Mission Organization.....

I have been on quite a hiatus from the blog. In preparation for the "new school year" (we school year round, but this is a good excuse to get myself in gear) I am on an insane mission organization trip. (perhaps pregnancy "nesting" is in over drive??) I tackled Miss Beans closet first. Because quite frankly, it was an embarrassing disaster. Opening the doors to that closet made this pregnant mommy nauseous! 6 trips to the car (of just fall related items mind you.....and she's only 16 months old!!!) landed all those outgrown cute clothes in a consignment shop. Ahhhhh.......say it with me....organization!!! Her closet is simply fabulous now...and I smile instead of gag when I open the doors...so that right there tells you....it's just amazing now!

The next four items on the list to be tackled are toys, our home library, a bedroom remodel, and homeschooling supplies. These are biggies. And quite frankly, I'm a bit scared!

My goal is to pull any toys Miss Bean has outgrown, put them in a storage tote, label them with the age she played with them, and store them away for this baby #3 due in November. I envision a clutter free, tote lined closet of all these goodies just waiting for baby to grow into them. In reality, what will probably happen is she will tantrum at the thought of me pulling her baby toys away from her, I'll give in, and all these "never played with anymore" toys will scatter themselves on my floor on a daily basis. Hey....one can dream, but reality needs to be present somewhere!

Slugger is mainly into baseball, so as long as I keep his baseball supplies at arms reach, (and probably a few cars) he probably won't even notice the change. Baseball and cars.....cars and baseball....his two obsessions.....his daddy is so proud!

Our home library has never been complete. I started the big project a month ago in a spare room downstairs located right by their playroom. My goal is to create a space for the kids where they are surrounded by books, floor cushions, maybe some classical music and just let them thumb through the pages of really good, meaningful books. We will have a book list at arms reach where each time they read a book, we will make a paper chain and hopefully, sooner than I expect, they will have read 100 books. Fortunately, my kids LOVE books. We will see what happens to this project. Because of our iPad purchase for Slugger, many of the books (plus a bazillion more) can be purchased in interactive, digital format. So I'm debating this subject and may turn the library into a spare bedroom.....again....decisions, decisions!

A bedroom remodel. This one is tricky. We have 3 bedrooms on our main floor (a 4th being the library or "room to be maybe turned into guest bedroom"). Our 3rd child is due in November. I want a nursery for the baby...which means Miss Bean and Slugger would have to share a room. I refuse to put Slugger in the bedroom/library downstairs. He's only 3 1/2 and being on a different floor than me just isn't going to happen people! Now...part of me thinks this would be super fun for them. They get along great and are wonderful to each other. I think if we re-decorated a room for them to share BEFORE baby gets here, it would be something special for them not related to the baby. I imagine it looking so cute. I have all the bedding picked out, the paint color, how their toys will be arranged, etc. But part of me thinks this could very well be a nightmare! Miss Bean is only 16 months old...and we are still working on sleeping through the night. This might just be one of my worst ideas....we use a co-sleeper from the day we bring the baby home until baby is about 4-6 months old (until they literally outgrow the co-sleeper! Haha!) so my husband doesn't understand the rush on a bedroom remodel. (which, I can side with him, honestly) But part of the nesting stage (or at least for me) is to have a completed nursery before baby gets here. Again....decisions, decisions,....

Homeschool supplies super organization. The huge white elephant in our house. We have homeschool stuff everywhere. Upstairs, downstairs, in the living room, kitchen, library, storage room.....it's just everywhere. Ideally, I would love to have everything in ONE place and it be completely organized and tidy. Dreaming big.....but once it's done, it will make my life so much easier!! As mentioned earlier, we purchased an iPad for Slugger's homeschooling. This has been amazing. There are so many great homeschooling apps you can purchase! He has a writing program (we even purchased an iPad pen for him...awesome!!), interactive books, geography programs, spelling, puzzles, math, music appreciation, every core subject you can have in paper form...it truly is amazing. I got overwhelmed by all the items you can purchase for curriculum as we were in a school supply store one day last week. I love stores like those....and could seriously spend our life's savings in one trip. But my husband had a wonderful idea. All the things I wanted to purchase take up space and cost a bunch of money. (two things I am working on). We could purchase an iPad (he and I both have one, and the kids try to take over them), purchase very educational programs and still spend less than what I would end up spending at the store and hey....it doesn't take up any space at all!!! He can take his iPad with him where ever we go and we know he'll be getting his schooling in. If we decided go take off for the day on the road, his iPad would be right there with him with all the supplies he needs for school. Brownie points for the husband!!! So, I'm downsizing a bunch of the homeschooling supplies we have. This will be a big relief for me. Now..Slugger won't be spending 8 hours a day on the iPad. He will still get his hands on activities ( arts and crafts, science experiments, outside play, inside play, etc) but this will reduce the amount of paper waste (and ink waste) by a ton!! Anything he could do writing on paper, he can write on his iPad. And that right there makes me feel better because we end up throwing away a ton of paper!!

Pretty big changes taking place in our little spot of the world. The sooner I can get this done, the sooner I can relax. So...I guess I better stop typing and start doing something productive! Stay tuned for organization pictures, iPad app reviews, and updates on what we are doing!