I got the post-Christmas organizing bug. So last Friday evening I took the opportunity to organize the kids' toys. I moved 6/7ths of them to the family room and organized them making sure to gather and count all their various pieces to assure that all were accounted for. Then Maggie woke up Saturday morning and dumped out every last bucket of toys making may-hem of it all over again.
So Saturday night I took the opportunity to pack away many of the toys (especially those with all the pieces that needed to be numbered and accounted for).
Then Sunday afternoon she made a jumble of the remaining toys.
Which makes me wonder if she even cares what the toys are or if she just likes dumping. Which made me realize that I should just keep packing the toys away. I can get them back out when she actually cares. How many toys does a kid need, anyway? My grandpa used to tell us about how he spent his whole childhood playing with sticks he cut into different lengths. The short sticks were sheep, the bigger ones were horses, and the really big ones were cows. A few sticks sure would be easier to clean up...
Also, while organizing I finally got to hanging up some "art" in the boys' room. I picked up these frames at IKEA for 2 bucks each. They don't have real glass in them, which is actually better for hanging around boys anyway, I figure.
Here I framed a few pages from one of our favorite books "How I Became a Pirate." On one of our very first dates I read this book to Dan and he was laughing so hard he started crying. Then both of us were sitting there crying real tears while staring at a picture book. Its one of my favorite memories.
I found this old map at my grandma's house, it was so old that it was coming apart along all of the fold lines, so I just cut it up and framed 6 of the sections. I'm thinking about picking up some more frames and hanging up more of the map. I adore maps.
14 comments:
Good work, Megs! Those look great!! I agree with the whole toy thing, I had a professor tell us that fewer toys is better than more toys, so pack some away and just swap them out every once in a while. It keeps the imagination going.
Megan, you are my idol. I worship you.
the maps are gorgeous, lovely and wonderful. I want them.
And we just put away a ton of max's toys--all he was doing with them was just dumping them all over his room. Sound familiar? He hasn't missed them at all. In fact, we moved his big recliner rocker out of his room because we were never using it in there. It took him a week to notice it was gone. A week! Crazy, huh?
I love the framed map idea! (I also love IKEA frames.) I try to keep half of the toys stored away in a big tupperware, then rotate things out every other month or so.
what a great Idea, those picture/maps, are so cute. And as for the dumping, I feel like I just need to give up, I will spend hours organizing, then it is all taken apart in a matter of 30 seconds....but maybe we should donate all the toys to charity and just go pick some sticks....why do we spend money on toys?
I loved those framed maps! Great idea and so colorful!
Your decorating is so great. I love it.
I love seeing your twins sleeping so soundly in the same crib. That's just adorable. And the artwork is great too- I should really get that book for Steve. He'd love it too.
I LOVE those frames, baby girl! And what an inspired idea - you can get anywhere from sixteen to thirty two Fabulous art prints just by buying one picture book off Amazon - even USED - so much cheaper than buying a "print" suitable for framing. It works out to about a buck a piece, even at new book prices. And the map - it's really great.
My friend, Ginger, who your mom knows but you do not, organized the toys this way: she hung one of those collapsing wall things with hooks (I know - I'll explain if you really want to know) high on the wall. You can get about eight hooks on those things. Then she sewed up a bunch of heavy canvas bags, each with a clear vinyl window sewn into one side, and each with a drawstring - sized to hold toy sets.
She'd put all the parts together in each bag, then hang the bag up there on the wall. The kids could choose one or two bags to play with - but they couldn't play with the rest until everything was put back into the first bag. So it was mom gave them the bags, one at a time. No dumping. No combining wildly. And no kid in control. And Ginger's kids have turned out great - creative, smart, disciplined. One of them even trains horses, so you KNOW she did a great job!
I love it. What great ideas! You are so taltented:)
I used to be organized....had all of the toys in plastic Rubbermaid containers stacked just so.....but the dumping and putting back.....I'm still putting back fifteen years later and I got tired of every time my kids wanted a new toy and had to ask permission........I really didn't care anymore. Seemed like I spent the whole day getting new toys and putting back the ones they'd played with. Finally I just dumped all of their toys into a few big buckets and let them dump away. Before dinner we do a clean up and we all get out our scoops (arms and hands) and scoop it all back up into the buckets. I'm just too done tired to be that organized anymore with the toys.
Love your art work idea. IKEA rocks!
Very nice...you can sit by me!
Kids just love to dump out toys. That's for sure! I love the picture frames with the maps. Very clever.
Wow--love the decor! As far as the dumping.... Yes, I think kids just like to dump and will dump anything. Go with your idea of putting them away. Only leave out the number of toys you want to pick up. LOL
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