Binkies and Briefcases

It’s just one of those “Mom I can’t believe you make us eat vegetables.” kind of days. (Actually, there have been no vegetables involved because lunch was from Chik-Fil-A) Hubby woke up with a terrible migraine, had to do some conference calls from home while I attempted (to no avail) to keep the kiddos quiet.

Abby was fussy for 4 hours straight and refused to nap although it was obvious that the reason she was fussy was because she woke up entirely too early-and woke everyone else up along with her. Eddie left around for work 10 and I’ve been staring at faces like these ever since.

Navigated through Target with a screaming 1-year-old and a 3-year-old who insisted on walking like a big boy, which apparently also includes hiding in the empty space on the bottom shelf behind several boxes of diapers while mom is loading the cart. (Good thing I saw his little sandal poking out, I can just see myself frantically telling the sales associate that my son has been kidnapped.)

Came home to realize that a certain little monkey had put a pair of shorts in the cart that are 3 sizes too big for his sister and cost way more than I would have spent on them. Didn’t realize I had paid for them because I was busy dealing with the fact that he was literally rolling on the floor in temper tantrum mode while we were checking out.

Yup, that’s my son. The same one who gave me the lovely scab I am now sporting on my right breast because he decided the other day that he was going to hug me and then changed his mind mid-hug and tried to bite my nipple off. Literally. Yes, that was me in Target with one screaming child in the cart, one rolling on the floor yelling and trying to kick me, sporting bite marks, sweatpants, and unbrushed hair while carrying a badge in my purse that qualifies me as a “parenting specialist.”

Later, during lunch little man painted his brand new sunglasses with ketchup and then informed me, while I was washing his glasses and obviously exasperated, “Mom, ketchup is a food for painting things. I painted my sunglasses. Now can I paint my french fries?” at least I could laugh at that one.

Sigh. I am so NOT looking forward to next week when my husband leaves for three straight weeks on a business trip. It’s a good darn thing we are leaving tonight for a mini vacation. I’ll be the one sitting on the beach in a straight jacket.

My 3-year-old recently figured out how to open our pantry door, which led to a scary incident where I found him carrying a bottle of maple syrup around the living room and a bunch of plastic grocery store bags on the kitchen floor where my 1-year-old could get them. That could have been a disaster! Also, now that I am starting to work a few more hours there are other family members here with the kiddos more often and I wanted to make it easier for them to find what they needed for snacks & dinner time.

I search blogland for some ideas for getting the pantry organized, but most of them involved glass jars, baskets that couldn’t easily been seen into or sanitized, and other ideas that just didn’t seem all that practical for my everyday life with two toddlers, so I fell back on the way that I used to organize areas in my elementary school classroom.

And now our pantry looks like this (Sorry, I forgot to take a before picture, but it was a big ol’ mess)

I already had these plastic bins because I just about bought out Target when they had them on sale for $2 each.

I took inventory of what we had in the pantry, threw out anything that was expired, and divided everything into these groups:

• Paper & Plastic Ware
• Snacks
• Pasta & Sauces
• Drinks
• Cans & Jars
• Baking Supplies
• Breakfast Foods
• Miscellaneous

I put the paper & plastic ware on the top shelf because we don’t use it that often. I divided it into three separate bins: Napkins & Straws, Utensils (which I grouped into plastic bags according to type & the mount I would need for a small party), and Plates, Bowls, & Cups (which have a large bin)

I chose to put the snacks out of reach so that my little ones can’t reach in and grab a cookie whenever they want one, but for older children I would put it on the bottom shelf for easier access.

You could also add pictures to the bins to make it easier for kids to find what they need.

Boxes of pasta & jars of sauce have their own bin and next to that I left an open space for drink mixes or bottles of unopened soda or juice.

There is an area for cans & jars-syrup in the back!- and a large plastic bin for my baking supplies. I like the idea of the plastic bins to deter little critters (we sometimes have ant issues) from climbing into open packages of flour, etc.

The bottom shelf is for Breakfast foods so that my kids can see their choices in the morning and I left a space for miscellaneous items that didn’t seem to fit in my other categories or were too tall for the shelf where they would otherwise belong.

There are labels on the bins and also on the shelf itself to identify each section. My husband was thrilled that he could find what he wanted and even commented that it would be so much easier to put away groceries. I think it’s important to label both the bin and the shelf so that if someone takes a few bins out to make dinner then they can be sure to put them back in the correct spot.

I plan to use chalkboard paint to create a chalkboard on the back of my pantry door (which is one of the cool ideas I found on blogland) but if you are renting or if you are more practical then you can just mount a clipboard on a nail inside the pantry with some paper for jotting down your store list. (That way you don’t have to re-write your list from the chalkboard.) Personally, I think the chalkboard will be a fun way to teach the kids how to write their letters and a cute and unexpected surprise for people who open the pantry.

Happy organizing!

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Drum roll please……

Ta-da:

Introducing Double-Sided Dominoes, the 4th Christmas gift made entirely out of stuff we already had laying around.

We turned this (focus on the board, not the messy garage)

into these

And it was easy! Plus it gets better, just be patient.

I asked hubby to do me a favor and cut the board into 28 pieces for me because I learned from this website how many pieces are in your run of the mill dominoes set (which I learned is called a Double Six set) and what each piece should look like. We happened to have a 1×3 board and we decided that cutting it into 1.5 inch pieces would work, you can do whatever size you want.

The colors I was using reminded me of the beach, plus I had the Ocean City trip we are taking next week on the brain, so this is a picture matching game with sailboats, star fish, seashells, etc. I wanted a simple game that the kids could play by themselves, independently. 

I’m making a drawstring linen bag with a blue crab applique to store them in, but that’s not finished yet. I will try to remember to post a picture when it’s done.

I am in love with the idea of making your own wooden blocks, like my friend Satoko did for her boys. Wooden toys are so expensive and you can make them yourself so cheaply! Plus when you make things yourself you get exactly what you want, like a double-sided set.

These are the blocks that my friend Satoko made:

Aren’t they adorable? And her photography skills are amazing. 

If your children are still young enough to be putting blocks in their mouths, you should use a non-toxic paint, like the ones you can find through my affiliate link here: Acrylic Paint Set of 12 Colors for use on Paper, Wood, Glass & Canvas.  

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