Anyone else freaked by the fact that it’s January 10th and the high today was in the 50ies? Don’t get me wrong, it’s very nice….just unsettling. Last Friday, for example, was pretty cool. All the kids in the neighborhood got to do a little roller blading. Several of them, including my boys, got to try out their new skates…which is usually impossible during the first week of January when it’s typical to have a couple feet of accumulated snow on the ground.

 

 

 

Now on to other happenings:

1. A birthday card I made for cousin Jack. I’ve been wanting to try this one for a while!

 

2. “Tis a happy thing to be a father to many sons” – William Shakespeare (Brian was trying to sit for a couple minutes after work last night, but the boys realized he was home and jumped him!)

 

3. Hoarding, aka: working on “my books”. I’m a mom who can’t bring herself to throw anything away….well, not the stuff the kids make. It’s a serious problem. I have piles of their stuff stashed everywhere waiting to be photographed and put into books. My goal over Christmas break was to take pictures of all the things the three of them have done/brought home/drawn/made etc. for the 1st half of this school year. (I got Brady’s done, but 2 other piles are still lurking in various hiding spots!) Then, of course, I get an email with a notice that Shutterfly.com photo books are on sale through tomorrow. I figured I would try to do at least 1 of the boy’s school books. Logan is the farthest behind. I haven’t done his pre-K book, let alone his kindergarten book! I worked on it in earnest today, but I ran out of good lighting and my camera battery died so I’ll have to finish it tomorrow. Here are some pictures of my up-hill battle!

 

Here are piles of stuff that I organized in the kitchen today – this is all Logan’s Pre-K stuff from 2009-2010

His teacher had a share site with pictures from the year. Thinking I was going to get this done much sooner, I ordered a bunch of the prints last summer. Here they are divided by month and classroom activity

Despite the crazy look of it all, the organization usually takes me less than 1/2 an hour because I have a system of saving things. When the boys come home from school every day, I take out their work (ooooh and aaaahhhh…show it to Brian blah blah) and then immediately file it in their folder, newest stuff in the back so it ends up in chronological order)

Here are some pictures of the current problem (not counting what’s all over my kitchen counters right now): this is Aiden’s work from the 1st 1/2 of this year. It’s currently being kept in between two filing cabinets in the office.

This is the drawer of 1 filing cabinet pulled open – that’s some actual files and Logan’s stuff from the 1st 1/2 of 1st grade. Brady’s stuff from this year was in there too, but I took pictures of it over the break and threw it all away! I have now started filing his new stuff behind Logan’s.

This is a cabinet in the dining room area. That’s Brady’s stuff from “I’m not 2 Young To Learn” and “Little Learners” from last year plus Logan’s Kindergarten….I think….

This is a shelf in the pantry – that’s Aiden’s stuff from the brief amount of time I had him in 3’s preschool at the end of 2010 (I wanted to put him in 3’s last year and 4’s this year, but I ended up having to put him in 4’s last year and pre-k this year so I just had him in a class for the last part of the school year 2010 with our wonderful friend Jen….so it wasn’t a “real” year of preschool….don’t tell him, but this stuff might just get pitched instead of making it into a book)

Here are a few examples of what my piles of stuff become: beautiful, hard-bound books that are no more than 1/2-an-inch thick! See….there is a solution to hoarding! (although seriously, which of my boys is going to look through these in years to come!?) It makes me feel better though, therefore I continue :)

Here are a bunch of my books: on the far left, the big ones, the blog books! Yes, I just ordered my 2011 blog….250+ pages of non-sense written by yours truly! Then we have the school year books followed by birthday books, various vacation books and other non-sense. I’m gonna need to get more shelf space…these kids are only 4, 5 and 6! Ok fine…maybe I need to chill on the books (but it’s mother-guilt I tell ya….I’m compelled!!)

And….speaking of art work, check out this totally cool (and SO super easy) art kit that Logan got from Auntie Denna and Uncle Tom for Christmas. We did it one afternoon over the break:

This is Logan’s version of “The Tree of Life” by Gustav Klimt. It’s a giant stencil with different colors of paint and a bunch of funky stickers. He did a good job though and it was a lot of fun! This came from a “Kidsaw Master Kitz”…they have this one, Monet’s Water Lilies and Van Gogh’s Starry Night (Amazon – $25.00)

I need to get it a frame I think. Doesn’t it look nice up on the office shelves?? Ok, now see that pile of paper, sitting way up on the the top, far to the right, kind of covering up one of my fun pictures? That’s some stuff from Logan’s kindergarten last year. SEE!??! I have a problem!

K, gotta run…I have a birthday book for Brady 1/2 done on Shutterfly!