You too, Mom!

When did my kids get so big? I was kissing their chubby six-month-old cheeks just yesterday, wasn't I?

We were late for the bus yet again (a recurring habit that started about 2 weeks before Christmas break), so I drove them to their school. They were in great moods in the car this morning, thumbing through a grocery store ad in order to find something that started with the letter of the day, Ee. C found a BowFlex man ("I found one! It's a guy exercising. He's lifting something to make his arm muscles strong!") and J found an energy drink ad. Cool!

When we got to the school, I cut out the pictures with my handy-dandy Pampered Chef cutter and gave them their pictures. As they were exiting the car, I said my usual, "Love you! Have a great day!". My sweet little girl, C then turns and says to me, "You too, Mom!"

I think we've reached yet another milestone.... *sniff*

Let's get ready to organize!

Ok...so this blogging is harder than it looks! I've got to start making this a habit!

Well, I am perhaps the most cluttered, disorganized person in the world!! My house is too small, I have too much stuff and trying to organize it seems overwhelming--especially when I have exactly 3 hours to get it done before bedtime during the work week and I find so many other things to do on the weekends. Ugh....

Well, yesterday's opportunity just seemed to fall in my lap. The planets must have been aligned or something, because I actually wanted to get my kids' bedroom cleaned, dejunked and organized. Let me tell you--it was no small task! The last time I had done this was at least 6 months ago. What a mess!! (My twins are only 6, so it's not like I could have sent them in there to face the gargantuan task alone. I had been telling myself that as soon as I get it all organized, they will be able to maintain it with a little parental direction.)

I am organizationally challenged. I had only one toy box when I was little and all of my stuff went in there: Barbies, Barbie clothes, Tinkertoys, blocks, play dishes, etc. When I wanted to play with something, more times than not, it happened to be on the very bottom of my toy box. That necessitated emptying out the entire thing and leaving a huge mess on my bedroom floor. For my kids, I wanted something different. I remember how frustrating it was to have all my stuff in one container, but had a hard time coming up with a system that would work.

First, I bought shoebox-sized plastic containers (they were great, but not all of the Barbies or Rescue Heroes would fit in them). Then, I bought a couple of sets of stacking open storage bins (loved the nice open feel of being able to see what was in each bin, but Polly Pockets, Barbie shoes and Rescue Hero water bombs would fall through the holes in the bin). But, yesterday, I bought what I believe are the solutions to all of my problems: a sort of dresser with clear plastic drawers that can be easily removed during play. My son's is the large wide version and perfectly holds Rescue Heroes and action figures and their associated equipment in the top drawer, Hot wheels race tracks in the middle drawer and Brio train tracks in the bottom drawer. My daughter has the medium-sized one and it holds Polly Pockets/Betty Spaghetti in the top drawer, Barbies in the second, and My Little Ponies in the third. They are excited about this system too.

But, perhaps the BEST part of my day was when my kids willingly put aside baby or babyish toys to go to the thrift store (the biggest of which was their Step2 kitchen!!) and willingly threw away broken toys.

My husband was thrilled too! In fact, so that I wasn't so overwhemed, he offered to be in charge of the mountain of laundry that was generated! Hooray for wonderful husbands!!

I wish that I could have taken today off of work to finish (I'm half done), but I think that if I go in there a little each night, I'll be able to complete it. Then, once I get that off my back, I can concentrate on dejunking my living room, then kitchen. I'm feeling really good about this!