The "Wait Basket" (new decor and teaching kids to wait)

Sharing a fun addition to our family room today!  I picked up this coral basket at Home Goods a few months ago and have loved having a little punch of color next to the couch.  

The pillows in it are some older pillows we had in our previous house.  Seems whenever our whole family is lounging on the couch we needed a few more.  :)  

But while I love the punch of coral and I love having extra pillows nearby..

 that's not why I bought this basket. 

I bought this basket for my four year old.  You see, my little buddy struggles with waiting.  Waiting for a snack, waiting for his turn with a toy, waiting for mom to get off the phone, waiting for his sisters to finish their homework so he can play with them.  When he wants something he thinks he needs it immediately.  Typical toddler/child 'me' centeredness that is always such a joy to parent.  :)  So I decided to make a little "wait basket" in the family room.  I filled it with a few of his favorite toys and after explaining the importance of waiting patiently for things, I told him that whenever he hears the word "wait" he gets to come and play with the toys in his wait basket.  He has other toys in the playroom for every day.  These are special toys only for when he has to wait for something.  (I'll switch these out every few weeks so he doesn't get tired of the same toys).  

I have to say that this little "wait basket" is working like a charm!  

Now he gets excited when I tell him he has to wait.  

Which is great.  Because it happens often.

:)

And just for fun since I was snapping pics of the family room, here's another fun new coral addition.  Slowly adding some color to this space.  I'll share where I'm at as far as decor for this room soon!  Just need to finish tweaking my bookshelves a bit more.

Could you use a "wait basket" at your house?  

:)

 Enjoy your weekend everyone!  

Organizing outfits for school (our new system!)

Another "first day of school" has come and gone.  So hard for me to wrap my brain around my girls being in 3rd and 5th grade!  I taught 5th grade when we first moved to San Diego.  I had Ellie in the middle of my last year teaching and remember taking her to my classroom to meet my students.  Such a tiny newborn with all of those big 5th graders.  And now she is one of those big 5th graders.  I cried doing her hair the first day.  She was making me laugh - saying something funny - and it just struck me how grown up she looked and sounded.  I always think I'm going to be fine on the first day of school (especially since by the end of summer I am ready for them to go back!) but then the first day comes and I'm not fine.  I come home to a quiet house and tear up every year.

This little one was SO excited for preschool to start.  He was racing out the door so fast that I only had time to snap two pictures of him and this was the best of the two.  He's at that fun age where you say "smile" and never know what you're going to get.  :)  So glad he has one more year of preschool.  I'm going to be a hot mess next year when he starts Kindergarten!

I'm excited to share our new system for organizing outfits for school!  It's pretty much the old system with a minor tweak.

The girls lay out their outfits for the week.  

Just like they've done every Sunday for the past two years.  

But instead of using hangers and Ziploc bags like we previously did..

We now use these fun pink canvas closet organizers from Land of Nod.  So excited about these!  We didn't have room for something like this in our previous house because we were so tight on closet space.  But now that we have more room to breathe I love having a set place for the girls to organize their clothes for the week.  This is a peek inside Ad's closet.  

 I waited for a sale and got each of these organizers for only 12 bucks!  

They are sturdy and nicely made.  I couldn't believe how inexpensive they were.  

I got out my trusty label maker and labeled each opening with a day of the week. 

There are six slots so there was room for Saturday.  I love this because my girls take gymnastics on Saturday mornings and now we have a place for their gymnastic clothes to call home.

Here is the same set up in El's closet.  Can you tell this child of mine loves purple?  I had to really force her to look for clothes that weren't purple this year.  Last year she was in purple every other day!  

She did well this week with only a purple belt and one purple top.  A new record for her.  :)

Regardless of how you choose to organize the clothes, picking out outfits for the week ahead of time always makes the morning 'get ready for school' rush much smoother!

Want to hear my crazy organized complicated system for organizing Kole's outfits each day?  

You'll love it.

Ready for this?

He sleeps in the clothes he's going to wear the next day.

I kid you not.  He hates pajamas (what!?  does he even belong in this family!?) so he BEGS me each night to let him sleep in his clothes.  Over the summer I gave in because it was so hot at night and he was living in mesh shorts anyway.  So I bathe him and put him in clean shorts and a top and he's all set for school the second he wakes up.  How's that for streamlining the mornings.  Ha!  I'll have to get him back in pj's when it cools off at night because he won't sleep with covers either.  That kid.  Talk about a major difference from his sisters who are pre-selecting coordinating socks and jewelry and headbands each day.  

The joys of raising daughters and a son.

:)

Instagram round up

Sharing some recent pics today!  I'm loving how easy it is to document life with Instagram.  I held off joining Instagram for a long time because I knew I'd love it and I didn't want one more thing pulling my time away from my kids.  But I have been surprised!  It's so fast and easy.  A fun way to connect with friends and document life that doesn't take much time at all.  Have you heard about all of the fun ways to print Instagram pics into books?  I'm excited to try it.  These are just a few of the pics I've shared on Instagram this summer.  (erin_sunnysideup)

Leaving downtown after watching my girls perform in Annie (theatre camp production).  

Cutest little orphans!  I cried when they sang their solos.  

#momsasap.

Fun night out with girlfriends!  

#andhusbands

#notpictured

These two have been inseparable this summer.  As always.  

Their bond makes me smile every single day.

Strollin' at the beach.

#kingkole

A fun night with close friends.  

