The Pick Up Game

I don't know about you but I get pretty tired of picking up matchbox cars, legos, hairbands and shoes! When you have little ones you can usually see where they have been by the trail of stuff they leave behind. It has gotten so bad that I can follow my son from where he comes into the door till he is sitting down for a snack.
Enter house and drop backpack randomly inbetween door and place where your snow gear goes.
After backpack is dropped head to snowgear parking area shedding your hat, mittens on the way.
Kick off boots and do not place them on the drying rack but leave them where they land.
Shed coat and snowpants and leave them where they drop.
Head to the potty where you forget to flush and leave the hand towel in the sink.
Head to kitchen for a snack.
Open cupboard, dig in snack tray, select snack and walk away, leaving rejects on the counter and cupboard open.
Head to table where you enjoy your snack.
Get up from table where you leave your wrappings and crumbs and chair out.

I get that he is a boy but my daughter is just as bad. Usually they bicker during this process too. Well a whole night of this can make for a very untidy house and when you are a mom that is also a full time student I need all the help I can get. After watching Mary Poppins with the kids I got an idea. Why not give them that "spoonful of sugar" and make picking up after themselves a game. I know that if I trail after them picking up, their college roommate will hate them and they won't learn how to tidy after themselves.

My M n M jar...The kids know when this comes out they are going to clean!

Here is what you need:
1 bag of M n M's or Smarties or Skittles..some tiny kind of piecing candy (candy is a treat in my house not an everyday kind of thing so it does give the kids some sort of incentive)
1 house full of kiddo stuff that needs to be put away
To Play:
Lay out the ground rules with all the participating kids standing in front of you.
My Rules are simple, if you see something laying around or something that needs tidying then its fair game. I do not limit them to only their stuff. They can only pick up one item at a time. No fighting over the same item or game over they have to pick up without the "sweet" rewards. They have to stay in "public" areas, living room, play room, stairs, hallway, etc... Bedrooms are off limits. If you have something that does not belong to you that belongs in someones room (like a shoe) you may enter their room to set it on their bed and then exit quickly. They can put their own things away when the game is over.
How we start:
After I go over the ground rules they are in the same starting position. I say GO! They then have to scurry through the house and find an item out of place or left behind. They have to grab it, and tell me where it belongs (this is me trying to reinforce where things belong!!) and then run and put it in its home. I then place an M n M in their pot. This continues with laughter and periodic cash outs where a kiddo requests a sweet to keep going. I usually grab one from their pot and pop it in their mouths. It keeps the atmosphere light and them to keep going.
The Reward:
They each get their pots to enjoy while watching some TV or playing the Wii and I get a tidy house :)








  

Papers Everywhere!!!

I don't know about you but I seem to have piles of paper everywhere! I find it on my breakfast bar, kitchen table, desk, china hutch, next to my bed and anywhere else that is flat! A good friend of mine decided to tackle hers and long story short her idea was just brilliant. I decided to borrow her idea and custom fit it to my family. It helps you stay organized, lets your kiddos know exactly where to find their "stuff" and gives you a brag board without overwhelming your fridge.

My breakfast bar, as you can see the kids went to the dentist, I coupon and did something with buttons!

So how do I take that chaos and get it to where everyone has a "landing zone" for their papers? All it takes is some corkboard and some mailboxes! I also used some fabric and used my reorganization time to redecorate my mudroom and laundry room! I found some laundry themed decor at a garage sale $10 and bought a gallon of bright sunshine yellow paint! The room was so dark it needed brightening. I used primary colors for my boards but you can use whatever fits your theme, decor..etc. Just make sure it fits you and that you make it easy to use for your family.

You want to find a cork board that fits your space, my space was divided by a bathroom door while Peggy had a nice large open space. She was able to find a large corkboard at a hardware store, I found little squares of corkboard on clearance at Jo-Ann Fabrics. We both covered our corkboards with fabric to match our decor. She just bought a yard of a fun fabric, I bought 4 fat quarters in the same color family. To cover your corkboards just lay the fabric down with the wrong side up and the right side laying on the floor/table depending on your workspace. I stapled mine for added security but you can glue around the edges. For the larger boards I suggest getting some help, to keep the fabric tight.

The next step is finding mailboxes that work for your family, there are lots of options, Peggy and I both found some on clearance at Jo-Ann fabrics in a fun locker style, but there are simpler ones or more complex ones depending on what you are looking for, you can even go super mom and craft your own out of scrapbooking supplies and cereal boxes. I like my locker style ones because they are metal and I have a magnetic clip stuck to each one for little slips of paper that get lost in a mailbox, but that could be easily remedied with a cereal box if you use a binder clip stuck on the edge.  I have one mailbox for each person.

