Never ending task....

I am one of those that goes crazy when things are not organized 

but

I have the hardest time also finding a system that works for us.

I seem to find something and then after a couple months/weeks/days 

I decide either I can't keep up with it or it is working absolutely nothing like that

mom who posted the grand idea.....

Am I the only one who looks at pinterest or a blog and thinks

WOW....the answer to my problem

Yet after I am done putting sweat and tears into it, it either looks like

my 3 yr old put it together, nothing at all like it was suppose to or

Ben comes home and asks why I would ever think that would work ;-0

Oh I don't know because this mom who has it completely together and has a home cooked meal

on the table every night, has a fully organized system in every room of her house, makes

everything from scratch, sews, crafts, has an amazing new idea weekly that turns out 

and yet still posts about taking her kids to the park and doing crafts with them made it work!

Well people I think I found a system for the kids unending papers and art work that I want 

to keep for them because you know when they are 30 yrs old they are going to treasure

it beyond words.....they will be so grateful to me for my dedication to preserving their hard work :-0

So I started with a bin for each kid.  Well after that being filled by the end of 1st grade and doing the math times 4 kids I was thinking I'll be needing Ben to build a storage building for the bins alone!

I started by dumping out each year into separate piles.

Then went through and just kept a few things.  I will still have 1 small bin

per child  for the clay pieces, large art pieces and trophies.

Then get some type of file container/bin.  Right now I have all the kids in one but in the end there

will be one per child.

I then added these to the front.....I know my cute little patterns I paid extra for are gone!!  arrrgghhhh...

You can get free printouts for this here.  That is also where I got this solution!

Finally fill the folders with the projects from the different years.....done!

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

We are also trying very hard to keep the kids on task and give them some responsibilities.  Well Caleb started his this past week and he loves it.  His "job" is to help set the table...

He is doing a great job!  

We also have a little bug slowly hitting one kid at a time :-(

Hope you all are staying healthy!!

Packing........

So the packing is underway!!!  Oh the fun.  Last time I did this we only had 2 kids and I feel like a lot less.

I am doing my best to go through everything as I pack it up so I'm not bring anything with that we don't need which is making this process take forever!  But I'm hoping in the end that it will be worth it.

I am also trying my best to keep the boxes next to me so I can pack them fast and seal them.  We are having some issues in the house of things going missing (believe that would be culprit Caleb trying to "help" and tossing things in boxes) and issues of later in the day seeing items I know I put in boxes (that would be little miss Ana pulling out toys or items when I am not looking).  So we take 2 steps forward and 1 back but we are getting somewhere or at least I like to tell myself that :-)

I am also dying to get into the house and get some projects going for the kids playroom/sensory room!

Like this treehouse

Ok tried forever to turn it...lol 

source

Or this fun market

source

these fun seats....

source

And what would a playroom be with a table to do those messy art projects on!

source

Ok now time to stop day dreaming and get back to the world of packing.....I did find a great way though to store special papers from your kids.  I'll post that next time!

Anyone still with me????

Well hello there stranger........Long time no talk.....You want to know how long it has been?  Well long enough that it took me about 5 min to figure out how to get a blank page up on the screen to start this :-)!

So summer is over and fall is finally here.  I love fall, I mean LOVE fall.  Kids are back in school (I love them and all but after 3 months I have run out of fun ideas and the kids have hit the ....I AM BORED.....wall), pumpkin spice lattes are in and I get to sleep under the quilt without sweating buckets.

So what is new around here....we are moving.  If you know me this is wonderful news.  I love to move, every 3 yrs I get the itch and we have been here for 6 so the time has come.  We are not moving far and the kids will stay in the same school but the best part is that my parent are moving up by us.  Oh and not just by us but 2 houses away!  I can not even begin to imagine what amazing memories we will all have in the coming years.  What a blessing for our children!  They love their mimi and papa :)

So to catch you up on the kids.  Nathan is still my crazy boy who loves anything outside.  He started 3rd grade and loves it!  He also started drum lessons and says he can't wait to play at church.

Katie is in 1st grade and is playing the piano now.  Everyday she gets home she also plays school(she reminds me of myself so much).  There is a child who is deaf in her class this year, so instead of just being a teacher she is now the teacher's interpreter.  It makes me smile, she has such a sweet heart.

Caleb turned 5 this summer and is doing amazing.  We chose to hold him back so he is doing 1/2 days in Early Childhood again.  We are hoping his speech will become a bit clearer over the year so he has a better chance of interacting with friends in school next year.  He also started gymnastics and is loving it.  They have the regular teacher, a speech therapist and OT there.  It is awesome.

And last we have Ana, miss personality.  She has such fun humor and keeps us running.  I love having her home everyday.  She also started gymnastics and is doing great.

Other then the kids keeping me very busy I have been searching the internet for lots of fun projects for Ben once we move.  I have a tree house picked out, a kitchen table to make, a kids art table, some book cases, toy storage cubbies and a play house for the playroom ;-) (quiet...he doesn't know yet I have that many picked out!)  Oh and then I am hoping to make part of the playroom into a therapy/sensory area for Caleb.  That should keep us busy over the cold winter.

Here are some pictures from the summer!

Hope everyone had a great summer!