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organization2
11.07.11

Kids’ Closet Organization

So did everyone see the Charger/Packer game today?  Man!  We had a fighting chance at the end and blew it.  Such a bummer.  And I had my Christmas list all typed and ready to present to Kenny!  Guess I’ll have to hold onto it a little longer.  Like until the Chargers WIN.  Timing is everything, remember?  :)

You may also remember a while ago that I mentioned we decided to rent a storage shed.  Our house hunt continues, but in the meantime we are running out of space in our current house so renting a storage shed is our temporary solution until we find “the one.”  Ellie currently sleeps in our guest room but the closet in the guest room was a catch all for random extras.  Things we weren’t using, but didn’t want to get rid of.

The right side of the guest room closet held old Halloween costumes, coats, and old prom dresses and dance team outfits from High School.  My high school memories are so dear to me and I just can’t seem to part with this stuff!  

The left side of the closet held other random items.  “Organized clutter” is what I called this closet and it always bugged me.  It looked messy and I knew we weren’t maximizing the space.  Meanwhile, the closet the girls were sharing in Addie’s room was bursting at the seams and there was no place for the girls’ small toys.  (Kole has completely taken over the playroom and the girls have too many little toys/accessories that he can choke on.)  Clearly a closet make-over was in order!  (Do you hear my squeals of joy at the thought!?)  :)

First step was to empty out the closet completely.  

Then I boxed A LOT of stuff up for the storage shed.  
Next I moved all of Ellie’s clothes into this room and started sorting and organizing them.  

Then when the girls were in school I threw away half of organized their toys.
Then my favorite part.  Creating a place for everything!
So are you ready for the “after” pictures?
Ellie’s closet on the right:
Ellie’s closet on the left:

A big improvement!!  Aside from the fact that it looks so much better (and seriously makes me giddy every time I put something away in it) this closet is completely functional and a perfect set-up for my girls’ toys.  I used every possible ounce of space plus it’s so easy for them to put things away and keep everything organized.  I triple exclamation mark LOVE it!!!
A place for everything and everything in its place.  And suddenly all is right in the world.  
Or at least in the closet.  :)
I found these simple labels at Michael’s (I think they’re for wedding invites?) to organize all of the girls small toys.  I wanted something simple I could just write on and change out when necessary.  

Top of the closet organizer holds Addison’s nebulizer and meds.  Then I just organized the toys and gave everything a happy home!  I found these fun clear containers with aqua lids at Home Depot of all places.  They were so cheap – just a couple of dollars each.  I stocked up and walked out of the door hauling a huge stack of these organizers on one hip and Kole on the other (who was doing his best to squirm out of my arms of course).  Good thing he didn’t because if we were going down I would have saved the organizers!  ;)

Break down of the toys:

My girls have LOVED having their toys so organized and accessible AND away from Kole!  They can pull out a box or two and make a big mess and then clean up is a cinch.  The best part is that I don’t have to deal with “mom!  where is Tinkerbell’s purse!?”  (A purse that is smaller than a penny)  We now know that if we still have it around, it’s in “doll accessories” — of course!  

The right side of her closet has short sleeved shirts on the bottom rack and bigger toys to the left in storage containers from The Container Store which used to be on the floor in Addison’s closet.
Because everyone needs a designated place for their fancy shoes.  

Dresses hang in the middle.

And long sleeved shirts are on the top.  There is also an additional top shelf that I used for larger toys/blocks.  
Once last glance at each side.  Because it makes me happy.  :)

And one more before and after to see how far this baby has come.  
BEFORE:
AFTER:
Nothing like a cleaned out closet.
And now my week is off to a good start!  :) 
Hope yours is too!
IHeart Organizing
xoxo, Erin
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fashion2
11.04.11

