Colorific

Do you remember how I told you that we recently moved from Iowa back to California? And how, in Iowa, we had 2 kid rooms and 1 basement space worth of toys? And how now all that nonsense needs to somehow fit nicely into 1 small apartment room?  Lordy.

One of my favorite storage solutions is this white cube organizer from Target. What's actually going on in this picture is two 8-cube organizers and two 2-cube organizers. We've been collecting them over the years and I love them, although I'll totally admit that they never actually look this organized unless I'm prepping them for a dang picture. 

Anyway. Check out the books!!! Do you see how they're all sorted by color?  

This is the first time I've ever done that. I've sorted by size, by Ella's books/Peyton's books, and by size again, but they always looked messy. I love that my kids have tons of books, but the disarray-look wasn't working for me. And, more often than not, when it was time for the kids to put their books away, they would shove them on top on the others horizontally and it just about drove me bananas.

And then I had an epiphany! I've had my books in my room sorted by color for years because I like to be all grown-up and fancy like that. Why can't my kids be fancy, too? I had an hour to spare, so...

I love it. The kids love it. Our kid library no longer drives me to drink. 

Wait. What? Never mind.

The only bad thing about these cubes is that they can sometimes be a little small for the big stuff. Our biggest books don't fit, so they have their own basket under the bed.

Anyway, back to the not-freakishly-large normal-sized books. I started the color-coded awesomeness by dumping out all the books into one horrific literary mountain. Then I took a deep, cleansing breath and started tossing the books into loose piles according to the color of their spines. And then I had to figure out how to make those 8 or 9 color piles fit into the 5 cubes I had available for them. 

And, yes, I do know that you could figure out how to organize your books by color if you wanted to. Because you're totally smart like that. But in all honesty, after I had those books sorted by color, I wasn't quite sure how to work it all out so that they looked good. And if I can save you a little bit of figuring-it-out time, then my job here is done.

I tried to do it rainbow-style first - you know - "Red, orange, yellow, green, blue. Don't forget, there's purple too!" Thanks Mickey Mouse Clubhouse song, for taking up that valuable space in my brain.

But the rainbow scheme didn't really work as well as I'd hoped because of the colors we had - mostly blue, yellow, and white, and hardly any purple or green, so I went from dark to light instead. It totally works. 

And it looks AWESOME.

And it's totally educational because I'm pretty sure that's how libraries organize their books. 

Well, it's how libraries would organize their books if they wanted to look amazing and be cool like us. Losers.

I'm just kidding! I love libraries! (I don't want the library people to come after me.)

At bedtime, when it's time for the kids to pick out a story, I make them choose by color. "Tonight you have to pick a yellow book!" They think it's totally fun.

And when it's time to put the books away, they know they have to do it by color and height. "Color and height! Color and height!" I'm drilling it into their heads. It's much easier than our system before. Which wasn't a system at all. It was a bibliophilic disaster.

But now! Now it's all color-coordinated gorgeousness.

And our kid library has looked like this for an ENTIRE WEEK!

I know! That's like an entire year in kid clean room time.

'Under the Sea' Room

Many years ago, when Peyton was just a little two year old boy, he loved Finding Nemo. We watched that movie over and over and over and... 

Somewhere along the line, I decided we might as well go all out and make the kid an ocean room. So I started painting. It probably took me about 3 or 4 months, off and on. I started with painting the walls and the ceiling a beautiful shade of ocean blue. Then I slowly added plant life and creatures. I mostly used the little bottles of non-toxic acrylic paint and, every once in a while, a sharpie marker. 

Can you see little baby Ella in Peyton's crib during the photo shoot? She's so tiny!

James was in charge of all the big green kelp around the room:

Here I am finishing the last creature, an octopus, just ONE day before Ella was born. I wasn't trying to fit it all in before she was born (can you imagine the stress?), it just happened that way. This room was a slow, fun process, not a task.

I got the idea for this cute guy from the front of a Softsoap bottle.

I don't have a close-up, but do you see Rainbow Fish? I love that story!

Dory:

Marlin:

and, of course, Nemo:

We found his curtains at Ikea. They are kind of kelp-ish, don't you think? Even though we've since moved a couple of times, we still use those curtains. They work well with all sorts of boy-themed rooms!

And of course we needed some turtles! Mama loves turtles!

And lots of coral and other plant life:

See the canvas art above his chifferobe? I bought 3 white canvases and some paint. I let Peyton finger paint them whatever colors he wanted. We really didn't need a lot of added wall decoration, since we had so much going on already. I think the simple artwork of a 2-year-old was perfect for this room. (Ah,  Diaper Genie pail, how happy I am that you are not part of our decor anymore.)

