Big News!

I have been absent from this little blog I adore for quite some time. If you are reading this, thanks for stopping by. I hope to back to posting more frequently and getting back in to the blogging world. 

We have had some excitement in the past few months in our family. We recently moved into our new home. We have been looking for over a year and this was the home we kept coming back to over and over again. This is our forever home. Where we can picture of kids growing up, parties in the backyard, many holidays and lots and lots of love. We are excited to be here!  

I will be sharing tips I learned through the moving process. And fun, new organizational ideas because I have more space to organize in the new place! Yay! I also plan to share my adventure of decorating this house and making it our home. The twins are in their own rooms for the first time and want girl and boy specific rooms. Plus this house has a pool. It is something I am still adjusting to, but I think we will enjoy it once we feel we have all safety precautions in place. So there will be pool party posts for sure! 

And last but definitely not least . . .  We are THINKING PINK! We are expecting a little girl late this summer and are thrilled to add a new bundle of love to our family. I can't wait to share the excitement of planning the nursery and preparing for another little one as we get closer to the big day. 

Happy Blogging! 

Quick Tips - The Perfect Smoothie

Our kids are on a huge smoothie kick. And I love it. They get a ton of fruits and Greek yogurt. I am going to start adding kale and spinach too. Great start to the day! With as many smoothies as we have been making I was started to get frustrated with the frozen berries and fruit were not being blended. I talked with our nanny Bobbie and she told me how to fix it . . .

Put the liquids in the blender first! This seems so obvious but I always did it the opposite way. Now I add the juice and then the yogurt.

Then I add the frozen fruit and bananas or other fresh fruit.

Blend away! Tada! Smooth, delicious drink.

Happy Blending!

Quick Tips - Easy Pizza Cutting for Kids

Pizza! Yum! We have started a tradition of having pizza and Cesar salad at home on Friday evenings. The kids love it and so do we. Anyone with kids knows it is a pain to saw away at the pizza trying to get it in small enough pieces for the little mouths we feed. My friend Vanessa shared this tip with me and it changed my life (well, it changed my pizza cutting life! :)).

 Secret tool . . . KITCHEN SHEARS!

Step 1 - Cut off the tip of the pizza.

Step 2 - Turn the slice and make three or four small cuts about 3/4 inch long.

 Step 3 - Rotate the slice again and cut at the base of the three small cuts you just made. The bite sized pieces will fall on the plate.

Step 4 - Repeat until you have cut the entire piece. 30 seconds tops. Faster and easier than even a pizza cutter!

Happy (cutting) Eating!!

Organizing Kids Clothes

We have twin two years olds. A boy and a girl. With these being our first children, one thing I didn't think much about as I was pregnant (and I thought about everything, over and over again) was how much they grow out of clothes. Each season we are buying so many new clothes because there is no way they can fit into what they wore the last time we saw the sun around here. It sounds like an obvious cycle (all kids grow) but it surprised me. By age two, I am starting to get used to it. One thing I realized right away was I didn't want those outgrown clothes cluttering the closet after they were past their prime.

See below for my tips and tricks on organizing kids clothes.

1. Everything needs to have a place. This is key in all forms of organizing. Designate bins, drawers or shelves for socks, onesies, pajamas, swim suits, hats and gloves, pants, etc.

The changing table has bins underneath that provide great extra storage. Bins hold socks for baby girl and baby boy, onesies, gloves and hats, swimwear and diapers.

2. For hanging clothes add extra rods in the closet for more storage space. We did this before the kids were born when I realized how short their clothes were. We were able to add an extra shelf and rod in their closet. Their clothes won't be adult length for a long time so take advantage of the space while you can.

3. Group like items together when hanging. For example in our kid's closet I have the following order for my little guy's stuff with each section from light to dark:

• Long sleeve button up shirts
• Long sleeve polo shirts
• Short sleeve polo shirts
• Long sleeve tee shirts
• Short sleeve tee shirts

It makes it easy to find exactly what you are looking for and it makes so simple to put away laundry. Color coding obviously isn't necessary but I highly recommend grouping together like items.