Yogurt with my littles while big sister is at camp.  Kole said "try my yogurt Ad!  It's a little bit yucky and a lot bit yummy."  He's at that age where half of what he says makes us laugh.  :)

Some movies never get old.

#moviepartywithmygirls

Celebrating birthdays with friends.  

#bestiesarethebest  

Mini organizers in training. 

#inmyhappyplaceorganizing

This little monster is all caged up.  

#lovelowkeymorningswithmyboy

Quiet afternoon reading time.  We set up our beloved princess tent and El said "mom it's so much smaller than the last time we were in it!"  I wish it really was the tent that was changing.  

#growinguptoofast

#couldn'tlovethemmore

Spending the day with my three favorite little people at the beach.  Perfect ending to a great summer!

#couldntlovethemmore

#koleistryinghisbest

4 hours of last minute back to school shopping with all 3 kids.  This man was a GOOD sport.  

I think we pushed him as far as we possibly could!

#willdoanythingforhisgirls

#weowehimuninterruptedchargersgames

These 4.

#couldn'tlovethemmore

School lunch prep time!

#bracingmyselffortomorrowmorning

#excitedforanotherschoolyear

#andsadatthesametime

Goodbye Summer 2014!  

#youwerethebest

Organized craft/school supplies

I've been organizing.  I've been organizing SCHOOL SUPPLIES!  Probably one of my single most favorite things to do.  I've been in a mad dash before the kids start school to get my office/kids' homework room/craft room/scrapbook room/blogging station in order.  Yes - I'm talking about one space. :)  I haven't shared my office on the blog yet because it has been in such disarray since we moved in.  It really is the busiest room in our house and most of the day you can find me or one of the kids (or all four of us) in it making a great big mess.  But slowly I am making progress!  One cupboard at at time.

Some of you might remember the craft cupboard we had in our previous house.  This was a bottom cabinet in my kitchen that I turned into a space for all of the kids' craft/school supplies.  It truly was one of the smartest organizing projects I did that year because it worked so well for us.  The kids used it every day and were able to easily keep it organized.  Bins were easy to pull out and use at the table and clean up was a breeze because everything had a place.  So when I designed my office for the new house, I knew I wanted a similar space to use for all of the kid's supplies.  

When you walk in my office and immediately look to the right there are some tall cabinets up against the wall.  After hours of purging, sorting, organizing, and labeling (my favorite part!) here is what the inside of these cabinets look like now...

Ahhhh.  The kids' supplies are organized.  My supplies are organized.  Peace is restored in my office.  

At least on the right side of the room.  :)

I wish I had taken a before shot.  When we moved in I just set random things in random cupboards.  

It was such a mess to sort through.  

I know it doesn't look like much, but the top of this cupboard is what took me the longest.  This is everything from the two years we spent building our new house.  I had SO much stuff to go through and a lot of it I tossed (such a good feeling!), but these are the things I wanted to keep.  Like the binder on the far left that is labeled "new house plans and designs" with all of our cabinet/built-in/room layouts and all of our design sketches.

These white file folders (Martha Stewart Collection) hold additional house sketches/plans and all of our paint selections.  

Above those I used two buckets from the dollar store (you might remember them from my mom's laundry room makeover!) to hold all of our paint books and additional design odds and ends like fabric swatches, etc.  So happy to have all of this consolidated in one place!  Now when you ask me where I got a certain light fixture or what color of paint is in a certain room I can find it in two seconds!  If I don't have the information somewhere in this top cupboard you are out of luck because my brain just isn't big enough to hold all of those details and even if it could, it secretly wants to block them all out.  ;)  

 Moving on to the bottom section!  I designed this cupboard for the kids.  All of my cabinets have adjustable shelves so I can move them around in a way that works best for us.  Everything is low so the kids can reach - all of their "supplies" are in one place.  Paper is on top (divided by plain white, lined, and colored card stock).

The bottom holds all of their coloring/work books.  I've had these cheap cardboard file folders for years!  They are from my teaching days.  I debated covering them in some stylish wrapping paper but decided the bright colors were fun for the kids.  Maybe I'll still cover them someday if I get really ambitious but that is a low priority at this point.  :)  I gave Ellie and Addison two each because they have so many books.  Kole has one and then one extra for miscellaneous notepads, workbooks etc. that they all use.

Putting them in file folders keeps this area nice and neat and makes it easy for my kids to locate their own things.  I originally had everything just lined up and I knew it would be a mess in no time.  Organizing projects are only successful if they are easy to keep that way! 

Next I went to town labeling craft/school supplies!  (#everythingisbetterwithalabel)

The top two boxes are mine - labels and clothespins.  

When you are labeling a box of labels you recognize you may have a problem.  This is the part of my post when my mom usually calls and tells me there is medicine out there for people like me.

{Time out to share my all time favorite quote}

As. They. Should. Be.  

Amen.  

:)

Regardless of my mental state, my labels are happy in their home and easy for me to access when I tackle my next project.  {Mom, I know you love me, but at this point I think we can both agree it's a lost cause.}

 The rest of the bins are all things the kids use when they get their creative messes juices going.  Which for my two girls is a daily occurrence.  

I didn't photograph everything but here is a peek inside a few of the bins.  

So nice to have everything in one easy to find spot!

Just like with our original craft cupboard, the kids can take their bins to the table, make a big old mess, and then easily put everything back where it belongs.

  If it isn't broke, don't fix it.  

So happy to have our old system set up in the new house.  

:)