I got the idea for these striped fish from some stickers Peyton had:

I painted some little orange sea horses above his toy boxes. I also painted some of those $1 wooden initials blue and hung them above his door. The four blue frames you see are little fish pictures I found in the dollar bins at Target.

You can see the ceiling a little bit in this picture of Peyton's closet. I painted it the same color as the walls. Then I added white to the leftover blue paint to make water ripples on the ceiling. 

I miss this room! I used to lie down on the floor and bask in the calmness of it all. Peyton loved his room, too. But he was so young, I don't think he really got the full impact of it. He mostly just got excited whenever I brought in my box of little acrylic paints to make a new underwater creature. I would spend hours painting while he played in his room. It was so fun to create this relaxing and colorful space for my sweet little guy.

I linked up here: 

Embellishing Life

On Changing One's Name and Other Cuteness

Peyton and Ella were getting ready for bed a couple of nights ago when Ella made an important life decision.

Ella: "Mommy, I want to switch my name."

Me: "Okay, what do you want it to be?"

Ella: "Hello Kitty. Is that okay?"

Me: "Sure."

Peyton: "That's going to be a long name. I would just stick with Ella."

Ella: "Okay. That's long, so I'll pick Peyton."

Peyton: "No, Ella. You can't borrow my name. Right Mommy?"

Me: "That's true. Only Peyton gets his name."

Ella: "Why? Okay, never mind. All I want to pick is Hello Kitty or Rattlesnake."

Peyton: "Ella, Rattlesnake is too long. And it would be hard to write."

Ella: "Okay. I'll pick Hello Kitty."

Peyton: "Can I call you Kitty for short?"

Ella: "Sure! Sure Peyton! How about Hello Kitty Ruff Ruff?"

Me: "Okay. Why do you want to change your name? You don't like the name Ella anymore?"

Ella: "I do like it, but I just want a change."

Peyton: "Is it because Ella is funny and she's naughty a lot and she cries at the park?"

Ella: "No Peyton! My nickname is going to be Ruff."

Then she left the room to make her big announcement: "Daddy! I'm changing my name to Hello Kitty Ruff!"

The End

And, in related cuteness news, Ella gets sad when Peyton goes to school. She misses him a lot. Last night Peyton borrowed a piece of her stationery, wrote a little note on it, and taped it up on the mirror for her to find in the morning: 

I KNOW! ADORABLE!

Getting It Done

A Toys R Us Christmas toy catalog came in Sunday's newspaper last week. I gave it to Peyton and Ella to look through, because I knew they would love it, but mostly because I enjoy Mommy Quiet Time. I gave the classic instructions, "Circle the toys that you would love to get for Christmas. It doesn't mean you'll get them, but it's fun, and Santa likes to know what you like."

Did you do this when you were little? I remember spending hours and hours circling my favorite toys in the Sears Christmas toy catalog when I was young. It seemed so important! I also remember that I rarely received ANY of the toys I circled. I still got great stuff - I'm not complaining at all, but I think Santa and I had conflicting ideas of what was best for me. Just as, I'm sure, Santa might possibly have conflicting ideas of what is best for Peyton and Ella. ESPECIALLY Ella.

Peyton went first. He flipped through to the boy section and carefully circled the things he liked. Then he wrote them in his notebook. Then he researched each toy by looking over the pictures again and erased the ones he deemed inappropriate (too babyish) for his age.

He's totally my kid - the way he tried to write it all neat and organized, and how he researched and made changes. I just think it's the sweetest list ever.

And, off-topic, here's the next page in his notebook:

I love it. He's the perfect 6 1/2 year old. 

Then, Ella got to go through the catalog. I look over, and she's on the couch circling EVERY SINGLE THING in the girl section. Not joking.

And when she was done with all the circling, she got a piece of paper and a pen. And then she asked, "Mommy, how do you spell....."

I'll translate for those of you who aren't proficient in 4 1/2 year old writing: 

"ALL tHE tOYS iN tHe WORLD"

I know! Why didn't I ever think of that? The girl doesn't mess around. She GETS. IT. DONE.

And then, a few days later, I was watching Little Bill with her. A commercial came on for that dang Barbie Jet and she was all ooh-ing and aah-ing over it. I asked her if she would like to put it on her Christmas list and she got all irritated because I had forgotten:

"Mommy! I don't need to, remender?" (I LOVE how she says remender. LOVE!)
"Why?"
"Because it already says All The Toys In The World!"


