Nesting

I am SO excited.
Recently I discovered this blog.  I love it.  Love, love, love it.  I have been reading past posts with little bits of time that I have here and there and annoying friends by emailing links to ideas that I think are great.  I'm one of those people who love to organize things.  It's like therapy for me, truly.  I struggle (a lot) when my environment is cluttered and messy.  I can't think clearly and I feel stressed.  When things are organized I feel like I can think more clearly.

There are times in life when it's easy for clutter to build up.  When there's a baby in the house...and just the process of having children who are continually growing out of clothes and changing developmentally to require different toys/books/stimulation.  Our house hit an all time low after my Dad passed away.  The nine months prior we spent so much time travelling to and from Richland to help with Dad, and with the demands of an infant, 2 and 4/5 yr old and recovering from back surgery/being physically limited...then grieving the loss of my Dad and just not feeling motivated or able to think clearly...things really piled up.  Please don't read that in a whining or complaining way, I don't feel that way at all.  These are just the circumstances of our life.  Once things started to settle down I tried to get on top of things and made some progress, but honestly for a long time, (until recently, really) I still wasn't able to think as clearly and make decisions about things as easily and it was difficult.  But I'm doing better now, our family has grown and transitioned out of the "baby" stage and their needs are changing ~ requiring different/less "stuff."  Add in my desire to pare down and simplify, and it's just the perfect time to tackle this task.  The blog I found is adding lots of inspiration and ideas, so I'm really excited about this.

I really want less STUFF.  I want our house to be organized so that we spend less time dealing with our possessions and more time making memories and living.  So I'm going through the whole house.

Every room.
Every closet.
Every drawer.
From top to bottom.
And I'm trying to be pretty strict with myself about what I keep.  Really asking myself do I need that many?...do I use that?  Do I love it?
Cleaning, getting rid of things (hopefully a LOT of things), and organizing what is left. And nesting in the sense that I'm making our home ready for the next phase of life.

It's going to take a while  (We STILL have some baby things lingering around!)  And I'll probably have to start pacing myself a bit, because life does continue to go on despite my agenda.  But I'm committed to really focusing on this because I just want it DONE.

And I've already finished the boys room.

I'm keeping 2 lists in my planner as I go from room to room. "Projects to complete" and "Items to purchase." So we can do/purchase as time/budget allows.

Dan commented the other day, "I haven't seen you this excited about anything for a long time."  He said he could see my old self again.  And that it was nice.

It feels nice.

It's been a long, painful road.

And I don't mean to sound melodramatic, but as I cleaned out the boys room, I just felt like I was reclaiming my life again.

It felt so good.

I took scads of photos, because I wanted to share some of the ideas of how I organized things in case it helps inspire someone else with an idea that might help them.  But also, I thought it would be really fun to have this documented for the boys.  This is their little space in the world, and some day it will be nice for them to look back and remember.  So, here we go!  And be forewarned, this could be one of my longest posts ever ~ and that's saying something!  :)



Here is the boys' room!  Matthew is at the age where he needs the ability to make a space "his."  So we've compromised with being able to hang his artwork/posters within the confines of his bed.  And the back of the door....







Matthew's artwork, and books that he loves/are special to him.



Andrew's area.  We colored the droid picture together.  He pulled his bookshelf off the wall when he was 3 so he doesn't have one.  But I added it to the "project" list for the room.  I think he can handle it now. :)



The top of the dresser holds Matthew's very special "Polar Express" snow globe ~ ALL of the kids LOVE this.  His piggy bank, and the blue piggy bank that he picked out when he was 2 at the hospital with Grammie to give to Andrew when he was born.



I just love this sign.







I just love these two photos.   The photo of the boys is one of my favorites.  Does it get any sweeter?



I finished this little project when I cleaned out the room.  I used up some ribbon I had on hand and hung these up (one was already up but I needed to add Andrew's).  They were made at pre-school.  I'm a sucker for anything with a handprint.



