Toy Organization

A friend remarked the other day that my home looks very kid friendly.  My couch doesn't have throw pillows.  I don't own a coffee table.  There are no baskets of fashion magazines.  There are no end tables or shelves with knickknacks or decorations.  And I'm ok with all that.  

If I was interested in having a living room for the purpose of impressing other adults, then I could easily sequester all toys to the school room and bedroom.  But this home belongs to these four children as much as it belongs to me and my husband. 

So it looks like I live in a preschool, and I guess I kind of do.  And again, I'm ok with that, as long as every toy has it's place and is put back in it's place.  Organization is very important to me.  I reorganize the toys very often.  As in, every other month or so.  Usually it's prompted by accumulating a new toy or container.  I'm always trying to figure out a more efficient way of organizing stuff.  I also redo things if I notice that something isn't being played with or isn't being cleaned up properly.

I just yesterday finished reorganizing again in anticipation of receiving new school supplies and because we received a new small book shelf; so following is what our house looks like at the moment.

This is in the living room entertainment center under the TV. 
On the left is a box full of baby dolls and clothes.  It's small and hard to see, but the box is labeled "baby 3 of 3."  I haven't bought any new boxes, baskets, shelves, or drawers in 3 or 4 years.  I just keep shuffling around and re-purposeing what I already have.  So this box used to be in storage with baby stuff. 
Next to that is a box full of play food.  Above that is a little cubby where we keep library books.  Finally, to the far right are all the matchbox cars and tracks.

In the living room next to the window. 
The wide drawers were originally bought to store the kids' clothes (we didn't own a proper dresser for them until last year.)  I bought the skinny drawers when we first got married to store stuff in the bathroom. 
Notice how all the drawers are labeled with sharpie and masking tape?  Super fancy.  :)  A long time ago I took pictures of the toys and made them into really nice labels.  But I reorganize things too often and that takes too much extra work.  So masking tape, or sometimes file folder labels, work just fine for me.  I value practicality over style, obviously.
In the skinny drawers: sun hats, small dolls, jewelry, small dress up stuff (wallets, keys, wands, etc), and big cars.  In the wide ones: burp cloths/receiving blankets/bibs, Barbies, plastic animals, action figures/polly pockets, and 5 drawers of baby toys/small board books/cloth books.

This is in the bedroom, between a dresser and the foot of the toddler bed.  That book shelve on the left was given to us by my mother-in-law, who found it on free-cycle.  Obviously it holds all the big trucks.  Next to that is the baby doll crib I played with as a child and our boxes of Mega Blocks.

Between the side of the toddler bed and another dresser are our big boxes of wooden puzzles and frame tray puzzles.

The top of one dresser holds all the castles and play sets for our Polly Pocket dolls.

Finally, a view of the closet floor.  As you can see, it is full of dress up clothes.  I have struggled for years to find an ideal system and place for it all.  Nothing worked.  It always turned into the biggest, most annoying mess!  So finally, I just gave in and let it take up the whole closet.  As you can see, there are 3 boxes.  But nothing is separated into specific boxes.  All I ask is that the mess be thrown back in the closet when the kids are done playing with it.

 

Well, there you have it.  The school room also stores a large portion of our toys, and maybe I'll blog about it once my order is in and we're ready to start school again next month.  But hopefully what I did share gave you some ideas and inspiration.  

6 Tips for Crafting with Kids

Honestly, I don't do crafts with my kids as often as they would like.  The biggest reason is I tend to get really anxious about messes being made and supplies being wasted.  So here are a few of my favorite tips that keep me sane:

1. When using white glue, kids tend to squeeze the bottle too much and really over do it.  So instead of handing them the bottle, squirt some glue into a bowl and give them a craft stick, cotton swab, or paint brush to use to spread the glue where it's needed.

