Day #7 Pantry Organization

It took me 3 days to do the pantry... Mainly because my little guy was super sick and he was so clingy and would hardly let me get anything done..... But I finally did it and I am going to be honest I hated this challenge..... It was more work than I bargained for and I could still use a little more help but I need to get more storage baskets/bins so until then I did the best I could!

Pictures speak for themselves!

As you can see for these before pic's I was putting stuff where ever I could find a spot and it was impossible for me to find something I needed to cook/bake with!

Yes I am embarrassed!

HELP....... That is how I felt after I unloaded all my food from the pantry...... I was very overwhelmed and did not know where to begin.... But I started with putting food in categories such as soups, cake mixes, cereal ect......

After I got it all cleared out I swept, Mopped wiped down shelves and got it ready to be stocked back up

My little helper :)

Day #6 - Dresser Drawers

Day 6 I did more dresser drawers.... My girls share a closet and dresser and it is not very big room but there closet is a decent size so there dresser is in there Closet and so I ended up doing the dresser drawers and closet.... what a Project but I threw so much away and got a huge bag for the DI and I am one happy Camper right now!

and yes organized by each child in the drawers and sizes ect. and because I rearranged things in there a bit I have room for there clothes hamper to be in there as well!

now I am super embarrassed by the before pic's... Like I said Laundry and dressers are not my strong point and I usually ask the girls to put there own clothes away after all they are 8 and should certainly be able to do it Right? Wrong... you will see why in the picture below!!!

Ahhhhhhh..... Scary!

Again I can not blame this all on the girls I should have checked in there closet more often but I always check to make sure beds are made and that is usually about it!

"sigh" And so help me if they put one item of clothing on that floor after the amount of time it took me to get it looking this nice Well let's just say it wont be pretty ;)

Day # 5 challenge.... Dresser Drawers!

( Yes he has a Mac on his dresser.... LOL he watches movies in there while he play, I don't think there is one room in our house that doesn't have some kind of Mac in it weather it is a computer, or Ipod to apple tv.....) -you would never guess what my husband does-

Day number 5 challenge was supposed to be under kitchen sink but under my sink was already organized and very very clean, so I decided to take 2 days and do dresser drawers, between mine and kids it was messy and a ton of work so I did Forde's first and I will do the rest today.....

His dresser was so bad, it was Chaos, I could never find socks that matched or anything I was looking for, and Occasionally I would pull out things that didn't fit him anymore (yep I am guilty of keeping clothes to long for the fact I have no time to go through them or so I say)

He had so many Pajamas and really we do not need that many so I cleared out half of those and got a full bag of stuff that did not fit, and guess what? I found matches to socks and put those together and organized drawers from T shirts and pants and shorts and summer stuff to hanging all his button up clothes up ect.

It felt good going in to get him dressed this morning :)

Yes his clothes were really all jumbled in his drawers because I Hate doing laundry and especially putting it away but I find that when I have it all organized it is easy to fold it and put it right where it goes!

There.... all better, Now on to the girl's closet and dresser!

Day #4 Challenge.. Craft area!

Day 4 challenge is the Linen Closet and I seriously don't have a Linen closet :( So all my Towels are in my Laundry room and blankets and stuff in our closets so as I get to those areas I will work on that as well... So I chose my own area and I also did 2 challenges on Saturday because Sunday's are to busy for me with Church and kids and our Family dinners!

Anyways in our house we love doing Crafts.... My kids and I are always doing some kind of craft we have craft book idea's or come up with our own idea's and really this has made for one messy Craft area scattered all over our home we had 2 boxes in my Laundry room with stuff in it, things in kids rooms, and a Huge basket in my closet in the kitchen close to our table where most of these are made.

So I knew this was something I had to get a hold of, and I had my Daughter help with this one because after all they help make the messes they can help get it cleaned up and we actually had so much fun doing this we found a lot of stuff we didn't even remember we had.... I have not labeled them yet but I will get to that Monday so for now we started by really throwing away things that should have been thrown away forever ago.... Dried up paints/markers..... Old papers used.... Just odd's and end's here and there of things that were of no use so we Chucked a ton of stuff and it felt good!

Then I went to Walmart again and found a plastic filing Cabinet type thing for $9.00, and I organized from top to bottom putting all things together in Categories such as coloring books/paper/notebook's on the bottom and on up with Scissors/glue/ tape things of this sort, this is going to make a huge difference when we need to find all of our crafting items as well, Then I took all of my kid's learning tools, Flash cards with math, letters, states and shapes and other things as well and put them in a container and put it right on top of the filing cabinet so everyday we can just grab the bin sit at the table and do our stuff and then put it away and back where it goes! Life is getting better and better the more Organized I get!

