How to Start Rotating Toys

Recently a few things have happened that have had me interested in having a system where we rotate toys that are out and able to be played with.

1. Inara's stuff is EVERYWHERE. I find little rings on the carpet, pretend food in the kitchen, princess magazines all over the place.  I instituted a new rule: "If I step on a toy, it's mine".  I really don't mind toys being out, but it was driving me really crazy to step on stuff all day long because it was in the middle of the floor.  She has so many toys, she really didn't even miss the ones I took away.

2. We don't have a lot of space.  Since we don't have closets or a basement, everything just has to be out.  This mean when the all toys are "out" they just end up all over the house because there isn't a place to keep them.

4.  I've been so convicted lately about how much "stuff" we all have in the house.  I find my self thinking "it would be nice to have a toy room if we ever move".  Then I think about what a first world problem that is...not having enough room for toys

3. Did I mention her stuff is everywhere :)

I've been really interested in it for a while but haven't had the time to do it, or money to buy container.  Well this last weekend God was such a good Dad and provided both!  Inara stayed at my parents Saturday night, so I was able to organize the toys while Shepherd was sleeping and Inara wasn't home.  We recently had some stuff given to us for Inara. They gave them to us in old diaper boxes, which just happen to be my favorite kind of box! (For real, I love buying diapers because it means I get a new big box to store stuff in. I'm cool).  We also ordered something from Amazon and got a box from that too.

So I hoped on Pinterest to find some toy rotating tips.  I found this link pinned and it seemed the best to me.   The first thing I did was bring all the toys into the living room. This really just made me sad.  We had so many toys (and really just stuff in our house), are rich by many worldly standards, yet I find myself still wanting more at times.

This also doesn't picture 3 boxes on the floor behind me

So anyway, once I had all the toys out, I organized them into piles.  The Intelligent Nest, suggests piling like items together (all pretend items together, all movement items together, etc). I knew this wouldn't really work for us because most of Inara's toys are pretend toys.  So this is how I organized them (for those of you who really even care): games, stuffed animals, clip princesses, big princesses, Starwars toys, Toy Story toys, musical toys, Squinkies, cars/trucks, Play-doh/creative toys, puzzles, and a random toys pile.  In doing so, I found lots of toys to throw away and even more toys/books to donate. I had 2 boxes to donate or sell because does Inara REALLY need 3 doctor kits? :)

I just chucked toys over the couch into a pile

Most people suggested sorting into 4 piles (one for each week in the month), but I knew the boxes God provided were small, so I opted for 6 piles (so essentially a new box every week for 6 weeks). This what was in my boxes:

Box 1

Minnie's Pet Salon

2 Puzzles

Build-A-Bear doll with accessories

Cookie Monster Play-doh set
Magnetic Princess Book
Big Baby doll

Box 2

2 puzzles
Small soccer ball
Ariel Play-Doh
Princess Cake Squinkies

Dora truck with family

2 puzzles 

Yo Gabba Gabba friends

Box 3
2 puzzles
Small magnadoodle

Starwars Toys 

(including this awesome Leia toy that she LOVES)

Mega Blocks car
Aquadoodle
Princess Cupcake game
(She really loves this game)
4 giraffe stuffed animals

Box 4
3 small puzzles
Toy Story toys
Ariel and chariot

Play-Doh Shake Shop
Small dinosaurs
Stuffed animal dog and accessories
Lego Read and Build

Box 5
1 large puzzles
Large Magnadoodle
Doctor kit
Bowling game
Pink truck
small baby doll
Princess dolls and accessories

Box 6
2 puzzles
Pink convertible car
Candy Jar Play-Doh
Clip Princesses and Aurora's Castle
Sesame Street Memory Game

5 of the 6 piles

I also have some toys that are out all the time and do not get put away.  Her dollhouse and dollhouse family, kitchen and food, small box of random toys, and Squinkie Mansion with some of the squinkies.

I had planned to just keep all the books out, but once I saw all the books we had I decided to separate them into 6 piles too.  Each pile has a couple princess books, a few Sesame Street books, a Thomas the Train book, and then about 4 other books.  I put the books in separate boxes and plan to rotate the boxes every Sunday too.  Right now I have the books in separate boxes as the toys because my toy boxes aren't big enough for both.  But it would be nice to eventually only have 1 box per week with both toys/books.