Fashion Friday/SYTYCD

Friday is here!  Made it through another week.  Barely.  I swear I’m still recovering from Halloween.  At least that’s the excuse I’ve made all week as to why there hasn’t been a decent meal on the table and why the same load of laundry has been sitting in the dryer for five days surrounded by piles of dirty clothes.  And the reason I’ve been eating so lousy (seriously need to chuck all of that extra candy out the window!).  And the reason I was terrible about taking pics and don’t have a lot of outfits to share with you today.  But I’ll share what I’ve got!  
And the first thing I’ve got is quite a show stopper!  Modeling the latest in elf wear…
Sorry, I couldn’t resist.  You know the funny thing is that I honestly grabbed my camera to take a picture of this after putting it on Halloween morning just out of habit.  It has just become part of my routine.  That’s how committed I am to Fashion Friday people!  Then I laughed at myself and took one anyway.  Not at all going to be surprised if this outfit doesn’t show up on the cover of Vogue soon.  Very flattering for all body types and a must have for Fall.  ;)
This is a simple jacket shirt (at least that’s what I call it) that I bought at Nordstroms (Brass Plum).  I just wear a white tank under it.  I bought it a couple of years ago when I was going through my green phase. 
I bought so many green tops one year.  I didn’t even notice it until I organized my closet and color coordinated everything.  Then I went “WOW.  Over half of my closet is green!”  And that was the end of my green era.  It was fun while it lasted.  
Wore it with my favorite first love Sevens.  
About to take another pic of the outfit and decided Kole brushing his teeth was more interesting.  I can’t even tell you how many tooth brushes we’ve gone through in the past three months.  He steals them and wanders off “brushing” his teeth and then we never find them again.  I know someday I’m going to be cleaning and hit the mother load of all toothbrushes.  He’s gotta be stashing them somewhere…
The rest of the week was boring and I wore stuff I’ve already shared like the top above.  It was HOT here this week so we broke out the summer clothes again.  San Diego is weird that way.  Sometimes October and November are our warmest months.  

Which is why I wore this summer top for a fun date on Wednesday night.
SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE 2011 BABY!!  
Kenny and I realized this was our 5th year going to see SYTYCD live and it has become a tradition I hope never ends.  
 We went with our fun friends Marc and Ann again this year.  This is a picture of all four of us last year.
And here are some pictures of us in front of the arena this year…
My cute friend Ann had on a fun outfit so I made sure to get a full length pic so you could see the clothes!  Our husbands were rolling their eyes at us.  We were like “ok – now take a close-up, now take a shot that shows our boots, did we look fat?  K – take that one again.”  Kenny usually humors me and my picture taking for a good 2-3 minutes and then he is DONE.  With a capital D.  

But he was good to let me get a quick shot of the two of us.  Kenny knows how much I love this show and always pre-orders our tickets so we can get awesome seats.  Then he grins and bears it through picture taking because he knows how much my pictures mean to me.  
That is a good man.  
One who has been trained well.  :)
Pics from past seasons of SYTYCD.  This show never disappoints!  The dancing was incredible and we all had a great time.  
Went to the grocery store today to get stuff to make dinner and instead bought a frozen pizza and the new People Style Watch!  I’m ready to kick off the weekend NOW.  Looks like some great tips on jeans in this issue.  You know I’m all about a pair of good fitting jeans.  
And since I’m not sharing anything too fabulous that I wore this week, here’s an outfit I love on my sweet Ellie.  

Skirt and top are from The Gap.  I love this on her because it just seems to fit her personality.  And it’s not “itchy” so she’ll actually wear it.  Win win.  

And here’s Kole a.k.a “Ariel” in his or should I say “her” latest ensemble.  This is a long shirt that Ellie wears with leggings.  Honestly, about three times a day I turn around and Kole is out of his regular clothes and wearing one of Ellie’s shirts.  I can’t help but laugh out loud every time he waddles in the room in something like this!

Ellie and her dress up doll.  The two of them are pretty tight.  And I’m sure they will be.  Right up until Kole grows up and sees these pictures.  :)

But for now, Ariel doesn’t seem to mind one bit.  
Have a great weekend everyone!  
xoxo, Erin
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Uncategorized
11.03.11

Sharlie’s story

Just popping in quick today to share some news I received about a fundraiser going on for a very special girl named Sharlie.  Sharlie was diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis when she was a baby.  She and her little sister, Lexi were both diagnosed with the disease.  Lexi passed away when she was just 14 years old, but Sharlie is still fighting the disease.  She is now 32 years old, married and has a darling 4 year old little boy named Harrison.  Sharlie’s health has been deteriorating and she is currently on a waiting list for a double lung and heart transplant.

I don’t know Sharlie personally, but I have a close friend who does and she has spoken so highly of her and her family.  I can’t imagine all they have been through and wanted to help spread the word about the fundraiser they are doing to help earn enough money for her lung/heart transplant.  It breaks my heart to think about that sweet little boy losing his mom.  I can’t begin to imagine how scared her family must be.  If you have a minute, please check out some of these links to learn about Sharlie and her beautiful family.  I’m also sharing links where you can learn more about the fundraiser going on in my neck of the woods this Saturday for those of you who live in the San Diego area.  It could be any of us.  I’m sure that spreading the word about this or donating anything at all would mean the world to their family.

Thanks so much and have a beautiful Thursday evening!


Sharlie’s angels — give forward


Sharlie’s story


Fox 5 news clip


Filling lungs with love

xoxo, Erin
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Holidays
11.02.11

Fall Wreath (pinspiration!)

 Remember a while ago when I posted some fun fall ideas from Pinterest and I included this letter E wreath?