The kids have a lot of books.  We read a lot.  And I actually got rid of 22!  I went through them twice to see if I could pare down more, but would you believe we really read these?  Or they are special ones that I want to save.  Matthew was quite emotional about getting rid of the ones that we did.  I was really proud of him.  It isn't easy to part with things sometimes.  We still have a pile to the right that won't fit (too tall) that I need to find a container for.

I was able to clean out and reorganize things enough that the bottom two drawers of this bookshelf have become a space for each of the boys to put their "special things."  They had cardboard boxes that they had drawn on to contain their things that were making me a little crazy.  Now they have their own space that is theirs and is to be respected by the other brother.  Those would be stickers on the drawer on the left.  Forgot to get those last 2.  Someone had done some decorating. :)



The flag is Dan's step-Grandfather's casket flag.  He was very close to him.



Some artwork that I had Matthew draw when this became his room.



I took photos of some of the things that were in the boys' "special" boxes so they could see what was important to them at the age of 5 and 7.  These are Andrew's treasures.  A car, some mario cards, a silly band, a marble, some random lego pieces, a "jewel", a penny, a toy bug, some shamrocks from St. Patrick's Day, his "greenie" (mushroom) and a rubber toy.



Matthew's treasures:  a pokemon card, silly bandz, a "$50" eraser that he bought at the book fair, some shamrocks, a finge rpuppet that he got for a reading achievement at school, a red balloon (his fav color) some mario tatoos, a rock, some mini figures, a walkie talkie, and silly puddy.



and a note that Daddy left in his desk at school during conferences.



Matthew's special drawer. And a drawing that he did....



I came across a lot of precious things while cleaning out the room.  Just can't part with these sweet things...





These were the ties that the boys wore to the reception after my Dad's memorial service.  With a lump in my throat, I put them in the "donate" pile.  I usually hand down a lot of their clothes, but it would make me too sad to see them on anyone.  They don't make me happy.  They don't bring back a happy memory.  But I think I held on to them because somehow they made me feel closer to my Dad...I'm ready to let go.  They aren't my Dad's memory.



However, when I came to this part of the closet there were plenty of happy memories.  Andrew loved looking at his scrapbook and marveling at how cute he was. :)  Katie asked for "her book"....it's in process.  (Lots of guilt here).





Such sweet memories.





I kept copious notes throughout the boys' pregnancies.  I did okay with Katie's but again, not as much.  Life was much busier.





Sigh.   Andrew was the sweetest, yummiest baby.  He was so snuggly and had so many delicious rolls.  I could just eat him up.



This is the "before" of one of the shelves.  Matthew kept adding things and it was becoming quite the mess.



Here is the "after."  More handprints, and a painting from Dan's childhood that he was happy to see displayed. 



These are Matthew's treasures.  I am not crazy about this shelf.  But he is so proud of his trophies, and we can't forget that ever important "Participant" ribbon!  :) :)  He taped it to the wall himself.  Andrew can't wait for the day when he earns a trophy too.  We are having Matthew's birthday at the bowling alley again this year.  Which means another bowling pin.  I see some negotiations in my future....



So here's the closet.  Andrew is on the top, Matthew is on the bottom.  I'm a visual person and so I prefer to have their clothes hanging/visible.  The closet is a little more full than I'd like right now because both of the boys are transitioning sizes so they each have two sizes of clothes still in their closet.  The basket on the bottom of their closet holds their "current sport" sports gear.  So we don't have to go scrambling for it anymore.  We almost didn't make it to Tae Kwon Do this week because we couldn't find Andrew's belt! Not anymore....



Matthew's Little League uniform is underneath as well, down to the socks.



I "shopped my house" and moved the cubes from the guest room closet to the boys' closet and put their shorts in them.  Their swim trunks are in the basket on top and their socks are all in the red bin.  They wear the same size now, so that's easy!  Their hoodies and jackets hang above, and I found this neat little thing...



...at the Container store to help divide the rod and make it easier to quickly know where the division is and hang their clean clothes up.  But my favorite thing was this.  Their closet is shaped wierd (all of our bedrooms have weird closets.  Theirs is actually the most normal).  The side is angled and so it wastes some space.  I found this handbag holder at Target....



