Now that we had a contract on a new house and a new little one on the way, we knew we had to get our house in tiptop shape to get it on the market. We decided to go with the same realtor that we were using for the new house (who works with the builder) because we got a great feeling about her and we felt like she wanted our house to sell as much as we did, so we could keep our contract on the new house. She did an amazing job! She worked SO hard, and we had a showing almost every single day. The house was under contract in just about two weeks and went to closing with absolutely no issues. So if you're in the market for a realtor, Terri Kerr is your girl. Can't say enough great things abouth her...
And then we were homeless...well, not really. But I did wring my hands about this one little detail for quite a while. We had not expected our house to sell quite so soon, and while we were thrilled, we now had to find a place that would let us do a 5 month lease with a dog and not charge us an arm and a leg to do it. I checked apartment complexes, I searched for rental homes, I drove around town looking for "For Rent" signs with not much luck. I did the only thing I knew to do when I'm in over my head...I began praying. I asked for guidance and clarity and begged God not to use this moment to teach our family that we really could get by in just a one bedroom apartment for 5 months. And I then I found this random house on this random website...called the landlord and he really was okay with just a 5 month lease and a dog and didn't even want a pet deposit or anything!! I had seen some sketchy places and was almost convinced that this was too good to be true...but I'm pretty optimistic so we went by and checked the house out and it was actually okay! We decided it would definitely serve our purpose for the time we needed it.
The landlord worked hard for the next month getting the house ready for us (it had been vacant for a while...), and it was just such an answered prayer and another way that God provided for us when we were losing hope...we were this close to being in a tiny apartment with no storage and paying ridiculous amounts of money for deposits and a short term lease...and all of a sudden, we had this 3 bedroom house with a yard and a two car garage for storage, and we were saving well over $2000 over the course of 5 months.
And why is this story important? Well, we soon found out after we moved in that the house was, get this...going into foreclosure!! I was all, uh-uh, no way, this CANNOT be happening! But the landlord assured us it was okay, and that he was working out the details. Turns out, the landlord had fallen on some hard times, and we were as much a blessing to him as he was to us! It's always amazing to me when I take a step back to see how much God orders our steps and works things out according to His purposes and plan. This landlord, who will likely lose this house at some point, has gone out of his way to make sure we have had everything we need. He has taken care of every single problem and every issue we have had. What a blessing this house has been for us (even when we don't realize or appreciate it at times).
So now, here we are, just a few days from closing, and we could not be more excited or thrilled or anxious to get settled into what we hope will be our home for many, many years to come. We (and by we, I mean Matt) will be spending the next couple of weeks painting, hanging window treatments, closet organizers, and those kinds of things, and we will be officially moved in on October 8. Just in time to get that new nursery all set up! Which reminds me that I included almost nothing in all of this updating on the kids, so stay tuned for the next post...an update on the boys (and girl).
Monday, September 24, 2012
Sunday, September 23, 2012
Long overdue update...part 2
Matt loves houses, house hunting, pouring over house plans...he even likes to watch HGTV (but really mostly the boy shows on there). Anyone who knows Matt knows that he likes things to be neat and organized and matching. What people probably don't know is that he can spend a lot of time doing things like making paper furniture to scale to fit on a house plan or tape the outline of furniture on the floor to get a better idea of how to organize a room and make sure that everything is juuuuust right.
So since our "guest" bedroom would soon be occupied by a new little member of our family, I thought we might need to rethink our plans for furniture there. This was the perfect opportunity to sneak in some news that Matt wouldn't be expecting. I took our house plan and drew little furniture drawings in all the rooms upstairs (complete with a crib and changing table in the "guest room") so that I could, um..."get his thoughts on furniture placement" for the new house. Once I got everything just right, I watched the clock tick the minutes by until it was finally time for Matt to arrive home.
