looking like a library around here...

I was a reader as a kid.  I loved to read.  Still am-- when I have time to sit down for an extended period of time.  As you can imagine, that almost never happens.  Over the past year I've tried to make a conscious effort to show my kids how awesome reading can be.  It all started when I saw our property tax statement from the previous year-- I noticed that we pay over $50 a year for library services.  $50!!  My menno instinct kicked in.  I pulled out my library card and started dragging my kids to the library weekly.

Over the past few months my kids have learned to love the library too.  Sure, a huge part of the library's appeal is the wheelchair button you can push to automatically open the doors, dropping the books in the slots at the front entrance, and the water fountain... but they are learning to love checking out books too.

Caleb has been signing out books with his own card now for the past few months.  We've been borrowing the "learning to read" books-- in September we started with the pre-level one books and he's now graduated to the level one and two books.  Initially the books were pretty challenging for him... you don't learn to read overnight... something I had to keep reminding him.  But once they started focusing on learning the sounds of letters in kindergarten everything started to click.  Suddenly Caleb was reading signs, and menus, and newspapers, and magazines-- sitting down and reading one of his books from start to finish was a breeze.

 A few days ago I took the kids to the library to sign out a stack of books.  Emerson picked her own book-- a book about trucks.  Not sure what she found so appealing about it, but she was pretty pumped about it.  This time around I decided to try something different for Caleb-- reading chapter books.  I figured it's about time he graduated from "picture" books.  We've started reading "The Jesus Storybook Bible" to him (fantastic kid's bible-- I'd highly recommend it) and was noticing that he was fully focused on what we were reading, not the pictures.

 So I picked up two of my favourites from my childhood... "Charlotte's Web" and "The Boxcar Children"-- the first book of the series.  He is LOVING it.  We started with the Boxcar Children and ended up reading almost 2/3 of the book on the first day.  Caleb snuggles up with me on the couch and listens to me read the story.   I try to get him to read a sentence or short paragraph here and there to give him confidence in the fact that he'll be able to read chapter books one day too.

Since we've been focusing on reading more around here, I've started picking up secondhand books at thrift stores for the kids.  I'd like to have more books accessible to them around the house.  Growing up, my Dad was an elementary school teacher (and still is) and had a huge collection of books that I could read.  I would like that for my kids.  There is something about having shelves full of books and stacks of them around the house that I find so appealing.

So... that got me thinking... maybe I could find a way to store some books in the older kids room.  Space is very limited, but this inspired me...

designed by Elizabeth Sullivan via Made By Girl

And this...

designed by Amber Lewis via House & Home

So I picked up a few shelves from Ikea and had Doug put them up in the kids room.  Initially I thought we could make them ourselves-- and we could.  But sometimes the money saved is not as important as the time saved... right?

The kids have obviously loved arranging and rearranging the shelves in their room.

We put up four of the shorter ones... they can actually store a whole lot of books.  And I've been putting some of the kids artwork up so that they have another spot to display their artistic endeavours.

Doug made sure they are fastened very very securely to the wall.  Like any mom, I have visions of the kids climbing up the shelves like a ladder.  Pretty sure it's going to happen one of these days.  But at least the shelves won't be going anywhere...

So... if you are in need of some book storage in a small space, pick up some of the Ribba picture ledges from Ikea-- we're loving them.

projects are my love language

The other day Doug made my top secret hidden spice drawers look pretty.  Instead of looking at the melamine boxes when I open the cupboard beside the stove I see these pretty drawer fronts decked out with the left over drawer pulls from the rest of the kitchen.

They match the rustic wood open shelves Doug put up in the kitchen.  

They make me happy when I cook dinner.  

Little details like this make me happy.

Building Boxes

Work in Caleb's room has begun.  Moving the toys on out has been in progress over the past two weeks.  The closet needed some organizational help so I was pumped to find these cute cute cute storage boxes at Ikea for dirt cheap... $4.99 for two.  They are cardboard-- but they'll be used on the top shelves out of the reach of the kids determined to seek and destroy.

I was super excited about these boxes-- until I tried to assemble them yesterday afternoon.  I wrestled with one of them for about 2.5 minutes, flipped it over to glance at the instructions, and gave up.

Seriously now.  What on earth does this mean!!?

After the kids were in bed I informed Doug that he had 4 boxes to build.

He quietly set to work building the boxes... and all of a sudden I hear him muttering under his breath:

"build a box for your wife and she'll ask you to build three more."

"teach your wife to build a box and she'll build them herself for the rest of her life."

Nice try buddy.  I ain't touching those boxes :)

But I will admit that I giggled out of control over that comment for close to an hour.

Well, more work has got to happen in this room before it can be converted into a shared room for Caleb and Eme.  But, most of Caleb's "stuff" has been moved out (with the exception of his clothes), I gave the walls a fresh coat of paint a week ago (similar color to what was already in there), and the rug I ordered for their shared room arrived.  Just need to get the bed situation figured out and then we'll be open for business!

Spicing Things Up

I've spent the past few days sorting all the stuff in my kitchen and doing a little organizing.  Things that I don't use are getting the boot.  I'm trying to make things look a little prettier-- if I'm going to living with everything exposed and in the open over the next weeks/months it might as well look somewhat attractive!  Really, you can make just about anything in your kitchen look great by putting it in a jar and by sticking a cute label on it.  Case in point...

