Kid Stuff Clean Up

Are the piles of toys in your house getting too big for the bins that you bought to store them in?  If you’re thinking “YES THEY ARE!”…join the club!  I was so tired of my kids taking their puzzles and games out of their boxes and leaving the pieces all over the place that I decided to get rid of the bulky boxes all together.  Check out my space-saving system.

Puzzle boxes, card games, and memory.
Storage bags and a box to hold everything.
Cut out the picture of the puzzle from the box and store it in the bag with the puzzle pieces!
Much better!

EnJoY!

~Robyn (Jersey Girl)

What’s the Point?

I don’t know about you, but after I clean up around the house for the hundredth time each day, I start asking myself, “What’s the point?!”  I begin to wOnDer if keeping up with the laundry and vacuuming up kiddo crumbs makes any difference at all.  I mean, does it?  They are just going to make a mess again later!

We all know that the answer is YES.  What we do does make a diffEreNce.   But knowing this doesn’t seem to make cleaning any more enjoyable does it?

House work is like any other essential part of living.  Take eating for example.  No matter how often do it, we will eventually get hungry.  Food is what our body needs to survive.  Unfortunately the same goes for keeping up with laundry and a clean house.  No matter how often we tidy up, there will always more to do.  It’s just another rEsuLt of living.

My inspirational conclusion?  Well, I don’t really have one.  Just remember that cleaning up daily will help avoid a greater amount of misery down the road.  I always feel better once everything is back in its place and I can wake up each morning with a fresh start.  That in itself is worth it.

More importantly, remember that you are nEvEr alone.  As you are frustratingly trying to keep up with housework, know that I am on the other side of the computer doing the exact same thing.  :)

Happy Cleaning….ha ;)

~Lara

{Sittin’ On A Gold Mine}

When it comes to potential, we all are sittin’ on a GoLdMiNe.  God has placed incredible potential in every single one of us.  Don’t believe me?  Then you probably haven’t dug deep enough.  Because trust me, it’s there.

I think most of us know this is true.  If that is the case, then why are so many people not developing their potential and mining their ReSoUrCeS?  I may be wrong, but I think one of the #1 reasons people don’t develop their potential is because they wish they were sittin’ on someone else’s goldmine.  They wished they had the resources that somebody else possessed:  looks, talents, gifts, personality, disposoition, life circumstances, etc.

In elementary school they have a saying, “You GeT what you GeT and you don’t throw a fit.”  Well, that saying can apply to us grown up folk, as well.  It is what it is.  You’ve got what you’ve got.  Now, what are you gonna do with it?

:)

Robynn~

My First Pinterest Project

It’s been about four months since I first joined Pinterest and boy has it changed my life for the BeTtEr!  The ideas just keep coming and I can’t get enough of them!  The first project that I tried from Pinterest was this simple fingerpaint technique shared by .

  • Use blue painters tape to spell your child’s name on fingerpainting paper.
  • Let them fingerpaint over the tape.
  • Once the paint has dried remove the tape to reveal their name in white!

My daughter's first fingerpaint creation!

EnJoY!

~Robyn (Jersey Girl)

{When Life Hands You a Lemon, Make Memories}

Don’t you hate the 24-hour bug?   Especially when it falls on a really important day, like ChRiStmAs!  Well, that was the case with my husband this past Christmas.  I felt so bad for him because I know how much he enjoys spending time with family, as well as being with our kids on Christmas morning to see their excitement and delight as they come down the stairs to discover what surprises SaNtA has left for them.

I was determined that I would spend that day doing something my girls and I would remember for years to come.  Early that morning, my brother had sent me an e-Christmas card.  When I opened it, it had elves DaNciNg with his family’s individual faces superimposed on each elf.  It was hystical!  So, I began to make my family’s Christmas card using these cute elf dances and pics from my computer of each person in my family.  I’m not all that computer-savvy, however, it only took a few minutes and was super-easy.  Then I called the girls and they were able to watch our family do a variety of elf dances, from country to HiP-HoP, to disco.  My girls lauged hysterically for hours {well, not exactly hours, but defintely many minutes}.

