i will get it done, i will get it done…update

1~top of fridge

2~buffet in dining room

3~closet at bottom of steps

4~refrigerator

5~under sink in upstairs bathroom

6~upstairs bathroom closet

7~junk drawer {2} in kitchen

8~my dresser

9~my closet

10~annabelle’s closet

11~ gavin’s closet

12~josie’s closet

13~annabelle’s dresser

14~gavin’s dresser

15~josie’s dresser

16~van

17~trunk of van…ugh

18~bookshelf in playroom

19~toy boxes in playroom

20~laundry room

21~under sink in downstairs bathroom

22~ hall closet by downstairs bathroom

23~pantry

24~under kitchen sink

25~kitchen freezer

26~photo storage

27~all other drawers in kitchen (not junk drawers)

28~bottom cabinets in kitchen

29~upper cabinets in kitchen

30~entryway

31~pantry (opposite side of the food storage)

32~porch…clean, not collect trash:)

33~under our bed

34~craft/under couch storage

35~my purse

36~stuffed animals…throughout the whole house:)

37~lazy susan in kitchen

38~more toy purging

39~it will more thank likely be time to work on my van again

40~kitchen counters

i attempted the….duh, duh, duuuuuhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh the buffet!

the buffet in our dining room is our CATCH ALL.  every house has one, and this is ours!  see the photos

the before (left)…there are two side doors and two drawers and after (right)

 

before, top drawer after, top drawer

before, bottom drawer

after, bottom drawer

the items that didn’t make it…

 

now, onto the two junk drawers in the kitchen…we all have these, right?!?!

before:

during:

after:

i knew those little silver buckets would come in handy when i bought them 3+ years ago at the target dollar spot…ha!  now i have a place to put box tops, batteries, and small miscellaneous items!

last stop for this update…the toy bins!  i didn’t get any before pictures because i just plopped myself down and got started.  and for me, when i get going, it is best not to stop me:)  so…here the the “organized” toy bins.  we are using a few of the cubes for use other than toys and i hope to get all adult stuff out of there soon!

it may not look like a lot, but we got two garbage bags and a brown bag FULL of little misplaced pieces and older “baby” toys that my kiddos are growing out of.  anyone else doing the challenge?  i LOVE a challenge!  i may not get it done in exactly 40 days, but i WILL complete this.  i am at 9/40…WOW, i thought i was further along than that.  time to MOVE IT!

amber

this boy…

*is my only son

*tries my patience like no other

*decides to climb ON TOP of my van while i am talking to a friend

*cut his own hair this week…

*smiles EVERY time you say his name

*has been spending a lot of time here…

*loves to give me hugs and kisses

*canNOT stand still for the life of him

*loves to make silly noises and faces

*loves church

this boy…will be four tomorrow!  i love you gavin with all my heart.  you are so special to our family. 

happy birthday gavin lee, i love you!

mama {and daddy}

40 bag update…long post:)

1~top of fridge

2~buffet in dining room

3~closet at bottom of steps

4~refrigerator

5~under sink in upstairs bathroom

6~upstairs bathroom closet

7~junk drawer {2} in kitchen

8~my dresser

9~my closet

10~annabelle’s closet

11~ gavin’s closet

12~josie’s closet

13~annabelle’s dresser

14~gavin’s dresser

15~josie’s dresser

16~van

17~trunk of van…ugh

18~bookshelf in playroom

19~toy boxes in playroom

20~laundry room

21~under sink in downstairs bathroom

22~ hall closet by downstairs bathroom

23~pantry

24~under kitchen sink

25~kitchen freezer

26~photo storage

27~all other drawers in kitchen (not junk drawers)

28~bottom cabinets in kitchen

29~upper cabinets in kitchen

30~entryway

31~pantry (opposite side of the food storage)

32~porch…clean, not collect trash:)

33~under our bed

34~craft/under couch storage

35~my purse

36~stuffed animals…throughout the whole house:)

37~lazy susan in kitchen

38~more toy purging

39~it will more thank likely be time to work on my van again

40~kitchen counters

so obviously, i have not been going in order.  after the top of the fridge, i attacked the van {for our brief camping trip}.  then i purged a bit from the kitchen freezer, and reorganized.  also this week i have cleaned the closet at the bottom of the steps {next to the buffet, this was the one hot spot i dreaded most} and weeded out/re-shelved the playroom bookshelves.  the closet ended up being a big ordeal.  it was a catch all!  since we live in an older house, with fewer storage opportunities, we decided to put up a shelf in the closet (and more will come eventually) and hang some hooks.  here are the before/during/after photos….some are from my phone…my camera battery died and i couldn’t find my charger right away.  hopefully that won’t happen as much once i am ALL organized!

before…

during…

after…

 

the van…duh, duh, duhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

before (don’t judge me…ha)

  and after!best part…FREE vacuums! giant eagle

 

the bookshelf in the playroom.  i LOVE books, probably too much.  i have a hard time getting rid of any.  i did move some to the kiddos’ bedrooms.  also, i took one of our toy bins and put Christmas books in there.  i will get those out closer to Christmas.

before…

my little book bandit!

after:)

small board books/odd shaped books went in a book basket.

