28 Day Organizing Challenge

Life happens. Especially life with a 2 year old and a six month old. Between the holidays, several rounds of colds, and just plain day to day living - I am sad to say that our home became quite a bit cluttered. Last year, my husband and I were tempted to buy a house, but decided to make due with where we were at for a bit longer. In order to stay where we are at - major decluttering is definitely in order. For this challenge, I am going to do our living room/kitchen combo for the whole room. We have definite organization issues in this room which is our main living area and where we spend most of our time. There need to be defined areas for playing, working, eating, entertaining, storing, to name a few. I am excited to break down this room bit by bit until I love every inch of it. I am ready!

Here is a little taste of one of our areas in need of help - YIKES!

Check out what other people are organizing at orgjunkie.com

Let the organizing begin!

Tot Week -

This week was pretty quiet. We stayed in from the cold and settled back into some normal routines. This is what we got accomplished this week:

Lil Diva had her first trip to the dentist. No cavities - everything looked great! She went with her daddy and, big surprise, she loved it! The dentist let her ride up and down on the chair. The hygienist showed her how all the tools worked. She has told me many times since then that she wanted to go back. I am so glad that it was a good experience!

Sometimes Mini Diva likes to be swaddles up like her little brother.

I tried to make Cook and Serve pudding for the Mini Diva to practice her letters in. Unfortunately, I was making baby food at the same time and it got a bit too lumpy. Luckily, she did not mind. She was more interested in mixing with a spoon than doing letters. She has really been into helping make meals lately.

The little smartie decided to build a cave for herself and Mini Dude. She put one of her blankets over the top of his activity center. They had a lot of fun underneath.

And nap time .... one of my favorite times of the day.

This week we also worked on numbers. I bought a darling sticker book at the bookstore. Mini Diva did a good job at putting the right amount of objects next to each number.

Menu Plan Monday

This week we are keeping it pretty simple. The kiddos and I have come down with colds again - no fun! Looking forward to trying some new pork recipes and filling up on soup!

Dinners:
1. Sweet and Sour Pork Ribs with Fresh Fruit Parfait Mold
2. Homemade Mac and Cheese
3. Saucy Pork Chops and Salad
4. Chili and Grilled Cheese Sandwiches
5. Hamburgers, Oven Fried, Broccoli
6. Quinoa with Chicken and Black Beans
7. Super Bowl Dinner with family

Lunches:
1. Mexican Meatball Sandwich
2. Homemade Pretzels and Strawberries
3. Quesadillas
4. Turkey Sandwiches
5. Slow Cooker Baked Potato Soup
6. Leftovers
7. Leftovers


Breakfast:
1. Breakfast Cookies and Oranges
2. Delicious and Oh So Easy Oatmeal
3. Pancakes and fruit
4. Strawberry and Blueberry Shakes
5. Bacon, eggs, hashbrowns
6. Banana Oatmeal Muffins


Snacks:
Homemade Whole Wheat Vanilla Wafers
Crispy Cheese Crackers

Tot School - Getting Back into the Groove!

I feel like our year is finally beginning! Goodbye 2009 and, most importantly, bronchitis! Last week we didn't get to do as much as we liked, but we still had a lot of fun. I would love to seek out the advice of my fellow Tot School Moms so I have a few questions:

1. How much time do you spend doing activities with your children versus allowing them to do self-directed activities? I see a lot of value for both types of activities, but I am unsure how to balance and schedule my days. For example, one day last week, I had a few activities planned. I was ready to start and noticed that my daughter was having a ball stacking and restacking plastic cups. A fun self-directing activity right? No way did I want to pull her away to do what I had planned. So do I just keep the mom/daughter activities for times when her own activities aren't engaging her? How do you plan out your day?

Perhaps I will just start out with this question today since it turned into such a big one. I would love any insight.

So here is our week in review:

Letters: Mini Diva LOVES stickers. She put all her Animated friends on the Letter A. She decided to put them all within the A on her own which I thought was cool :).

Imaginary Play: Mini Diva is getting more and more into dress up and often includes Mini Dude in her fun. This day it was sunglasses, last week he was Cinderella.

