blonde curls and purple polka dots

as if I needed any more reasons to be smitten with this girl!

While Mom was blogging...

I know I sometimes paint a picture of a wild and unruly four year old living at my house.

Which is why these moments are even more wonderful and cherished! I came out of my room tonight, after a much needed time out to find Miss M.

The hopes that I might be raising a bibliophile warm my heart!!! (and it's amazing how nice it is to play in a clean room, right dear daughter of mine????)

because seriously, look who the unruly, wild one was tonight???
I really don't know why marinara=war paint in lulu's mind but apparently it does because without fail, every time she has anything with a red sauce, it's not just all over her face, she literally has wiped it in her hair, on her forehead and nose and all up her arms!
but at least she's full, satisfied and had fun, right??? :)

This one has definitely missed her story time with Dad. I need to be better at it while he's away. I've been sooo spoiled!
I love this girl.

What happens when a pack rat has children????

....she has baby pack rats!!!!

Promise we can still be friends if I show you these pictures?

Promise you'll still like me?

deep breath...

Okay, here's the scary truth.

This is how my girls' room looks MOST of the time. My cheeks are turning red even writing this!

Somehow, their darling room turned into a chaotic, disorganized mess that only gets clean if I do it all by myself, all the while yelling at M for not helping.
Sadly, it took a long time to realize that there were major toy storage and organization issues so that she COULDN'T help me. There were things she could do to pick up, but not much without causing a bigger mess.

So.....

armed with new, bigger and more plastic bins and a plan, I tore their room apart on Saturday morning.

Five hours later....

...still a work in progress but SOOOOO much better! Right?

Problem number one:

storage, we had lots of baskets which means lots of dumping and lots of "oh I'll just throw these in here" when we're cleaning up.

Solution: bins! glorious bins! and we still need more!

Problem number two:

lulu's dresser was in the closet. I thought it was smart at first to give more space to the room but I've come to realize I want the closet space for toy storage under their clothes soooo much more!

Solution: move out the dresser, move in the bins of toys! Now there's twice as much room in the closet for toy storage!

Problem number three:

Always messy!

Solution:

I rearranged the room so that the dressers and beds were all on one side and the toys and closet full of toys were all on one side so it wasn't chaos. Hopefully, when they play, it will stay more contained and the cleanup will be easier.

Problem number four:

angry Mommy during cleanup

Solution:

We still had a basket of toys in the living room the next Monday. It was our first test. We were able to clean it all and put things away because everything now had a home instead of just dumping that basket into another in her room. Even lulu knew where the babies and the "bobbies" went! Hooray!

So far so good!

We need more bins, we need to get rid of more stuff, and we need to keep cleaning it regularly.

jammies

Someone fed my older daughter sugar last night. Or caffeine.

Or it could just be that her Daddy is coming home tonight!!!!!

She was bouncing off the walls.

She has a crazed look in her eye.

She wants to match jammies lately. If Lu is wearing a nightgown, she wants to. If we're wearing shorts and a tee, she wants to. Tonight she had a nightgown out and then put it away so she could wear her school pride and comfy pants too!
Crazy or not, I love that smile!

ps-someone fed my younger one sugar for breakfast! she's running around the house saying "hi daddy! hi daddy! hi daddy! hi daddy!"

then she'll come up to me, grin, and say, "bye, see ya, love you" with all the appropriate hand gestures and run off to play more!

love these girls!

Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

Less than 48 hours!!!
He's coming home!! The girls and I are so excited!









Is my mushiness grossing you out yet??? Well, no worries, you probably won't hear from me for a bit because I'll be frantically cleaning the house and preparing for my hubby to come home for a whopping two days!!! See you next week!!

ages and stages

Several of you commented on their closeness in age. It's fun being prego with your sisters in law! Probably won't happen again, our "schedules" don't match up anymore! :)

from left to right:

21 months, 3 1/2 years, four years next week!, 4 1/2 years, 2 1/2 years, 7 years, 6 months, and 9 years

Trouble

I love Sunday dinner with family.

I love these bugs.

I love what my parents started.