While the boys were outside playing, I casually greeted Matt..."Hi honey! Glad you're home! Hey, why don't you take a look at these plans? I drew the furniture in each room but I'm not sure about all the placements...thought you might have some thoughts..." and just like that he took the plans and began studying over them. Luckily, Matt is typically oblivious to any cues I might have been giving off that anything was out of the norm, and any excitement he might have sensed would have easily been attributed to excitement over the new house. He took what felt like forever, studying each room carefully...asking me questions about this bed and that dresser. He finally got to THE room and chuckled to himself, and said, "A crib...you're silly." To which I responded, "Well, we are going to need it!" And Matt responds, "Yeah, someday..." (See? Oblivious!). Then I said, "Umm...in about 9 months!" I so wish I had recorded the moment somehow. He just looked at me with this look of disbelief. I think he actually had to sit down. He did lots of big breaths and stared at the table with big eyes and said. "Wow." Something resembling a smile seemed to appear across his face as he was hit with all the thoughts and emotions that I had already felt earlier...He didn't think it was going to happen...And now with the new house....and of course, thinking of the impact financially (as dads tend to do...).
I was thrilled that I was able to surprise him and once the shock wore off, he was excited, too. Nervous, but excited. We decided to wait a while to tell the boys (and everyone else) for a few weeks until we heard the heartbeat and felt more confident sharing the news. Boy was that hard!
Three weeks later came Easter. I had just had an ultrasound and heard the heartbeat and we decided to surprise the boys with the news. We did a scavenger hunt for them and I hid different little baby items in Easter eggs...a pacifier, baby food, baby shampoo, etc...We sent them all over the house with clues and once they found all the eggs, they opened them and had to guess the big surprise. Jack was thrilled, as he has wanted a new baby for a while. Owen was a little more reserved, but he IS my baby now...so I wasn't surprised.
Knowing that this is the last time that we will get to share news like this, it was extra special and extra sweet. And so we settled into our new chaos of preparing for a baby and for a move...of course, there was one small detail. We still needed to sell our house that was now definitely feeling crowded with one more on the way...
So since our "guest" bedroom would soon be occupied by a new little member of our family, I thought we might need to rethink our plans for furniture there. This was the perfect opportunity to sneak in some news that Matt wouldn't be expecting. I took our house plan and drew little furniture drawings in all the rooms upstairs (complete with a crib and changing table in the "guest room") so that I could, um..."get his thoughts on furniture placement" for the new house. Once I got everything just right, I watched the clock tick the minutes by until it was finally time for Matt to arrive home.
 |
| The plan that I used to share the big news with Matt...see the baby furniture in Bedroom 4? |
I was thrilled that I was able to surprise him and once the shock wore off, he was excited, too. Nervous, but excited. We decided to wait a while to tell the boys (and everyone else) for a few weeks until we heard the heartbeat and felt more confident sharing the news. Boy was that hard!
Three weeks later came Easter. I had just had an ultrasound and heard the heartbeat and we decided to surprise the boys with the news. We did a scavenger hunt for them and I hid different little baby items in Easter eggs...a pacifier, baby food, baby shampoo, etc...We sent them all over the house with clues and once they found all the eggs, they opened them and had to guess the big surprise. Jack was thrilled, as he has wanted a new baby for a while. Owen was a little more reserved, but he IS my baby now...so I wasn't surprised.
Knowing that this is the last time that we will get to share news like this, it was extra special and extra sweet. And so we settled into our new chaos of preparing for a baby and for a move...of course, there was one small detail. We still needed to sell our house that was now definitely feeling crowded with one more on the way...
Friday, September 21, 2012
Long overdue update...Part 1
I haven't blogged in such a long time! Which is completely a reflection on how much busier we have all been these past few months. But since life is about to get even crazier, I want to try and write about it both to keep those updated who are interested in what's new with us, and to record the events of the coming weeks and months. So hopefully, I'll be a bit more regular about updating, even if it's just a quick check-in.
So, back in March, we got the crazy idea to put our house on the market, just to see what might happen. Interest rates were dropping, our house was getting a little crowded with two growing boys, and the driving (about 15 minutes from town) was getting exhausting with ever busier schedules and higher gas prices. After searching for a possibility for a new house, we found a lovely little neighborhood right in the middle of our community, close to parks, the library, the grocery store, and Target (YES!!), closer to Matt's work, and closer to the boys' schools. It was beautiful, and we found just the perfect house plan to fit our family. We prayed and discussed and shared with family and friends and prayed some more, and decided to just see what happens. So far, our experiences have shown us that God will make His plans clear for us if we just let Him be in control.