2. I love my Ed Emberley drawing books.  They show kids in a a step-by-step way how to use simple shapes to make all kinds of things.  When we read a story about crocodiles who got sick, I had the kids do this craft where they had to draw a crocodile, give it spots, and make clothes for it.  I wouldn't have known how to show them how to draw a crocodile without Ed Emberley's help.

3. When we do any painting project, I have them wash their paint brushes in heavy ceramic mugs.  They are a lot less likely to tip over than paper or plastic cups.

4. Paper plates have many uses.  We've made several crafts with them and they're obviously good for holding and mixing drops of paint.  But I also really like to have the kids work on small crafts directly on their own paper plate.  That way, they have a defined work space that can be labeled with their name if needed and can be moved easily to a shelf for drying.  It's especially good for containing glitter!

5. When you're done crafting, have the kids help clean the paint, glue, and markers off the table with shaving cream.  Just squirt it on and let them spread it around.  It really does a good job cleaning and besides that, it's a really fun, tactile experience.  If you use shaving gel, it's especially fun for the kids to see the green or blue gel turn to white lather.  When they're done playing, just wipe it off with a wet rag.

6. Finally, just get out of the way and don't worry about the mess!  It has amazed me this summer the things that Secundus has come up with when I've left her to her own devices and free reign of the craft boxes.  It has been so hard but so worth it (and my school room has survived!)  I'll have a post soon about all the cool things she has made.

An Open Letter to Mr. Jeffrey Wheaton

(If you read through all the way to the end, you'll be rewarded with an awesome picture of me as an awkward kid.)

Dear Mr Wheaton,

I wish I knew how to contact you and tell you all this in person.  Oh, well.  Here it is anyway.

I just wanted to tell you what an impression you made on both my husband and I.  You were one of my favorite teachers.  It was amazing teachers like you and Mrs. Bhatti that inspired me to become a teacher myself.

My husband knew you first when he was in your fifth grade class at a private school.  He didn't have many friends and was bullied a lot.  He felt like all the adults at school didn't trust him and sided with the bullies.  You were the sole exception. 

He also wasn't very close to his father.  When he shaved for the first time, naturally he wanted to share the excitement of this milestone with an important man who would show pride in him.  That man was you.

Four years later, I was in your sixth grade class at a public school a couple towns over.  I was really awkward, not comfortable with my body type, didn't have trendy clothes, and had some pretty low self-esteem.  I over-compensated by dressing and acting really weird.  You embraced my weirdness and dubbed me, "Queen of Strange."  I remember you joking one day that I wore a tie to school more often than you did.  You made me feel like it was ok and even cool to be weird, strange, or different.

You were the one who introduced me to the Princess Bride.  You decided to show it to us on a party day (probably the last day of school) and I remember you excitedly telling me your plans saying that you had this really silly movie that you knew I would just love!

You weren't just an awesome person, but also an awesome teacher.  We learned a lot but also had fun doing it.  During our study of Ancient Egypt, you brought in a video of Steve Martin singing about King Tut on SNL.  It was very educational, I'm sure.

One of my most painful memories from elementary school was in sixth grade when I was cut from Readers Theatre.  (As background for posterity and any blog readers that care: everyone's required dress for our Readers Theatre performances was black bottoms and a black turtleneck.  The form did not specify that it had to be pants.  The morning of our first performance in front of the school, I showed up wearing a skirt.  The parent volunteer in charge of it screamed at me and treated me like an idiot and said I could not go on stage with a skirt.  Then she gave my part to her daughter and her daughter's friend.  The way I remember it, having my mom bring me pants was not given as an option.  Even if it was an option, I was too worked up emotionally to go on stage.  I was not allowed-or too embarrassed/traumatized-to participate in any of the other performances either.)  You were incredibly understanding and compassionate through the whole ordeal.  When it was our class' turn to go down to the auditorium to watch the performance, you recognized how hard it would have been for me.  You suggested I spend that time helping out in the kindergarten classroom-a place I was often allowed to volunteer in.

