Back to School

 The summer season is almost behind us, as free summer days have now turned into school days. I am in disbelief that my youngest daughter is already in Preschool as my oldest is now in fourth grade! The years seem to be flying past leaving only memories to hold onto. As this school year approaches for some and has arrived for others, may I encourage us all to treasure these days. Treasure them as your children absorb new nuggets of knowledge. Treasure them as questions seem unending and homework or homeschool work seems increasing. Treasure these school days for they fly by so fast leaving only pictures, snapshots, mental memories of days gone so fast.

 Note: The coffee is mine not my girl's.
Here is how the first part of our school day runs so smoothly...
baby swing + LOTS of "D" batteries= productive school day!

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Alphabet Gallery Wall

Remember my previous post where I shared with you the changes to our homeschool classroom? Remember that I said I had something  fun planed for my gallery wall? Well here it is.

 Now for a closer look so you can really see what I did.

 Since this is our classroom in our family room I decided to make an alphabet gallery wall. Oh and in case you were wondering, the frame to the right of the chalkboard is a burlap flannel board see post here.  Now for an even closer look.

Did you notice how each of the photo collages went along with one of the letters of the alphabet? Okay I am kinda excited about this one can you tell? Did you sing the song while browsing through? I can't help it... most often it is in the tune to the kid T.V. show Super Why. Funny! Funny... and now annoying. :)

P.S. I made the pillows... thinking they need some snazzing up.

I am linking to these parties.

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Homeschool Classroom Makeover

It is that time again... school! As many of you may remember our homeschool classroom has changed location for the fourth time, now to our family room. You can see more of that here.  So far I have loved it... the location that is, not how it looked. I have been busy making some changes. First here is just a bit of a reminder of what it changed from.

The chairs finally got to go outside for a day of pampering! Something I have been meaning to do for awhile! Armed with a can of black spray paint I gave them a make over we are all thankful for! They look so pretty now! Well as pretty as school chairs can look.

 

Here is a look around the room. Some more before and afters of the changes made.

 

I changed the lamp and this very bare boring wall turned into this...

The basket on the wall (far right) also had a date with the spray paint.

With help from my happy helpers. The Golden Retriever is my wonder dog named Dexter and the Sheltie belongs to Mandy at Mandipidy.

Hanging right next to the chalk board on the right is this mason jar. It used to house spaghetti sauce and now will be the home to chalk... maybe flowers! Or as a good friend suggested maybe it's contents will change with the seasons. I used a curtain rod hook and picture hanging wire to hang it on the wall. I simply put it around the bottle as you would if you were going to tie a bow. Instead of a bow I just kept wrapping it around the jar and then took the ends and wrapped them tight around the hook. It was that simple. Now more of the room.

 I love having a place for my kiddos to read books! I change out the books in the basket, especially since kids tend to pick the same book over and over again... until "yes we have that one memorized honey!"

Come back for my next post... I will be showing you the fun thing I did with my gallery wall! I am  so excited and I just know you will be too! :)

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Mason Jar Memories

Capturing memories in mason jars... how fun is this? Thinking my idea for photos in mason jars was just genius, I decided to Google to see if this genius idea was already thought up by someone else. It was! Okay so I may not be as original as I thought! Too funny! But as my sweet husband told me, "it was still your idea... until you found out it was someone elses." Thanks for not re-bursting my bubble honey!
I found these turquoise mason jars at an antique store and I just fell in love! I have been wanting to redo my downstairs bathroom with a mason jar theme for quite awhile now. Though the bathroom is not yet started my inspiration has my imagination soaring. I decided to go with a beachy theme to my photos, being that I am a California girl living in the mountains. Needless to say... missing the ocean. So with out much further ado enjoy!

 All prints are 4x6.
I just can't wait until I begin working on the bathroom!



I am linking up to these parties
and here

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A Messy Situation

Warning this post is not suitable for perfect homemakers with perfect kids. The images you are about to see may be disturbing to most moms. 

 Welcome to our unfinished basement. Our basement that has been once, twice... now three times organized and has taken on different purposes (see post here). Our basement that used to be a home to some of our friends (see post here ) as they were saving money for an apartment. With them lived two cats... cats that later I discovered I am BIG time allergic to. Leaving me unable to venture down into my basement the whole nine months of my pregnancy for possibility of a horrible Asthma attack. After our friends moved out I decided to turn the basement into a playroom. Brilliant idea... except all this happened days after finding out I was expecting and then realizing I could not go down there. So as I said, I had not been down there in a long while but, obviously someone was going down into the basement... because this is NOT how I left it.
I put my mom detective skills to use and I found those responsible for this messy situation.

Their sentence... two days of clean up and a lecture first from mom and then from dad. They said they were really sorry for what they had done. Even the part when they ripped apart a Styrofoam cooler into tiny, tiny little pieces. You can see evidence of that in photo one and two.

 I love plastic bis! I have toys sorted by kind or by what is fun to pair together in play. I came up with this system many years ago and it works really well. It helps a child play with a toy the way intended as well as keep them from getting overwhelmed by so many toys all at once. Also trading out the bins is like Christmas all over again. I used Word and printed out labels using different fonts. I then used packing tape to attach the labels I made with printer paper. The tape completely covers the paper keeping it protected.

 I now store the bins behind a gate to remind the kids of our house rule. One toy out at a time. To get a new bin of toys everything must be cleaned up first.

A tidy play space helps encourage imagination! Not to mention keeps a child out of trouble with the authorities!

Parties I am linking to:

At The Picket Fence
The Shabby Nest
My Repurposed Life
Designer Garden      
Tatertots and Jello
Just A Girl Blog
Remodelaholic
Stuff and Nonsense
French Country Cottage
The Charm of Home
Serenity Now

 Organizing Made Fun
Home Savvy
Between Naps on the Porch
The DIY Home Sweet Home Project
Organize With Sandy

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