We decided to go ahead and put a contract on a home, contingent on the sale of our current one. We had nothing to lose at this point, and just trusted that God would direct our paths. Well, just as we were making final changes to our contract on the new home, I got the most unbelievable, amazing surprise and found out we were expecting our third child! Although we have prayed for and hoped for and tried for this child for quite a while, we were both content with the fact that what we wanted may not be in fact what God had in store for us. We already have two amazing little boys, and so we had just given this desire to God and trusted that if it was meant to happen, it would. And if not, we were still beyond blessed with the life we have been given.
In the moment that I found out, I was beyond overjoyed. I remember just shaking with excitement and hope and awe at God's timing. Which clearly is so much better than ours. I'll never forget the overwhelming emotions I felt in that moment. I had about five minutes to myself while the boys had a snack downstairs, and I am so thankful for those first few minutes that I had alone with this new little life inside me and the One who created her. I prayed and I cried and I smiled so hard I gave myself new wrinkles and I looked at the little positive test about a thousand times just to make sure. It was a special moment that I will always treasure and can't wait to share with this little one someday how much we wanted and prayed for and loved her even before we knew she would be ours.
I needed to share the news with Matt, but I wanted to do it in a surprising and fun way--something I had not gotten to do with our other two babies, since we had been together when we learned we were expecting them. I tossed around several ideas, even googled some, and couldn't come up with anything that hadn't already been done or that just seemed to fit us. I knew it had to be something I could do quickly and easily, since there's no way I could keep this news to myself for very long. And then the perfect idea came along...and I'll tell the whole story in Part 2.
So, back in March, we got the crazy idea to put our house on the market, just to see what might happen. Interest rates were dropping, our house was getting a little crowded with two growing boys, and the driving (about 15 minutes from town) was getting exhausting with ever busier schedules and higher gas prices. After searching for a possibility for a new house, we found a lovely little neighborhood right in the middle of our community, close to parks, the library, the grocery store, and Target (YES!!), closer to Matt's work, and closer to the boys' schools. It was beautiful, and we found just the perfect house plan to fit our family. We prayed and discussed and shared with family and friends and prayed some more, and decided to just see what happens. So far, our experiences have shown us that God will make His plans clear for us if we just let Him be in control.
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| Our sweet little house that we loved. We went from a newlywed couple to a family of four in this house. Our boys smiled their first smiles here, said their first words, took their first steps...so many, many memories of our family were made here and it will always hold a very special place in our hearts. |
We decided to go ahead and put a contract on a home, contingent on the sale of our current one. We had nothing to lose at this point, and just trusted that God would direct our paths. Well, just as we were making final changes to our contract on the new home, I got the most unbelievable, amazing surprise and found out we were expecting our third child! Although we have prayed for and hoped for and tried for this child for quite a while, we were both content with the fact that what we wanted may not be in fact what God had in store for us. We already have two amazing little boys, and so we had just given this desire to God and trusted that if it was meant to happen, it would. And if not, we were still beyond blessed with the life we have been given.
In the moment that I found out, I was beyond overjoyed. I remember just shaking with excitement and hope and awe at God's timing. Which clearly is so much better than ours. I'll never forget the overwhelming emotions I felt in that moment. I had about five minutes to myself while the boys had a snack downstairs, and I am so thankful for those first few minutes that I had alone with this new little life inside me and the One who created her. I prayed and I cried and I smiled so hard I gave myself new wrinkles and I looked at the little positive test about a thousand times just to make sure. It was a special moment that I will always treasure and can't wait to share with this little one someday how much we wanted and prayed for and loved her even before we knew she would be ours.
I needed to share the news with Matt, but I wanted to do it in a surprising and fun way--something I had not gotten to do with our other two babies, since we had been together when we learned we were expecting them. I tossed around several ideas, even googled some, and couldn't come up with anything that hadn't already been done or that just seemed to fit us. I knew it had to be something I could do quickly and easily, since there's no way I could keep this news to myself for very long. And then the perfect idea came along...and I'll tell the whole story in Part 2.
Friday, July 20, 2012
You want to wear what??
I have been a parent just long enough to know I don't always know what to do in every situation. I thought I would know, but the problem is kids don't always behave the way you want or expect them to...a lesson that didn't take me long to learn. I've learned a lot of lessons so far in my 5 years of parenting, but this particular problem is not one I was expecting at this stage, nor is it one that I really feel like I've got under control at this point.