Such a simple way to personalize your decor.  I loved it so much that I decided to make my own version!

I bought this letter “R” at Pottery Barn Kids for just 10 bucks.  

And then painted it in my new favorite aqua color.  Of course.
  

Then I attached it to my fall wreath with some ribbon I had on hand.  So easy!  

Such a quick, simple way to add personality to an otherwise ordinary wreath.  

I think it’s Pintastic!  And my roses agree.  :)

xoxo, Erin
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Holidays
11.01.11

2011 Halloween Wrap-Up

So does anyone else have a Halloween hangover today?  I swore when I went to bed last night that today I wasn’t going to eat any more sugar.  Not ONE MORE piece of candy or chocolate.
Then I woke up and had peanut m&m’s for breakfast.  
And now it’s after 10:00 in the morning and Kole and I are still in our pajamas.  The house is a disaster and we just can’t seem to get moving.  I think it’s going to take a while to recover from the last four days. 
{Wrapping up Halloween 2011} 
You may remember that last year for Halloween my little man was a snowman.  Well.  He {melted} my heart in that costume.  Literally.  And you know how I feel about Christmas.  

So when I saw this elf costume on-line I knew it was the one!  
I too dressed up as an elf and Kole and I were Santa’s happy little helpers.  Can’t you just tell how happy we are!?  This picture of him cracked me up.  
This was the only picture I have of my full costume.  I borrowed it from a friend and wore it last year too.  Nothing like a little Christmas cheer in October!  I think I was telling Addie not to rub her freckles off.  
Speaking of my little Strawberry Shortcake and her freckles – she was such a doll this year.  LOVED her costume and was so excited to wear it.  

The festivities started last week when my girls got to wear their costumes to dance class and make up their own dance to perform.  Oh my word.  Those little ballerina’s were the cutest things ever!  We downloaded the Strawberry Shortcake theme song for Addie’s dance.  I may have to share the video some time.  It was adorable!  Then they did their usual warm-up and then the mom’s got to dance with them.  Addison and I  shook things up big time.

Then it was time for Ellie’s hip hop class where they too got to wear their costumes and perform.  Ellie loved her costume this year, but thought it was itchy (she thinks all clothes other than pajamas are “itchy”) so the second she was done performing she tore off the wig and changed.  Then the hip hoppers worked on some routines and Addison jumped in and joined them.  She wants to do everything her big sister is doing.

The girls had so much fun at all of the festivities with their friends.  I love their ages right now!  Everything is so magical.

We had a lot of fun at Kenny’s office party.  His firm goes all out every year for Halloween.  I didn’t take a lot of pictures because there was a Haunted House for the kids and my girls must have gone through that thing over 20 times.  They came out the first time with wide eyes and said “that was SO SCARY mom!  Let’s do it again!!”  So we did.  Again and again and again.  

They always have a pumpkin carving contest and I loved the entries this year.  These two black pumpkins were pretty cool.  But my favorite?

The McPumpkin.  

How clever is that!?  I LOVED it!  
Kole and I at our church Trunk-or-Treat party.

He was such a pill that night.  Wouldn’t let me set him down for the first hour.  Running away from me the second hour.  Santa wouldn’t have been impressed.

Girls at their class parties.  Ellie had her costume off the second the parade was over.   We both agreed that next year she is wearing her pajamas and being a “sleepover girl.”  I was able to help for a total of 2.2 seconds in each classroom because Kole had other plans for us.  Plans that involved me paying 100% of my attention to him and him alone. I have to admit, I’m pretty pumped that this was my last Halloween with an 18 month old.  There are some things about his age that I am just NOT going to miss!

And other things I will miss.  Terribly.  
What a mommas boy.  :)

Trick-or-treating was a lot of fun.  Kenny took all three kids out while I handed out candy.  I had some fun Christmas magazines I was anxious to read, but I didn’t get to open one of them.  We had non stop trick or treaters for three hours straight!  I loved it though.  It’s my favorite part.  Especially seeing all of the little ones in their darling costumes who have practiced their “trick-or-treat!  thank-you! and happy halloween!”  Half way through the neighborhood Kenny brought Kole back to the house because he was running away and not having it in the stroller anymore.  Then every time I opened the front door to hand out candy he tried to escape so I finally just put him in his high chair, turned on Wonder Pets and loaded him up with enough food to last a life time.

The girls with their loot!  Kids had a blast.  Another successful, yet slightly exhausting Halloween!  
K.  Guess I’ll go get dressed now.  Back to reality.  
On second thought.  Those Christmas magazines are still sitting on the table.  They seem to be calling my name much louder than the dishes sitting in my sink….
xoxo, Erin
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