Roundin' Up the Boys' Bathroom Closet

I have been wanting to tackle this bathroom closet for soooo long! This closet holds shampoos, medicines, sheets, blankets, and other odds 'n ends. Here are the before pictures:

TOP SHELVES:


BOTTOM SHELF & FLOOR: (not much room for the dirty clothes basket, huh?)

I lucked into some great little wicker baskets on sale to hold all the toiletry items. I've divided the baskets into: toilet paper & toddler wipes, skin care, lotions, bath soaps & shampoos, dental, stuffy nose box of vicks and vapor plug-ins, travel size products, and odds 'n ends that don't really fit in a category.


Shortly after finding those baskets, I ran across a 60% off sale on the large woven baskets for the blankets! I just love it when a sale comes my way on something I was in "need" of! :)

The sheets may not look extremely organized, but I've actually got them folded up into the corresponding pillow case (when available). This way it's easy for Will to go pick out his sheets... he just need to grab the pillow case like a bag and carry it all to his room.


And best of all there is room for the dirty clothes basket! LOL!

Summer

Daa Doo

While sitting at the table for supper, Will was commending that his chair had arms and the other's didn't. I told him that it was called a "Captain's Chair" and then of course he asked, "Why?" Jeff told him that the captain is in charge and should sit at the head of the table. Will, realizing he was sitting at the side of the table, said, "Well, this Captain's chair is at the belly."






Poor Nathan. He's had some sort of stomach bug that has lasted almost two weeks now... resulting in some pretty bad diaper rash from time to time. It must really sting, because he would tell us, "Huut. Cab, " while signing crab (which looks like you are scissoring your index and middle fingers). Basically he was saying that his hiney hurt and it felt like he was being pinched by a crab... poor little guy.






Witt's favorite thing to do right now is to come out from behind a corner and scream, "AAAHHH!" We play along and pretend to be scared. It's a fun family game that everyone joins in on!

He also likes to go around the house yelling, "Ma!" and then I yell back, "Witt!" We do this over and over again until he finds me... sort of like the game MaroPolo.

He also does a really good job with "Hi" or "Hey" and says "Dy Dy" while opening and closing his little hand for "Bye Bye".

My favorite right now, though, is "Daa Doo" for "Thank You"... so very sweet!

Menu Plan Monday - Getting It All Organized!!

I love planning a weekly menu - it reduces my daily stress significantly! However, when Sunday afternoon rolls around and it's time for me to make my weekly plan... I stress. I love recipes. I love reading them, finding them, trying them. I have a bookmarked folder full of recipes to try that I found through MPM... not to mention all of the pages I have marked in my actual cookbooks... oh, and the ones on allrecipes.com. Whew. I've just overloaded myself with them all.

So, here's what I've done. I listed all of my family's favorites. I was astounded that I came up with over 20 meals (not even including the Fall soups and chowders)! I set up a calendar and tried to balance out each week with different meats/fishes/veggies. I assigned my crockpot/slow cook meals for Sunday so they will be ready when we return from worship services. Wednesday is an extremely fast supper because of evening bible study and Friday/Saturday are generally grill/smoker ideas to let Jeff get involved. I also left one day open for a new recipe to try.

This Sunday I sat down to make my grocery list and gather my coupons that corresponded with this week's meal plan and I was amazed at the LACK OF STRESS! I didn't even use the exact plan as there was a meal we didn't eat last week and just carried it over to replace one for this week. I was able to finish everything in record time and I know that I have a balanced week planned! I'm just so excited about this!

So, here's the plan I came up with for this week's rotation (all recipes are made dairy free at my house... if you have a question how I convert it, just let me know!):


Bow Tie Pasta & Sausage
Steamed Broccoli
Sliced Peaches

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Chicken Sandwiches
chips
sweet peas
mandarin oranges

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Baked Taquitoes
Spanish Rice
Refried Beans
Black Beans

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Sheppard's Pie
green beans
creamed corn
pear halves

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Grilled Pork Loin
Steamed Broccoli
Sweet Potatoes
Broiled Asparagus
Baked Beans
corn bread

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Baked Pork Chops
Pinto Beans
Honey Carrots
corn bread
mashed potatoes

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Now that I have 5 weeks of menus planned, I may be on my way to shopping monthly? We'll have to see... :)

Glass

Last week's Unplugged Project was Glass. We actually did it, but I didn't get a chance to post about it. I'm going to let the pictures speak for themselves except to say that:

I think our project should actually be entitled, Blue... (LOL!)

Walk to d'feet ALS

Join me in the fight against ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease) by contributing to the The ALS Association of Georgia's Walk to Defeat ALS!

