Organizing week 2

She would likely not appreciate this photo.  But hey I thought it fit my distaste of having to organizing/declutter/clean.  In any case, So how did this week go?  Well I did organize the girls school items in binders.  So that was completely accomplished.  I sorted through toys and some were trashed (goodness they had tons of broken little toys from prize boxes, etc) and some were put in the consignment pile and of course most were kept.  The consignment pile is quite impressive this year but primarily because I have some bigger items.  My clothes pile is quite light.  I also sorted through books. I think that is a forgotten thing to sort through and I have never been in the theory that you can never have too many books.  My girls are overwhelmed by too much of one thing, books included.  I sorted through our books and voila suddenly they are bringing me different books to read.  Celia can not be around when I sort toys but she can be around when I sort through books.  She has her favorites but even some she used to love she admits is not too exciting anymore.  My kiddos also love the library (which has an endless supply!).
So I still need to continue sorting through kid clothes and maybe a few toys for the consignment sale this week.  I also want to tackle my own closet but I think I need to leave the consignment sale items as a priority since it is this week!  I also work 3 days this week which eats into my time.  Nothing happens on days that I work.  So week one is done, 51 more weeks of organizing to go.

Goals for this week:  finishing consignment sale organizing
                                 start sorting through clothes in my closet (maybe finish 1/4 of the closet)

Natural History Museum

Audrey and I took a trip to a local Natural History Museum

We have a reciprocal membership to it and when we go with Celia,

we explore the museum in fastforward mode

Audrey takes things in and tends to go slow when exploring

So she had a blast just going with Mommy

She thought this guy was very cool

Every time she peeked into his cage he did this so 

I think he thought Audrey was pretty Awesome too

In the discovery room they have a pretend stream with 

pretend frogs and turtles

Mommy and Audrey played with the frogs over and over and over and over

and over and over again.  

Explaining to her that some of the animals were real

and some were not was confusing

Audrey did tell me that the dinosaur bones were not real

because bones can not walk by "self"

They have a pretend underwater reef/ocean area

This was Audrey's second favorite area (besides the frogs in the pond)

Just in case you want to know

there are 3 starfish in that tank

The starfish are Audrey's favorite

The yellow and blue fish are not Audrey's favorite

Organizing- Week 1

Pete is likely going to have some comments about my need to organize and declutter the house and to keep the house clean. The truth is it seems like I am in need of organizing and finding ways to keep our house clean several times a year or maybe all the time. He has commented that I love doing it and that frustrates me to no end because the truth is, I can not stand it. I wish that I did not have to think about it so that I could do some things that I enjoy without the guilt of knowing that I am neglecting something in the house. Now that Celia is in school full-time, the house is not constantly getting destroyed (Audrey makes a mess but not as much of a mess as the two of them!!). I feel like I just need to for once get things in order and develop some sort of a system that works. That is thing, I have never found a system that really, really works. I am sort of dedicating this whole year to trying my best to find that system. One way I know is to get rid of as many things as I can that we do not use. The reason I am giving myself a whole year is that I think it will take that long. I think that in order to know that a system is working, I need to put it in place for at least a few months. I know that at the end of the year it may still be a work in progress, but I need something to change! I find myself not even doing as much with the kids somedays because the idea of sorting through all of their craft stuff or play items, just annoys me. I tried to organize them and for some reason it just did not work, the system failed. So I have been scouring pinterest for awhile and looking at ideas. The truth is though, that is way more fun then actually tackling everything!! So I started this week by doing something that I basically always do every year, sorting through the girls clothes and finding out what is going to stay in the closets and what we need for the next season. I sort of goofed with Audrey. I have been searching for Celia's old size 3T clothes for awhile. I thought that I had a very good system for outgrown clothes, that actually has worked for awhile, but I messed up my system. I filled the top half of a box with size 4T. So I went to that box several times and would sort through the top half and only find size 4T and assume that the whole box was 4T. So I saw a bunch of pants at a consignment sale for 50 cents each, they were all very cute, and stocked up. This morning I decided one more time to check that box and I sorted all the way through and well, Audrey has ALOT of pants in size 3T!!! She is currently fitting in size 2T without any issue but I figured later in the winter we would need a size up. Now I am thinking that I will be hemming some of the size 3 pants just because there are so many, might as well make use of them now! My goal for this coming week is to continue my sorting and get bags together to donate, consign, or trash. Along with that I want to create a binder for Celia's school items that are sent home and update Audrey's school binder (they give us one). So I am using this blog as accountability. I am going to update each week on my progress. Perhaps my dear husband will join in on my effort a bit, who knows.

