It's been a month since I have blogged and I laugh at this because just a short month ago I was talking about "getting my clean on" and wanting to organize this house top to bottom. Well, that was short lived. Partly because real life crept in and the many "to do" items on the list pretty much trumped out the "want to dos". I have been super busy with Stampin' Up! which is a true blessing, but I also have had to re-evaluate priorities and other life's commitments. Not doing the best at it, but trying to...

Now, I'm here in this weird place of feeling not good enough. Not because I can't clean or organize my house. That really doesn't have much to do with it. It's just this thought that Satan is trying to put in my head that I'm not worth other people's time. I can't get over it. It stings. I can't explain it other than it makes me sad and I don't know how to deal with it.

And in the midst of the hurt of what these feelings are, I realize that really it should be about these two beautiful children that make my life a happier place!


Oh, the laughter I am blessed with because of them. And, my husband...who is the most patient man and is willing to give of his time to be with me and to do things with me. I am worth their time and you know what...that's all that really matters.

goodbye Christmas clutter...hello clean slate!

I love Christmas. I really do! But I also love when everything is all put away from the Christmas craziness and my house looks brand new again! It's amazing how much the Christmas decor also adds to the clutter of the house. Don't get me wrong, I love the festivity of it all, but I also like a clean slate. Which brings me to...Day 1 is here (well, technically it was here...I'm just a little behind on blogging about it). Ask Anna asked US to take care of that ready to be put away Christmas decor and say goodbye until next year. And that I did! I will confess the tree is still up, but there aren't any ornaments on it. Does that count? We're just waiting for a good time to actually get it out of the house - dead pine needles and all. Our last couple of nights have been a little busy.

I am big into bins, totes, containers, you name it...if it organizes, I'm into it. And I store all of my Christmas stuff into bins and bins and bins. I haven't crossed over to the "other side" in going all green and red for my Christmas decor (but oh how tempting that is!!). I just can't justify forking over the money when we have bins that work just fine (even if they are blue and purple).

Here are my lovely bins in all their massive glory. I think I might have acquired maybe one (dare I say two?) more bins since I last blogged about my Christmas storage 2 years ago.


But back to THIS YEAR...

The best thing for me to do when putting away my Christmas decor is to gather it all up in one location. I just walk around the house and grab this, that, and the other and bring it all to one big pile. This way the kids can help (with the unbreakables) and I can survey the amount of Christmas stuff I own.


One of the tasks the kids had this year was to take their own ornaments off the tree and place them each in a pile (oops...no picture - just visualize what that would look like!) Since they were born, each of the kids have had their own ornament box, so that when it comes time for another year of decorating the tree, they get to pull their own ornaments out and oooh and aaah over them (like this year!!)


Our misc. family and snowflake ornaments get stored away in this nifty little container that locks together, but there are individual trays. How cool is this?! Can't remember when I got it, but I love it!


A couple of years ago I found this ornament box in the AFTER CHRISTMAS CLEARANCE!! How there was one left and I got it...I still don't know. But I couldn't store my ornament bulbs without it (well, I suppose I could because pretty organizers aren't everything, but they sure are lovely to look at!)


While sorting out all of the Christmas items, I set aside anything that I haven't used in years and am willing to let go. I try to do this little by little every year because I always end up adding at least one or two things to my Christmas decor each year. My pile seemed a bit on the wimpy side this time around, but at least there are a few things headed to my garage sale bin!


And a bonus tip is to set aside a box with any little goodies that you plan to give for next Christmas. I always seem to find a few cute things when I'm browsing the after-Christmas clearance to add to stockings or whatever it may be and it's nice to have a special place for them.


I usually take pictures of my Christmas decor, but this year I didn't - drats! But look at my lonely looking mantle with no stockings hung with care. On my list of projects (which, by the way thanks to Pinterest is getting extremely long!) is a mantle makeover.


Now before I move onto Valentine's Day decorations, Ask Anna encouraged us to do a major cleaning of our clean slate and although I haven't vacuumed up the pine needles yet (remember? I'm still waiting to remove that tree!) I did take the time to dust!

purge, declutter & simplify

I have been in a major mood to ORGANIZE these last few days (without much action, however)! I'm pretty sure it has everything to do with the fact that it's almost the New Year which always seems to bring a different level of motivation. And probably partly because I still have my Christmas decorations half up, half down which makes my house feel cluttered and I'm stuck in that in-between phase. I know how I want it to look...it's just a matter of the route I need to take to get there! I probably haven't done much about that urge to organize because I've been spending more time eye-ing all of the amazing inspiration on Pinterest than actually doing anything. Seriously, it's killing me! I am finding so many ideas and I'm just in L-O-V-E...simply in love with the possibilities of the organizing projects in my future.

However when I start this urge to organize that's really all I want to do, but I have to remember I have other responsibilities, too, and I can't let the organizing bug take over my daily routine. I have to fit it in my life when I can. So that's why I was excited to run across Ask Anna and her 14 Days to Get Clean & Organized challenge. It's just a little at a time and step by step I will conquer some organizing I want to get done without it taking over my life. Wanna join me?




One of my goals for the year 2012 is...

Purge, Declutter & Simplify!

I feel like I am an organized person and I don't have a ton of clutter, but it's a matter of making everything simpler and easier for me and my family to continue to stay organized after the re-arranging is done. That's why I was also excited to find The Simpler Life just in time for this New Year and new commitment. I downloaded Beth's 2012 Declutter Calendar and I look forward to taking many more baby steps on my way to simplify my home and get it in the shape I want it to be...and stay that way!

