For now I just loop their headbands through the bows on the top, but this is only a fraction of the girls’ headbands so I’m trying to figure out a better place to keep all of them together. Since my “post Kole” life is a bit hmmm…what’s the word….insane! I haven’t had time to deal with them yet.
Fashion Friday
By the end of the week our mild temps turned into hot summer temps so the kids and I (and the rest of this city) pulled out our summer clothes. I bought this top and necklace last summer at Forever 21. I think I paid a whopping eight bucks for the two of them together. Ellie said to me today “mom! That shirt is see through!” I said – “I know! That’s why I have a white tee under it!” Then she nodded her approval – “good thing mom.” Thanks for watching out for me El. What would I do without all of the endless help and advice I receive daily from my three little ones. :)
Winter and Valentines Mantel
Remember how my mantel look in December? And remember how I mentioned that one of my favorite things about it was that it would be so easy to transition into January?
Scentsy Giveaway!
I just placed a couple of little wickless bars in my warmer and within minutes they had melted and my house smelled so good! One thing I noticed that was different with these compared to my regular candles is how the smell filled my whole house. Usually when I light a candle I can only smell it in the kitchen where it is located. I can seriously smell my Scentsy candle all over my whole house, including the upstairs. I love that! The smell is so strong that I only need to have it turned on for a little while. Then I turn it off and enjoy!
One of my favorite things is to be in a clean house listening to the hum of my dishwasher with a candle burning (or in this case, not burning). :)
Want one of these for yourself? One of you will win a full size warmer of your choice and a scent bar of your choice. And you will love them! If you are anything like me and love to make your house (or office) smell fabulous. Leave a comment on this post if you are interested!
Organized Bath Toys
I’ve had my kids’ bath toys organized the same way for years. About every 6 months (usually while my girls are in the tub) I dump all of their toys on a towel and go through them. I get rid of stuff they aren’t playing with anymore and put away toys that aren’t for the tub that always somehow make their way into my “tub toy” bins. Because I sort through these toys so often it’s a quick ten minute job.
I keep all of the bath toys under one of the bathroom sinks. I keep the lids off so that they are easy for the girls to grab and put away.
After bath time we always toss the toys in the sink. Then after the toys have dried off (for the most part) one of us tosses them in the bins. Letting the toys dry out a little keeps them from getting mildew-y. Is mildew-y a word? I guess it is on this blog.
A party and a spotlight
Quick birthday re-cap for my 8 year old! Last year for El’s birthday we kept things low key, so this year she wanted a big party with all of her friends. She wanted to include everyone of course which meant there would be over 20 kids (which ruled out a party at our house) and there would be boys and girls (which ruled out the “snowflake pajama princess party” she originally came up with). We decided to just take the easy way out and have her party at Pump It Up – the inflatable party zone. Or as my sister likes to say – “McDonalds play land on crack.” Whatever you call it, this place never disappoints.
Ellie was so excited to see her name on the board when we arrived. I was so excited to know that everything would be taken care of and I could just relax and enjoy my girl. She greeted each guest with a huge hug and a smile and wouldn’t go into the bounce zone until everyone got there.
The kids had endless fun on all of the inflatables and before we knew it, it was time for pizza and cake!
I’m off to go over my schedule and to-do’s for tomorrow! Which will include a little organizing and a little scrapbooking. And definitely a goal to exercise and eat better. Well. After I finish off Ellie’s cake of course. I do teach my girls to never waste food…
Friday Night Confessions
It’s Friday night and I’m exhausted. I’ll spare you the details of my week since I’m not in the mood to re-live them, but let me just say that this week was way too busy for my taste. And I’m so glad it’s behind me.
A few Friday night confessions:
This week:
My house wasn’t clean.
I didn’t feel organized.
My time management binder was tossed aside because there was no time to manage my time.
I didn’t look fashionable. I spent most of the week running around in whatever was on my closet floor.
There is no “fashion friday” because there was no time to take pictures, not that I wore anything picture worthy anyway.
Kole was a pill. It’s his new norm.
I cried twice. For no specific reason other than that I was just BURNED OUT.