You were such a great teacher that our sixth grade class planned a baby shower for you!  It started with me and my friends (Sarah, David, Honey, Allison, Leslie, Beth) wanting to do something really nice for you.  We found out when your anniversary was and that your wife was pregnant.  After talking about it for a while, we decided to include the whole class.  How many teachers get thrown a baby shower during school by their students? 

Thank you for being such a positive influence in my life and in the life of my husband.  I hope you understand how much you were appreciated.  I hope that you and your family are doing well.

Sincerely,
Shirley, Queen of Strange

P.S. I was sorely tempted to include your picture from the yearbook to show your awesome mullet.  You're welcome.  Instead I'll include one myself from 6th grade.  Here I am in the Kindergarten class with my little sister.  Note the bad side bangs, pioneer dress, turquoise Croakie on the glasses, and Cat's Cradle elastic worn as a bracelet.  Stylin'

Unicorn Birthday Party

Here's just a quick run down with pictures from Secundus' 5th birthday party.  I don't decorate and generally like to keep things simple:

Rainbow Fruit Salad.  Strawberries, clementines, pineapple, pear, grapes.

Cupcakes with unicorn horns on top.  I covered sugar cones in frosting, rolled them in colored sugar, and then wrapped them with Twizzler Pull-and-peels.

Inside the goody bags: Ring Pop, chocolate-peanut butter Bugles (unicorn horns!) and a playdough kit.

Hotdog Unicorn Horns.  I wrapped hotdogs in strips of canned pizza dough and cooked them on a greased cookie sheet for a little longer than the package recommended.

Party Games:  Pin the horn on the unicorn and a relay race.  For the race, they had to gallop to one end of the room to pick up a rainbow tale strip and then gallop back to tape it to the unicorn picture.

Unicorn horns party hats.  Simply made from construction paper with gold glitter swirls and tied on with yarn.

Easy Strawberry Cheesecake Bites

I saw this recipe for cherry cheesecake bites on pinterest.  It was really yummy with fresh cherries, good with jarred bing cherries, and ok with maraschino cherries. 
http://www.ohbiteit.com/2012/06/cherry-cheesecake-bites.html

Then I tried it with strawberries and it was delicious, too! 

Blend together:
8 oz cream cheese
1 cup powdered sugar

Dip the strawberries in the cream cheese mixture and then dip in crushed graham crackers.  I had enough cream cheese mixture to dip 3 lbs of strawberries.  So easy (and addicting)!

The Optimism of a Child

Today was Secundus' 5th Birthday Party-her first ever "friends" party. 
I passed out the invitations almost a month ago and the only RSVP's I received were "No."  I had 9 kids on my list that I never heard from at all.  I can't judge too harshly because I am horrible at RSVPing.  But even so, I was stressing out about not knowing how many kids were going to come.  Mostly I was anxious that no one would come and then I would have a disappointed kid on my hands plus all that hard work gone to waste. 

In the end, only two friends came.  Add in Secundus and her siblings and that means we had five party-ers, which is actually a pretty good number.  But I was still so focused on how depressing it was that more kids couldn't be here. 

But then I stopped my moping long enough to listen to the laughing and joy that was coming from those five kids.  I even heard Secundus describe her party as "fantastic" and exclaim, "This is the best party ever!"

My little girl wasn't concerned with how many of her friends weren't here.  She didn't give a second thought to having "only" two birthday presents.  She didn't even care that we did it at home rather than going to a fancy, expensive, super fun party place.  And she believed that her goody bags in plain brown paper lunch sacks were the coolest.  She was focused on how much fun she was having with two awesome friends, playing fun games that she herself proudly helped plan.

If only more adults had the optimism of children, the world would certainly be a better place. 

Co-Dependency

I am sooo co-dependant! 

I see in myself several classic co-dependant behaviors that extend into many areas of my life.  Two of those that I recently realized that I exhibit in my relationship with Hubby are Rescuing Behaviors and Suffering Behaviors. 