My spices.

Gotta love those ikea spice jars and all those cute Martha Stewart labels from Staples.

I'm a fan.

I've already determined which drawer in the "new" kitchen will be my "spice drawer" and have asked my cabinet builder (aka husband) to build me a custom insert that will hold my newly organized spices :)

Well-- we (meaning Doug) have been ripping out cabinets and started smashing out the bulkhead over the weekend.  Progress!  And, I even ordered some of the cabinet hardware I'm planning on using... slowly but surely... 

Oh Martha

I love martha.  I love office supplies.

So when I found out that Martha was making office supplies pretty at Staples... I went... and I bought.

I bought the prettiest file folder labels.

Tax time will now be pretty.

And I'm thinking about these kitchen labels-- moisture, freezer, and microwave safe?  No way!

I also bought a teeny tiny little blue accordion file folder.  It fits into my purse.

Disorganized receipts?  A thing of the past.

Our local staples had an entire aisle of pretty Martha labels.  I was so mesmerized by all the pretty stuff I didn't notice when Eme kicked off her shoes and ran away.  I found her in the next aisle shortly after.  It took a little longer to find her shoes.  Into the cart she went!

Definitely worth checking out.  You can read more about the products here.

Another Closet Conquered

Operation "No Closet Left Untouched" continues to sweep through this house.  Next up on my list... Caleb closet.  His closet "before" wasn't messy, disorganized, or cluttered... it was pretty much empty.  So this time around I didn't need to do any sorting, purging, and organizing.  Instead I needed to put stuff in it!   I wanted to make Caleb's closet into a space where he could store and organize his toys in a fun, creative, and inviting way.  As the little lady of the house starts to move around I wanted to have a safe zone for Caleb to keep his lego, puzzles, cars, and playmobil.  In the next months it's so important to keep all the little stuff out of Emerson's reach... but I also didn't want Caleb to feel like his toys were off limits.  With that in mind, I decided to turn his closet into toy central for Caleb!  The process started a few weeks ago when I purchased this toy storage unit off of craigslist for $20.  It desperately needed some paint and a little loving.  All it took was some primer and white paint I already had in the garage to turn it into a cute toy storage unit for Caleb's toys.

When we showed Caleb his new toy storage system he was SO excited!  He ran all around the house grabbing his favorite toys and began to fill the drawers.  I decided to display some of his artwork in the closet-- it makes it look more fun.  He has created so many crafts and pictures over the past months-- and I can't keep them all.  Every piece of art he creates is displayed on the fridge for an appropriate amount of time, some are then tossed *gasp*, but the cutest ones are kept for his room.

There is one unfortunate drawback to this particular toy storage unit.  Can you guess what it is?  Well... let's just say that I like to use the top shelf of Caleb's closet to store things that are best kept out of his reach (ex.  annoying toys such as whistles and recorders and super messy craft supplies).  But it didn't take Caleb long to realize that his new storage unit had a bonus feature-- a built in step system that allows him to reach the top shelf very effectively :)  Time to find a new hiding place!!

The three little baskets

I love Superstore because...

• Caleb gets a free snack (cookies at the bakery)
• Caleb gets a free lunch.  I let him sample every deli meat imaginable before selecting the usual... turkey for me, ham for Caleb, and hungarian salami or some other equally manly lunchmeat for Doug.  We've been eating a lot of sandwiches around here lately.
• the carts are big enough to hold Caleb, Emerson in her carseat, and all my groceries.
• The ramp.  I always stand on the cart and ride part way down the ramp.  I should feel shame... but it's just too much fun.
• There are just way too many things that entertain my kids in that store-- case in point-- announcements over the loudspeaker.  The voice from the sky amazes and baffles Caleb every time.
• There are other people there that entertain my children as I'm pushing the cart along.
• I can shop for clothes... for the kids and for myself.  Not for Doug... nothing in the store-- or any store for that matter-- fits him.  We shop online for him :)
• And finally... I can usually find something fun for the house :)

Sidenote... I totally acknowledge the fact that I seem to blog about Superstore alot (see here and here).  Fact is... I spend a lot of time there... for the above reasons.

Back to the point of this post... a few days ago I spotted these awesome canvas storage baskets... a set of 3 for $19!!  I had been looking for some sort of attractive storage solution for Emerson's growing collection of toys, so I threw them in my cart and took them home.

The smallest one holds her living room toys.

The medium sized basket is for the ever growing collection of junk that accumulates in the kitchen.  Collect and conceal... that seems to be my M.O. when it comes to kitchen clutter.

The largest basket had yet to find its calling... until this morning.  When I was in the shower Caleb decided to pack for our trip to visit Nana and Papa.  He was quite excited to show me what he had packed for the trip.  Toys, books, his Wii remotes, a random box stolen from my bedside table, and believe it or not... his toothbrush AND toothpaste.  We've taught him well Auntie Trish :)

I was given strict instructions to not touch it.  Apparently everything in there will be needed on the trip.

I didn't have the heart to tell him that we're not leaving for Nana and Papa's until July.

The basket is still packed sitting in the living room :)