Good morning, sunshine!
As I sit here writing, the sun is shining, the birds are chirping, and it’s 66 degrees outside.
It’s going up to 76, so basically it’s one of those perfect spring days!
This past week we’ve had a lot of rain, and the grass and azaleas are showing how much they’ve enjoyed it.
So, AnnMarie and I have a question for you.
We made the decision to break up our Friday Favorites post and our week-in-review post (Simply Stated) into two separate posts.
As a blogging duo, we have some unique challenges when we write joint posts.
Sometimes, we actually sit together and write them.
And sometimes, one of us writes them on behalf of both of us.
We’ve been trying to decide how we’d like to handle our Simply Stated posts since they truly are from both of us, and we can’t make up our minds!
So we’re asking you, what would you prefer?
- We take turns writing them one week to the next, and we write as if it’s from both of us. The posts would read something like: “Anne did such and such with her family this week, while AnnMarie was working on thus and so.”
- We take turns writing them one week to the next, and whoever is writing talks to you in the first person. The posts would read some like: “I did such and such with my family this week, while AnnMarie was doing this and that.”
- We each write our own portion of the weekly update so that part of the post would be divided into two sections, Anne’s week and AnnMarie’s week. We’d both write in the first person during our section.
Leave us a comment at the end of this post, or you can send us an email with your vote here.
This is Anne writing to you today, and I’m going to be using option 2. 🙂
What’s Been Going On?!
Last weekend was Easter, and AnnMarie’s kids were all home for the weekend, plus one of her daughter’s friends from college.
Here’s some proof that you’re never too old to have fun dying eggs for Easter.
All of their significant others joined them for a fun family game night together with lots of laughs!
That’s definitely one of our favorite ways to spend time with our crew.
After church on Sunday, AnnMarie and Chris put together a delicious brunch, and then everyone spent a relaxing afternoon together.
Meanwhile, my husband and I helped our daughter and her fiancee move into the house that we’ve been working to fix up over the past 9 months.
Getting this house ready has truly been a labor of love and a huge learning experience!
I’ll be sharing more about the whole process soon on the blog, but I’ve been sharing some before and after videos on social media. You can see the kitchen sink area here, what we added to the kitchen here, and the new bathroom we added here.
It was pouring rain through most of the moving, but we helped to get them mostly settled into their new home.
Aren’t they adorable?
They’re both so happy.
I made Easter dinner and my son and his girlfriend plus Livy and Cam came over so we got to spend some time together, but my other daughter wasn’t able to get home from college last weekend because she’s home right now for her and Livy’s birthday weekend!
I can’t believe they’re turning 20 this year.
Both AnnMarie and I have really noticed how quiet our homes are without all the kids here.
To be perfectly honest, we don’t really like it.
Do you have any tips for making it through this transition?
This Week on Simply2Moms
One thing that’s definitely helping us is this blog!
Although this week we spent some time doing the tedious work of preparing our taxes.
It kind of hurt our heads. We are not wired for accounting…
We both prefer spending our time sharing ideas and inspiration with you!
Mornings are always busy, and it’s so easy to skip having a healthy breakfast.
That’s one of the reasons I love overnight oats.
You can prep enough for the whole week, and then they’re ready to eat each morning.
I asked AnnMarie what flavor she’d like me to put together this time, and she requested Strawberry Banana.
These Strawberry Banana Overnight Oats are so simple to whip up, and the taste combination is delicious!
They’re low in fat and have a ton of protein, and I figured out how to keep the total carbs under 40 net grams so they’re a THM E for those of you who follow Trim Healthy Mama.
AnnMarie and her husband redid all the plantings in front of her house and she’s sharing everything she learned through the whole process.
One of the biggest tasks they faced was removing the matured shrubs and trees.
There are some things you need to consider when you remove old plantings!
Then, during this stage of their project, they discovered they had some grading issues that needed to be fixed…
You can get all her tips for removing those overgrown shrubs, plus learn how to deal with grading and foundation issues in her post.
Once the old stuff was removed, it was time to install all the new shrubs and trees she and Chris picked out.
This is the fun part, when a project starts to come together.
You’re going to love her five tips for getting this step in a landscaping project done right!
For Friday Favorites this week, we got a little personal and shared the one thing we both want the most for Mother’s Day this year.
But if our kids insist on buying something, we’ve picked out a few things we’d love, and we think you’ll love them too!
And finally, I shared how I made the most out of my 5×5 small walk-in closet.
These organization tips and tricks really help to maximize any closet space!
Whether your closet is big or small, having it well organized just feels good.
More Ideas and Inspiration from Around the Web
One of our favorite things to do as bloggers is to connect with other women who are doing the same thing we do.
We love taking some time each day to visit with our friends on their blogs.
There’s so much inspiration out there!
Some of our favorite posts this week were…
These tips for a shady garden space.
These easy and healthy spring recipe ideas.
That’s it for this week.
Until next time, keep it simple, with Simply2Moms!
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