Good luck with that one, Santa.

It's Puzzle Time!

( Did you hear Moose A. Moose's voice in your head when you read the title?  *sigh*  )

We finally have a place to call home! We just moved into our own little 2-bedroom apartment. The plan is to hang out here for about a year until we find can a city and a home that we really love and want to stay for a good long while.

So, yeah, that's 4 people in a 2-bedroom. Here's the deal with that: We thought it would help us save some money while we find our perfect place. And, truthfully, the kids want to share a room. They've been talking about it for a long time. During last school year, Peyton and Ella would look forward to every weekend because it meant we would let them sleep in the same room. They LOVED it! It was like some crazy special treat that they made up all on their own. So we might as well take advantage of that craziness before they're older and wiser.

Right now, I'm in the middle of a supreme organizational challenge. In Iowa we had a 3-bedroom house with a basement and a 2-car garage. Now we have a 2-bedroom apartment and a 1-car garage-ish space. I keep my sanity by calling it an adventure. And really, I love my little family so much, where we live doesn't really matter. My family makes this apartment a home. A tiny, happy home.

So, let the organizational puzzle work begin! It will be interesting to see how I pull it off. I'm pretty confident that I can. Although, some positive, organizing thoughts sent my way couldn't hurt!

In the meantime...

I was making a list for the grocery store yesterday. Peyton came over, took the list and pen out of my hands, wrote something on the list, and then handed it back. And because of what he wrote, I had to start a whole new list just so I could keep the original one forever and ever and ever.

And . . .  my heart just melted.

On Defending One's Family

If you've read my blog for more than a day and a half, you probably have at least a small idea of how I feel about bugs. To recap: I kind of hate them.

And you know the kind I really hate, right? Yeah....That would be the buzzing kind. I feel as though I've covered this in great detail in past posts.

And now I will delve into what is terrifying me at this very moment. Causing my heart to race, my skin to feel hot and shivery and prickly, my head to feel tight. It's what's causing me to glance up from my computer every 3.5 seconds to ensure that I am not being stalked. It is what is under this box.

See that box? Under that box is some sort of EXTREMELY LARGE buzzing flying insect. I don't know what kind exactly.

What I do know:

1. It's stupid.

I know this because as I was relaxing on the couch, reading Stephen King's On Writing, I heard a VERY LOUD buzzing sound. Since the window in the living room was open, I assumed it must be large bumblebee or something on the other side of the screen. I tend to jump to these kinds of conclusions because they help me keep my sanity.

When I glanced up from my book, you know - just to be sure, I saw a black blob of doom with wings fall to the floor NOT 10 FEET from where I was trying to relax. Bastard! It landed on its back and it was all black and shiny green underneath and it started to shimmy the way really stupid flying beetles are apt to do when they can't turn over. Because they are so stupid.

2. It's probably dead.

I grabbed the closest large object I could find, the Lego box, and laid it on top of the writhing, buzzing horror. But the box was empty. Nowhere near heavy enough to squash a bug dead. The box started to move around with a scratching sound as the thing underneath was trying to claw its way out.

I would have smashed the box and all that survived underneath it with the child's guitar that was nearby (can you picture it? classic.), but both the empty Lego box and guitar belong to our little cousin, Jack. Whose house we are staying in at the moment. Because we are homeless rock stars who just moved back from Iowa. We have been rotating around our family's homes since we got here a month ago. We feel like rock stars because we have a wonderful extended family who missed us and are so glad to have us back that they are each willing to put us up for a week or two while we find our footing. Thank you, family! We love you so much!

However, there is a small possibility that all that good will might come to a screeching halt if I start smashing up their stuff.

So, instead, I carefully loaded some very heavy books into the box through the side opening and pressed down.

And then I pressed some more.

And I slowly backed away and hoped that the thing was dead. As I stared at that box for signs of life, I knew that I needed to have some closure. Because that box would torture me for the rest of the day if I didn't (Is that thing still alive? Is it crawling out to get me?). And, also, because I fancy myself a little bit of a bad-ass.

3. If my children even come this close to accidentally moving that box I will freak out and they will be in the Naughty Corner until the end of time.

As I see it, that box is basically keeping us alive. But it doesn't matter, because Peyton and Ella are busy sorting Jack's Star Wars Lego people. For fun. They are totally my kids.