Owen has lots of opinions. And he can be pretty persistent. He wants to have a say in just about every choice that is made regarding him. And I am totally fine with that. In most every situation we have worked out some sort of system that works for all of us. We don't get a lot of tantrums from Owen, and the ones we do get are very short lived. Except in one area.
The clothes. Here's the situation. Owen has about 3 shirts and 2 pairs of shorts he wants to wear. There's no real rhyme or reason to what he likes and doesn't like--it's not a certain color or texture or type of clothing (because I could totally work with those kinds of issues!). And here's my one non-negotiable. I am not willing to hand over complete control to Owen over what he wears. I realize that some parents don't agree, but we all have our things. And I may look back on this choice in 10 or 15 years and realize it was naive and silly of me to stand so firmly on this one issue. But that's where I'm at today.
I am more than happy to offer plenty of choices, to let Owen have input on what he wears. But letting him walk out in a striped green golf shirt and some orange and brown plaid shorts just ain't happenin'.
So here's a quick rundown on what I've tried.
--Offering 2-3 complete outfits and letting him choose one.
--Offering a combination of shirts and pants that all go together and letting him choose a shirt and pants.
--Offering to let him choose the shirt and letting me pick the shorts.
--Picking out an outfit he likes the night before.
--Not giving him a choice at all.
--Forcing the clothes on him. (that one is particularly fun).
--Putting him in his room until he gets himself dressed.
Nothing is working.
This morning, Owen had a new Star Wars shirt that I thought would make today a breeze. I picked out some red shorts to match. Boy was that a mistake! Owen doesn't immediately throw a fit. He is just adamant that he is not going to wear red shorts. I calmly explain that those are the shorts that match the shirt he wants to wear. "But Jack is wearing gray shorts!" Owen replies. "Owen, you don't have any gray shorts clean." "I'm NOT wearing red shorts!" So I went and picked out a different outfit for him, and he now had two options. In an effort to not engage him in arguing, I told him he could choose which outfit he wanted and he could come out of his room when he was dressed. After going in circles, and many, many, MANY tears, I was at my wits end. At this point, he was just crying for his mama, and I'm a total sucker for Owen. So I went in (over an hour after the entire thing had started) and tried to figure out the problem. It boiled down to the red shorts. So I opened his drawer, found a pair of khaki shorts (I would have started here but I thought Owen wanted to wear "comfy" shorts!). Owen immediately stripped down and was dressed and off to play 30 seconds later with not another thought about it.
Those hour-long battles are NEVER worth it to me, and I always think that if I could have seen it coming, I would have never started it to begin with.
This is a battle for us every single day, unless Owen gets to wear one of the 2 or 3 outfits he likes. What can I do differently? Do I push the issue even further? Do I leave him in his room to get dressed even if it takes hours? Do I give him choices or not? This issue has progressively gotten worse as he has gotten older, and I do not think it is going away any time soon.
This fall when school starts back, we won't have the luxury of waiting until he decides to get ready. I've even contemplated sending him to school in his pj's when he refuses to get dressed, and just sending his clothes with him...gosh, that idea doesn't sound nearly as good right now as it does in the morning when he won't get dressed.
I realize there's probably no right answer...I continue to struggle with the second-guessing I often have in decisions I make as a parent. What advice or suggestions do you have? Doesn't an issue like this become an even bigger one when kids get older and want to have even more say in what they wear?
I'm sure one day, I will look back on this and laugh at how silly the problem was. But for today, this is the issue. I hope it's a phase that will quickly pass...
Owen has lots of opinions. And he can be pretty persistent. He wants to have a say in just about every choice that is made regarding him. And I am totally fine with that. In most every situation we have worked out some sort of system that works for all of us. We don't get a lot of tantrums from Owen, and the ones we do get are very short lived. Except in one area.
The clothes. Here's the situation. Owen has about 3 shirts and 2 pairs of shorts he wants to wear. There's no real rhyme or reason to what he likes and doesn't like--it's not a certain color or texture or type of clothing (because I could totally work with those kinds of issues!). And here's my one non-negotiable. I am not willing to hand over complete control to Owen over what he wears. I realize that some parents don't agree, but we all have our things. And I may look back on this choice in 10 or 15 years and realize it was naive and silly of me to stand so firmly on this one issue. But that's where I'm at today.
I am more than happy to offer plenty of choices, to let Owen have input on what he wears. But letting him walk out in a striped green golf shirt and some orange and brown plaid shorts just ain't happenin'.