It's only been a week and I think everything has been going pretty good. Our house and Inara's room are noticeably cleaner and she seems to have enough toys out to play with.  Also, I feel less stressed because even if all her toys for the week are out, our house doesn't look like a total disaster...just a small disaster. :) Justin did have some suggestions so we did change just a few toys that are to be left out the whole time.  I'm hoping this will also show us what toys she actually plays with. That way we can get rid of the toys she outgrown.

Have you guys ever done a toy rotation? Any tips?

30 Days of Thankfulness: Day 1

Last year I did this and I found it very helpful to me to MAKE the time to choose to be thankful. So here I am, back at it again.  And thanks to Pinterest I found this little gem to help Inara be thankful too! So each day I'll post what we both are thankful for. I am sure hers will be hilarious at times :)

                                                                                 Source: bargainbound.blogspot.com via Lauren on Pinterest

Here is our little tree. We put a couple leaves on it today, but my phone died and I don't feel like getting it right now :)  My plan was to have Inara think of ONE thing she was thankful for each day.  Well today she said she wanted to add TWO leaves to the tree. At first I tried to fight it because, duh, that was NOT what I planned. But then I came to my senses and thought, "If my 3 year old wants to be more thankful, I am crazy to stop her". So for today Inara said she was thankful for toys and family.

And today I am actually thankful for more than one thing too. I had my 28 week check up (more on that later) and everything is good. I am thankful to be pregnant and healthy right now. I am also thankful for my time at home with Inara. We are having a lot of fun just doing our day together. Today she "helped" me do laundry, dishes, take out the trash, make my bed, and clean up Shepherd's room.  It would take me half the time to do it my self, but I am really learning to how to slow down to do it WITH her and teach her too. Its been really wonderful and I am thankful for this time with her.

What are you thankful for?

Inara's room

So to make room for Baby Brother, we kind of need to turn our whole house around. Inara will be moving to a new big girl room and he will be getting her old room. Justin and I have had this old dresser for a long time. Apparently it was his Dad's when he was a little kid. Isn't that fun? Well I will be getting Inara's old dresser and I wanted to paint our old dresser a fun color for Inara's room.  So I found this sweet tutorial via...you guessed right...Pinterest. I figured I would give it a try and PRAY that I don't ruin this piece of furniture. 

Before picture. I forgot to take one before taking off most of the knobs, but you get the gist.

So I used 2 coats of the Zinsser Primer-Sealer. After one coat I got pretty nervous I had ruined everything, but coat number 2 made me feel much better. It dries SUPER quick, so by the time I was done painting everything I was ready for coat number 2

With 2 coats of sealer/primer

This next step was to apply the actual color that I wanted. This made me SOOOO nervous. I knew I wanted a fun color for her room, but I am a pretty boring person. So the thought of painting a dresser teal was both exciting and terrifying. But I did it and it looks wonderful! It is such a fun color in her room and once her room is all put together I know it will look even more amazing!

I think it looks great. Honestly the no sanding and primer thing worked out great for me...BUT if you have the time to do it the real way I would recomend that. It looks great and it will probably last a while, but I am sure it would last longer and the doors would slide in/out better if it were sanded down correctly. I can't wait to see her room all put together!

Collage Wall

So for over a year (no joke it has seriously been that long) I have been slowly planning a collage wall for in our dinning room. We have this ginormous empty wall and NOTHING on it for almost 6 years....oops!  So I slowly started pinning things I like to my "Collage Wall" pin board.  The problem is that frames, prints, fun stuff is expensive and there always seems to be something more important than buying something for our wall.  But once Baby Brother is here, I know I won't have time to really work on it. So I figured I would get started for real.

First I traced out the outlines of the frames and labeled them on newspaper. I got the idea from...yes...pinterest. Does anybody have original ideas these days :)  This was an amazing way to really get an idea for where you wanted things. I really don't think it would have looked as good without using this method.

Then I just hung the pics over the newspaper and holes..and voila.. Collage wall!I have a lot of space left over, but that just gives me room to add stuff. I already have some ideas like this and this.

 Here is the finished product up close. I am really happy with the way it turned out and so mad at myself for taking so long to do it!