Before pictures!

after picture!

This is the filing cabinet I got for just $9.00 at Walmart.... and let me tell you I am so glad I went with something like this for kids Craft stuff mainly because it has easy to see in Drawers and it has wheels so I can wheel it back into the closet and wheel it out right over to the table or where ever we are doing Crafts so we are not back and forth!

Day #3 Organizing those messy tupperware cabinets!

Well it was Day 3 on my Journey to get more Organized and it was a good one.... The dreaded Tupperware space.... We all have them and we have at one time or another had them all nice and neat and put with the size's and lids were where they should be,, and then this also happens we start using them and washing them and then throwing under the counter or losing lid's or sticking them all over the place.... And if this has not happened to you well then you are AMAZING!

My Tupperware is where some of my baking things are as well my bread pans and cake pans ect.... so I started by clearing it all out wiping down the shelves getting a couple Storage plastic bins from Walmart for .97 cents..... Yes you can get these things very cheap at good old Walmart, and I sorted through my stuff finding lids and putting sizes where they should be and the bins I put all of cookie cutters and small items in those! This makes it easier to label it and to find all of the things with out dreading to open the cupboard and search all around for 20 minutes for one item!

My before pic...........

My after Picture.... They don't look that different the before and after but trust me once I started pulling everything it was a lot worse than it seemed and looked! Now I will be able to open my cupboard and be happy to have to find something because I know exactly where it is!

Adventure's in Ice Cream-

Well our house is always exciting Saturday nights, It usually consists of Movie's with the kids, Dinner and almost alway's desert... Tonight was no different. We started off by having Pizza for dinner then watched the Ninja Turtle Movie AGAIN.... ( Lundyn's pick tonight) "surprise" "surprise"! Then it was time for desert now I was good with giving the kid's a Chips Ahoy tonight but Nope the wanted to get there Ice Cream maker out and make an even better desert... This was a birthday gift to my girl's from there Aunt Cyd and it was one of the best things they could have ever gotten because they seriously love it, Now we also have an easy bake oven and I am just gonna be honest I know they love doing these things but sometimes it is more work than is worth it. (in my opinion) But I went along and got it all set up and made there Ice Cream and just the smile and laughter from my kids as I squirted Ice Cream all over the table made it all worth the effort... Yep I should win Mother of the Year award!

Oh and it was also Temple day for Nate and I and even though there were a lot of obstacles this morning for us trying to get there we ended going anyways and it was well worth it =)

The finished Product... Now don't let this picture fool you these are not as big as they look here in fact they are about 2 spoons full of Ice Cream and yep thats about it.... Hahaha But the kids like it and Hey this way I don't have to worry about them over doing it on the sweet's!

Challenge #2 - Your computer desk

Today's Challenge was also a pretty easy one... I am just really grateful for these ones since I know the harder ones that will involve more work are to come! And that is ok it is all about baby steps here people... Getting Organized will not happen all in one day.

The computer desk was not to bad because I don't have a huge desk and I tend to throw things out weekly so mainly things get put on the desk that just don't belong like a Sock puppet and little knick knacks here and there! and it was very Dusty and my computer screen had finger prints all over it.... (kids)

So it was nice to clear everything off and wipe it all down and go through some old bill's!

visit the 21 day challenge to the left for more details on day #2......

I am already feeling a huge weight lifted and it is only day 2 so I am so excited to keep going with this challenge :)

- Before pictures -

- After Picture's -

Day #1 Challenge (Organizing the "junk" drawer)

First challenge "The junk drawer" We all have them at least one and if your like me mine is in the Kitchen.... The most used room in the house.... If you click on the link to the side of my blog where it say's the 21 day challenge and it will go into more detail on how to get started and which area your focussing on everyday!

This one was pretty easy but as you can see my drawer was a bit out of hand I could barely open it let alone find anything in it at all..... and come to find out after I cleaned it out half of the stuff was either garbage old receipts or things that I had been looking for that simply went somewhere else. So you can see why this was the first day challenge and a much needed one!

-before picture-

-After picture-

21 day Challenge!

I got this Idea from My Friend (maria) and she got this idea from the Blog....

abowlfulloflemons.blogspot.com- I Love this Blog so much that I even joined the weekly challenges to do as well, It keeps me wanting to better myself/ my home and my life.

I have yet to start so I am beginning tomorrow.

