Thanksgiving Tree

Here is our Thanksgiving Tree.  We've never had a Thanksgiving tree before but I found the idea from here: A Holy Experience.  There is a free printable for the leaves and instructions on how to use the tree.  So, today my son collected the sticks and helped cut out the leaves.  Each leaf has a verse of Thanksgiving on it. We each picked out a leaf and then on the back of the leaf we wrote one thing we were thankful for then hung it on the tree.  We'll do this everyday until Thanksgiving.  I think it's a great tradition to start at our house!

Planning Ahead

It seems that I have forgotten that I have this little blog.  It's summer and we've been to the beach twice and the pool a lot, so that's my excuse for not blogging!

School started back for most of our state today but I don't start back for 3 more weeks! yay! just a little more summer fun to be had! So, I decided to plan ahead today for the coming year. I found this great link on Pinterest last night: 4 Weeks to Fill Your Freezer.  I started with waffles.  I also made pigs in a blanket using some leftover hot dogs we had in the freezer and I made the "blanket" from the pizza dough recipe found in the link above. From there, I made the energy bites (with just a few little changes based on what I had in the pantry). I also made a pot of vegetable soup for lunch this week.  Oh, and I forgot about the homemade "Uncrustables" I made and put in the freezer.

If that wasn't enough, I've also been hanging and tagging clothes for an upcoming consignment sale.  But now, it's nap time at our house and I've got an episode of The Real Housewives of New Jersey on the DVR waiting to be watched!

Bedroom Completed!

It took me longer than a day, but I finally finished organizing my son's room.  Here's what it looks like now:

 

Much, much better! I cleaned out and threw things away and took half of his dress up clothes to my classroom.  The shelf with the different colored bins was given to me by a friend. Yay for free stuff! I also picked some shelving at a thrift store:

The shelves were a great deal. The three little ones were .99 a piece and the brown shelf was $7.99 with 30% off! Can't beat that.  I also got a shoe organizer to organize little odds and ends and I got a couple of drawstring laundry bags to store dress up clothes, sports equipment and all the toy weapons my son has.

It's done! My son is out of town until Sunday, so I know it will stay clean and organized until then. Oh, I forgot one thing.  I don't have a picture, but I put the books from the book shelf into storage bins and put the bins on the book shelf.  I loathe the book shelf, so we'll see if this helps with mess.  My next project is my daughter's room:

Today's Project

Today I am going to tackle my almost 4 year old's room. It is a disaster. Not quite sure what my plan is yet, but something has to be done. He's in San Diego with his grandmama for the next week, so we'll see what I can get done. I am also going to only spend $15 (or less) on the project.  I got a reimbursement check this week for a workshop I'm required to go to so that money is getting designated for this project.  Any storage ideas are welcome!

Busy Bags- Completed

The busy bags are completed; for now anyway. I may make some more throughout the summer, but this is a start. There are some really cute ideas for bags on Pinterest, but I really wanted to try and make some without spending any money. Mission accomplished! Here's what's in our busy bags:

1. Cars
2. Markers and notebooks
3. Dinosaurs
4. Stickers and sticker book
5. Animals
6. Toy Story characters
7. Books

All the bags are in a shopping bag. Now I just have to remember to put the shopping bag in the car when we go somewhere! I'll let you know if the busy bags actually keep my children entertained for any length of time!

Busy Bags

Hey! I'm back!  I sort of forgot I had a blog for a bit.  I remembered yesterday that I had one and I needed to update it. 

This week I'm tidying up the kids' rooms.  I also just decided to make some busy bags.  If you don't know what a busy bag is, here is the general idea.  A busy bag is a small ziploc bag filled with self-contained activities.  I was on Pinterest looking for some ideas and it hit me.  Use toys, books, games, etc. that we already have to create busy bags.  I don't have to spend any money and I remove some of the stuff from the kids' rooms while I'm at it.  I'll post some pictures of how they turned out once I get them finished. 

Kitchen Organization

I moved the pots and pans to where the plastic storage used to be. Now there are no more pots and pans all over the kitchen floor.  I still need to install a towel bar on the inside of the door for the lids. 

I put all the kids plates and bowls here where they were easily accessible.  Now the kids can start emptying their own things from the dishwasher!

I pulled all the plastic containers out and matched lids and containers.  If it didn't have a lid it got thrown away.  If it was cracked or broken it got thrown away.  Hopefully this will bring a little order to the kitchen!