Happy New Year to each of you!!

gingerbread houses and gingerbread men!

A couple of weeks ago before school got out the kids both had parties in their classroom on the same day! Austin's class was making gingerbread houses and Mikayla was having her Kindergarten holiday party. I really wanted to do both and thank goodness Ms. Michelle planned to do the gingerbread houses right away which meant I could buzz over to Mikayla's school in time for her party! I have the pleasure of being the Room Coordinator for Mikayla's classroom so I knew it was important for me to be there to help direct the moms in where and what they needed to help out with.

Austin & his Gingerbread House!

It was so sweet to watch him have so much concentration and careful planning of where he wanted the candies to go. Maybe that's why he was one of the last ones to be finished!

For Mikayla's class party, we had decided on a Gingerbread Man theme...

The next day, Mikayla's class got to have a PJ day and watch a movie. I just so happened to be volunteering that morning and had grabbed my camera on the way out the door!

Mikayla and her "twin" Hannah...
they both got a kick out of showing up in matching PJs!

Mrs. Derry & Mikayla

{sweet faces}

{silly faces}

I am really enjoying not having to do drop off or pick up during this 2-week vacation from school. Oh, and did I mention the sleeping in part? Such bliss!!

Christmas Countdown 2011 - Day 15

Christmas is over, but there is still so much to share! I guess you could say I got a little behind in posting my 25 Days to Christmas activities...let's make Christmas last a little longer!! ;)

Day 14 - Plans got changed! In their place, a fun visit with out of town friends! No pictures...what was I thinking?! :(

Day 15 - Reindeer Fun with Friends

My good friend Sarah and I decided to get together for a fun afternoon with the kids and make our time together reindeer themed!! Little did we know just how "fun" it would be...with me forgetting half of the supplies for the craft, Austin being afraid of their cat, Jilian using her outside voice inside, and Mikayla wanting to just play with the bunny all afternoon. It truly was a comedy of errors, but a great memory was made! Next time we really should take a picture of each other to show off the frazzled mess we were! ;)

Let's make clothespin reindeer ornaments!

As we soon discovered, a craft suited best for older children...

Mikayla & Jilian
Austin giving me the "just one more picture, Mom" look!
Isn't he cute?!
And, aren't they even cuter?!


Let's whip up some reindeer food for Christmas Eve night!

A little oatmeal and sprinkles...

Stir it up...

Reindeer food!!

And, finally...

Let's make reindeer brownies!
(inspired by Pinterest, of course!)


Such a crazy, but FUN afternoon!!

Christmas Countdown 2011 - Day 13

Day 13 - Hanging out with Papa & Grammy

My husband and I celebrated our 8th anniversary on December 13th, so later in the afternoon I took the kids to my parents' house so we could go on a date that night! I wasn't quite ready for the activity for Day 13, so I asked my mom to take a couple of pictures of things that they did at their house. The kids didn't really know any different that this really wasn't the intended activity! ;)

They decorated gingerbread men...

Dressed up in Papa's boots...

...and went to cousin Hunter's Christmas program.

They love spending time at Papa & Grammy's house...
no matter what they do!

Christmas Countdown 2011 - Day 12

Day 12 - Christmas Books by the Fire

Day 12 found the kids relaxing by the fire in their pajamas and snuggled in their sleeping bags ready to read some Christmas books. Each year we have decided to buy each of the kids a Christmas book, so this night was the big reveal! We have a box of Christmas books we pull out each Christmas and leave by the fire and the kids are welcome to read them as much as they want...as long as they put them back in the box! ;)

My Christmas Cuties!

Book #1 - "Santa's Favorite Story"

The next book we had them close their eyes for and then open!

Book #2 - "It's Christmas, David!"

They were both so excited for their books!

And we had a great time reading them...

Christmas Countdown 2011 - Day 11

Day 11 - Family Dinner & Pretzel Kisses

Ever since my parents came "home", the family tries to get together once a week for a family dinner...usually on Sundays. On Day 11 we headed out to my parents' house to eat some yummy taco soup with my sister and brother and their families, as well as my parents. We always enjoy being able to be together and the kids LOVE being with their cousins! For dessert, we enjoyed some pretzel kisses and as part of our Day 11 activity the cousins helped make them!

{The Girl Cousins}
(you can't see her very well, but cousin Hannah is in the background on the right)

{The Boy Cousins}
(minus cousin Jacob who must have been distracted by his book..hee! hee!)

* Pretzel Kisses *

Lay pretzels on baking sheet.
(I've also seen these using star pretzels or round pretzels...too cute!)
Place your choice of Hershey's Kisses (I used "Hugs") on top of each pretzel.

{the little helpers}
Place in the oven at 225 degrees for 3-5 minutes until soft.
(FYI: the "Hugs" melt faster than the milk chocolate Kisses)

Place an M & M on top of each Hershey Kisses and push down.

Each of the cousins enjoyed a treat!

Mikayla - 5 1/2 years

Austin - 4 years
Hunter - 4 years
I tried to snap a picture of cousin Hannah (20 months),
but she wouldn't let me!

Jacob - 11 years
Noah - 6 years
Hailey - 3 1/2 years
Then the treats were passed out to all the adults. Noah was so funny...he would make sure that everyone knew that they could only have TWO.

Fun times with family!