Tuesday, January 28, 2014

100 Day

This is a new thing, right?  The celebrating of the 100th day of school?  I have zero memories of this from growing up, but apparently it's a real. big. deal.

Evelyn has been counting down the days and was giddy with excitement this morning.

Daddy got to stay at school for a little while this morning to help her make a crown.  All the kids brought 100 pieces of a food to make trail mix.  So much excitement.


So it means she's made it through 100 days of school and is still loving it and progressing.  Hopefully she will be ready for Kindergarten by the end of the year because believe it or not, Annie starts school next year.  Because they are only 22 months apart in age, and their birthdays span the cut off date for starting school, they will only be one grade apart.  Annie is already counting down the days until she can go to "Evelyn's school", so we aren't too worried about her being ready.


Friday, January 10, 2014

164 of 2014

In about an hour I went from 38 items to 164.  I tackled two areas of the house that tend to gather unnecessary items: the hall closet and the bathroom cabinet.

The hall closet was the bulk of that number.  Expired medications, old products we don't use anymore, sunscreen from 4 years ago…you get the idea.  It adds up quick.

Here's the before of the closet:


All this mess was on the top shelf alone:


After much purging (almost a whole garbage bag full), here is what it looks like now:


Next up was the bathroom cabinet above the sink.  It really wasn't too awful, but needed organized a cleaned out a bit.  Now that the hall closet was clean and organized, I was able to move some odds and ends into their proper homes there too instead of just cluttering things up.


This picture makes me happy.  There's nothing like a clean, de-cluttered cabinet.  There's empty space!  Yippee!!


Thursday, January 2, 2014

2014 in 2014

I'm feeling the need to purge again.

If I had to calculate the amount of time I spend putting away toys that aren't actually being played with, digging through old papers to find the new ones I need, and sorting through cluttered closets that are overrun with junk and old clothes, I would most likely be appalled.  Not to mention, it's always amazing to me how quickly I can deep clean a room when I've completely removed the clutter from all the surfaces, shelves, and floors.

So here's the plan:

Two years ago Scott and I threw out 2012 things from our home, and we decided it's time to do it again.  I'm not sure I'll be able to come up with 2014 things that need to be gotten rid of, but it will be good to help me narrow things down to stuff we REALLY need and stuff I'm just hanging on to because I can.

It's also good for me to force myself to get rid of things to fight against some of my anxiety-driven emotions that scream, "but what if you find a use for that or need it later!!!"

I will keep a tally in the side bar of the blog here to keep myself accountable.

Today's items are simply the result of cleaning broken or stained toys out of the toy box and toy room.  Easy peasy, 38 items down just like that.


Wednesday, January 1, 2014

Abraham: 18 Months

Your cuteness does me in, sweet boy.  You're 1 and a half and showing every ounce of your toddler nature.  


Your very most favorite thing to do is make noise.  Instruments are the favored mode for this, but banging on things will suffice in a pinch.


Second only to making noise is getting into things.  No cupboard, table, drawer, or shelf is safe with you around.


You are walking and running everywhere these days and have no patience for crawling anymore.


Teething has been rough, you've gotten all 4 molars and 4 canines in the last 1-2 months.  This makes you fussy and clingy if not fully entertained.  Making dinner or getting much done has proven interesting for me.


You're sitting at around 22 pounds and are still swimming in 12-18 month clothes.  If the sleeves and pant legs were longer, you would still fit in your 6-12 month clothes just fine.


You love to imitate everything we do.  You will find a brush and try to brush your hair, or a Q-Tip and try to clean your ears.  You enjoy playing with the play kitchen and dolls, so you got your very own doll for Christmas that you call Buddy.


Eating is hit or miss with you.  You will eat adult sized portions of BBQ beef, but will hardly touch other things I try to get you to eat some days.  You are usually pretty consistent in your love of sweet potatoes, broccoli, and chips though.


You still adore bottles.  You take 3-4 a day still with no real end in sight.  You refuse to drink your formula from any other type of cup though, so we won't push the issue until you're 2 most likely.


You're becoming very talkative.  It's mostly babble unless you are imitating something someone has said.  You'll copy almost any word we try to get you to say!