Pop Pop taught Audrey a new song evidently

Love you Celia

After letting the girls have some fun with make up

Celia says to Audrey "aren't you so impressed we get to wear make up and you are just 2 and Mommy is 27!"

Yep, you got that 27.

I Hungry

Yes, we will be in big, big trouble when she learns to open that thing by herself

We had a party

I have avoided a kid party for Celia for a number of years.  This year I caved and we had a Sofia the First party.   Everyone was invited to come wearing purple, a princess dress, or just a pretty dress.  Now Celia of course wanted a Sofia dress.  The Sofia dress is in the store (not the $50 disney one) was on the smallest side.  It may have fit her but if it did not I knew she would still insist upon squeezing herself in it.  So my Mom and I worked together and made her a Sofia the First dress.  I am going to HIGHLY ENCOURAGE that it be her Halloween costume!!!

So I talked to Celia prior to planning for the party about gifts.  I want Celia to have a giving heart and to know that she is blessed with what she has.  Not to mention the fact that she is very loved by her extended family and is blessed every year on the presents department.  So I gave her the option, we could asks for her friends to bring donations for a charity called the Pajama Program or she could ask them to bring a small gift or to bring nothing.  We talked about it for a bit and she decided to have them donate to the Pajama program.  She did not even mention gifts after the party.  It did not phase her.

Audrey getting all princess pretty

 My sofia cake, with the white drippy icing, argh.  But it turned out ok.

 Some of our decor

 The little crown things on the coffee table were yogurt tubs I decorated.  The girls threw ping pong balls into them and then we totalled up the points to see who won.

 We started out the party by making foam crowns and beaded bracelets

 Our first game was kiss the frog (pin the kisses on the frog).  See Celia's dress!

 This cutey below was the best behaved at the party

 I forget what activity we lined up here, but it is a cute picture.  Celia's best buddy Amber helped us out, she was very helpful with Audrey

 Blowing out the candles!

The girls ended up liking all but one of the games.  We did the Kiss the Frog, The ping pong game, a scavenger hunt, and a balance a book on your head race.  The book game did not go over well.  The scavenger hunt worked out well.  The girls had to gather items from characters from Sofia the first.  I had pictures taped onto various things outside and they had to find them and collect items from them.

The parking lot baby turns 6..

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

Kindergarten

 And off she went

Happy Birthday Baby Girl

6 years baby girl...

I still remember

the way your eyes lit up for me

that you were brilliant from the beginning

that you cracked me up even when I was in the worst moods

that your sense of humor is beyond funny

 that your curls were (and are) gorgeous

I am loving

that you are a free spirit

that even though the moody blues are upon us

you still smile and laugh all day long (most of the time)

that you are Amazing, Smart, and Mine.

I look at you everyday and think you are mine.

I am blown away that I get to be your Mother.

Happy Birthday Little Girl 

First Day for Miss. Audrey

Today (wednesday) was Audrey's first day in the 2/3 room at her school.  It is the infamous "Miss. Donna's" room.  The teacher that we feared that Celia would stalk at some point, she loved her so much.

Okay... She did have a good time, sort of shy and did not

want the picture taken in class.  She also insisted upon wearing the hood on her coat, hence the frizzed up pony tail.  I dressed her in the same outfit Celia wore on her first day in that room.  

Here is the cute pictures, the sign says "First Day of 2/3 class"

Our Lunch Date

For the past few years at the beach I have taken Celia out for some Mommy and Celia time.  This year I decided to do it at lunch.  She has become a bit picky when we go out so I figured that lunch would be easier.  She chose pizza which was perfect for her and I actually got a slice of veggie pizza which was awesome.  After we ate pizza she played on a little playground for a bit and then we went into one of the nearby stores.  I was excited to find rashguard swim shirts on clearance for a super deal.  I love rashguards because they protect my kiddos from the sun and the biggest plus is less sunscreen to put on.  Honestly anyone that has kids knows that applying sunscreen on a squirmy kid is not fun.

So Celia had some fun with the sunglasses in the store.

We then headed to another store for some ice cream.  After that Celia really wanted to try out the bumper cars.  I was very hesitant and warned her that it might be too pricey.  I also was concerned about the pizza and icecream in her little tummy and adding in some bumping!!  Well no fear, we went in and found out that the bumper cars were $12 for 5 minutes and decided that was RIDICULOUS.

I enjoyed our little Mommy and Me date a lot and hopefully Celia will enjoy it for many years to come, likely until she reaches 13??

Sisters