And it fit perfectly into that angled space!  I'm starting to put their clothes in it starting on Sunday night for the week.  It only has 4 slots on each side, so it'll hold Mon-Thursday for each of the boys, which is fine because it's smooth sailing come Friday anyway!  Matthew loves this, and we'll just look at the weather report on Sunday and do this together.  I'm very excited about this new little addition.  Anything to help school day mornings go smoothly is a winner for me.





And hanging behind that on the wall is another memory...



One of these announced the birth for each of the boys in our front yard (Sadly, they went out of business when Katie arrived).  Matthew's is hanging behind Andrew's.  They used to hang in their nursery.

And that concludes the tour of the boys room.

I'm working on Kaitlin's room right now.  I'm about half way done with her closet!  But I think I'll have to take a slight break after that and focus on Matthew's birthday, and then back to the house.  I have some big areas that need to be done that I can't wait to get to.  I'm so looking forward to having our house running more smoothly.  I feel like by getting rid of "stuff" I'm making room for other things in my life.

I'm really excited about this project and I'll be posting about it as I go.  (Although not in such detail for each room...this room just holds a lot of sentiment for me that I wanted to capture).

Welcome Fall!

(Updated to add--Diane, in response to your comment--and FYI anyone else thinking fall decorations--head to Michaels! A lot of their fall decorations are 40% off or more right now. I intertwined a berry garland and a leafy garland from Michael's in the bottom left picture of the first mosaic. The pumpkins in the mercury glass container came from the dollar store, the sparkly pumpkins and candleholders--my favorite--came from TJ Maxx. Think inexpensive and discount! :) The leaf wreath was pottery barn but bought on clearance after christmas--in Spokane friend, which is a great place for you to check out after the holidays. Oh! And my little arrangement behind the kids' picture was found at the Bombay Company after Christmas also in Spokane for $5--isn't that crazy? I always buy on sale after the holiday is over and put it away for next year and have fun unpacking the new treasures from the year before.).

I love fall.

I love the colors, the scents, the food, the crisp air, the warm clothes, the thick socks, the pumpkin patch, the pumpkin patch (yes I said it twice because I love it that much) pumpkin spice lattes, decorating my house, and the excitement of holidays right around the corner. As a child I loved the return to school, new school supplies, a new school year, back to school shopping. It was all great.

This year, it took me a bit to get excited about fall. As I saw the first leaves changing, which I always look forward to, and the first real fall-feeling rain, which yes, feels and smells different than summer rain (is that a pacific NW thing?) I wasn't excited.

Matthew was starting Kindergarten. A big change. Next year will be even bigger, but I'm not going there yet. And fall is the time of year when we lost 2 precious family members. My Dad and my Aunt Linda. I know fall will always hold some bitter-sweetness for me now. But at the same time, I remember Dad coming to visit after I had decorated my home for fall. He remarked how nice it looked. And as I put up my decorations this year I remembered that. And knew he'd tell me how pretty they were.

And it made me smile.

And while right now fall is associated with difficult memories, I am hopeful that as time passes, it will be a time that my loved ones are just more on my mind and celebrated more in my heart than usual.

Paint Color

Someone wanted to know the paint color of our house. Here it is!

Trim: Sherwin-Williams Duration Satin Color: Super White

Front Door: From Miller Paint: Ebony Stain

Body of house is a 50/50 mix of the following two colors:

Sherwin-Williams (SW) 7017 Dorian Grey
SW 7018 Dove Tail

Accent color on the top of the house: SW 7019 Goutlet Grey

That last name sounds weird to me, so I'm not sure if the name part is right (I'm trying to read Dan's handwriting) but the number for sure is accurate. I think they're all from the same color family on the same little sample from the store so once you find one you should be good to go!

And be sure to paint a sample up--we ended up using a different color than we originally thought after we saw it up on the house. The lighting, etc. makes a big difference. Good luck!

The Great House Clean Out of 2009

Who's ready for the next stop on The Great House Clean Out of 2009?!?!
Me too!! Are you excited to know the most recent target?