One night my kids ate bagels for dinner.
I didn’t get enough sleep. (staying up way too late to get stuff done and up in the night with sick kids)
Kenny and I were snappy because we were both running on empty.
I ate a lot of chocolate.
And only exercised once.
The kids and I re-grouped this afternoon by staying home and getting the house back in order. Well. The kids played while I re-grouped and got the house back in order. Then I started tearing into my closet. And now I feel better.
Birthday party for El tomorrow. It will be fun. And next week will be better.
So glad I got that all off my chest. :)
p.s. Thanks for all of the sweet comments and e-mails. They were a bright spot in my week!
Dear Ellie,
Today is your eighth birthday. You are eight years old today. I have to repeat it to myself to believe it. Then I have to quickly stop repeating it because if I let myself digest that little fact my eyes start to burn. I remember typing your birthday letter last year. I was sitting on the same couch I’m sitting on now thinking that I just couldn’t believe you were turning seven. And just like that – a whole year has flown by. And now you are eight. And you are amazing. You really are Ellie. There are so many thing I love about you. I could write a book.
You and Addison are still as thick as thieves. The two of you race home from school every day so that you can play play play. Addison loves you so much and wants to do everything exactly the same as her big sister Ellie. You set a great example for her to follow. The sound of you two laughing is my favorite thing to hear. Which is a good thing because I hear it a lot! You take such good care of Addison – always watching out for her. This morning you woke up to eight birthday balloons in your bed with a dollar in each one. The first thing you said was “Ad! Look! The balloons have dollars in them! I’ll have four and you can have four!” It made me smile. That is so like you. Always thinking of Addison.
Kole completely adores you as well and you are crazy about him. You are always so excited to get him up in the morning. It’s like you’ve missed him all night and just can’t wait to see him. Lately you have even been getting him out of his crib yourself. Often before I’m really ready for him to be out of his crib. :) You two have such a special relationship. When you are around his little eyes just light up.
I love that you are so happy Ellie. I say this about you all the time but it’s true. Whenever I hear the song “you are my sunshine” I instantly think of you. You bring so much sunshine into my life. And into your dad’s and your sister’s and your brother’s. Your excitement for every little thing is contagious and it spreads to everyone around you. We smile a lot because of you Ellie.
Your sense of humor is maturing. And you are funny. I mean really funny. Your dad and I are always laughing about things you say and do. You crack. us. up. On a daily basis. My favorite thing you said this year was “who says Kole has to be a boy just because some silly doctor says so?” Your dad and I had a good laugh over that one.
You have developed such a love for reading this year. It has been really enjoyable to see. You stay up so late reading and often try to carry your book around with you everywhere we go during the day so that you can sneak in a page or two. In the car, walking through the grocery store… I hope your love for reading never ends.
You are such a huge help to me Ellie. You are always completely aware of my mood/feelings. Kole is a lot of work right now and you can always tell when I’m starting to feel tired or frustrated. You quickly smile at me and say “I love you mom.” And as soon as you do I instantly feel less tired and less frustrated. Then you start to head up the stairs singing a little song you made up for Kole. His little clue that it’s time to follow you upstairs to play. I am always so grateful for your help with him and wonder every day how I would survive without it!
You are doing a great job in second grade this year. Your teacher adores you and always tells me about the sweet things you do and say to your classmates. How kind you are to everyone. How you go out of your way to make people feel special. How you are such a social, friendly, well-liked student. She also tells me that you sometimes have a hard time focusing on your school work because you are so busy being kind and social. Doesn’t surprise me one bit. :)
One of the things I adore the most about you Ellie is your endless creativity. I am always blown away by the things you come up with. With just a laundry basket and some yarn you are able to create all sorts of magical contraptions for you and Addison to play with. You are a master story teller and entertainer and your siblings are never at a loss for what to do when you are around.
I could go on and on about you Ellie but I’ll save my book for when you turn nine. :) Which will sneak up on me altogether too quickly just like age eight did. But I’m so incredibly grateful. Grateful for your smile and your laughter and your love. Grateful that such an amazing little person is my daughter. Grateful for one more year I got to spend with you – my sunshine.
