3rd Day of Kindy and DS5 Already Gets a Note Sent Home

Oy this is going to be a long year.  He already got a note sent home that he was not on task and he did not use his indoor voice. Oh wise bloggers out there...any tips on how to curtail this behavior now?

DD3 starts preschool on Monday.  Here's to hoping for a good year for her.  :)

Three days a week it'll just be me and my bonus baby in the mornings.  Two days a week after school I get two bonus boys.  Looks like a full house on those days!

Last Week Before School Starts.

This week is the last week before school starts for DS5.  He starts Kindy on Monday!  DD3 starts preschool the following week.  Cha-cha-cha-changes!

This week we have been go-go-going giving an great end of summer bang!

Monday - I was sick so we stayed home chillaxin.

Tuesday - I was feeling better, but not 100%.  In the morning I took my kiddo's to the dentist for their regular checkups.  The both got a clean bill of oral health.  DS5 is already getting his 6 yr molars.  Oh gosh!  We spent the afternoon as a family at the Zoo.

Wednesday - We had a playdate with our 3 &1 yr old friends.  They got to come to our house!  We played inside, outside and went swimming.  Oh what fun!  Check out her family blog.

Thursday - We spend the day playing outside.  I couldn't ask for better weather this week.  :)  We had meet the teacher night.  I took DS5 to meet his Kindy teacher and see his new school building and classroom.  DH took DD3 to meet her preschool teacher (same teacher that DS5 has had for the past 2 years) and let her have a chance to finally run around the classroom.  She was in heaven as she's been able to see the toys, but not play with them.

Friday - We went to Living History Farms and spent the day there. We had the chance to pet horses, piglets, and see chickens.  The kiddo's had a blast running around the different farms and visiting the various buildings in "town."  We got to drink Sarsaparilla straight from the brown bottle and buy some lemon drops at the General Store. 

What has your week looked like?  Do you have any fun ideas to do on the weekends with kiddos?

How Has Your Summer Been?

We've had a busy summer here.  We've been to the zoo, the Science Center, Living History Farms, downtown Des Moines Sculpture Gardens, libraries in the area, swimming, the parks around town, and too many playdates to count.  Whew!

I also started walking 4 miles a night.  I need to get my cute butt back into shape.  Any encouragement on that front is welcome.  :) 

No Spending for 10 Days Part 2

I had such success with no spending on anything non-essential for 10 days in June I though I'd try it again.  :)  So, here we go again.  No spending on anything non-essential for 10 days.  Like last time I'll post here each day with how much I spend on what.  I found that it really keeps me accountable.  'Cause really, no one wants to fail in public.

Day 1 - $0
Day 2 - $47 A pre-planned event.  My budget was $50 so I came in squeaking under. 
Day 3 - $0
Day 4 - $0
Day 5 - $0
Day 6 - $0
Day 7 - $43.64 gas for van
Day 8 - $5 spent on Sarsaparilla and Lemon Drops at Living History Farms
Day 9 - $18 spent at the Farmers Market.  :)
Day 10 - $0

Overall a very successful endeavor. 

What About the In-Betweens?

We always see the before and after pictures, but what about the in-between pictures when life is actually being lived?  Welp, here's my in-betweens.  This is what my place looks like RIGHT NOW without any staging or extra cleaning or organizing.  Here's a naked look at my place on a random Sunday night at 10:00.

Looking into the kitchen from the living room. 

Kitchen table cleared off as usual.  I find that it really helps family dinner time if the table is already cleared and clean.

Kitchen counter (yep, I'm that short on counter space)

Cleared refrigerator front, stove and microwave.  All wiped down and ready for action.

Living room.  Not perfect, but it'll do for tonight.

 
Nice and clear hallway.  No tripping in the middle of the night for me.

My bed is made and ready for sleepy time.


