March and April Resolutions

I'm only writing this post for house-keeping purposes. Basically I've just been treading water on these. I've been thinking a lot about my 'last year of my 20's' resolutions and even getting some things going with them. The weather has been crappy, I've been in kind of a funk, and these were just really place-holder resolutions anyway. 

1) Exercise 5 times a week. This did not happen. Between bad weather, bad colds, and just general laziness it just didn't happen. I've also come to realize that it is IMPOSSIBLE for me to work out at home with the two of them. Lily wants to copy everything I'm doing and if I'm not watching out super carefully she's likely to get smacked in the face during jumping jacks or she'll crawl under me doing pushups or she'll try to do squats/curls holding Thomas. Just general chaos that usually ends up in me shouting and one or both of them crying. 

So I gave in and bought a double jogging stroller. I was really opposed to getting one at first. Personally, I believe kids Lily's age should be walking or riding a bike or something more active than just sitting and riding in a stroller. But Thomas is getting too heavy to carry for a long time while she walks or is on the push bike. There are times when we just need to go faster or she has been walking for a long time and is legitimately tired. So I caved. It came last week and now I can just strap them both down and go for a walk/run without either of them crying (much). So far I love it. I'm looking forward to nap time walks instead of drives, going to places like the zoo where Lily walks most of the way but can crash after a while, and being able to walk to farther places again.

I absolutely hated the double wide ones I tried, so I searched and searched for a tandem. I finally decided on the Hauck Freerider. It came with a rain cover and a car seat adapter. It's too heavy to run with the car seat on it, but Thomas only needs that for 2 more months. I can walk with him just in the regular stroller seat, but he's still a little small for running that way. Lily loves it. She calls it riding in her fort. 

2) Keep up with the housework. Eh, this is fine. I freak out about once a week and demand that Joe take the kids SOMEWHERE ELSE while I manically clean for a couple of hours.  

3) Cook dinner once a week. This is also just kind of eh. Mostly we tag team dinners. I get things going and then Joe finishes things up. So we both end up doing some cooking. Probably my favorite thing we've made in a while was the Irish Soda Bread. This is a non-traditional version from Ina Garten with currants and orange peel and is absolutely fabulous. And really easy to make to boot. 

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/irish-soda-bread-recipe/index.html

For Easter I made a lemon lavender cupcake bouquet. This is so easy to do I would highly recommend trying it the next time you need a pretty, baked good. The icing was getting a little warm, that's why the leaves are droopy. 

http://tastykitchen.com/recipes/desserts/lavender-frosting/

http://cakecentral.com/a/rose-bouquet-cupcakes