Drumroll please.......

Are you on the edge of your seat?

It's....

THE LINEN CLOSET!!

The Tulips aren't quite in full bloom (we've had a cold spring) so we pushed back our trip to the Tulip Festival until next weekend. So Dan and I spent today getting caught up on a few things and cleaning out the Linen closet and Guest room closet. Do you want to see it?

Okay, but first I'll share my latest organizing discovery.

My mom told me about these neat bags but I was slow to get on board. I'm a believer now. (Thanks for the tip, Mom). They're "space bags." Ever heard of them?

You put your things in a bag....

(In retrospect I should have chosen a different one...this bag had Dan's college wool Letterman blanket in it that is already pretty dense, but watch the right side of the bag).

And then vacume the air out!

They make the funniest looking packages...but really save a lot of space!

So here's the finished product!

Did you notice there's even part of an empty shelf???

And here are all the space bags hidden off to the side...

And Diane, look up top--see the photo albums like we talked about? It worked great! (Diane has been my long distance organizing consultant). Thanks, friend.

I'm starting to feel much better about the state of things around here. We've gotten rid of so much stuff. There's room to breathe again. Still a way to go, but we're getting there.

Answers to questions/ The Ugly Truth

I bought Matthew and Andrew's aprons here. (Click on the word "here" for the link). It was last year though, so the styles have probably changed a bit. But it looks like she still carries them. If you haven't found Etsy yet, oh my. Block out an hour before you look at that website. It'll suck you in. So many talented people in the world. A note on the aprons though. They are nice quality however, they are small. Meaning short. My kids are quite tall and so I'd ask for the measurements before ordering them and see what you think, but I'd look for something bigger if I were to do it again.

(I have permission to share the next part). About Dan's weight loss. He's under less stress than he used to be, and he's also worked hard at eating less and making healthier choices. No program, etc. I haven't cooked differently. (We eat relatively healthy. Could do better, could do worse). But I'm really proud of him. He looks fantastic, but most of all, he's healthy and that's all I care about.

The other thing, is that I've received some very kind emails and comments lately which are soooo nice. As a stay at home mom we don't get that annual performace review/raise/pat on the back. "Wow! That toilet really sparkles!" :) The occasional comment from strangers in stores/restaurants commenting on the children's behavior is really nice (I do also get "the look" too on our bad days). And Dan is good about saying nice things, but it is always so uplifting to get a word of praise or encouragement. Caring for the children and our home is my "job" and I work really hard at it, so the compliments really fill my cup.

I did want to make sure though that I'm not portraying myself to be something I'm not or especially make others feel that they should be doing more than they are. So here's the ugly truth.

The question of where do I find the time to do some of the things that I do? I don't sleep as much as I should. I rarely watch tv. If I do watch tv I'm always doing something else at the same time. Unless I'm exhausted. Like last night, I was so tired I just laid on the sofa, ate ice cream and watched The Office and 30 Rock with Dan. (The Office is the one show I try not to miss each week. Dan and I think it's so funny). But the week before birthdays and holidays I usually average 6hrs of sleep a night. Not really enough. Dan says I'm a work a holic, and I'm trying to get better about it. It's not a good thing, and it's not healthy...I'd like to set a more balanced example for my children. It's one of my many flaws that I have that I'm working on. I'm really trying to observe the Sabbath and rest on Sunday--it's a start.

The other thing that helps me stay organized is just having a weekly routine of doing meal planning, shopping, errands, laundry, and cleaning on the same days. I know what to expect and it keeps me from falling too far behind on the day to day stuff. I'm not always on track (life happens) but I try to follow it as much as possible because it makes a big difference.

That being said, I always DO feel behind though. I'm never caught up. There's always something else that should be tended to. For example, I've been piling things on the bonus room built in that I don't have time to get to. We'll come across something and I'll say "put it in the bonus room." It's awful. (Pictures that need to be organized, misc. 'stuff')...I'm going to tackle it this summer, as soon as I have time. We're still doing the house clean out but haven't made it to that area yet. (Linen closet/guest room this weekend!) And I haven't processed photos in so long that I'm completely overwhelmed by it and can't even start. They're just sitting on my hard drive. And my desk seems to attract piles. I have to figure out a better system for managing things there, but I won't bore you with all of the outstanding projects in our house. You get the point.

