Snow Flakes!

Today during the middle of school we looked up and were amazed at the size of the snowflakes coming down. They were HUGE! The kids were excited to run out for a brief "recess" , did not even take time for coats as you can see.

Catching Snow, what could be better!

And in other news, Malaine lost another tooth today! It was hanging by a thread and thankfully it came out before gymnastics. She said she was NOT going to gymnastics with a hanging tooth! Can you see it, on the bottom? The other top is loose to. She is going to have a hard time eating soon!

A Stitch Slumber Party

You might remember awhile back Makenna planned an American Girl Sleepover for Malaine. You can peek at it here. She decided to plan a party for the little girls and started with Sage. Which was a bad idea because Mavery could not grasp being left out! However, Sage LOVED it! She is still a huge stitch fan, I am certain it is because they share a certain spiciness to them! They made a stitch face, played some games, had ice cream to look like stitch (kind of!) and watched the movie together. The best though for Sage was getting to sleep on her floor w/ her biggest sister. What a treat! (we made certain Mavery did not know this was going on!) Makenna really is an amazing big sister and I would be lost with out her! She already has a party planned for Mavery coming soon. Stay tuned for her theme!

Kitchen Organizing FINISHED!

The cabinet I talked about yesterday was bugging me. So I figured I could finish it during nap time today. Threw away a pile of recipes I know I will never actually make, organized the ones I hope I do get around to in my recipe binder

Added a few cookbooks to the get rid of pile, but kept most, as you can see.

The bin is holding all my Kraft magazines along with lots of those tiny cookbooks.

This is Makennas pile of cookbooks. She enjoys cooking and is a good cook to!

I did decide that I would still store dishes that I need to return in here in the open space. If you recognize your dish, please let me know because I need to work on labeling them with who they belong to! ;-)

And now, I need to finish this.

And that.

And those cabinets, ugh!

Next room to tackle, the laundry room.

2010 Organization-The Kitchen & Pantry

I love to organize, I really do. I love the challenge of it. What I don't like is the upkeep. It is much easier for me to spend hours cleaning out a cabinet or a closet, than to spend a few minutes every day keeping it up. What is the deal w/ that? Mark was out of town all week, and I have been reading lots of decorating and organizing blogs. The combination of the 2 inspired me to clear out the clutter! Project #1 is the kitchen. I took EVERYTHING out of the cabinets. Vacuumed, scrubbed, purged, and then put it all back together. The kids were pretty sure I had lost it and warned me Dad would not like the mess I was making! Mark does not understand to make things look better, there is a huge mess in the process!


This would be the mess the children were talking about. And yes, my Christmas decor is ALL up still. But that is a 2 adult job and so I was not tackling that on my own. See my cute new lap top, LOVE it. Oh I really really do!
This is the tupperware cabinet before. Love this has the roll out drawers. Also home of the 5 crock pots I own. One can never have to many crock pots if you ask me!



And one of the cabinets. The sippy cup cabinet that used to attack me when I opened the door! Much better, though I think we could still stand to get rid of a few more cups!



A tip I am sure you have all heard of. Empty out all your utensils. As you need one, put it back into the drawer. Those you have not used after a certain time, get rid of. This is my bag of spoons, spatulas, pampered chef gadgets, (not that I would ever get rid of those since my sister in law sells that!) Some things I know I might only use once a year, but once a year, I like them! so they have already been put back in the drawer. There are many things I doubt I will ever use unless I become a gourmet cook. And I promise you that is not happening in this lifetime. I took this theory with alot of my kitchen gadgets.. Quesadilla maker? Wok? 2 ice cream makers? Waffle Maker? I put them in the bin & if I have not used it by this summer, out of here




And this is the last cabinet I still need to do. My recipe cabinet. I did have it all nice at one time. And then with all the empty space I made I filled it with more junk. And most of those cookbooks, I do not use! Though they are fun to browse through at times. I hope to have it done this weekend. Unless I put up the Christmas stuff. Which would probably make more sense.