Happy Mother's Day

Last weekend was Mother's Day and Inara and I made a fun craft for both her grandmas...and of course it was from pinterest...and of course it was not as cute as the original pinner. I mean...where do they find these people?!   But that is ok, we had fun doing it :)

Her feet print are suppose to be a butterfly and her hand a flower. But I think this probably works better with a baby than and wiggly 2 year old.  She helped me write her name too!  Have you guys done any fun crafts lately?

Happy Easter!

This Easter we had the most low key and relaxing Easter. It was really wonderful. We woke up and read the story of the resurrection from...yep...you guess it. Our Jesus Storybook Bible.  After we read the account we made a little resurrection craft.  I saw this from the ladies at When You Rise.  I first had Inara color a picture of Jesus when he wasn't on the cross.  After that I just cut a hold in the side of our kleenex box.  We crumpled up some newspaper for our "stone". We put out colored picture of Jesus in the tomb and then put the stone over it.

The stone over the tomb opening

We told Inara that after the put him in the tomb, all his friends would have gone home to get some sleep. So I sent her and Justin in the living room to pretend to sleep. When they were gone, I took Jesus out and set him aside. Inara came back the stone was "rolled away" and she looked for Jesus.  I asked her what was in the tomb. She first responded "Jesus is". But then when she looked...he wasn't there. She was actually surprised and started look around for him. It was fun to pull out her colored picture of Jesus and remind her that he is NOT in the tomb, because Jesus isn't dead...he is ALIVE!

Then after Inara's nap we made some resurrection rolls. I had never made these before, but they seemed pretty cool. I found some examples here, here, and here and combined recipes and also ways to tell the story.

Helping her dip the marshmallows 

She was more interested in being naked and just eating the marshmallows

All cooked and ready

The empty tomb!

We had a good time. It was a low key relaxing day. But it did seem to be lacking in celebratory things.  Next year I think we need to do a better job of making it fun AND learning about Easter. You live and learn right? 

Pinterest to real life...

My goal is to try one new idea a weekish.  I have been off my game since working outside of the home full time for the past 3 weeks *side note full time working moms, I am convinced, must be super human. I don't know how they do it?!* So today I was at home and quickly had Inara do an activity growing her fine motor skills. We have all seen this photo, but today I decided to take the five two minutes to actually do it..wow so easy and fun.

Source: no1hasmorefun.blogspot.com via Lauren on Pinterest

I snatched up some pipe cleaners, grabbed our colander, plopped her on the floor and let her go at it.  Sorry pics aren't as flawless. Bad lighting and a camera phone I guess...yeah :) I'll blame the equipment not the operator

31 Days to Clean: Day 3

So I am probably not going to be able to do this ebook 31 days consecutively, but I do plan on keeping up with it, and TRYING to do it daily. But honestly, sometimes I just don't have the time. I am ok with that, my goal in doing this book is not to have a pristine/museum house, but a peaceful home.

So today was an extension of Day 2.  She gives 10 specific ways to bring life into your home. And the Mary Challenge goes right along with that:  Ask your family what makes them feel the most loved when it comes to you caring for your home - ask them to be specific so that you can begin (or continue) to give life to your domain.

Since Justin is the only person in my home who can actually answer me, I asked him. He said there are 2 ways I can love him when it comes to our home: 1. Allow for weekend naps and 2: Plan meals/food in home. I asked him how I do on those fronts and he said I was doing well.  I am trying to try be more creative with dinner so we aren't eating spaghetti every night.

Martha Challenge: Kitchen- dust tops of refrigerator, cabinets, and shelves. Clean and shine the outsides of drawers and cabinets.

I didn't mind doing this Martha challenge, although I am sure I haven't cleaned the top of the fridge since we moved in. But now its clean and nice and organized. Wiping off cabinets wasn't bad.  I also was able to reorganize and clean off one of our shelves. I wish I had taken a before picture because it was all cluttered with cookbooks, recipes, candles, and I even found a light switch cover on the shelf.  But here is the finished product:

Um...yes I take gummy vitamins, don't judge

I saw this idea on pinterest a while ago and even bought a frame when some were on sale in December.  So I finally got it out, wrote "I love you because" on some journal paper, slapped it in my little frame, and VOILA! I'd like to put something in front of all our vitamins, but for now that shelf looks SO much better.

