Gingerbread House

Grandma got a gingerbread house kit for the kids to do over Christmas break.  Of course we didn't get around to making it until sometime in January.  And of course, when I tried to glue the walls together to make it an actual house, well, it just wasn't happening.  So we gave each one of the kids a wall and a pile of candy and let them go at it.  Luckily, my kids are pretty go-with-the-flow kind of people and they didn't mind.  

 You can't really see it well, but Dad put their initials in icing on their walls.

 Jacob's had been decorated for about 45 seconds before he bit in.

Leah, of course, was in 7th heaven - a whole plate full of sugar!

Bloom Where You're Planted

When we moved into our new house, there were many things I was so excited about - the house, yard and neighborhood are a huge step up from our old house, just to name a few.  There are also lots of little upgrades that are exactly the things Brian and I had talked about putting into the old one.  But the one thing the new house doesn't have, and that broke my heart to leave at the old one, was my craft room.  It made me so sad, I couldn't even pack it up - I made Jennifer do it.  It wasn't that I ever had a lot of time to spend in my craft room, but there were days that just knowing it was there was somehow comforting.  And when I did have time to escape to it, it was quiet and cozy and made me feel creative (something I don't normally feel).  

Since the move, all of my sewing and scrapping supplies have sat in totes in the garage.  I didn't know what to do with them or how I would ever have time to be "crafty" (I hate that word).  I was going to have to go through totes and lug everything I needed into the house, only to have to put it away at the end of the day - Heaven knows if I left it out Petunia would make fast work of it.  

Over the last couple of weeks I have been checking out blogs mainly dedicated to interior decorating and organizing on a budget.  One of the things I have learned in my short time of surfing these sites is that some of the best ideas can come using things you already have, if you just look at them in a different way.  So tonight I parked the kids in front of Dora and Diego and headed out to the garage.

This cupboard is not nearly as tidily organized and labeled as my kids craft cupboard, but all of my scrap/sew stuff is out of the garage, out of the totes, and (somewhat) neatly organized in the top of my food storage cabinet, which had formerly been mostly a catch-all.  Finding time to work on any of it is another matter, but at least now I can see what's what, and get it out and put it away easily.

It's all just about getting a new perspective on things.  One of my favorite quotes is one my mother taught me, about making the best of things no matter where you are at in life:

Bloom Where You're Planted!  

I love this kid...

Austin Daley Barnhart

Is a true middle child

His best friends are his cousins

Can't sleep without his "sleeping hat" (see above)

Lists daily who he loves, which is almost everyone

Can't sit still playing Mario Bros (he jumps every time Mario does)

Loves broccoli

Could give out kisses a million times a day

Tries my patience to the core

Loves dinosaurs and Transformers

Can't wait for kindergarten

Loves to run "super-fast"

Is Grandma's "Champ"

Has the biggest heart of any 4 year old I know

Confessions of an Org-aholic

I have a problem.  

I am addicted to organizing things.

 I own my own label maker.

I could spend hours browsing Office Depot.

 People have come to my store to just to copy the organization systems in my office.  

  

But now I have turned my issues on my children...

This is what I did to their craft closet over New Years weekend.

I need help...

Priorities

I asked Jacob this evening if he missed his old school.  He told me he did, and he had five reasons why:

1.  He misses his old friends and is pretty sure it won't be long before he forgets all about them.
2.  He misses getting rewarded with Dependable Dolphins
3.  He says the school lunch is just not as good at the new school.
4.  The new school doesn't have ketchup (he swears)
5.  He says for some reason he toots a lot more at the new school.

At least the kids has priorities.