So here's a quick rundown on what I've tried.
--Offering 2-3 complete outfits and letting him choose one.
--Offering a combination of shirts and pants that all go together and letting him choose a shirt and pants.
--Offering to let him choose the shirt and letting me pick the shorts.
--Picking out an outfit he likes the night before.
--Not giving him a choice at all.
--Forcing the clothes on him. (that one is particularly fun).
--Putting him in his room until he gets himself dressed.
Nothing is working.
This morning, Owen had a new Star Wars shirt that I thought would make today a breeze. I picked out some red shorts to match. Boy was that a mistake! Owen doesn't immediately throw a fit. He is just adamant that he is not going to wear red shorts. I calmly explain that those are the shorts that match the shirt he wants to wear. "But Jack is wearing gray shorts!" Owen replies. "Owen, you don't have any gray shorts clean." "I'm NOT wearing red shorts!" So I went and picked out a different outfit for him, and he now had two options. In an effort to not engage him in arguing, I told him he could choose which outfit he wanted and he could come out of his room when he was dressed. After going in circles, and many, many, MANY tears, I was at my wits end. At this point, he was just crying for his mama, and I'm a total sucker for Owen. So I went in (over an hour after the entire thing had started) and tried to figure out the problem. It boiled down to the red shorts. So I opened his drawer, found a pair of khaki shorts (I would have started here but I thought Owen wanted to wear "comfy" shorts!). Owen immediately stripped down and was dressed and off to play 30 seconds later with not another thought about it.
Those hour-long battles are NEVER worth it to me, and I always think that if I could have seen it coming, I would have never started it to begin with.
This is a battle for us every single day, unless Owen gets to wear one of the 2 or 3 outfits he likes. What can I do differently? Do I push the issue even further? Do I leave him in his room to get dressed even if it takes hours? Do I give him choices or not? This issue has progressively gotten worse as he has gotten older, and I do not think it is going away any time soon.
This fall when school starts back, we won't have the luxury of waiting until he decides to get ready. I've even contemplated sending him to school in his pj's when he refuses to get dressed, and just sending his clothes with him...gosh, that idea doesn't sound nearly as good right now as it does in the morning when he won't get dressed.
I realize there's probably no right answer...I continue to struggle with the second-guessing I often have in decisions I make as a parent. What advice or suggestions do you have? Doesn't an issue like this become an even bigger one when kids get older and want to have even more say in what they wear?
I'm sure one day, I will look back on this and laugh at how silly the problem was. But for today, this is the issue. I hope it's a phase that will quickly pass...
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Have I mentioned how much I love birthdays??
After a very long blog hiatus, today was such a special and fun day that I had to spend some time writing so I would remember just how fun this day was! If you didn't know already, today is my birthday! I was a little sad this morning because I didn't really have any plans, and it was supposed to rain today. It never rains on my birthday. Never. In fact, it's a running joke with Matt. He thinks it's hilarious and says that I'm so proud of my birthday. But it's true! It never, ever rains on my birthday. Until this year. The forecast said 60% chance and I woke up to a gray, cloudy sky. I decided it was a great day for the movies, called my friend Amy and made plans for a movie and lunch (thanks for lunch, Amy!), and we had a blast!
As we were leaving Chick-fil-a, I noticed a miracle had in fact happened, and the sun had come out! I'm telling you it never, ever rains on my birthday! We quickly made a change of plans, ran home to gather our swim things, and headed to the pool for the afternoon--probably my most favorite birthday/summertime activity. We jumped out in time to get ready for dinner, but then the most special thing of the day happened.
I got to open my presents. And I like birthday presents as much as anyone, but honestly, I usually don't even think about them when it comes time for my birthday. I usually just love spending the day with people I love. But today. Well, today, the present was the highlight of today...and here's why.
A few months ago, I came across a Bible verse that just really spoke to me--a friend had posted it on her blog, I think, but as I read it, I was so moved by it. You see, I had been thinking about having a family verse for a while--a verse that just sort of summed up for our family what our goal or purpose is, and this one...well this verse was IT. I casually shared it with Matt one evening--just shared the idea I had and why I thought it was a great verse. I didn't really think about it any more, and we never talked about it. Fast forward to today, and this is what I opened...