So dear friends, thank you so much for the sweet words, they made me feel so good! But now you know the ugly truth!!

Spring Break--Part 2

Dan indulged my current cleaning/organizing craze and spent an entire day working on our master bedroom/bath/closet. God bless him.

Oh, it's heaven.

We cleaned out an embarrassing amount of "stuff." At the rate this is taking me, this could be the "project of 2009", but I'm determined to see it through. The results are addicting.

There's nothing I hate more than trying to squeeze something into a drawer. You know what I'm talking about. Pushing down that stack of t-shirts so you can sqeeze the drawer shut.

No MORE.

Ugh. And don't get me started on the toys.

Do you want to see some of the fruits of our labor?

Well.....Okay.

But only because you insisted.

Doesn't it bring a tear to your eye?

I'm so delighted over it I can hardly stand it. I can't wait to tackle the next area, but sadly it will have to wait until after Easter.

The Evolution of a Blog

I started this blog originally as just a scrapbook of our day to day life. The primary intention of it is definitely still to document memories for our children. Years from now, I want to remember the little stuff. This is an easy way to do that. And I love it. But over the year, it's proved to have other functions as well. It's become a creative outlet for me. It's been a place for me to mourn the loss of my Dad and remember him and honor his memory. It's also a way to keep up with my friends, (friends, I love reading your blogs too!) and surprisingly, it's been an avenue for making new friends! And what fun that has been.

I know the people who read my blog come here for different reasons. Grandparents enjoy seeing the grandkids and knowing what they are doing. Some friends like that too. Dan really enjoys seeing what goes on around here when he isn't home. Other friends like to hear what's going on with me. And I know my Mom likes to read what I write about Dad. I so appreciate the kind words that people share with me about my blog because it's very personal to me. But a lesson I've learned over the last year (I've learned a lot of them in '08) is that life is so much richer when you share it.

Anyway, I was just thinking about that today as I was putting this post together because this one has nothing to do with the kids, or the family, it's pretty much a fluff post because of my love for organizing and I have a friend that wanted to see photos of the progress I've made during my little blog break/organizing/cleaning out project. So here's my crowning accomplishment thus far. (I thought this would be more exciting than say, my sock drawer or other little random areas I've been cleaning). This one took an entire day. The kids, Dan and I were sequestered in the bonus room after church and they played and we worked on the closet and here it is!

It's the bonus room closet. It houses my crafting/scrapbooking stuff, office supplies, and my secret addiction...wired ribbon. It feels great to have it done. This closet makes me smile every time I peek inside. Sometimes I open it just to see the order. Then I close it and face the chaos of my life. :)

Restoring Order

I'm going to be taking a little break from my blog for the rest of this month. I'm still going to post on the 2oth of this month, and then I'll be back after Kaitlin's birthday (Feb 6th), but for the next several weeks I have some work to do. Then I'll be back. I love this blog. It's my perception of our little life...I love keeping this up. It'll be hard for me to commit to this, but there are some things that need to be addressed around here that will require all of my spare time.

Each January I usually clean my house out from top to bottom. Every drawer is emptied, wiped down and organized. Every cupboard, every closet. It keeps us from accumulating too much stuff and it keeps things clean below the surface. I didn't do it last year because I was 8 months preganant and preparing for Kaitlin. Our life in the last year was such a whirlwind that many things had to be left undone. (This is not a complaint in any way. Just the reality of our situation). Put in a bag or a box and left for "later". It's now later. I have accumulated many piles in corners that are driving me crazy. I try to camoflauge them by making them neat piles. But they are piles. I hate piles. I hate clutter. It probably sounds crazy but it affects me mentally. It really got to me before Christmas and so instead of preparing for the holiday I got a little headstart on the places that were bothering me the most. Matthew helped me tackle the children's craft cupboard. Diane, these photos are for you..... :)

Cleaning is my favorite form of therapy, so I'm looking forward to this.