Christmas book bin

finally…the freezer in the kitchen.  we have a full size, upright freezer in the laundry room as well, but it is full of meat…and i am not going through that:)  the freezer wasn’t too bad, but i made a dent.

before…

during and after…

  

yet another bag GONE!

how are you doing….did you take the challenge?

amber

day 1/40 bag challenge…top of fridge

here is the before…

and the “surprise find”

…ummm, 9 months old

the during…

{the bag}

and….drumroll…the after

yay me!  i always start out strong…so i am going to need some partners in crime to help me stay strong!

amber

40 bags in 40 days

1~top of fridge

2~buffet in dining room

3~closet at bottom of steps

4~refrigerator

5~under sink in upstairs bathroom

6~upstairs bathroom closet

7~junk drawer {2} in kitchen

8~my dresser

9~my closet

10~annabelle’s closet

11~ gavin’s closet

12~josie’s closet

13~annabelle’s dresser

14~gavin’s dresser

15~josie’s dresser

16~van

17~trunk of van…ugh

18~bookshelf in playroom

19~toy boxes in playroom

20~laundry room

21~under sink in downstairs bathroom

22~ hall closet by downstairs bathroom

23~pantry

24~under kitchen sink

25~kitchen freezer

26~photo storage

27~all other drawers in kitchen (not junk drawers)

28~bottom cabinets in kitchen

29~upper cabinets in kitchen

30~entryway

31~pantry (opposite side of the food storage)

32~porch…clean, not collect trash:)

33~under our bed

34~craft/under couch storage

35~my purse

36~stuffed animals…throughout the whole house:)

37~lazy susan in kitchen

38~more toy purging

39~it will more thank likely be time to work on my van again

40~kitchen counters

any suggestions?  some of these could be combined, but i was really trying hard to think of 40 areas to de-clutter.

who is with me???

back…with a lot on my mind:)

hey you all!  i have been away from our family blog for awhile, but feel refreshed and have taken LOTS of photos and feel like i have something to share:)  first of all…i am going to post about a 40 day challenge i am going to do {on my own} but i like things that keep my short attention span…especially when it comes to cleaning my house…ugh! i have recently become addicted to “pinterest” a website that has photos of ideas you can “pin” to your on board (like a wall on fb kind of) and it helps you catalog ideas you may want to try/do/use in the future.  i saw a sign for 40 bags in 40 days.

http://www.littlelucylu.com/2011/03/40-bags-continued.html

here is the initial link i found and i am working on my forty spaces in forty days!  who wants to do this challenge with me?  i may use an occasional garbage bag, but my idea was to at least fill one grocery bag a day (if not more). 

another idea i want to try…bottom of the jar recipes:)

we have a-l-m-o-s-t empty peanut butter jars…so i am going to attempt an oatmeal, pb, fruit mixture for breakfast tomorrow.  i will let you know how that goes:)

what are you all into this summer…i would love to hear how you keep your family busy.  it feels like we have done a TON this week already, so i may do a photo journal of a week in our crazy fun-filled days…ahem.

later,

amber

and we’re off!

so, we are heading off on our first family vacation in five years tomorrow!  last time we went on vacation (ocean city, maryland), annabelle was two.  five years later and two more kids in the mix…we are heading to florida (driving)!!  yep, we are cazy like that:)

just a little update on our weekly themes…

Turn it off Tuesday…not a favorite of annabelle’s…she was trying to convince me all evening [she did wonderful and stayed busy all day, but after 5:30pm she was missing the tv] to change it to “terrific tuesday or tasty tuesday”

Wet Wednesday…we filled lots of water balloons, but those were gone way too quick…so we let the kiddos use the hose to torture spray each other…and it never fails, we {ahem…I} always choose to allow the kiddos to run through the sprinkler, etc. the day joe mows the lawn…so we get the added bonus of wet AND grassy kids:)

Thrifty Thursday…yep, finally decided on an appropriate –th word that i could use with thursday:)  today we didn’t go in search of thrifty things, but we were able to clean out closets/drawers last saturday (on squeaky clean saturday…believe me, i know how ridiculous i am…ha) and we passed them on to a family that could use them.  in the future thursdays to come, i see a lot of yard sales and thrift store trips:)

Fun Friday….well, tomorrow we will be in the van for at least 10 hours…i will let you know how “fun” it is.

florida or bust…

amber

make-it monday…a weak attempt

so, it turned out to be a lovely day for a trip to the zoo.  we spent 5 hours there and we made it to every section except australia! my point being…we got home later in the day and were kind of pooped.   so, my make-it monday was an idea i saw on my favorite website (tipjunkie).  i had the kiddos stand against the fence and i sprayed them with water to make fence art!  i know…it was a weak attempt at something “made”!  they loved it though:) 

 

i guess i should say…some loved it more than others.

my other ideas for make-it monday were:

*homemade tub paints

OR

*prepare and print activities for their travel bags (since we will be in the car for 17 hours this weekend)

joe made the comment that we MADE a trip to the zoo for make-it monday…ha!

so…tomorrow is turn it off tuesday!  no tv, computer, etc.

be back for wet wednesday,

amber