up some tips on Cutting Pomegranates as well as creating Homemade Baby Food.

Whew, tired yet? I am.

Around the house, I got a few things done that I had been wanting to do as soon as we took the tree down. First, I classed up our dining room with Valentine’s Candy. Then, I went on an organizing frenzy in the kitchen and Cleared some Cluttered Cabinets (say that ten times fast). I did some overwhelming Fabric Shopping for a few projects. Finally, I repainted our downstairs bathroom complete with some Snazzy Stripes.

Winter can be hard for everyone, but when you have kids who like to be outside and active, it can be hard to find things for them to do. Fortunately, my kids have a pretty active imagination, and were able to create their own Rocket Ships out of some old boxes. Also, they have been able to play with all their Christmas Gifts.

While I have wrote a big THANK YOU to my readers here, I just wanted to say THANK YOU all again for keeping up with Home Everyday. I cannot wait to share what we have planned for February! There will definitely be more painting, and perhaps some salted carmel.

Take care!

Happy New Year, Readers! I hope that your holidays were full of family and friends like me! December was a whirlwind of activity, and January has us all resting and taking it easy. We are all recouping from the activity! It was nice to focus on family and take a small break from writing. I have to say though, I absolutely love writing this blog, and missed posting and interacting with my readers daily. I could not wait to get back, and start sharing again!

As we ease into 2013 and think about goal setting, I would just like to take a small glance back at December 2012 for a little recap.

As you know, as soon as Thanksgiving leftovers were in the fridge I started the holiday decorating and planning. Since the Christmas music has been playing for awhile in our house, I got permission to put the trees up in November, but the rest of our holiday cheer got put up in December. I started with a quick and simple snowflake garland made by my little elves. Then I worked on the creating a holiday mantel, dining tablescape, and putting out my favorite sentimental Christmas decorations. Also, I was actually impressed with myself for getting our Christmas book Advent Calendar going by December 1st!

It wasn’t all Christmas in our house in December (I think it was getting to be overload), so I tackled a home project that I thought would be nice to have ready for the kids while they were on Winter break. I created the perfect creative spot for them to work on drawing, coloring, painting, and crafting with some storage containers I already had on hand. Also, with the help of a friend, Brian was able to get rid of our rusty basketball hoop.

My kitchen was busy as it is usually around this time of year, but not everything had a holiday theme. I shared my recipe for homemade chili as well as a quick guacamole I made for the kids.

Then it was time for some sweets. It was birthday time for me, and since I am a December baby, and I don’t think that Christmas cookies count as a birthday treat, I whipped up some cupcakes with my favorite chocolate buttercream frosting. Finally, I baked vanilla biscotti and dipped it chocolate as the SmartCookie recipe to pair perfectly with coffee and late night studying.

I am so looking forward to 2013 and cannot wait to share some amazing ideas with all of you!

…that this will be my last post of 2012! I might do a few updates next week (I cannot make any promises). My goal it to be spending lots of time enjoying the holiday season with my family.

First off, I just wanted to share our family holiday picture. We took it a few weeks ago. I was totally stressing about what we should all wear, but I think it turned out great. Everyone wore some combination of black, white, gray, and bright kelly green. I tried to use things we already had on hand instead of buying everyone new outfits for pictures. These outfits look so nice, I now have a plan for Christmas Mass. WOOHOO!

Secondly, I just wanted to thank everyone for supporting and reading Home Everyday this year. I have received nothing but positive feedback and am so grateful to everyone for their support. Without Home Everyday, I wouldn’t have gotten another writing opportunity at ChicagoNow. All of your support, wonderful comments, and emails keep me going. Thank you so much!

Thirdly, I cannot wait for all that 2013 will bring. In the new year, you can look forward to a new design and plenty of new projects and family adventures.

Lastly, I want to wish all my readers a very Merry Christmas and a safe, happy and healthy New Year!

Take care,
Erin

Linking up at Michaela Noelle Designs today!

Every time I sit down to write a monthly wrap up, I am way more aware of how quickly time passes. November I feel passed much more quickly however. Maybe it was because I was trying to push time forward a teeny bit so we could get the Thanksgiving dinner on!

No major projects took place this month, but I did feel like I accomplished quite a bit with making a few quick updates like the cafe curtains in the kitchen and by frosting the small windows near the front door for some added privacy. We winterized our house a bit and then I took care of some organizing indoors by cleaning the kitchen cabinets and stocking up for holiday cooking and baking. Speaking of the holidays we also managed to get up two Christmas trees this month here and here.

Of course November is always a busy month with cooking and baking, and I shared some favorite holiday recipes as well as tried out a few new things. There was a nod to Thanksgiving cranberries with the Cranberry Orange and White Chocolate Blondies I baked up for Smart cookies. I also shared all of my favorite tomato sauces which would be perfect for entertaining or for cooking up after a night of Christmas Shopping. I also shared my new favorite Paula Deen recipe for mini quiches which are perfect for last minute drop ins. My favorites this month was the recipe for cornbread dressing which would be a perfect dish to share at a holiday dinner or my first ever roast turkey for Thanksgiving.

November was also a month of fun! We celebrated my oldest son’s 5th birthday with some bowling and burgers.

However, my favorite day of the month was attending the Young House Love book signing and meeting my two favorite bloggers, John and Sherry Petersik.

FInally, let’s not forget my participation in Positively Present’s 30 Day Grateful Photo Challenge. You can read those posts here, here, here, here, and here.

On to December!

Since it is a Monday, AND the first of the month, I thought it might be nice to recap all that we have done over the last few weeks. I also would like to give a big THANK YOU and shout out to everyone who has been reading, commenting, and giving me tremendous feedback on Home Everyday. You keep me going and keep me motivated. Because of you, I have been able to gain another writing opportunity, share recipes with a local charity, was featured on another amazing blog, and was able to share Home Everyday’s first guest post. I have several more ideas to share, so I hope you stick around. Thank you again to all who read! If you haven’t already, please consider following me or liking the Home Everyday Facebook page.

Over the past six weeks, I have been able to accomplish a lot. With the boys starting school, we were able to soak up the last of summer with Fall fest, recount our favorite summer memory, and enjoyed one last summer trip to the zoo. We celebrated Coco’s birthday, which solidified that time is passing so quickly. Before we know it is going to be Thanksgiving (mmmm, turkey).

I was able to knock a few things off the home to do list such as write about our living room photo gallery, paint an old dresser to use as a drop zone for mail, organize our front hall closet, make some small updates to our master bedroom, and make some no sew curtains.

I also shared Anniversary Week, since Brian and I celebrated our 6 year wedding anniversary. I made two sentimental crafts which you can check out here and here. Also, I shared one how Brian and I met, and some details of our wedding.

Then came Autumn. With the It’s Fall Ya’ll link parties kicking me in the rear as motivation, I was able to create a beautiful autumn tablescape for Sunday Dinner, put together some cute outdoor fall decor, make a spooky Halloween mantel, and use some leftover things I had on hand to add some autumn flair to the family room.

The kitchen was also a busy place over the past few weeks. The recipe that has gotten the most compliments so far on being easy and tasty was the slow cooker bbq pulled pork. Also, I made a triple chocolate layer cake for Brian’s birthday, pizza puffs for movie night, buttermilk pancakes, cherry pop brownies, easy chicken and dumplings, chocolate chip banana bread, and cheater lasagna.

Finally, my favorite project of the last six weeks was the canvas art that the kids and I were able to do together on a cool day.

Whew! I’m tired just thinking of all we did. Thank you again for being a part of my little part of the blogosphere. Stay tuned for more!