So that's task number one. I also need to get the kids back on a good routine. I've always kept a very consistent routine with Matthew and Andrew and in the last year things have fallen apart. I'm seeing the results in their behavior. I've also gotten into some bad habits with Kaitlin that need breaking...so I need to focus on my little ones and get us all back on track so that we're the happiest version of ourselves.

I'm also preparing for Kaitlin's first birthday party, trying to put a video together of her first year, and getting things organized for the new year. We need to get our files cleaned out, our budget for the year set, and goals established. I find that if we don't set any goals for the year then time passes and we don't experience life to the fullest or improve ourselves in anyway. Dan and I sat and came up with a start but we need to finish it...day trips we want to make, which activities the boys will participate in this year, different projects we want to complete around the house/yard, church, health goals....We never do all that we set out to do, but that isn't really the purpose. The purpose is just to keep us moving forward. I've done this since I was a teenager. I have many lists of "goals" for the year. Dan and I even have a list of things we hope to accomplish in our lifetime. I looked at it the other day and saw many of them have been done. Many are still undone. We need to revise it and add/take away to accommodate how we've changed. But I love having goals and to always be working toward something.

Before I close for a bit, a few photos of our goings on....

Matthew has "quiet time" each day while Andrew "naps" (something else we're working on). During that time he does quiet activities in the guest room. Lately, Matthew has worked SO hard on these dinosaurs. (Mom they are from the book you gave him at Christmas). He LOVES to build things. He assembled these all by himself without any help! (Isn't it fun how your child's accomplishments seem so amazing? :)) I was really proud of him. We sat together today and put together the scene just as it was pictured in the book. He was really excited to see it come together.

A cute thing he said today at lunch (we met Dan who was doing some consulting close to home). Matthew was observing Kaitlin and remarked, "Kaitlin can't talk." Then he paused while he thought and said, "I can't hold my voice that long." No love, you can't.

Andrew is just being sweet Andrew. I went to Gymboree yesterday to do some shopping. He sat in the little chairs there watching a show. I went to collect him and he was sitting next to a small child (perhaps 20 mos?) with a bag of potatoe chips. The child had the bag, but Andrew was eating the chips!! I started to correct him, but the Grandmother was right there saying it was fine...I just smiled because it's SO Andrew. If you have food, you're his friend. He looked at me with utter delight and said so happily, "the baby was sharing with me!!!"

On a side note, I think Andrew might be a lefty. He consistently uses his left hand to eat as well as write in pre-school. Time will tell, but if you put the pen in his right hand he switches it to his left. Dan is quite pleased for the sports application.

Most recently, he woke up today with a barking cough that tells me he's coming down with his second case of croup for this season. It's going to be a long night tonight. I'm hoping the others are spared. Our last round led into all of the children getting ear infections.

Here he is having Root Beer floats with Grammie this past weekend. (She and Grandpa came and helped fix our vacuum system--thank you!)

And then there's the Bugaboo.

Mom, here's the sweet sweater you bought for her while I was pregnant. She's big enough for it now...it's precious.

Here's Dan poking fun at me last night. He gets the kids ready for bed each night--baths, etc. He called to me saying, "Kaitlin is ready for bed!" I came out to see her in her PJs with a bow in her hair....I'm not THAT bad. :)

And we've entered this stage....

>

She's exploring table tops and climbed into this drawer in the bonus room. She's something else. It's so cute though when I say "No, no touch, thank you." She'll shake her head no and sometimes stop touching. (Sometimes not). It's so fun to see her starting to recognize words.

And we're in this stage too....

Where there is stuff scattered all over the floor, all the time as Kaitlin joyfully empties the contents of drawers, etc.

I'm not good with this stage. I think the age is adorable. They do the cutest things. But I find it quite exhausting.

Air Hockey anyone?

And just a photo I liked.

So there's an extra long post. If anyone is still reading, see you on the 20th!