4. If you have the room to do it, group sweaters, fleeces, jackets and hooded sweatshirts away from the shirts. They are bulky and get in the way of the shirts you are reaching for every day.

5. Put all shoes in a bin. While they are small enough, take advantage of this awesome space saving tip. I have one bin for his shoes and one for hers. They fit perfectly on the shelf in the closet.

6. Make a bin specifically for clothes they haven't grown into. A lot of people gift clothes in a few sizes too big or you see a deal you can't pass up on for pajamas for next season and buy them. Store them in the grow into bin. It keeps things together so you don't forget about these items by tucking them away somewhere and forgetting about it. Plus you don't need to clog the closet with clothes they don't fit into yet. I have a grow into bin for her, him and one for shoes. We have a special friend who works at Converse and has generously given the little ones lots of cool kicks. We can't wait to grow into all of them!

7. Do a once a month (or whatever length of time works for you) review of the closet. The more regularly you do it, the quicker it goes. It usually takes me less than 5 minutes each time.

• Move the items that don't fit any longer to either the give away bin, the store for possible baby down the road bin or the keepsake bin if you have one.
• Check the grow into bin and see if there is anything they have grown into you can add to the closet.
• Do a quick review to see if anything needs to put away, refolded or resorted.

Hope these tricks and tips help a little bit in the chaos that can be your child's closet.

Happy Organizing!

Easy, Fun Valentine Ideas with Toddlers

One of the things I enjoy most about the holidays is sharing them with my kids. I am enjoying celebrating the holidays so much more experiencing it through my little ones eyes. It brings a whole new level of excitement to the experience. Below are some of the Valentine activities we have done in the last few weeks in preparation for the big love day. Many of the ideas are so easy, they just take a few minutes but all of them have been enjoyed. Happy Heart Day!

1. Painting cut out paper hearts in Valentine's colors. Washable paints are always fun!

2. This idea came from Pinterest. We traced their little hands, had them color the cutouts and then make the "This Much" accordion. They made these two weeks ago and are still running around with them.

3. Decorating their Valentine Mailboxes. Mine are still too young to create their own mailboxes so I purchased foam ones at Michael's. I also saw them at Target. We used glitter pens and lots of stickers.

 4. Decorating Valentine Cookies. Sugar cookies, frosting and sprinkles. Always a hit!

 5. Making your own Valentine's. This is always a special activity and the receivers appreciate the gesture so much! My twins are just 2 so they colored (scribbled) all over the cards and then I added the hearts they painted earlier in the week to the front and wrote a message to each of their friends in the inside. We also added stickers.

 6. Snow globes. Another idea from Pinterest (best site ever!). They loved this project. You can add any small items you have to the jar. We did small plastic jewels, marbles, lots of glitter and Valentine themed figurines they picked out at Target. We used applesauce jars and super glued the lids closed.

 7. Heart shaped food. We have done melon, cantaloupe, sandwiches, quesadillas, cheese, cookies and apple slices. You can do anything. Just punch it out with a cookie cutter. They think it is so fun eating shaped foods!

8. Decorating foam hearts. I found the hearts at Michael's. You could do paper hearts too. They decorated them with stickers and we hung them above their craft table for festive decor.

9. Hand print hearts. I love these. So simple and sweet. We did these on plain paper and I mounted them on card stock and we sent them to their grandparents. Such a sweet keepsake showing how little their hands once were.

10. Cupid Kisses. We made these at Christmas with Rolos and they were delicious. This was another version with Hershey's chocolate hearts. The little ones helped me unwrap the chocolate and place the hearts on the cookie sheet. They sampled a few along the way! Oven at 275 degrees for three minutes on the top rack. Remove and push the M&M's into the chocolate. Put in the fridge to chill. Enjoy!

11. Last but not least - take them to mail their Valentine's at an official US Mailbox. My twins thought this was SO fun.

Happy Celebrating!

Balloon Birthday Surprise!

Our twins birthday is December 23. I think this is possibly the busiest day of the year. There is always the hustle to get all last minute things done before the holiday actually begins on this day. Plus it isn't ideal to have your birthday so close to Christmas, especially when you are a kid. But it is what it is and so we are making the best of it!