Next, hang your board and mailboxes in a configuration that works for your space and family, I have parents on top and kiddos underneath, low enough for my 5yo. Peggy put all her girls along the bottom while the parents stacked up on the side. We both have key hangers and a calendar. The calendar is pretty key and mine is not pictured, having the calendar gives you a landing zone for those little reminders you get and you can highlight big important things. It also lets you see who is where when trying to plan some family time. I use google calendar as well but it doesn't have anywhere for those little business cards.

The Wilke Family board they have handy post-its, and a white board, everything this busy family needs to stay organized!

Now is the toughest part yet, go through every paper pile in your house, if it belongs to someone put it in their mailbox, then you can file your receipts, throw the junk away and recycle the papers that are outdated. It took me days to do this but the end result is so worth it. Now I come home and sort the mail into the mailboxes. The kids sort their mail into the boxes, things like lunch calendars and reading logs they keep along with practice schedules. I have somewhere to hang my keys and the corkboard serves as a brag board for A papers and awards as well as dry cleaning slips and other reminders. Our calendar is easy as well, we simply come in and pin the reminder card up write our info into the appropriate day. At the beginning of the month I go through and update our google calendar and make sure all appointments have been written onto the calendar and that their are no conflicts. It only takes me about 30 min a month to go through and tidy up and do the calendar check.
Good Luck!

Our mailboxes, see the little clip to keep small slips, they are color coded, boys have blue, girls have red.

Our corkboard helps us keep the clutter off the counter and fridge. The ziplocks have little items like a spare eyeglass screw.

A Smurfy Party

I just had to opportunity to host a Smurf Party and WOW what a ton of fun!! A Janette and I both got selected to host a Smurfy Crowdtap party. So we decided instead of hosting two little Smurf parties we would pool our resources and host one big Smurfy Bash!!
We sent out the invites with specific instructions: Dress Smurfy! (how to dress smurfy is up to you!)
We plotted and planned our activities so they would be as Smurfy as possible while letting the Smurfs of all ages attend and have fun!
The night before the party we got together and made some Smurf houses and daisy's to decorate (sugar cookies) 

The daisy cookies waiting for little smurfs to decorate them

Our Smurf houses (no we didn't have a cookie cutter..these were done with a knife and a template)

The day of the party arrives and I of course have to do a facebook post hyping up the party and sporting my favorite Smurfette hat!

This is me in my Smurfette hat!!

The night of the party we blew up lots of blue and white balloons and dressed like Smurfs! We set out the food and waited to welcome our guests!

Our food included, Smurfberries, Apple Straws, Apple Slices and Smurfberry Punch!

 

A closeup of our Smurfy food

Our coloring station for those down times

Our cookies are ready to decorate!

Our little smurfs are decorating the living room with balloons

Our little Smurfs started playing instead of decorating!

Our little Smurfs are ready to party.

As our guests were arriving we pulled each person aside to get their secret Smurf name. A name that describes them. One of the games was Name that Smurf where everyone tried to guess who owned that Smurfy name! I was College Smurf! My daughter was Sparkle Smurf!
We had rented the Smurf Dance Party for everyone to dance to and for the older kids to have a contest with but we all just had lots of fun and laughter dancing with the Smurfs! 

Smurf Dance Party on the Wii

Some dancing Smurfs

More dancing Smurfs

Even a little Smurf started dancing!

During the dancing the kiddos had a chance to decorate their Smurf house cookie and color some pictures. Playing and snacking were encouraged through the whole evening.

Abbey has fun and is sporting some smashing blue hair!!

The coloring pages were a hit!

Snacking Smurfs

Some snacking and giggling Smurfs!

Decorating some cookies!

The balloons were a hit even for the littlest of Smurfs!

Every one knows that a Smurf is 3 apples tall so we made that a game! Everyone was seated with 3 apples in front of them and when we said go, you had to stack your apples! We did 3 "heats" younger, older and adult. Janette even made a Shaq Smurf who is 4 apples high!  

Ready to play!

Our littlest of Smurfs building

our older smurfs building!

Victory!

Our Adult group competing

Shaq Smurf!

