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1. After living here for a month and a half, my side of the garage is now almost completely empty. Just one other thing to move to Dave’s side. (We realized that despite the house having a two-car garage, only one side can be used because the bathroom the previous owners added to the basement prevents a car from fitting on Dave’s side. He’s fine with it, it was never on his must-have list (like it was on mine) to have a garage, he says he’ll just get a remote starter for his car. I have emptied the entire garage by myself for the most part, slowly over time, and I’m thrilled it’s almost done. Of course, in some cases, I've just moved a box from the garage to the room it belongs in but haven't actually unpacked it yet! My next step is to make the area in front of my car (by the door into the house from the garage) into a mud room area. I’ve already put into place a bunch of organizational things over the last couple of weeks, though:
* dining room craft, snack, and recycling area
* landing backpack and coat area
* backyard toy bins
I got this piece at Christmas Tree Shops for 20% off. It has three drawers, one for each girls' winter hats, gloves, etc. Plus hooks for Becca's and Bridget's coats and backpacks, at their own levels.
Craft area and other dining room organization - the multicolored one on the left I bought at Michael's for 50% off and the girls use it every day. I LOVE having it! The 3-drawer one on the right we use for paper recycling (top drawer), seasonal plates and napkins (middle drawer), and after-school snacks (bottom drawer).
3. Bridget has impressed me in the last couple of weeks or so with her level of compassion. I think that’s one of my favorite things about being a mother - seeing compassion develop within kids. She has felt bad for Becca because of homework issues, the Maddy issues, and the day the swing set came that she couldn’t play with the swing set as soon as she herself could. So in all those cases, she drew sweet pictures for Becca to express her concern for Becca and that she hopes she feels better. She often “mails” Becca a letter, especially on the days that it’s Becca’s turn to get the mail (Bridget gets the mail on M/W/F, the days she has school, and Becca gets it on T/R/Sat) so Becca can be surprised with a sweet letter from her. I just love that! Bridget’s drawing is still pretty amazing, too. She drew a fabulous picture of the swing set the day it arrived, that is very good. Here it is:
3. Concord Museum Family Trees - the list of trees based on children's books is now up and I'll probably take out the books soon. I'm looking forward to our annual trip to see them. I'm also looking forward to continuing the tradition we started last year of doing our own tree based on a book for our local library. I suggested the book FLY BLANKY FLY and the girls love it - the book and the idea:
We plan to do "ornaments" based on the various quilt squares, and to start in October. :) Last year we did a tree based on PAPA PLEASE GET THE MOON FOR ME. I like this blanky book because blankies have been so special to our family.
4. Television lately - Bridget is loving the new Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood (animated show that is based on the original Mr. Roger's Neighborhood); she's seen all 15 new episodes, and now they're repeating. Me? I'm behind the times and am currently watching on demand BIG LOVE from HBO (from a few years ago). I've always wanted to see it but never had HBO. I'm up to episode 9 of Season 1. Also, I noticed in the Guide that Remington Steele is being shown on some channels now. I don't remember ever seeing that in reruns. I haven't watched it yet but it was one of my favorite shows when I was younger. I LOVED Pierce Brosnan. He and Bruce Boxtleitner (from Scarecrow and Mrs. King) were my only two ever celebrity crushes. I'm also enjoying the new show Revolution so far.
5. Allison's crib is up and her room is coming together. We're using a farm bedding set that both Becca and Bridget used, so it's been fun to take it out again. So far only the bedding is really in use, but I have a bunch of stuff to hang that is in the theme, too. She got her first tooth last Friday, too, right at 8 months, like Bridget (Becca didn't have any teeth until 14 months). She had been sleeping horribly the last week after sleeping through the night since we moved in. She is still waking up once a night but we are letting her cry it out a bit at bedtime and after feeding her in the middle of the night so she can learn to self-soothe a bit. Today she napped for TWO HOURS - a huge milestone - 10:30 to 12:30. It was great - I got so much done. Laundry folding, sorting, and putting away, helping Bridget straighten her room, straightening Becca's a bit, plus lots of alone time with Bridget. I've been existing on doing things in no longer than 20-30 minute naps for the most part, but this was great. Hoping for better and better. We've been so tired - Dave wore one black shoe and one brown shoe to work last Thursday.