My favorite of the kitchen organizing. I found this idea on those great organizing blogs I have been reading. I have always had a hard time figuring out what to do with the spices. They are in my pantry, thrown in a basket, and anytime I need to find one, it takes a very long time. I had one of those merry go round thingys at one time, but those don't work for me. Do not hold enough, etc.. I was looking for a shelf to hang on my wall when I saw this great idea. Label the TOPS of each bottle, then keep them together alphabetically. GENIUS idea! One person actually used their label maker and labeled each thing, but I was to lazy to go on the hunt for mine. So I just grabbed a sharpie, and some masking tape for the dark colors.


So I went from complete chaos of having to pull out every spice to find what I needed, to knowing what it was, just by glancing at the top! I also realized I had 3 jars of cumin, 2 jars of poppy seeds among other doubles. Poppy seeds, I think some yummy ham sandwiches are on the menu soon!

Close up view, makes me happy all over again just to see how nice it looks!

Now the trick is, how long can it stay this way? Happy Organizing!

First Snow & Organizing Snow "stuff"

The kids were very excited to get a little snow here today. The little girls had a snow day from pre-school, and the big kids insisted it was "totally not fair that everyone else is out of school and I would even THINK of making them do school!" And to be honest, Mark has been gone all week and I am on a big organizing kick, so it did not take long to convince me we could all use a day off!


It took F.O.R.E.V.E.R to dig out everything. Find what would fit who, finding enough to go around, not a fun job! So I was determined that we were coming up w/ a system, pronto! After the fun of course.

They look ready for fun don't they?

And tired of having pictures taken as Sawyer is telling me "Lets get this show on the road!"
Some might have been a little more anxious than others. Mavery could be screaming because she got stuck with the old boy coat. Nah, she is just tired of waiting to get outside stuck in 2000 layers. Well that and she looks like this most of the time. Precious little angel child. ;-)
Out, and baby it is COLD out there! For this cold we would certainly enjoy MORE snow!
Sledding down our front hill. Our small hill with not enough snow. We have the worst wind up on this hill. Brrr!
A snowman! He might be tiny, but isn't he cute? You will notice that I took the back of the snowman. I was not about to walk around to the front, no thank you!

First child in, looking a little frozen and ready for some hot chocolate!

Sage wanted to keep her snow gear on for the whole evening. We had to convince her she could not eat soup in gloves, but oh she was determined!
So here is what I came up with to "try" to keep their snow stuff organized so that next time we venture out, it won't take hours to find the stuff! I hung each coat and pants on a hanger. Took a baggie, wrote their name on it. In the bag I put their snow gloves, hat and scarf. Then just poked the hanger through the bag so it stays together. I wish I could figure out how to attach boots to the hanger! If you have less than 5 children, and especially if you have less than 4 girls, this is probably not an issue for you. And I realize I am more organizationally challenged than most! I have tried to convince Mark that it would be so much fun to have a row of lockers in the basement to hold their snow gear. He finds that to be a waste of time and space for our once a year snow. He is never on board with my great ideas!



I hope that you all are staying warm! My thoughts and prayers have been with those that I know do not have heat, or even a home in this weather. I can't even imagine and pray that shelter will be found.

Muffin Tin Monday-New Years

We have skipped muffin tins for awhile with the holidays, but the little girls asked before going back to school today if we were having muffin tin lunch. They were very excited to use their new shiny tins from Amy for Christmas! So in honor of the new year...

• 2010 ( can you see it?) made out of pb & j sandwich, cheese and a pretzel
• mac & cheese is our confetti to celebrate!
• Popcorn & cookie because we are popping into a new year that we pray will be very sweet!
  

And I am linking up where you can see more fun muffin tins and where we get our themes. (though this was their theme last week and we had skipped) Click here for ideas!

My Christmas Gifts!

Had to share some of my Christmas goodies. A new comforter! I LOVE it! The old one looked just like the curtains and I was ready for something brighter. I may regret white, but so far I just love how crisp and clean it looks. In the process of redoing the room so will add pictures when I am all done. Trying to figure out what color curtains would look best?
My new computer. We made the switch to a MAC, after hearing everyone else talk about how wonderful they are, and I have to say, I will NEVER go back! I can't say enough good things about it so far.
And my new favorite cookbook. If you have never been to her blog, you must check it out here.
So far I have made olive cheese bread and the chocolate sheet cake, YUM! Thanks Amy for this, it really is a fun book to read!
It was a Merry Christmas!

Ringing in the New Year!

Everyone made it till midnight! 2010, here we come!