I’ve decided to postpone painting the fireplace wall until I can take a day off and do it. That way I can do a coat the night before after the kids go to bed, then during the day I take off I can do a second coat with no kids around, followed by a third the next night after they go to bed. I’ll probably wait and do it in late March.
But I have another task that is a bit more pressing. We gotta do something about the toys. There’s just way too many of them. And the problem lies in how the kids play – they don’t take out a few toys and play happily, they take out ALL of their toys and make a huge mess of CootieBoy’s room. See the mess below – and this is mild compared to normal playtime messes (can you see CootieGirl in the middle of it all?)
And then when we make them pick it up they complain and dawdle and begin playing again.
So I’ve decided it’s time for a Clean Sweep of their rooms. My goal is to get rid of 50% of their toys. Whether it’s giving them to Goodwill or saving them for my sister to have when Baby Jesse is older. But my goal is to hold up two toys and let the kids pick which one they’d prefer to keep, and then get rid of the other one. Frankly, I can probably clear out a lot of their toys on my own because a LOT of them are pre-toddler toys that they’ve just outgrown.
You know what? Denis is watching football and the kids are watching Dora (I’ll let you guess who has the big screen tv) – so I think I’m going to grab an empty box and begin the task right now.
See ya!
Update at 7:16 p.m.: Didn’t take long. I now have two medium sized boxes of various toys, puzzles and stuff animals for my sister with at least another box of stuffed animals to be packed up for Goodwill. In the condensing I was able to open up some space in CootieBoy’s room, which was feeling cramped due to all the toys. I’ll give the two boxes as well as a four-drawer toy chest to my sister – most likely keeping it here until they figure out where they may be living in the fall. If they move to Arkansas this summer I’ll just have them pick up the stuff on their way there. By then Jesse will be over six months old and able to play with a good many of the toys in the two boxes.
I love trading stuff for more space! Toys especially.
I’m enjoying all the pics of your adorable kids. CootieBoy looks so grown up these days.
…I’ll just have them pick up the stuff on their way there.
Right. We have two cars, which will be loaded down with the baby and his stuff, a dog, a cat, and whatever luggage we’ll need until the moving truck arrives at our new home.
However, I do want to check out the stuff you saved, so we’ll figure out a way to get it. Thanks!
I’ll just have mom bring it back to VA with her in March then.
Or you could be totally OCD and do what my parents did: 2 toys out at a time, when you want another, you have to put 1 back…needless to say, I do not follow that regime and our playroom looks a lot like yours does!
Cristan – I’d be shocked if the “2 out at a time” would ever work in my house. In fact, I know it wouldn’t!