They are blissfully unaware of our situation. That is really, really good. When I see a scary bug I am able to scream on the inside. Peyton and Ella do not have that ability. Flying bugs elicit screams from my children that rival the screams of stupid people in slasher films. Also, the other day Ella discovered the teeniest, tiniest little spider ever in the history of the world on a stuffed animal and she cried about it for the next 30 minutes.

What I don't know:

1. How did it get in the house?

2. How long has it been in the house?

3. Did it already slither into my ear and lay its eggs while I slept?

4. What was that noise just now????

5. Did the box just move while I wasn't looking at it????

6. Am I going to be able to get up the courage to look underneath that damn box? For the safety of my family?

Yes. I am. But first I needed to call my mom. Because she's not afraid of bugs. She actually thinks they're beneficial. My mom's really smart about most things and I love her more than anything but on this issue she's CRAZY. So I call her so that she can talk me through this. Also, she'll know to alert the authorities should something happens to me while I'm defending my family,.

My mom doesn't answer her phone. Super awesome, Mom.

Plan B: "Kids! Come here for a second! Okay, you see that box? There's a really big bug under there. I think it's dead, but I have to check it out. Wanna watch?"

"Yeah!"

See that? That is some Parent of the Year crap right there. I use my kids to make me brave. I make it a game: Watch Mommy Slay the Beast.

I don the appropriate bug-buster safety gear (the kind that covers my whole body so that nothing can land on my skin), grab my weapon of choice (Real Simple magazine because it's super heavy), and I let Peyton take a picture of my attack face:

And I lift up the box and Peyton says, "Woa! That is humongous! Disgusting!"

See that? Confirmation from a 6-year-old. I'll take it.

Then he decides to measure it (Brave boy! When did that happen? Probably when he realized the bug wasn't really moving):























I scoop it up and take it outside. I am feeling pretty brave myself.

And then Peyton says, "Mommy, I'm proud of you for doing that."

What can I say?

I can't really say much as I'm too busy puffy-painting "H E R O" on a t-shirt for myself.

Banking 101

There is a fort made of chairs and blankets and such.

Inside the fort is The Bank complete with a banker (me) and a bank president (Peyton). Outside the fort is a customer (Ella).

Before I can play Bank I must understand the very complicated way in which the bank operates. It's pretty similar to a regular bank. If that regular bank was operated by very strange and imaginative children who enjoy cheese suckers. I don't even know what those are.

Bank President: "Ella's going to put some money down through here and you're going to try to catch it in the tub."

Bank President: "But when she's done, she's going to put her card inside here. Ella! Not yet!"

Customer: "I didn't!"

Bank President: "Yes you did! And Ella's going to put her card through here when she's done. And she's going to push it over. And then at the end, and she doesn't have any money on it, and you're going to put money on it. And then you're going to give it to me and I'm going to put money on it. And I'll give it to you and you push it back through."

Banker: "Okay. And then she's going to take it?"

Bank President: "Yes."

Banker: "And why is there pee-pee in here?"

Bank President: "Because we have a dog."

Banker: "It's not potty trained yet?"

Bank President: "Umm... No."

Banker: "And why is there a dog in the bank?"

Bank President: "I don't know. Because he's awake all night and he sleeps at day so he's sleeping right now. Because when robbers come out, they usually come out at night. So he'll bark at them and he'll bite them when they try to get money."

Because my kids like to play Puppy they've made a whole set of Pretend-Play Puppy Essentials. They've created throw-up, poop and pee. I bet you can figure out which is which. I'll give you a hint: The throw-up has carrots and puppy food in it.

You are so welcome.

Bank President: "All right, Ella! Now, Mommy, remember, you're going to try to catch it."

Customer: "Wait Mommy! One more thing. Umm... You have to tell me how much I need to do."

Bank President: "Yes. How much buttons she has to pay. But don't say all of it."

Banker: "Okay."

Bank President: "But when she's done doing all the numbers that's done. When she's done putting all the buttons in there, you're going to have to dump it out to me and then I'll put it in the deposit for her."

Banker: "And that will go on her card?"

Bank President: "I'll put it in the computer and then some will go on the computer and when I slide her card, some will go on it."

Banker: "I'll take 5 buttons please."

Customer: "Okay! 1, 2, 3..."

Bank President: "Oh, also, Mommy, you can ask her if she wants a sucker, but she can only have a rainbow colored one."

Customer: "4, 5."

Bank President: "Ella, slide your card and then put it in there. Mommy, when you get it, when I'm done putting money back on it you're going to give her one of these money and put it there with her card and give it back to her. Get ready."