Exhibit A: (Rescuing) Yesterday Tertius had a potty training accident on the carpet.  I told Hubby that I would clean the boy up and wash the carpet if he would just run to the garage (which is hotter than the surface of the sun) and get me the steam vac.

He came back quickly to remind me that it was still loaned out and to ask where the carpet cleaner was so that it could be taken care of by hand.  I answered, "In the garage," as I apologized profusely for making him go out to that super hot garage twice.

When he came back and voluntarily started cleaning the floor, he expressed to me that I shouldn't be apologizing for making him go out in the heat.  He would much rather do that than clean up the mess I volunteered for.

Also, last night he started cleaning up the dinner table without me asking him to.  I quickly joined him and started putting food in containers with him instead of continuing whatever it was that I was in the middle of.

Exhibit B:  (Suffering) Most other days of the year, I feel resentful that Hubby doesn't notice what needs to be done around the house, and doesn't step up and help out without being asked. 

Do you see how those two don't go together?  It's totally irrational and unhealthy! 

A few years ago, when I was at a really low point in my life, a really smart person (who knows Hubby well) gave me some great advice: "Just ask him to help out.  Tell him what needs to be done and he'll do it."  It sounds so simple but it was a definite "Ah ha!" moment for me. 

It really is so simple and when I ask Hubby to help me, he always does.  The problem is that when I am really stressed out, I tend to fall back on my old habits of my co-dependant suffering behavior. 

With this newly re-established insight, I decided to do things differently.  Tonight after our party guests left I was feeling very overwhelmed by what needed to be done (table cleared, food put away, dishes done, laundry done, pool covered.)  Plus it was so hot (horrible heat wave this week!) and I had a headache so all I wanted to do was sit in the kiddie pool.

The co-dependant me would have told Hubby, "I'll take care of everything," and then grumble about having to do it by myself.  But the healthy me took over, told Hubby what needed to be done, did a little bit of work, and then selfishly played in the pool with the baby.

I felt so much better in more ways than one!  (Quartus apparently needed the one-on-one time with mommy in the cool water, too.  He loved it and went from being super cranky to relaxed and happy and ready for bed.)

Addicts have to work on their recovery every day.  If they get complacent, it becomes so easy to slip and fall back on old bad habits, behaviors, and addictions.  It's the same way for co-dependants.  I have to recognize in myself what my negative tendencies are, identify my triggers, and work on being more healthy and positive every day.

Epiphany: Why I Don't Need a Teaching Credential

I was just reading this blog post:
http://www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com/10-things-you-should-know-about-homeschool-moms/

And when I got to number two I went, "Oh my gosh!  So that's why states shouldn't require homeschooling moms to have a teaching credential!" (Go here to read about the legal battle a few years ago in California regarding this.)

In case you're too lazy (tired, busy, uninterested) to read the above post, the blogger claims that, "See, a teaching degree prepares a person for things like classroom management. It doesn’t really cover what to teach, as many assume." 

My homeschool definitely does not look like your average public school classroom.  Why would I need to learn about things like classroom management?  As a mother, I'm learning on-the-job everyday how to manage my household and children.

Before kids came along, my goal was to get a bachelors in Liberal Studies and an elementary teaching credential.  Before my boys were born, I was still going to school and taking one or two classes a semester.  I eventually earned an AA in Liberal Arts (and one class away from a second AA.) 

So, no, I don't have a teaching credential.  (I don't even have a bachelors, but I suppose that is an argument for another day.)  But am I any less qualified to teach my own children?  No!  And while I would still love to go back and finish my bachelors, I no longer feel the need to get a credential. 

As was quoted above, a teaching degree doesn't cover what to teach.  Oh, a credential program probably discusses what is required by state standards.  But there is so much more to learn in life than state standards!  Especially for homeschoolers, there are so many different curricula and resources out there.  I love the freedom I have to choose things based on what I know will work best for my children's individual learning styles and passions.