I wanted to do something special for their day and really make their birthday stand out. Our entire house is decked out in Christmas decor so we needed to go big. I found a fabulous party decor website on Pinterest - Polka Dot Market and ordered balloons, frilly streamers, paper lanterns and custom cupcake toppers. They were so prompt and their products were awesome. I will definitely be using them again. Check them out if you need party supplies.

We rented a helium tank from our local party supply company and after the little people went to bed we went wild decorating. It turned out so great and they thought it was amazing the next morning. I am so glad we put in the extra effort to make their 2nd birthday extra special. I had as much fun with it as they did, we will probably do this or something similar each year!

Here are links to a few ideas that inspired me -  Waking up to balloons in your room and covering the bedroom floor with balloons. My only issue with this was I didn't want to go in their actual room for fear I would wake them. I wanted them to sleep! That was why we decorated OUTSIDE of their room. See below for pics of the finished product.

Some of the goodies from Polka Dot Market. Polka dots make everything more fun!

Balloons, balloons, balloons.

We attached balloons to their toothbrushes. They loved this.

We put bunches of balloons any where we could.

We decorated Twin Town with streamers and lanterns and of course more balloons.

They had party hats waiting for them on their high chairs with streamers and more balloons.

A little bit of Christmas and a lot of birthday! It was a success!

Happy Celebrating!

Organizing Kids Art Supplies

Our kids love doing art projects and crafts and we have started quite a collection of art supplies.  I constantly find myself pulling a set of crayons out of the box, moving them to a container it is easy for the kids to use and when they are done, moving the crayons back to their original box. Not a very practical system. I needed a way to organize everything so it was easy to use and also in a contained, organized location. A way we could just grab and go. I wanted to eliminate the shuffling back and forth. Our nanny suggested Ikea and some of their storage solutions. Off we went!

This is what I started with - all shapes and sizes of crayons, markers, window crayons and markers, dry erase crayons and markers, colored pencils, finger paints and watercolors.

At Ikea I purchased these drawer storage organizers. 6 drawer organizers.

 Here are the drawer organizers opened.

I also purchased these mini storage bins with snap tops. I bought two packs. 

I put like items in the small boxes - regular crayons, large and jumbo crayons, dry erase crayons and window markers.

 Larger items like the paint tubes and bottles and animal crayons went in the bins on their own along with markers and colored pencils. All of the drawer organizers fit in one clear bin I also purchased at Ikea. The large clear bin fits easily under the bed.

Now we can pull out one container at a time and we are ready to craft. My kids aren't old enough to have open access to their art supplies. When they are older we will have to come up with a solution where they can easily get to the supplies on their own. But for the next few years, this should work out just fine!

Happy Organizing!

Organizing Kids Toys

If you have children, you understand the never ending process of trying to organize and store their toys. I am always in search of new ways to keep the toys together and keep my house looking somewhat tidy. I decided to do a complete redo of our toy storage the day after Christmas. Our little ones received lots of wonderful new toys for their birthday and Christmas and we needed a place to put them.

Operation Twin Town & Twin Gym was under way! A little history - we renamed our family room Twin Town shortly after they arrived and we realized our home would never be the same with the amount of stuff these little people required. A year later they claimed another room and that was named Twin Gym because of the foam mats, ball pit and slide. With two rooms to organize it was double the work but double the satisfaction when it was complete! 

My Top Three Tips for Organizing Kids Toys:

1. Keep toys easily accessible for the little ones. This way they can get the most out of their toys. Store toys in bins that are low and easy to reach. Same goes for books so they can reach them and read as much as they want.

2. Keep like items together. This gives the little ones a sense of order. They know when they pull out the doll bin, it will have all dolls and doll accessories. Or the train bin has all of the trains and train tracks. Plus it makes clean up a breeze!

3. Go through toys frequently and move out toys they no longer play with. It will be help keep things de cluttered and easier to play with because they won't have to weed through the items they no longer are interested in.