Customer: "Mommy, wait! One more thing. This is how you lock it and this is how you unlock it."

Customer: "Now what am I supposed to do?"

Bank President: "Now you're supposed to get some of this money and put it in there but when I give you your card back you're going to put it there. Here you go. You need all these coins, too."

Banker: "So how much is in on the card now?"

Bank President: "I usually slide it and it then it goes $1000. And you know what? If you work at this bank you get a lot of money. Because it takes up all the money off of her card."

Banker: "So she deposits 5 coins and she gets $1000 on her card?"

Bank President: "Yeah. But then when she comes back, she just paid $1000 plus 5 equals $1005. We have $1005. And then she's going to come back and do a lot of other stuff. Ella, do you remember what to do when you're done by the front of the bank?"

Customer: "I know, go home."

Bank President: "No, come to this side. And bring your money."

Customer goes to the other side of the bank: "Hello."

Bank President: "Hi. Put sticks in here."

Customer: "Put sticks in here. Got it! How much sticks?"

Bank President: "All of them, remember?"

Customer: "Okay."

Bank President: "Can I have all of your cash? Except for what the banker gave you?"

Customer: "Okay."

Bank President: "Thank you."

Customer: "Wait! I want a sucker, please."

Bank President: "One sucker, coming up."

Customer: "Wait, I want to pick which one I want, remender? Cheese, orange." (The customer says remember like that - remender.)

Banker: "I think we only have rainbow."

Customer: "I want rainbow and cheese and red."

Bank President: "All we have is two more left. Would you like two?"

Customer: "Yes. No! I mean four!"

Bank President: "Sorry, we only have two. Since you are almost the one hundredth customer...." (Makes computer sounds) "Here! A $9 million dollar bill!"

Customer: "Cool!"

Bank President: "And that's really lucky. Because when you come back, you don't have to pay. Will you slide your card?"

Customer: "Okay, man."

Bank President: "Before the bank closes."

Customer: (Slides card) "Good-bye."

Bank President: "Oh! Would you like a toy? Look in here and you can pick."

Customer: (Picks a toy) "Okay. Goodbye sir."

Bank President: "Goodbye."

Could you keep up with all that? Because I barely could. When my kids are trying to explain something to me, and I say, "Okay" it usually means "What the heck did you just say? I have no idea what's going on here. Where am I?"

AND we had to do the whole thing 2 more times so that we could each be the customer.

My sweet, sweet children.

Father's Day Frame

Last year, I saw this on the Martha Stewart site, and I knew we needed to try it out. But I also knew I wanted to change it up a little. For example, Martha Stewart's template says Dad. Peyton and Ella still say Daddy, so I wanted their frame to reflect their perfect little kid-ness. And I wanted them to color the frame to make it extra personal. I love how it turned out.

Do you want to make one, too? It's easy!

For this project, you will need:

Card Stock

Pictures

Crayons

Scissors

Tape

6 Paperclips

You can make your own letters, or you can use these. Just drag them to your desktop and print them onto card stock in whatever size you like.

Have your kids color each letter before you cut them out. Then trim your pictures a little bit larger than the openings and tape them into place behind the frame. For this set, I cut the opening of the A a little bit bigger to fit the picture. Then I outlined it again with black marker.

Overlap the letters and glue or tape them together at the back. I backed ours with cardboard, but you really don't need to. Then, open up your paperclips. Attach the small part of each paperclip to the bottom of the back of the frame. For this one, I used glue dots and they worked out fine, but tape will work too.

Sit it up on the paperclips and you're done!

Cute as can be!

This is last year's version. Ella colored the first D and then was tired of it, so Peyton colored the rest of the letters. I did the cutting and the glue-dotting, but they helped supervise. They were so proud!

But! They are even more proud of this year's version. Because this year they kicked me out of all the major decision making.

They colored:

And they cut.

And they decided on the pictures.

And Peyton DID NOT want me to cut out the middle of the A to make it bigger like last year.

And they DID NOT want me to outline the letters with black marker.

And they wanted BLUE on the back. Because DADDY LOVES BLUE!

For goodness sake.

This year Ella did the first two Ds before she got sick of it. Luckily, Peyton loves to color, so he was more than willing to pick up the slack.

The only thing they let me do was cut out said blue.

And attach the paper clips. With TAPE! No glue dots! Geez!

But then we covered the tape with red hearts. And then they each wrote a little something on red paper to match the hearts.

And YOU KNOW they love this year's frame! Especially since I let them boss me around a little bit when we made it. What could be better?

Happy Father's Day!