As the party wound down Janette and I decided who our 3 big winners were, we awarded Smurfiest Girl, Smurfiest Boy and Smurfiest Family! Our Smurfy boy was only a month or two old but was decked out in head to toe blue! Our Smurfy girl was decked out too! Our Smurfy Family was awarded to Leesa and her girls because Dad even dropped by sporting a blue shirt! Our prizes for the Smurfy girl and boy were sets of the Smurfy Suave hair care products. Our big family winners walked away with the movie of their very own!!!

Leesa and her little Smurfs won the family prize!

The party wound down and we hated to say goodbye, so we didn't say goodbye to our friends. We said Smurf you later!

 

Planes, Trains and Automobiles, part 2

I know this has been a long time coming and frankly life got in the way, sorry!
August 25
Thursday! Day before the wedding!!! Wow the excitement has been building! Today is a pretty laid back day considering everything we have done up to this point. We slept in, although we are in a different time zone so sleeping till 10 was only sleeping till 8 but it still felt nice!
Chelsea and her Mom wanted to do some last minute things for the wedding, so she called and asked us (all of us) to meet at this fun restaurant called Tomato Street. We all got to color on the tables and the waiters were sporting some fun hats! 
We then borrowed David from Chelsea and went to get the tux's. The boys were all very handsome!!
Then we decided to go exploring this big park in the middle of Spokane, the park is HUGE (by our standards) it had a lot of fun things to explore in it as well. We had lots of fun geocaching and exploring this park. 

The parks Marathon Sculpture was fun to play in

Alex has almost caught the leader!

Yes even Grandma and Grandpa can ride the carousel for fun!

You have to grab for the brass ring while riding

Just outside is a fountain that begs for playing!

Yep completely soaked, but having fun and that's what counts!

Annie's water angel

Alex's water angel

Summer treats bought from a street vendor!

Eli and Annie found the biggest wagon ever! (shh there is a geocache here too!)

Alex, Eli, David and Annie

Annie and David racing each other.

The rest of the day/night was spent running last minute errands and relaxing before tomorrow!!!

August 26
Today my brother gets married! The morning was spent in a flurry of activity of getting all dolled up for the wedding! The boys in their suits and Annie and I in our new dresses. We arrived at the wedding location which was just breathtakingly beautiful! It was a very intimate gathering but there are a few memorable moments.
* At one point in the middle of the ceremony a family out for a canoe paddle were just chatting away until they realized what was going on and reverently passed by.
*The waterskier made multiple passes.
*The photographer wore bermuda shorts.
*It is impossible to keep a little ring bearer dirt free in the dirt.
*David and Chelsea shared such an epic kiss that Alex turned away from it! (NICE!!!)
*Chelsea's shoes!
*The bustle on Chelsea's dress had a bit of a 'tude.
*The bride and groom both stared at each other and it looked like the rest of us didn't exist.

Alex and David look so handsome!

I love this shot of them, no the rings are not on the pillow yet!

Something Borrowed! (the pillow) Something New! (the rings)

Alex and Whitney are playing some sort of game while waiting and trying to stay clean

Right now its only them that exist.

I love this picture of my Dad hugging his new daughter

The Rhodes family

The Halasz Family

The Froelich Family

Eli and Whitney

 

 

  After the ceremony we had some time to kill and went and did some shopping and look Annie found her new Auntie in one of the shops!

snapped this from the phone but this really is Annie's new Aunt Chelsea

After some shopping we got all dressed up to go back to the reception which was held on a little hillside at her parents house. The decorations were stunning in their simplicity.

David and Chelsea's first dance

David and Mom dancing, Chelsea and her Dad dancing.

 We chatted and ate till dark and then bid the new couple goodbye. Of course they didn't get away scott free!

The getaway car

 We ended the evening with swimming and relaxing and some packing since we knew we were leaving the next day.

August 27
Today is leaving day! We packed up our things, returned the rental cars and hopped on a plane. We had a long layover in Denver and had some antsy kiddos to keep busy so we started hopping the trams to different terminals. Thus the trains. The kids loved riding to the different terminals and exploring the different art and shops. Landing at MSP was nice and we had that friendly park n go service that picked us up and dropped us off with our luggage right at our cars! Short 1.5 hr drive and we were back at Moms for the night. Then we packed up all of our things including our camping gear and drove the 2hrs home where we were greeted by a neat house (the perks of cleaning before you leave) and happy kitties, frog and bunny.
I was so happy to go and see my brother get married but I don't think I ever want to do that adventure again!
Thus the sun sets on another grand Froelich adventure

The sun set through our window on the return trip home