Day 3-done, and ready for tomorrow!

Pinterest to real life

So lately I have been thinking I need to stop pinning things and actually get to work on some of those things. So here is my latest project. I saw this pin and this one and with the help of picnik I created this:

Just do it!

Ok, so for my "Favorite Things Party" I talked about earlier, I tried out another pinterest idea. I know right?! 2 pinterest completions in one day :) I made this most yummy delicious dip! Chocolate Chip Dip - cue mouth watering

                                                                                        Source: tasteofhome.com via Lauren on Pinterest

So here is what it looked like once I combined the WHOLE stick of butter and cream cheese:

And since I am so health conscious (yeah right) I substituted neufchatel cheese instead. Actually after seeing that I actually ate something that the main ingredients were butter and cream cheese I feel I should submit this to "this is why you're fat" 

After I added the rest of the ingredients which included *cough *cough* powdered sugar, vanilla, and brown sugar this is what I got:

I was kind of nervous because it didn't seem to blending very well. After a few more minutes of really mixing it well and adding the chocolate chips, it was finished:

Um and it was sooo good! At first I was kind of bummed though because it didn't make that big of a batch, but it is super sweet and one batch really is plenty for a party. And while the pics look like there are barely any chips, I disagree. It called for a WHOLE bag of chocolate chips. I did about a half and that seemed plenty.  I plan on making it again soon! So what about you bloggers? What pinterest ideas have you completed, are working on, or want to do?

Favorite things party!

Friday I threw a "Favorite Things Party" with my friend Katie. She opened up her home to some women from our church and it was super great! I got the idea from Pinterest. (Here is my link, if you care) Ever heard of it? If so how much do you love, love, LOVE it! It was super helpful when we were renovating our bathroom.

Click below for the explanation of a "Favorite Things Party"

Source: angbrimwil.blogspot.com via Lauren on Pinterest

It was smaller than planned, but that made it super DUPER (yes I just said that) fun and intimate :)

Here are pics of people and what their favorite things are:

This is Jessica and her favorite thing is V-8 Splash (Berry Blend). This has been one of her favorite things for a long time. I remember going to her house when I was in nursing school/working night shift to nap and her having it then!

This is Katie (who graciously opened up her home for us). Her favorite thing is Chai Tea. Apparently it tastes like "fall in a cup". So I am waiting until it cools down a bit to try it out.

Kerry brought her favorite 2 things! Reese's cups and her favorite lip shine. Its not sticky, smells good, and she loves it!

Jessie handmade her favorite thing and everyone else loved it too. She likes to make handmade cards from scraps of fabric. She somehow found time to make these cards with 2 kids and newborn! All her cards were totally cute...so cute I am saving it for a really special occassion :)

Katie just recently found her favorite thing...Chobani Greek Yogurt. Her favorite flavor was Mango, but apparently its everyone's favorite flavor too because they were out when she bought them. So she brought us Pineapple and Strawberry-Banana. She loves it because its low-fat but high in protein so it makes a great snack!

Shelly's favorite thing was gummy bears! I love them too and glad to have some at home. I like to take smuggle them into the movies when we go!

I brought my all time favorite chap-stick. It's the blistex complete moisture. SOOO good! A friend from nursing school got me hooked. I seriously have one in every coat pocket in the winter...its the best!

So that was our super fun party. We plan to do another one in the winter when its cold and there is nothing to do. So what are some of your favorite things?

Don't do it

So I'm sure I am not the only one obsessed with Pinterest. So I decided to not just "pin" stuff but actually DO some of the stuff. I have been pinning items for my collage wall and am slowly accumulating items to hang. But recently I made some homemade dishwasher detergent.

Source: beingcreativetokeepmysanity.blogspot.com via Lauren on Pinterest

I followed the directions from the site which were very easy. Unfortunately the detergent isn't worth a lick! :( I was very sad about this too. I did the first load and was not very impressed. I decided to double what was added and still no luck.  This seems to be a very popular pin, so I am telling everyone...don't do it! But DO do (haha, I know I am a small child) something! Next on my list is trying to make some homemade laundry detergent. I'll let you know how that goes...hopefully a little better!