A little of this and a little of that....

Triple T's~
Here is Phoebe spending some time in timeout. The Terrible Three's have begun. I learned with my first daughter that 2's have nothing on the 3's. Phoebe is just pushing the boundaries because she is starting to see herself as her own person and trying to find out what she is capable of. I don't want to hinder that just guide it a little.

I can not stand to do Laundry...mine tends to pile up and with a family of five it piles quickly. The girls now help me with the folding and putting away. The system goes like this....
I quickly sort the pile of clean clothes into three piles. Socks, kid clothes, and everything else. Lula likes to fold her clothes and them being small make it easy to manage. Phoebe tackles the socks and underwear. I get everything else. Besides when I have something in my laundry basket like this then who could resist doing laundry.

The "STUFF" saga continues and my closet is the latest victim. I ended up with three large trash bags, the big ones, full of donations. Mr. Masters has not yet gone through his clothes so I will have even more to git rid of. It is so much easier to find things and actually know what I have and I don't feel the need to keep that door closed all the time.

Before

After...

100 Thing Challenge

I enjoy and follow a blog called the Lazy Organizer. She lead me to the 100 Thing Challenge....

Oooops

Okay so I went shopping yesterday. Don't judge me! I was dropping off a tone of STUFF that I was getting rid of and donating to Goodwill. I thought I would go in and just see what was there and I did end up buying a rocking chair. I have been wanting 2 more for my wrap around porch. The good news is they had all their furniture 25% off and I ended up paying $6 for it. I think it was a great deal and it was used. Think of it as recycling. =) I have the paint in my garage too. If you are confused on what I am talking about see previous post.

I did manage to completely declutter my kitchen yesterday. I got rid of so much STUFF that we do no use. How many plastic cups can one family have?! Anyway, it is so nice to see my organized cabinets and pantry.

The bad news is that I did go grocery shopping and only used two coupons. Needless to say I did not say a ton of money but I am working on it. I have found some great sites that will take a little time to figure out how it all works. Maybe the next grocery trip will be more successful.

I forgot to mention the other day I picked up two hitchhikers. I drove by two very young looking girls, I would guess 14, with their thumbs in the air. Who does that!?! I pulled over and they both got in the van with me, a complete stranger. They both were carrying shopping bags and did not realize how far the Mall was from their house. When they were tired they decided to hitch a ride. I lectured them the whole way on the dangers... blah blah blah. They just looked at me with blank stares. They lived in a really nice neighborhood and those shopping bags are from stores that are too pricey for me. So that started me thinking about how children today are so un-grateful and think they deserve everything handed to them. I want my children to know and appreciate what is truly important in life and not the STUFF! See now we have come full circle, well sort of.

STUFF, STUFF, AND MORE STUFF....

The definition of STUFF is to pack or fill completely; cram. I found this interesting because people in general cram their life up with stuff because they feel empty and then want to judge everyone else by all the stuff they have....now i know I don't have to tell you what you are suppose to be filling that emptiness up with but I will give you a hint.. it's not STUFF!

Okay so life has been getting too complicated with STUFF. What do I mean by STUFF...well I admit I like to shop and I am frugal to a point but there is just all this STUFF.
STUFF = distractions (TV, computers, sales), unnecessary wants/ "needs"(I want a bigger house but don't really need one, since it is on sale I must buy it). Yada Yada Yada ... you get my point.

So after discussing with A I have challenged myself not to buy anything new, with a few exceptions such as groceries, and try not to buy anything at all unless absolutely necessary but buy used. Now that means changing my entire thinking on life and the STUFF that is involved.

So now I am getting serious about coupons too. I admit I hate coupons, it is time consuming, need to learn the ins and outs of it, print them....blah blah blah. It is amazing how blogs have made the process pretty easy. Have you seen all the FREE STUFF companies give away too. It is unbelievable and I am anticipating all the free STUFF that will be arriving in my mail box in the next few weeks, all necessary STUFF of course and it makes me feel like I am shopping! =)

My mind is bursting with things that need to change, things to sell and get rid of, raising my children to appreciate God and the life He has given us not the STUFF in it! Yes we have three cars but I am working on that one too. =) All this STUFF is keeping that message from getting to my children and they are too young now but soon they will start the same cycle of wanting STUFF.

