Baby girl hat!

Ive been looking and looking for a hat for baby girl to wear at the hospital and couldnt find quite what I wanted! Purple is my favorite colour so all I knew was I wanted a purple hat....

Then I came across this blog post 2 nights ago and I thought OMG Perfect! I can make that! So I luckily already had some stretch knit fabric from a past project, so I pulled it out and started on the hat following the instructions....

Pinning done....

Seam... not the best but hey it will do ;)

Folded over as per instructions....

Pinned inside

sewed another edge...

Not perfect, but turned out properly...

Edge folded up!

Then to make the flower....

Done!

Now to sew the flower on....

And Voila!! Baby girl now has a personalized hat for the hospital!!!

Laundry/Storage Room Clean out

So I sadly forgot to take a before picture of this, but then again I think Id be too embarrassed to post it! It was that bad! Our city has a Spring Clean up once a year where they take the big stuff you can/dont usually put out with your garbage. Problem with ours is that its the same week as Bear's birthday, so for the last three years we havent been able to do a big clean up/declutter & put anything out (Year 1. I was too pregnant/having him, Year 2 & 3 were same weekend as his party) so for 3 years we're been sticking these items in the laundry/storage room and its just gotten WAY over crowded in there!

This year the clean up was a week earlier so we were able to leave the boys with my mother in law for the day and get a full day of cleaning in! We managed to GUT OUT the laundry room! And I truely mean that! By the end of the day, between this room (mostly) and the rest of the house we had about 1/4 to 1/3 of our lawn full of stuff :S I was just praying no one we knew would drive by before it was taken away! We still have a few things to go through (*ahem* Jaime does) and I still have a couple baby items down there waiting to be washed and cleaned up for baby girl's arrival!

We want to create a laundry station and I'd also like to create some sort of hanging storage for seasonal coats type of thing & a shoe rack for seasonal shoes we aren't using or for once Button has outgrown them but Bear doesn't need them yet kinda thing.... But here is what we have to work with now!

And to think, before we couldnt see the floor :S

New Rooms!

Been hard at work here lately! We moved the boys in together with their new bunk beds 2 weekends ago (see post below), and now finally got baby girls new room all cleaned out this weekend... We clearly have much more to do but its a good start! Certainly needs more pink!

Her crib & bedding!


Start of some of the clothes we've gotten thus far.... this is gonna be a work in progress ;)

Boys Room, step 1!

Currently this is still Button's room but by the end of this month the boys will be moving in together. We had an apparently cheap toy shelf in Button's room the last 2 years. I wanted to move it out and get them a new cleaner looking shelf but was going to wait another 2 weeks. Yesterday Button broke the shelf (it was dying a slow death ;)) so I decided today to move the new shelf in their room (was in our livingroom the last month, need to get another to replace this one ;)) I think it looks great and is going to keep their room looking nice and clean, hopefully anyways ;)

Purge Purge Purge!

Spent this afternoon purging upstairs... Im not done yet but this is a GREAT beginning! I went through our bedroom and some of Button;s room. Getting rid of a bunch of toys, books, picture frames, etc we dont need or use anymore! This entire tupperware container is FULL of stuff, as is the wicker basket... I need to drive them down to Salvation Army tonight, alone with a garbage bag full of clothes we dont need anymore (dropped another one off yesterday!).

Feeling great about all this clutter being gone! Please excuse the location of this picture lol I had to hide the items in the bathroom until bedtime so Button doesnt freak out about some of the toys (which he no longer plays with but you know the second he sees them leaving he will want ;))

Clutter Rehab - Tips so far...

I'm now about half way through Clutter Rehab book! She has awesome tips, heres a couple I really like and plan to implement right away:

1. Have a daily walkabout - With the kids, walk around and find things room to room that dont belong in that room and return them to their rightful place.

2. Never leave a room empty handed - Good way to put stuff away and avoid clutter, make sure you have something to put away everytime you leave a room!

3. Take Pictures of Sentimental things - To avoid saving things you're never going to use but are still attached to for sentimental reasons, take a picture of it to keep the memory of it. I think this will be a great idea for Kids art projects! Instead of keeping all the art the kids do, I think I will take pictures of them (save some ;)) and make a nice photobook for artwork they've done!

4. Create a backpack station - A problem in our home! We need a station for backpacks & coats so theyre not just throw on the floor making a mess! She says "Having defined areas for stuff in your home provides clear direction as to where things belong and need to be stored". I think this is especially important with children to teach them how to put things where they belong. I play on making a backpack/coat station this week!

5. Use Hook's for kids coats instead of hangers - To go with the backpack station. Makes sense! Kids can easily hang their coats on the hook!

6. Menu Plan and Make a list for the grocery store- Saves money & time! I already do this most weeks ;) Just need to get more consistent!

7. Have a central Calendar - Gonna get a new, bigger calendar to put by the front entrance so we can record all activities on it (as well as my Ipod touch ;)). This way everyone knows where everyone needs to be!

8. Colour Code the kids (and us too!) - Something I learned about a year ago that I thought was VERY interesting idea! I need to give it another go. Every family member has a colour, then has items in the home in those colours (ex. Tooth brush, towels, face cloths, etc...) so theres never any confusion as to what belongs to who. Makes cleaning up easier cause if you see a Yellow towel on the floor, you know that towel belongs to ___... I a crazy household with soon to be 5 people, I'm gonna try this out!!

So those are just some of the great tips Im learning from Laura! Cant wait to continue reading!

New Book!

Last night I went to Chapters and purchased a new book that's out. Im gonna start reading it tonight at work! It's written by one of my favorite blogs owner, Organized Junkie's Laura Wittmann and its called Clutter Rehab!



Looking forward to applying all the tips I learn from it to our home! Ill let you all know how its going!