Routine, Routine, Routine

I, like many of you, am a huge believer in a routine.  I have many each day.....I make breakfast the same way (although each day differs in the choices for J & C), I have a routine for my weekly chores, and I am trying hard to get the boys in a good bedtime and morning routine on school days.

While I read many BLOGS each day, I do find reading others routines helpful and get ideas on how the make routines easier for all of us.  Today, while reading my favorite Blog EVER, I came across her morning routine printable (which is FREE and that makes it even better) to assist my boys!  I have her bedtime routine printable already hanging on the boys doors, the new morning routine will soon join it for the boys to use as a guide.

Routines are apart of everyone's lives even if we do not really know about it.  I think setting the right routines in my kids at an early age will be helpful as they grow into the big people too....

Freedom....sort of

Finally C has started school and I am learning to enjoy my 2.5 hours of quiet time, alone.  With that said, I am making lists of things I can tackle "sans kids".  The list is long, but easy projects that can be done in the amount of time I have. 

The list continues as will my clean out areas...I am tackling the basement currently.  A dear childhood friend and her hubby are visiting us next weekend and staying with us.  We do not have a guest room (boo!)  so they will be taking over the basement and I want to make it clean and private for them to have a place to relax "sans kids".  I am deep cleaning this weekend, then adding finishing touches to the quick decorating I have done.

Our family room and the boys playroom are down there so there is plenty to clean out.  The toys need to be gone through (without them) to add batteries where needed, ditch any things that have snuck into bins and art work needs to be hung (there is a pile!!)  The family room side is quite clean and organized so there is little to be done but add some things for our guests to make them comfortable.  It is kind of exciting to have guests coming!!!

Next on the list is painting a bathroom, and then I will start to tackle our master bedroom.  Since I have limited alone time it will take some time, but I can do it. One wall at a time!  The budget is ZERO so I need to re-purpose items and get crafty.  I am now addicted (honestly!) to Pinterest and cannot believe the ideas I am finding there for so many things!! I love it!  I have made boards to organize them on the site and can mindlessly look at things, and "pin" them to a board.  It is so easy!!  Kids crafts, fashion, food, decorating...All the things I love to get ideas for! 

Off to take C to school and then get back here to work in the playroom...Its a rainy day here, but we have plans with our dearest friends here in town.  Pizza nights are back now that school is out.  This is our family time with them and we love our monthly dinners together.  Happily our kids love pizza night as much and M and I do! 

Always looking!

I love to look at blogs that help me organize my life, my family, my house etc.

I am a huge believer and fan of Cozi and the amazing online calendar, list maker and articles! We live by it and weekly, if not more, I reference it for something.  We have it on our phones, we print out the monthly calendars, I make lists on it, I text M reminders from it.  It has truly made our family commitments so much easier to handle.

I am also a huge fan stalker of iheartorganizing.  Jen is amazing and inspirational and there is not a week that has gone by that I have not found SOMETHING on her site that has not motivated me to better our home, or lives.  While I might be a silent fan, I still read all of her articles and then plan to do them on my Cozi calendar!  Hello, organized???!!!!???

Jen's latest post on getting lunches ready for school has be ready to tackle a new lunch making routine.  I have made out 30 minutes each Sunday on the calendar to prep for lunches!  I have some bins ready, I have shopped, I have lists of lunch ideas prepped and I am ready to roll out yet another genius organized routine for this family!

How or what keeps you organized?

MIA

Where do the days go?  Oh that's right, I volunteer for too much and get overwhelmed in the final weeks.  THAT IS WHERE MY DAYS GO! 

J's school Raffle is in a few weeks. I am once again chairing it (my last year, I swear!) So right after C's party my living room became Raffle Central with gift baskets, prizes, ribbon, tissue paper etc. It is a mess.  I avoid that room at all costs.  But it is time to start knocking out things so I am not sleep deprived the week of the event. 

C came down with something in the middle of the night last night so he and I stayed in....And did what any normal OCD mom would do, organized something. I tackled "my side" of the storage room.  (Where I keep gifts, my crafting stuff, wrapping paper, ribbon and anything else I need to hide or conceal from the residents.) I tossed about 2 boxes worth of "junk".  Meaning if I moved into this house 4.5 years ago and have not TOUCHED IT, it was gone....That felt nice. I cleared up 3 shelves, labeled anything that needed with my new fun labels I got from iheartorganizing and loved it! It is now a place that I will happily walk into and not feel like I might kill myself going back there.  Between the holidays and C's party, it became a dumping ground!

In a moment of C resting and me playing online I found this blog that I adore! She style is more my style and slowly I am creating ideas for the house that are totally DIY and budget friendly. I may do it my own way, but at least the ball is rolling in the right direction!

Since C is sick, we have laid low, had some cuddles, gotten some chores done and rested.  That has been nice.  But it also means I am behind on my list. I see a long night ahead of me to catch up so I do not feel overwhelmed on Thursday.  I have such a routine and although I know I am a SAHM my choice, if my routine gets bumped it sends me into a tizzy. Does that happen to anyone else?