So, there ya go.  This is what my place looks like on a random night.  Sorry for the crappy pics, but since it's 10:00 at night I have zero natural light to help with my usual level of crappy quality of pics.  What does your place look like on a random night?  Anyone brave enough to blog about it?  :)

Master Bedroom Closet Make Over

I am so excited to post about my bedroom closet today.  It's one of my favorite rooms in my place.  I like to sit in there and read, do projects, blog on my laptop, etc.  My bedroom closet is big.  For the size of our place it is really big.  We actually turned it into a nursery when DD2 was born.  Yep, it's that big.  After we moved her into the same room as DS5 the closet became, well, a mess.  We took the baby stuff out (for the most part) and started the bad habit of dumping and running when it came to that closet. 

Here's the view from the door way into the closet.  I'll go from the right to left so you can get the full effect.  :)

My girl over at Family of Monkeys has a handy hubby.  I've actually known her hubby for 15 years or so.  He not only found this awesome shelving unit for FREE he also installed it for me for FREE.  SCORE!

(Remember I don't stage any of my pics :D ) On the top shelf we have presents to be given out later during the year.  I like to buy ahead with a specific person in mind. The next shelf down we have most of my shoes.  These are the pairs that I don't wear on a weekly basis.  Those are on the shoe mats by the front door.  I love that I put my back-stock of shoes in clear plastic boxes.   It makes they very easy to organize by color and type.  It also makes it very easy to grab and go when I need to locate a pair in a hurry.  The next shelf is my photo stuffs.  Here I have my scrap booking material and most of my photos.  On the bottom shelf I have the kid's DVD players (the black things on the left), more photos, and 3 clear plastic totes filled with items such as tape, scissors, my thank you note writing station, etc. All the way on the right is the leaf for my kitchen table.  Sometimes I have to stick things in undesirable spaces because of my lack of space.  That is one of them.  And finally we have my laundry sorter.  I LOVE, love, love my laundry sorter.  Honestly, I don't know how I lived so long without one.

  A closer look of the shelves.

And my beloved laundry sorter. To the left of my laundry sorter are the kids toys that I have rotated out for a while.  I find that they play with their toys more if all their toys aren't out all the time and I rotate them for freshness.

My clothes are in this pic.  I hang all my shirts.  It looks like I have a lot of clothes, but I don't swap out seasonal items.  I leave them hang all year long.  I also have worked in the business world so I have a lot of business suites hanging on the right.  On the top shelf are my handbags, my teddy bear, Joanie, which I've had since I was born and my hubby's pants sorted into 2 piles.  Jeans and non-jeans.  The 3 drawer carts below used to by DD2's dressers.  Now they house clothes are to be grown into.

Hubby's shirts.  Admittedly he has less clothes than me, but really, he's a guy.  He doesn't need as much clothes as I do.  :)  On the top shelf you can see his folded jeans pile, my collection of Longaberger baskets are in the blue tote and all the was to the left are boxes full of glass stuffs that my Grandma insists on giving me, but I don't have any occasion to use them or anywhere to display them.

Carts on the right hold clothes to be grown into.  The black cart holds misc electronic stuffs and batteries.  The white cart on the left holds extra kitchen towels that my Grandma has embroidered for me (same Grandma as the glass Grandma.)

Storage.  Bottom 2 are Christmas ornaments.  Top 2 totes are important papers.

My pants and Nursing school textbooks  on the next shelf

The pictures on the wall are new.  Part of my New Years resolution was to put more things up on our walls.  I love the saying from Uppercase living, don't you?  See the pic all the way on the bottom left of the baby in the cowboy hat and boots?  That's me!  :)

 And what kind of mom would I be if I didn't include a pic of what DS5 made me for Mother's Day.

What do you think of my closet?  Yes?  No? Maybe so?  Can you think of any ways I can better organize the space?  I'm always open to suggestions!!

Please Leave a Comment :)

Hi and thanks for stopping by.  I hope you enjoy your time here.  Please feel free to leave a comment.  I loves me some comments.  I'd love to read your blog (if you have one) so please leave me the link so I can stop by.  I can't wait to hear from ya.  :D