Isn't it so very beautiful?? Matt asked our very amazingly talented friend Kate Moore to paint this for me. It is SO, SO incredibly special to me on so many levels. That Matt would remember, that he would value this verse as much as I did, and that he would reach out to find someone who could do such a beautiful job painting it exactly as I had imagined it in my head. We have the perfect spot for it in the entryway of our new home, and I just cannot wait to put it there.
In our rental, there's a radio installed in the kitchen, and I've been surprised how much I have enjoyed listening to it throughout the day. So Matt also got me a docking station that we can set up in the kitchen of our new home. Very thoughtful gifts from a very thoughtful husband whom I love very much.
We went to a fun dinner with Aunt Anne and Emma and had more cake after dinner...
The day was filled with phone calls and texts and emails and facebook messages (one of my very favorite parts of facebook!! is the birthday reminder!!)...Such a special day where I felt very loved and celebrated and joyful, which is why I love birthdays so much! So thanks to all of you sweet friends and family for making my day so incredibly special and fun today!
(And I'm hoping it won't be over 4 months til the next post...)
As we were leaving Chick-fil-a, I noticed a miracle had in fact happened, and the sun had come out! I'm telling you it never, ever rains on my birthday! We quickly made a change of plans, ran home to gather our swim things, and headed to the pool for the afternoon--probably my most favorite birthday/summertime activity. We jumped out in time to get ready for dinner, but then the most special thing of the day happened.
I got to open my presents. And I like birthday presents as much as anyone, but honestly, I usually don't even think about them when it comes time for my birthday. I usually just love spending the day with people I love. But today. Well, today, the present was the highlight of today...and here's why.
A few months ago, I came across a Bible verse that just really spoke to me--a friend had posted it on her blog, I think, but as I read it, I was so moved by it. You see, I had been thinking about having a family verse for a while--a verse that just sort of summed up for our family what our goal or purpose is, and this one...well this verse was IT. I casually shared it with Matt one evening--just shared the idea I had and why I thought it was a great verse. I didn't really think about it any more, and we never talked about it. Fast forward to today, and this is what I opened...
Isn't it so very beautiful?? Matt asked our very amazingly talented friend Kate Moore to paint this for me. It is SO, SO incredibly special to me on so many levels. That Matt would remember, that he would value this verse as much as I did, and that he would reach out to find someone who could do such a beautiful job painting it exactly as I had imagined it in my head. We have the perfect spot for it in the entryway of our new home, and I just cannot wait to put it there.
In our rental, there's a radio installed in the kitchen, and I've been surprised how much I have enjoyed listening to it throughout the day. So Matt also got me a docking station that we can set up in the kitchen of our new home. Very thoughtful gifts from a very thoughtful husband whom I love very much.
We went to a fun dinner with Aunt Anne and Emma and had more cake after dinner...
The day was filled with phone calls and texts and emails and facebook messages (one of my very favorite parts of facebook!! is the birthday reminder!!)...Such a special day where I felt very loved and celebrated and joyful, which is why I love birthdays so much! So thanks to all of you sweet friends and family for making my day so incredibly special and fun today!
(And I'm hoping it won't be over 4 months til the next post...)
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Busy Busy Busy
I keep looking longingly at my blog, wishing for the time to sit down and update all that the last month has brought us...but life is SO busy! We've had 2 birthdays around here, and we are now the proud parents of a 3 year old and 5 year old (Why must they grow up so FAST??). I'm in the midst of planning birthday parties, baby and wedding showers, and planning for our town's annual consignment sale. We are in the process of a HUGE organization overhaul in this house. All of which I would love to blog about! But there's just not enough hours in the day...so I'll keep taking pictures and notes and one day soon, I will be back to update this space with all of our biggest highlights.
Thursday, January 12, 2012
I need your ideas!
*Disclaimer: I am going to let you in on some of my embarrassing disorganization in the hope that some of you amazing moms/homemakers out there can help me bring order to our chaos. Please don't judge me. And if you do judge me, that's okay. Just tell me how to fix it.
Just a few days ago, we celebrated our 7th anniversary of moving in our house. When we moved in back in 2005, it was just the two of us. We had sold our first house 3 months before, and we had been living in a tiny one-bedroom apartment waiting for this house to be finished. Like we ate in our laps cause there was no room for a table kind of tiny. So when we moved in, this house felt like a mansion! I would just go from room to room, marveling at all the options I had! I mean, we had not just one, but two tables to eat on! Three different bathrooms! Four different bedrooms! The house was brand new and we had chosen everything that was in it. We were so very thankful for this house!! It was perfect in every way.
