Spring Break Day 1: Lego Room

The kids and I have been so excited for Spring Break.  We sat down a few weeks ago and brainstormed some ideas for the week off.  Everyone got to come up with an idea for the five days we would have.  On our first day it was a combination of me wanting to get a project done and the boys needing a space to call their own.  The playroom has become a dangerous place for their legos.  The little girls like to destroy their creations and it is a choking hazard having all those little pieces laying around.  They have a little loft in their room that has been kind of a waste land up until now.  We had a TV up there so they could watch movies, some bean bags, and a bunch of mattresses and a bed from our old condo in St. George.  We decided to make it their Lego room instead of a storage heap.

We took tons of stuff out of the room and I went to IKEA for some great organization pieces, some shelves, and a table to build legos on.  We got a lot done, and the room looks so much better than it did.  There are still a few things I want to do, but for now it is great.  Now the boys can build legos without the worry of little hands getting into everything.  It feels good to have at least one room in the house clean and organized.

New Magnet Board

While Mike was gone on his golf trip last week I decided to get a couple of things crossed off my project list. This is our command center in the house. I bought these at Pottery Barn a few years ago. The one on the left has our family calendar where each child is color coded so I know at a glance who has what going on. There is also a place to hang our keys and keep our temperature gauge. The one on the right is a magnetic chalkboard. We've never really used it as a chalkboard because there isn't enough room to write anything under all the papers. Last Christmas Mike's cousin Carrie gave us magnet clips with all the kids' names on them. This has made it very easy to keep track of all their important school papers. I've been wanting to make a much bigger magnet board for a while now. I hate how the papers all hang off the board and often hide the clock. I found this frame at Michael's for half off. I took out the glass and bought a piece of sheet metal at Home Depot. I laughed when I asked the guy at Home Depot where the sheet metal was. He looked at me and then said, "You're making a magnet board, aren't you." I wonder how many women have asked him where the sheet metal is. :) Unfortunately it was a smidgen too big. Fortunately my sister-in-law Megan showed up right then. She went out in the garage, found some gloves and tin snips and went to work on trimming it down. It fit in beautifully! I switched the arrangement because the wall on the left had way more space. Now I have plenty of room for all of the kids' important papers and anything else I want to stick up there. I keep smiling as I walk by it. Thanks for the help Megan!

Organization

When Mike was in Pebble Beach I decided to tackle a couple of organization projects.  I can't do these when he is around because he can not stand all of the stuff laying around.  Doesn't he understand that you have to pull it all out before you can put it all back in?  My major concerns were the pantry and the toys in the garage.  The pantry has been getting completely disorganized, things have just been tossed on the shelves and I can't ever find what I am looking for.  I like my pantry shelves to look like grocery store shelves, organized by food type and in neat rows and stacks.

         

In the garage when we built the house we had one set of shelves built so we could put the kids outside toys in them so they wouldn't be left all over the place.  Over a year later it was still a complete mess and I couldn't handle it anymore.  There was all kinds of stuff shoved into these shelves, stuff that had no business being there.  I remember reading somewhere about how the key to staying organized is having a home for everything.  I did this with the toy room downstairs, where I have bins with labels on them so the kids know exactly where to put their toys.  So I applied this to the garage as well.  I had the kids put the toys and sports equipment into categories and then I made labels for each shelf so they wouldn't have an excuse anymore about knowing where things belonged.

       

I must admit I love being organized.  In fact I crave organization in all parts of the house.  In my closet my clothes are arranged by type and color, as well as my shoes.  This must be why I can't stand shopping in discount stores where everything is all jumbled together.  Michela is starting to follow my lead with her clothes as well, or maybe she's just sick of me coming in and reorganizing her stuff when she isn't home.  I even have my sewing thread and buttons organized by color.  

      

And don't get me going on my movies.  Those are all organized by type and are then alphabetically ordered.  Sometimes I think I might go a little overboard, but it makes my life easier.  The label maker is one of my favorite tools, even though technically I did give it to Mike for Christmas a couple of years ago.  :)  Mike is not too happy with me right now because I am going through all of the kids' clothes and have piles and boxes of clothes all over the place upstairs.  Oh well, at least he should be happy that he didn't marry a disorganized slob!

Cody Rocks!

My children are safe at last!  Mike and (mostly) Cody made a wrought iron railing last week for the stairs that go up to the hut in the boys' room.  Ever since Mike built the stairs I've been afraid that one of the kids would go tumbling over the side.  It is a serious drop off.  Mike and Cody measured it all out and started building it last Thursday.  While Mike was off golfing in St. George, Cody came over and worked his butt off, sawing and welding until he finished it on Saturday.  Mike painted it Tuesday night, and he and I lugged the thing upstairs and installed it last night.  It looks awesome, I love it!  Thanks Cody for doing such an awesome job and thanks Mindy for marrying a man with such sweet welding skills.