Twin Town Storage - You can purchase the storage container on the left at Target and Fred Meyer/Kroger. And you can usually find sales on the colored bins. The organizer on the right is from Target. My husband anchors the shelving into the wall so it cannot tip over on the kids.

I love having books easily accessible for them. They have another shelf in their room filled with books. I have always been an avid reader and we hope to instill that trait in them too.

There are a few shelves under our TV in the armoir and I use every bit of shelf space I can. These bins are from Container Store.

Twin Gym Storage - same shelf unit as in the other room. See below for more on the puzzle racks.

 These are pictures of some of the bins we have. Some items are easily grouped - cars, blocks, stuffed animals, trains and train tracks, pots and pans and cooking utensils. Other groups are a bit more random - view masters with cell phones and cameras, all Leap Frog items, small character figurines, etc.

Under the TV I have two bins filled with all of their musical toys. It makes it easy to pull out one type of toy and have a musical play time. Or pull out all of the play food and they play at their table and kitchen set.

Also, if you have small items like the little board books in the upper right corner of the collage, put them in their own container. It helps keep them together and it is easier to store that way.

I have seen a version of puzzle racks like this for sale from Melissa and Doug. These were from my scrap booking days. Not to say I have officially retired from scrap booking, it is just my need for 12 x 12 paper is not as important as it used to be. I felt like the kids weren't getting as much use out of their puzzles as they could be. They were in bins under their beds and were hardly ever touched. This way they are organized and easy to see and play with. I got these racks 10 years ago on EBay from a woman who was selling her scrap booking store. Here is a link to a place you can buy the Melissa and Doug racks.

I remove all of the puzzle pieces from each puzzle and put them in zip pouches. We store all of the pouches in one of our colored bins. I found the pouches at Office Max. This helps so we don't lose puzzle pieces and it makes it easy to grab a few puzzles and pouches and put them in the suitcase for travel or take them on the road with us.

Hope this gives you a little inspiration for your toy organization. If you have any great toy organizing tips, leave a comment. I would love to hear them! I am always looking for new ideas.

Happy Organizing!

Organizing Kids Seasonal Crafts

I keep the majority of our craft supplies in an upstairs closet, but I keep a few things downstairs easy to access for spur of the moment crafts. We like to do lots of projects and having these supplies within reach makes it so simple to start a project. And because the items are right there, you don't feel like it is an undertaking getting everything out.

I like to change out the supplies each season or holiday. See below for details on the items I have out for Christmas. Once you get a few containers and a designated area for your spur of the moment crafts, it is easy to switch the items out each season. I move the old items up to the craft closet and store them for next year.

If I have a specific project in mind I know we will be doing this season I will make sure to include those items. For example my little people love sparkle bottles and we will be making Christmas themed ones so I have the shimmer glitter and marbles in with the supplies. And who knows, maybe we will find other uses for those items too!

My seasonal craft supplies for the kids take up small areas of two shelves. I bought the plastic paint can storage bins at Michael's and the brown bin at Target. The brown bin also stores my kids busy bags. They are easy to grab and throw in my purse as we are heading out the door to an appointment, dinner, etc. Easy accessibility is key! It helps you use your items more and simplifies your life. Win win!

 I begin collecting items as I see them on sale or in the stores throughout the year. By the time we get to the holiday or season I usually already have quite a collection. These are the items I have for this years Christmas season: foam wreath kits, stickers, foam stockings and trees, festive colored sparkle pom pom balls (huge hit!) stickers, sparkle glue, little plastic Christmas lights, red and green plastic jewels and sparkle ornaments.

I collect lots of mini storage containers from places like the Container Store and Target and I always get rid of the packaging for things like the jingle bells, pom poms, etc. They store so much nicer and take up less room than attempting to save the plastic bags they come in. Plus you can reuse the containers for new supplies down the road. Bonus - your items do not pour out of the package and make a mess!

I buy stickers whenever I see them on sale. And I keep them with like stickers by attaching them together with a binder clip. When it comes time for the season, I just pull out the specific seasons clipped bunch and we are set. My kids love stickers so I always have lots on hand. They can use stickers with so many projects.

Simple organization that enables lots of quick, fun Christmas crafting!

Happy Organizing!