Basically what this 21 day challenge is every day you will get a new task or area to Organize some day's they are small areas others not so much but you do 1 area everyday for 21 days, and hey let's face it who doesn't want to be more Organized...... This is a weakness of mine I am not very good in this area, and Nate is a very organized person almost to Organized so we tend to clash when it comes to this stuff and I get very Overwhelmed when I go to find something and it is not where it should be! So I am very excited to get started on this, She started this challenge at the beginning of this year but you can really join and do this anytime you are ready and today is that day so I will posting daily about what area I did for that day and post before and after pic's....

Some of the before's are going to be a little scary but this is what life is about a little chaos and the option to change some of that Chaos! Wish me luck =)

Valentines!!!

Yes we love any Holiday at our home.... Kids make the Holiday's so much more fun and all the fun idea's and things you get to do for them! This year was the first Valentines Nate and I have ever spent apart so it was weird but really we never go out on the actual day anyways we do something with the kids so it was ok and we video recorded ourselves doing our V Day Dinner and sent it to him!

And yes sometimes I go over board but my Mom always did fun things for us so I get it all from her and I just love doing stuff like this!

Now as most of you know I Hate Flowers I would seriously rather have a Cheese burger from McDonalds or a huge bag of Candy or Hey even a good pair of shoes but no Flowers so every year I see all these people buying Flowers and giving them to people and it is good to know I will not come home to any :)

I love and am so grateful for my Husband and our 3 Crazy awesome kids life would not be complete with out each and every one of them! And of course all my friends as well!

Forde holding some of his Valentine surprises from Cupid aka Mom :)

Lundyn going through all her Valentines from school!

Ky showing me her name Valentine from Mrs. Olsen....... Love her teacher!

Yep he is a stud!

My beautiful Ky

My little Angel!

Heart Pizza (tradition)

and some of this Yummy goodness!

I have alot more pic's but there are to many to post so I will leave it as is.... and just say that I had the 3 best dates a girl could ask for Valentines :)

-Ward Blues-

Ok I am going to do a little venting about our -Clinton Ward-....

Now I know this is probably something so incredibly stupid to complain about and I am not one to get offended and stop going no matter how much I "dislike" our ward but here goes anyway....

We were so spoiled in our last ward..... The teachers and primary workers were amazing especially with Lundyn.... they had someone to sit with her at all times and if she needed anything even to walk around her teachers took care of it and she loved them.... Even all the kids would come up to her and say Hi Lundyn and were super nice..... And they had a little lesson about special needs and how we are all different to get them all used to her and her disabilities......

This ward we are in now the kids in her class and Primary always just stare at her if she is having a melt down or making loud noises or weird movements because either they have Never seen or been talked with about people with Disabilities or they just like to stare at her and not even say Hi to her and I can not blame them they are kids and don't know any better but it still hurts my feelings as her Mom, But what is the Adults excuse? There are so many we walk into Sacrament and she will be drooling or again make loud noises and they really just look at her and me like what the crap is wrong with your child, and it might be shock at first because she looks very normal and then she moves and has spams and her hands go into awkward shapes and the drooling and noises can throw you off but after the first couple of weeks you'd think it would be different but no after 6 months here no change! ....... And I am trying to brush it off and not have hard feelings but again it is hard! because our last ward was like a family seriously!

Her Primary teachers are so cute though they really have tried to get her to come and be a part of the class but she wont even step into the building anymore.... If she doesn't feel loved or comfortable she wont go to that place ever..... Sundays are currently our worst days she has her melt downs as most of you all know but Sundays really she is in her wheel chair so she cant get out and hurt herself or anybody else its that bad and by the look of her teeth again you can tell what it has been like... LOL

And it doesn't help that our ward is HUGE and we all feel a little lost again not that I mind I mean I am an adult and can manage but when it comes to Lundyn she is so overwhelmed there and I can see why. So I have been trying to take her to the special needs Primary but that has also been a transition that I will continue to try so she is able to get something!

Forde has always had a struggle going to nursery but he began to love his last nursery and he would get so excited to go now we are back where we started he Hates Nursery this is more my complaint and frustration because lots of kids have problems in Nursery so he is not my main concern....

Like I said I don't get offended easily and even though this situation is hard I will continue to go every week taking turns between Nate and I so one of us is home with Lundyn and I do it for myself and Kylan, and even Forde :) I don't want to be another lost person falling away and taking that away from my children because it isn't the perfect ward!

Ok now I only post these things to either get good feed back or ideas and for journal purposes so I can look back at posts and see things in our life good or bad! So thankyou all of my friends from the Forest Park Layton ward you are all so amazing and you are all so missed!

Thanks for taking a peek!!!