Fast forward seven years and two kids later, and we are literally outgrowing this house. We have contemplated moving (and we may still consider it), but at this point and in this market, we think we are staying here for a while longer...
So that brings me to my question. We need some serious organization solutions! I like to think that I'm a good organizer. But I have to be honest with myself when I look around and see the disorganization around me that I may not be quite as good at it as I once thought.
Here are some pictures of some areas that we constantly struggle with...I'm welcoming any and all ideas, suggestions, or advice that you might have to deal with these problem areas in our house.
2. The star wars toys. This is a fairly new obsession in our house, so most of these toys are new and they play with them all day...it may seem absolutely absurd to the average person to have more than one or maybe two lightsabers at most, but when you're four and have declared that you are Darth Vader, then Luke Skywalker's lightsaber is completely unacceptable in a battle. Or at least that's what I've been told. I still probably fall more into that average person category and think that more than 2 lightsabers is a little excessive. Anyway...I have no idea how to store these toys so that they don't look like a jumbled mess. Which makes my head a jumbled mess. Please tell me you have a solution to this problem!
3. The hot wheels. Do any of you have these? If so, do you take the track apart every time you put them away? Seems like a waste to do that, but I have no idea how to store these...but this bin is not working.
4. The bath toys. Where do you store them? Do we have too many? I honestly don't even know what's a normal amount to have.
5. The laundry. Our laundry room is itty-bitty and stuck right in the middle of the short walkway between the kitchen and dining room. That walkway is constantly covered in laundry baskets. Dirty laundry waiting to be washed. Clean laundry waiting to be folded and put away...I don't remember this being such an issue before kids, but it may be that we just had more time to do laundry back then.
What tips or tricks do you have to organize toys and make your space neat, tidy, and comfortable? How do you manage the messes in your house? (If you don't have messes, just keep that little piece of information to yourself, okay?) Do laundry baskets take over your house too?
Hit me with your best advice, ideas, or suggestions. I'm ready to tackle the mess.
Just a few days ago, we celebrated our 7th anniversary of moving in our house. When we moved in back in 2005, it was just the two of us. We had sold our first house 3 months before, and we had been living in a tiny one-bedroom apartment waiting for this house to be finished. Like we ate in our laps cause there was no room for a table kind of tiny. So when we moved in, this house felt like a mansion! I would just go from room to room, marveling at all the options I had! I mean, we had not just one, but two tables to eat on! Three different bathrooms! Four different bedrooms! The house was brand new and we had chosen everything that was in it. We were so very thankful for this house!! It was perfect in every way.
Fast forward seven years and two kids later, and we are literally outgrowing this house. We have contemplated moving (and we may still consider it), but at this point and in this market, we think we are staying here for a while longer...
So that brings me to my question. We need some serious organization solutions! I like to think that I'm a good organizer. But I have to be honest with myself when I look around and see the disorganization around me that I may not be quite as good at it as I once thought.
Here are some pictures of some areas that we constantly struggle with...I'm welcoming any and all ideas, suggestions, or advice that you might have to deal with these problem areas in our house.
1. The dress-up clothes. I have no idea how to organize these so that they will be accessible to the kids without pulling everything out looking for the one belt or glove or mask that they need to complete their ensemble. So it usually ends up looking like this, after about 15 minutes of dress-up time...
Bless his heart, Jack was looking for his Green Lantern power ring. The ring is the most critical part of the costume, since that is the source of his superpowers. Jack says without the ring, he's just a kid dressed up like the Green Lantern. Poor kid never found it...no surprise with all that mess.
There are several more areas of disorganization that I could address, but those are the biggest ones. Plus, I'm already embarrassed enough to admit that I have no idea how to solve these problems.
- A few things--we have almost zero storage. Didn't seem like a problem in 2005. Now it's a tad more challenging.
- We have purged and purged. We probably still have too many toys, but our kids do play with the ones specifically mentioned on a daily basis.
- We do have a small playroom, but it is upstairs and our kids almost never want to be in there. Is that normal? I mean, shouldn't kids like their playroom???
Hit me with your best advice, ideas, or suggestions. I'm ready to tackle the mess.
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