Then we got out their new chairs that Santa had brought them, sat down and played BeAuTy SaLoN as I gave them each {and Walter, our chocolate lab} a manicure and pedicure.  I have always enjoyed our Christmas’ but to be honest, because we basically always do the same thing {I love tradition}, they all kinda run together.  But not this year.

Later on that day when my husband was feeling a tad bit better, we took the labtop to “sick bay” and let him watch the videos we had created.  He had heard all the laugher earlier that day and said he wondered what was so funny.  Although he still wasn’t feeling  all that great, he was well enough to get to enjoy the videos as once again our girls began laughing HyStEriCallY.

I learned a good LeSsOn that day.  Sometimes life’s most funny moments are those spontaneous times when life hands you the lemon.  You didn’t expect it.  You really didn’t even initially like it, but you roll with it and as a result you just got some pretty good MeMoRiEs.

:)

Robynn~

When All Else Fails…Tell The Truth

Since school started in September we’ve been driving past the same crossing guard four mornings a week on our way to my son’s school.  About a month ago my son decided he was going to start waving good morning to this man on our way to nursery school.  So I’m driving my bright-eyed, excited, 4 1/2 year old waving and shouting “Good morning” through my mini-van window and to my surprise he received absolutely NO response.  Nicholas turned to me and grumbled, “Mommy he didn’t wave back to me.”  I thought fast and replied, “Well maybe he didn’t see you today, you can try again tomorrow.”

After days and weeks went by with no waves being returned I was out of diplomatic responses.  I had already used up…

“Maybe his glasses are so dark that he couldn’t see you.”

“Maybe he was too cold to lift his arm.”

“Maybe he was too busy talking on his phone.”

What I ReAlLy wanted to say was, “Maybe he’s just not a nice person and can’t take two seconds to wave back to a 4 year old!”

OK Robyn…deep breath and pull it together!

I finally decided that instead of making up silly excuses for this man who I don’t even know, I was going to be honest with Nicholas.  On the next drive to school when the crossing guard didn’t wave back to Nicholas, I didn’t make up my usual white lie.  Instead I explained that there are all different kinds of people in the world with lots of different personalities just like the seven dwarfs in Snow White.  I told him that he was like the dwarf named Happy and the crossing guard was like the dwarf name Grumpy.  Nicholas started naming all of the other dwarfs and we talked more about different kinds of people.  I told Nicholas that it made me happy that he wanted to wave good morning to a stranger even if that person didn’t wave back in return and that I hope he stays as friendly as he is now….AlWaYs.

Front Door Facelift

I keep saying that 2012 is a year for cHaNge.  One of the first things I’ve changed is my front door!  When we bought our home it was a country blue.  I painted it red a few years ago, but this year I have been wanting a new look.  Here it is before…

Door Before

And now…the after picture!  What do you think?

Door After

I bought some vinyl and cut out “Welcome” with my stencil machine.  I am really pleased with how it turned out.  To think–Leanne and I were able to tRaNsForm the door in less than an hour (during Garrett’s nap)!

The weather is going to be awesome this week.  Is there something you can do to take advantage of the warmer days and make a change around the house?

~Lara

{The Puzzle}

One thing I really like to do, but don’t do very often is put together a puzzle.  From time to time my extended family will put one together during the HoLiDaYs.  It’s a great time to visit with them and enjoy their company.  Depending on the size of the puzzle it may take us hours or even days to finally put all the pieces together.  And when we are finished there is a sense of satisfaction seeing the end ReSuLt.

I think life is a lot like that puzzle.  When you take it out of the box the pieces are random, nothing fits together and unless you have a picture of what the puzzle should look like {which in life we never do}, a MyStErY.  How often do we look at our life when the pieces are piled up, convinced they will never fit together.  But God is a master at putting the puzzle pieces of our life together.  So, the next time you take a look at the puzzle pieces of your life chaotically piled up, remember that PuZzLeS take time and He who started a good work in you will finish it!!  {Philippians 1:6}

:)

Robynn~