Life Skills: Number one priority has been helping her to be the best big sister she can be. We are working on using quiet, gentle voices when we speak to the baby. For the most part, she is a doting, loving sister. She loves to put his bink back in and often brings him toys to play with.

I have also been focusing on allowing her to help me in my chores more. This week Mini Diva:

• Made pancakes! She LOVES pouring and mixing. I can tell that she is getting more focused when we cook together. She was quite sad when I told her that she couldn't flip the pancakes, but she did enjoy counting to 3 and telling me when to flip them.
  
• Laundry. Transferring clothes from the washer to the dryer is something that Mini Diva enjoys doing.
• Putting dishes in the sink.
  

That is all for last week. This week is already proving to be better! Can't wait to post on Sunday!

Menu Plan Monday

Dinners:
1. Quinoa and Sundried Tomato Parmesan Chicken with Broccoli
2. Twice Baked Bacon Potato and Veggies
3. Easter Leftover's Casserole
4.
5. Hamburgers and Cheese Fries
6. Baked Chicken and Rice with Fresh Fruit Parfait Mold
7.

Lunches
1. Black Beans Salsa and Brown Rice
2. Soup and Grilled Cheese
3. Mexican Meatball Sandwiches and Carrot Sticks
4. Soft Pretzels and Cottage Cheese
5. Turkey Sandwiches and Fruit
6. Crock Pot Mac and Cheese
7.

Breakfast:
1. Peanut Butter Oatmeal Muffins
2. Fruit Smoothies
3. Cereal
4. Bacon Hashbrown Bake
5. Fried Eggs on Toast, Oranges
6. Breakfast Cookies and Apple Sauce
7. Scrambled Eggs and Bacon

Snacks:
Homemade Granola Bars

Menu Plan Moday - Comfort Food

This week I am mixing comfort food with weight loss food. Looked up recipes for my favorite comfort foods on Weight Watchers. I found some good ones that I am giving a try! We are all recovering from bronchitis so I was looking for yummy things that weren't too hard to make.

Some of these are carry overs from last week that we didn't get to. I did make the Corn Clam Chowder and the Blueberry Oatmeal Muffins - both were a HUGE hit! Very delicious!

Menu Plan Monday
Dinners:
1. Ham Fried Rice and Potstickers
2. Twice Baked Bacon Potato and Veggies
3. Spicy Black Bean Soup
4. Crockpot Hamburger Casserole
5. Hamburgers and Cheese Fries
6. Baked Chicken and Rice with Fresh Fruit Parfait Mold
7. Classic Shepard's Pie

Breakfast:
1. Peanut Butter Oatmeal Muffins
2. Fruit Smoothies
3. Cereal
4. Bacon Hashbrown Bake
5. Fried Eggs on Toast, Oranges
6. Breakfast Cookies and Apple Sauce
7. Scrambled Eggs and Bacon

Lunch:
1. Black Beans Salsa and Brown Rice
2. Soup and Grilled Cheese
3. Mexican Meatball Sandwiches and Carrot Sticks
4. Soft Pretzels and Cottage CHeese
5. Turkey Sandwiches and Fruit
6. Burritos
7. Leftovers

Tot School - Sick week :(

Tot School is off to a slow start this year. Mini Diva and I have been down with bronchitis since the 4th and Mini Dude just came down with it last Thursday. So we've slowed down and focused mostly on getting well!

This week we:

• Played with puzzles. I would ask Lily to find a farm animal that was white or that made the sound "moo", etc., and she would find the right piece to put in the puzzle.
  
• Played pretend with Mrs. Potato Head. This was a huge hit. She loved dressing her. It was a good activity in putting body parts in the right places. She also called her "potato baby" and gave her baths with wet wipes and fed her with a bottle. Very fun.
  
• Baked muffins. Mini Diva is great at putting each of the wrappers in the muffin tins. She is also doing well at pouring and mixing.
  

Those were the only planned activities. The rest was getting well and having fun with each other. Looking forward to a fun week this week!

Mini Diva and Mini Dude relaxing on the couch.