Happy 8th Birthday Ellie!
I love you so much.
xoxo, mom
Sunny Side Up Organization Links
Organized Craft Cupboard
Back to School Checklist
Oh The Organizers!
Organizing Inspiration/Ideas!
Organized binder for built-insÂ
Home decor binder re-do
Master Closet Organization (take one)
Master Closet Organization (take two)
Organized magazines
Organized Purse
Organized Bathroom Drawers
Under the bathroom sink
Laundry Room Cupboards
Cords and Cards
Time management binder
This is my binder now. I’ve tweaked this binder so many times over the past year and finally feel like I have something that works well for me. That’s the great thing about a binder like this. You can customize it to meet your needs. The important thing is having a place to “dump your brain” so that you don’t have to think about things anymore. It’s all right in front of you.
First you need a cute cover page. Ellie drew this picture of us under a rainbow. She gave it to me in October, hence the ghost. I think the two of us look simply stunning so I wanted it in a place I would see often. :) Once you have a cover page that makes you smile, you can focus on organizing the categories in your binder to make it work well for you. Here is how I organized mine:
Week at a Glance – On the first page in my binder (you can kind of see through the red folder above) I have the days of the week listed and set activities/things I need to remember. These are things that always happen on that day each week. Examples: the days my girls have library and need to take their books to school, the days they have activities like dance and gymnastics, the days it’s my turn to do pick-up because I carpool with neighbors. I glance at this page each night before I go to bed to remember the set in stone things for the following day. Then I look in my planner to see if there are any additional appointments or activities (there always are!) that fill up the rest of my day. Now I know what the next day looks like for me. This “week at a glance” page helps me a lot. Now there will never be a time that I space a weekly activity or forget that I have after school pick-up. My brain isn’t cluttered trying to remember the details of each day. It’s written right in front of me!
Shopping for – My next tab is titled “shopping for” and this might seem a little crazy to some of you but here’s my deal. I’m not good at meal planning. I’m not one of those people who can plan out a weeks’ worth of meals and only go to the grocery store once. I go to the grocery store about every three days which works fine for me because it’s close by and easy to pop in while the girls have dance class or after I take them to a friends’ house. My other issue is that I buy my groceries/household items at three different stores – grocery store, Target, and Costco. I also always have items I always need/want at the mall and other random places so here’s what works for me:
Sticky notes! I always have four on a page. These are my “running lists” of things I need to buy. The great thing about using sticky notes is that when it’s time to make a Target run I can just pull off my Target sticky note and toss it in my purse so I don’t forget anything. I know this wouldn’t work for someone who has a long list of groceries, but like I said, I go often so this works for me.
Current Projects – A list of the current projects I’m working on. These are things that I’m focusing on right now so currently I have my “to organize” list on the top page and a few other projects that are in the works on the following pages.
When Kole is napping and I find myself with a little free time, I glance at my planner to see if there is something that HAS to get done. If not (or once those to-do’s are checked off) I turn to this “current projects” section of my binder and work on something here.
Future Projects – Any time I have an idea for a project – a gallery wall somewhere in the house, a lemonade stand for the girls, what ever it is – this is where I write it down. Just ideas for now. But someday they will be moved to “current projects.”
Post Ideas – This is where I tend to “dump my brain” the most. Ideas for blog posts are always popping into my head. When I’m exercising, when I’m driving, when I’m typing another blog post! The ideas are never ending. Finding the time to implement all of my ideas is another story. But at least I have a set place to write them all down!
Post Schedule – This is a category I’m trying for the first time this year. The two areas of my life I’m NOT organized in – meal planning (cause I hate cooking so planning to cook just isn’t appealing) and my blog! I am so fly by the seat of my pants where this blog is concerned. I never know what I’m going to post until I sit down the night before. I look at my recent pictures and somehow always manage to come up with something. I know bloggers who are so organized! Have their posts planned and typed out a week or two in advance. Wow. That would be nice. While I don’t think that will realistically happen for me (and in some ways I enjoy blogging present time anyway) I would like to be a little more organized in this area. I just have a blank calendar page for each month in this section of my binder where I can jot down an idea of what to post each day.
