Attempting to get Organized

I think most of you know what I mean when I say that my counters are always overflowing with paperwork.  It's amazing to me really, how much stuff comes home from school even in this technologically advanced day and age.  I get texts announcing homework assignments and upcoming tests but still they send floods of paperwork home for me.  

The evils of papers.....well first there is the clutter.  It drives me nuts to have a cluttered kitchen (or dining room table AHEM..if any of my family members may be reading this) and it makes me cranky.  No one likes a cranky mama.  Second, there is the problem of never really knowing where anything is.  One of the kids needs to turn some of that paperwork in and then I'm digging through piles for an hour or two.  And let me just say that once I start digging through a pile, I have to go through it, organize it to the best of my ability and sort out the junk which just consumes more time.  

In order to combat the clutter and chaos, one of my goals for this year was to become more organized.  What better way to do that than to search my favorite treasure trove of information and ideas....Pinterest.  I've found loads of wonderful ideas for home organization binders and other odds & ends.  I'm currently in the process of moving everything to binders.  I have a home binder, one for my son's schooling info (for anyone who has a child with an IEP, you know how much paperwork that can generate!), and legal & financial info.  I still need to get one done for my daughter, one for the budget and one for the extras (travel plans, crafting things I found in magazines, etc).  I also decided we needed some cork and dry erase boards so I glammed up some of my own.

Here is my spruced up cork board (with some of my binders in evidence):

 And another one of the board with the dressed up clothespins:

 And finally, our dry erase board where everyone can list items that need to go on the grocery list:

The dry erase board was simply a frame I already had on hand with some cute scrapbook paper inside.  The cork board I bought at JoAnn along with a 1/2 yard of fabric, decorative upholstery nails and a wooden letter that I painted white.  It was a fun project and I feel more organized already!

Family Traditions

One of the things that is important to hubby & I is that we build fun family traditions to share with our kids.  Some traditions are small and simple, like going to church every weekend or having pizza every Friday night.  Others are typical like having a family game night.  What are some of the traditions your family has?

Thanksgiving is HUGE in our family.  We start the morning out with the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade.  Then while I start the meal, hubs gets the Christmas tree out and starts to put it together. 

When we have Jimmy's girls for Thanksgiving, it's Rain's job to stuff the turkey. 

Yeah, her dad thought it was pretty darn funny...mainly because he won't touch raw meat. 

Ani bastes the turkey

Anii & Dez help Daddy put the tree together

Another tradition is that we have a football/pumpkin party every year with some of our closest friends.

 

She swears it tastes just like chicken!  Ewwwww

Then there is the same crew for a Christmas party that may or may not involve messy cookie decorating and ornament making....depends on the host!

While I'm on the topic of Christmas, we have the Christmas tree cinnamon rolls.  This was a tradition I grew up with and I love carrying it on for our kids.

And a tradition that Jimmy & I started with the kids...Jesus' birthday cake!

The reason traditions came to mind is that I'm going to start a new one with my baby girl tonight.  A brilliant (I think!) idea that I, of course, got from Pinterest.

I picked up this adorable notebook at my favorite store today and wrote a short letter to Ani in here.  I've slid it under her pillow & when she gets home from Youth Group tonight, I'll let her in on the secret.  We can take turns writing to one another and hiding it under our pillows.  I think it will be a great way to keep our relationship as close as it is now and it will be a great memory for her to have when my time comes.  She can share the idea with her daughters if she is so blessed to have them.  

Blowing their minds......

That's what my 12 year old boy tells me I've been doing to him and his little sister lately.  He was referring to the way I've been channeling Martha Stewart, Betty Crocker & Pinterest.  Not working has given me a LOT more time and it's allowed me to do many things that I've only contemplated in the past.  God has indeed blessed us.

So yesterday when Aidan walked in the door from school, he smelled one of his favorite scents....something sweet baking.  I swear, that kid has the nose of a hound dog.  I had found a cute idea on Pinterest and decided it would be simple and easy to make for dessert (and lunches!) last night.

My ingredients:  chocolate cupcakes & chocolate fudge frosting along with Oreos and M&M's

After you frost the cupcakes, open up the Oreo cookies carefully and place the frosted halves on the cupcakes like so:

Then you add the M&M's as the eyes and nose and voila! It's a cute big-eyed owl.

The kids loved them though they would be way too chocolate-y for me.