I have so much stuff that is unnecessary that I am ashamed of it... for wanting it and buying it. Now to get rid of some of it....we shall see how that goes... maybe make a little money on the way of getting rid of some of the STUFF.

I think getting back to simplicity is key to raising my children, nurturing my amazing relationship with my husband, but most importantly de-cluttering my relationship with God. All this STUFF gets in the way of that.

Lu is starting school soon, P is starting pre-school soon so my agenda is to start de-cluttering my life and my families life since I will have a little more time on my hands and of course enjoying some alone time with G.

Another goal is to save as much money as possible. We and I mean A is a saver (Big Time). It is one of the things I love about him and glad that he is so diligent with it because my children will have college money and we will have a good retirement (good Lord willing), etc.... Now I need to be on board completely with both feet instead of just one! I think I just heard him breath a sigh of relief.

Today I went and got my fishing license....I am determined to get my children in nature as much as possible and appreciate the simple things. I had the girls go through and slim down their toys and was not surprised at how willing they were to give to charity.
I also have started dwindling down T.V. time. I have always been picky about it but now I want no television at all through the week and just occasion on the weekend. This is not happening cold turkey and I did not expect it too but our first week I managed to cut out three solid days of no TV. It was not missed and I felt there was more quality time with my kids.
We also have decided to have a staycation this month instead of going to the beach. A is taking a week off to enjoy all the free stuff the city offers and all the free stuff nature offers. I know my children will be glad to not have a long travel destination, to sleep in beds other than our own, and completely get off schedule to where everyone is cranky. So it should be a nice relaxing staycation and I am looking forward to it.

So far the changes of STUFF that have been made have not had any negative impact what so ever. SO I plan to trudge forward...I will definitely have my moments of relapse because it is the easy way and only natural but I plan to try like crazy until it seems that there is no other way to live life but with less STUFF.

Little Helpers, Van, & Push-Ups

I really thought since Grey is almost 3 months old that the girls would be tired of him by now, but I was wrong. They are the best little entertainers, diaper changers, bathers, and big sisters any little boy could have. I am so proud of them all!

Here is a picture of Grey sporting his new outfit given to him by our sweet neighbors, thank you Melody! I think he looks very handsome.

This is a little road trip we took this past weekend to Alabama to celebrate with our beloved Amber for her 30th B-day....I unfortunately did not take any other pictures of the party. We had a great time and the kids traveled great.

Okay, I said never but I guess I will have to eat my words. We finally broke down and bought a van. I still think it is so weird that I have a van and a family to fill it. I have been blessed but still takes getting use too. =) We did drive it to Alabama and I have to say that I love it. It makes life easiers and with three little ones I need easy. It is used but in great condition and drives great too.

This video was so funny of Phoebe trying to do push-ups...I am going to love showing this to her when she is older.

Germs and Everything has a place..

You are probably wondering about the title well let me start from the beginning.

So we tried to go home for two family birthdays and a Fish Fry but it was a no go. We drove up Friday day, hoping the virus that attacked my little one was over.....we were wrong. We took Anthony's dad out for lunch which Phoebe did pretty good. Then we tried to take Anthony's mom out for her birthday dinner and that is when things went from good to bad. Phoebe started getting sick again and was not happy. I don't blame her poor little thing. So needless to say I took my dinner to go. We stayed Friday night with Anthony's mom which worked out great because she was a great help. So it was midnight and Phoebe was up so I let her play in the playroom, his mom runs an at home daycare. I am sitting there talking to my mother-n-law when I notice my 22 month old do something that I had never seen her do before. She would get a toy out, play with it, and then immediately put it away back into its original place. She did this over and over again!! I could not believe it because that does not happen at my house. I asked my mother-n-law how in the world does she get her to do that and she just says oh I just tell them and they do it. Well you better believe that my objective this week it to get my kids to put everything back when they are done playing with if it kills me. I will post an update about that later and sorry I did not take any pictures to post. We drove home Saturday afternoon and we were all exhausted but glad to be home and Phoebe is doing just fine but now we are playing the waiting game to see who gets it next. In the meantime I have been cleaning trying to make sure that every surface in my house has been sanitized and organize every toy we own.

~Organizing Seasonal Clothes~

So it is that dreaded time of year, well for me anyway, to organize all the kids clothes, put away winter clothes, and bring out summer clothes. I buy those plastic containers with lids and tape a sign on the top that tells the age and season. I found this article and thought I would share....

http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art32870.asp