Toddler Take Alongs from Jen @ eatingmycandy

I have this super amazing friend that has more creativity in her pinkie finger than I could imagine having in my entire body. She has a great post over on her blog about making little "Toddler Take Alongs" out of get this....old pill bottles!

Check out her whole post and the instructions here

http://eatingmycandy.blogspot.com/2011/12/prescription-container-idea.html?spref=fb

Happy Crafting!

Hiding the Crap

You read right. It's well know that with kids comes a load of crap. Literally and figuratively. This time we aren't talking dirty diapers. We're talking toys.....toys and more toys. Then there's the necessities of life, diapers, wipes, bottles. Random shoes and socks that surface, blankies. SO. MUCH. STUFF.

Unless you have a superhero cape around your neck and are probably delusional there's no way to keep the house picked up all the time. Well....until now. I have a saying in my house, it's about the illusion of clean. Basically you're house doesn't have to be totally clean to look clean. So, what's the trick right? Decorative storage. Yep. Hide the crap. :) This isn't perfect parenting remember. It's REAL parenting. We have got to quit comparing ourselves to our neighbors. We all have them, the one that always looks like a million bucks, house is always spotless, kids are dressed better than our best. So what have they got that we don't? Either money to pay a housekeeper and a nanny OR the ability to hide it all.

Example #1
It appears my hallway is so clean. Right?

Haha! Think again. I just found this awesome collapsible box at Walmart for like $10 and behold.....

All the crap.....hidden away.

Again.....Where on earth are all the videos, game systems, books, any other crap that needs a home? Looks like a perfectly clean living room right? That's cause today I have my Wonder Woman cape on. No, not true. I don't even have a cape of any kind and I have no time for Wonder Woman between work, mental breakdowns and failed crafting.

Yes, that's Timmy Turner. It's after school snack time, what do ya want?

It's by no means an organized cupboard but it is the perfect "I don't have time to clean but need my house to look organized" storage place.

Seriously folks, in that cupboard is every movie you could ever imagine on VHS and DVD, the Wii accessories, my husbands record collection (yep, records), an old pillow, some books, a few CD's. Last but not least what used to be the toy dump bin but is now transformed into our electronic cord storage container......(and of course, the color coordinated basket on top for my yarn. remember? failed crafting?)









 

Seriously folks, don't waist all that precious time with your family cleaning and tidying. The thing I especially like about our storage solutions is that my kids can clean up the mess and there's no way to put it away wrong. Keep your eyes open for a sale. Don't ever pay full price for things like this if you don't have to but if you can find the right item at the right price it can simplify life so much. No more feeling guilty, just tuck it away and wait for a rainy day. Once every so often you can go through and throw out or reorganize your "hiding" spots but it makes the day to day SO much easier. 

I'm not a slacker. I swear!

I wish I could say that I haven't posted because I've just been that plain lazy. Not true friends. With that said I hope you all had a GREAT holiday season and that the beginning of 2012 has been kind to you. It has been almost to kind to me. :)
With the addition of cleaning to the business we have seen such an increase in customers it was hard for a little bit to keep up. But never fear! We're back online ready to share not only the knowledge we've gained through all the fun parenting success and failures we've experience but I have a whole new take on cleaning. Be prepare for some of the AWESOME stuff I've learned and come across. It's never easy to manage a household and a family and a job but it is possible and in the coming weeks I will be sharing with you some tips to help you succeed as CEO of your family.
Thanks for hanging in there with me.

Thanks again!
Missy

Objects in mirror are closer than they appear!

Our Little's are good at so many things but don't you think sometimes they need a disclaimer like the ones on our rear view mirrors?

I was thinking about my kids going back to school and luckily mine are getting a little older but there is still the possibility that they are going to hear me say something and repeat it. Yep. REPEAT IT! (hangs head in shame) However, we have encountered an all new problem now that they ARE getting older. Guess what? They have their own opinions and certainly their own things to say. Due to the nature of my son's shyness I won't tell you that it was him this story is about. My children are opinionated to say the least but usually very well behaved and typically sensitive to other peoples feelings. Which is what makes this story about a particular little boy so funny.

One of the neighbor girls came home from being out with her mom to a yard full of the neighbor boys, ages 10-12 playing with her brother, age 12. She jumps out of the car, HUGE smile on her face and in anticipation asks the group, "do you like my hair?" grinning from ear to ear she waits, as she knows they do. What's not to love? She just got the cutest highlights for the first time! The group erupts in laughter and with her brother in the lead they, as any group of boys would, begin to tease her over her new hair do. The 2 things wrong with this:

1. Her mother didn't warn her NOT to under any circumstances EVER ask her brother if he like her hair, especially if his friends are around.

2. The rest of us mother's didn't teach our sons the OH SO VALUABLE lesson, when a girl asks you if you like her hair your answer is ALWAYS, Yes!

She quickly retreated to the safety of her house and the boys continued their game of war, or whatever it was that they were playing. Their games always involve plastic weapons of some type.

You'd think that it would end there. Well, that still would have been a great story but don't worry, it gets even better. The next day was Sunday so we headed our family off to church. Said little girl is in the same class with a couple of the little boys that were playing with her brother the night before. One boy in particular, who shall remain nameless (lol) proudly stands before the class that morning and says, "Let's take a vote!" The class responds affirmatively and the little boy continues, "Who HATES Katie's hair?" (Oh crap, who's kid is this?) One other young man lifts his hand quickly and enthusiastically while the other 2 sit quietly and the 2 other girls in the room precede to say how much they like her hair. Katie's mother went to the home of the little vote taker and just expressed to the vote takers parents that Katie was upset and crying over the vote and the vote takers parents expressed their apologies and then proceeded to teach their young vote taker that all important lesson, if a girl asks you if you like her hair what do you say? YES!

This story is what made me think of the following email I got, which I loved and for a second I thought about taping to the back of my own little vote taker.

"On the first day of school, a first-grader handed his teacher a note from his mother. The note read, 'The opinions expressed by this child are not necessarily those of his parents ..'"

Here's wishing you all a happy, opinion free school year!