Birthdays – I like to keep a list of each month and any birthdays I need to remember. I know this information pops up on facebook and your cell phone and all over the place, but I like a written list in my binder so that I can plan ahead. I glance at it at the beginning of each month so that I know who I need to get gifts for and when I need to deliver or mail them.
Miscellaneous Information – I always have a “random” spot in my binder for those extra items that always pop up. I love my current tab dividers (from Target) that have a folder included on each one so that I have a place to store any papers/forms I need to keep close by. This is where I also have a list of my goals for the year.
That’s it for my time management binder! I know this is custom to me and my needs, but hopefully it still gave a few of you some ideas for how you could make something like this work for you. I’m a firm believer in dumping your brain out on paper! Life is busy and I’ve learned I just can’t rely on my memory for everything. If something doesn’t get written down, it doesn’t get done.
And since we’re talking binders, here are a couple more I also keep close by:
Then when you open each tab it not only has a place to write down birthdays, but it also has a pocket to hold cards. I love this because I always buy multiple cards at a time. (I do this because picking out cards is SO hard to do with little ones! If I am ever in a Hallmark by myself I stock up!) If I see a card I love for my dad, I buy it, even if his birthday is months away. I save it in his birthday month pocket and then when his birthday comes rolling around I’m prepared! I still like having my binder list for a quick glance because my binder is always with me and I keep this card book upstairs. A book like this would be SO easy to make on your own. Just buy a binder and tabs and use it the same way!
Fashion Friday
Weekend is here! And it’s about time! Kenny was in San Francisco this week for work so I was flying solo. Not for too long, but it felt LONG. Kenny works an insane amount of hours so even when he’s here I’m flying solo most of the time BUT he is usually home in time to put the kids to bed (even if he starts working again soon after) AND he always takes the girls to school in the morning. Man. We were thrown for a loop without that little bit of assistance in the morning. Kids didn’t want to wake up, I’m running in circles trying to fix breakfast, pack lunches, sign homework, feed-change-entertain Kole, do hair…and wait…now I have to be ready? And by ready I mean out of my pajamas because that’s about as far as I went. Finally got the kids loaded in the car – we’ve got 10 minutes till the bell rings – the girls are yelling “we didn’t brush teeth!” I’m chucking breath mints at them and yelling “eat this and call it good!”
Just a couple things I wore this week:
This happens all the time. I have so many similar things in my closet! I seriously think I have over ten tops in this exact color of teal. The funny thing is that I’ll try to break out of my shell and buy something I normally wouldn’t wear but it always backfires. Because then I just don’t wear it. Anyone else that way?
I love the sweater over it too. Who says you can’t wear yellow in January? Speaking of yellow, I went shopping last week (mall gift certificate from Santa is burning a hole in my purse) and there were so many FUN yellow things I wanted to buy! I came awfully close to buying this skirt and this jacket. But then I remembered that I already have this yellow jacket:
Well, it’s an important one.
Stop! I’m blushing!
Just popping in quick today to share some fun news! Better Homes and Gardens featured my Valentines mantel on their website! So exciting! When I got the e-mail a few months ago asking if they could feature my mantel I think my jaw hit the table. I clicked the Better Homes and Gardens link about five times to make sure it was really them! (Move over Martha!)
I’ve also been noticing a lot of traffic coming to my little blog from Pinterest. Yes. Pinterest. That beloved site that has changed all of our lives. Mostly by zapping away all of our time. ;) Yesterday I landed on the link to all of the pictures people have recently pinned from my site. Now THAT was fun. I’m thrilled and flattered that so many of you are pinning my ideas. It truly makes me so happy! In fact I was so excited about it that last night I did a little celebration dance in the living room. (I know – you’re all so sad you missed that one.) I said to Kenny “I’m getting pinned!!” He gave me that look. The one I so often get that says I have no idea what you’re talking about but I’m not about to ask because I don’t think I really want to know. I know his looks well.