Why Georgia? Well, my family and I will be traveling to Atlanta, Georgia to walk with one of my best friends from high school, Kimberly Kim, and her family. She was diagnosed with ALS two years ago, shortly after their son was born.

I am asking you to support me in this endeavor by making a tax deductible donation to the Walk to Defeat ALS. Your donation will enable the ALS Association of Georgia to provide services to patients and their families living with ALS.

I have listed some facts that you should know about ALS:

-Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrigs Disease, is a progressive fatal neurodegenerative disease that slowly robs the body of its ability to walk, speak, swallow and breathe.

-The financial cost to families of persons with ALS is exceedingly high. It is estimated that in the advanced stages, care can cost an average of $200,000 a year

-The life expectancy of an ALS patient averages two to five years from the time of diagnosis

-ALS can strike anyone. ALS occurs throughout the world with no racial, ethnic, or socioeconomic boundaries.

By supporting the ALS Association of Georgia, you are taking an important step in the fight against Lou Gehrig's disease. The ALS Association of Georgia is the only nationally affiliated non-for-profit health organizations dedicated solely to the fight against ALS. The mission of the ALS Association is to find a cure for and improve living with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

The best way to donate is on-line! (I donated online very easily... and securely!) Visit my personal page by clicking below and make a donation.

Thank you so much!

Follow This Link to visit my personal web page and help me in my efforts to support The ALS Association of Georgia.

Thank you so much!

Too Much To Do

Our A/C went out yesterday (the hottest day of the year - 103, I think I heard)! Ugh. Luckily it was fixed quickly and back down to 80 before we went to bed last night.

We didn't do anything around the house yesterday so I have two days worth of chores today plus grocery shopping... oh, and the stomach bug has hit two of my kids again.

I have Scavenger Hunt photos to share, an unplugged project, and a tiny talk... but no time... they will have to wait.

I'll be back when things get a little more together around here!

Dirty Baby Carnival

**Nathan**

**Witt**

**Will**

They get it from me:

Add your "Dirty Babies" via permalink here:

John Deere Tractor Song

I'm devoting this Tiny Talk Tuesday to Nathan; he's trying really hard and stringing 4 - 5 "words" together now. Once he tried to tell Jeff and I something that must have been a paragraph long, but unfortunately we didn't understand a thing! We did however, have huge smiles on our faces and lots of praise for him trying! :)

At night while putting each boy to bed, we sing a song or tell stories to each boy. One night, while Jeff was putting Nathan down, he figured out that Nathan wanted the song, "As the Deer". Jeff relayed to me that the process started with Nathan saying, "Brrmm Brrmm Sau" which I would know to mean, "Tractor Song". That's as far as I would have gotten, but then Nathan signed and said, "Dee Sau" - as in "Deer Song". (Get the connection? ... John Deere Tractor? Tractor Song... Deer Song... As the Deer... LOL!)


Here are more of his latest words (not all, though):


"Lu" with the sign for I Love You
"Baa Uuu" = "Back Up" - walks backwards
"Saw" = "Saw" and his hand straight up like a blade (his made up sign for saw)
"Nase" - "Nathan"
"Choc Mik" - "chocolate milk"


"1 tine" - "one more time" while holding up a single finger


"Wi 5" - Will is 5
"Nase 2" - Nathan is 2
"Wi 1" - Witt is 1
and sometimes just for fun in trying to be a big boy, "Nase 5" :)

Visit Mary at NotBefore7 for more Tiny Talk Tuesday!

Reminder: Dirty Baby Carnival TOMORROW!!!

Just a reminder to get your PigPen pictures ready for tomorrow's Dirty Baby Carnival!!

My Three Sons

Just look at those sweet faces! I love these pictures!! I have people tell me they all look alike and I think they are crazy blind! LOL! To me they are each so different. There are more similarities between Will and Witt (besides their names), I think, but they are still their own little selves.

Here's where some of the physical differences come from:

Jeff has an Indian bloodline. His grandmother is 1/2 Cherokee. I also have Indian in my family, but further back. That's where the darker skin comes from in Will and Witt. Jeff's brother has more of the olive tone than Jeff and my uncle has more of the olive tone than my dad. So both Jeff and I are the more fair complected in our respective families.

When I was pregnant with Will, I used to tease that we light-skinned folks really could end up with brown little babies... and I guess we did in two of them! Poor little Nathan, though, even his pediatrician dubbed him a lily-white boy. LOL!

When Will was about 1 year old, I had a lady (that I didn't know) tell me that I let Will play in the sun too much because he was so tan. I told her that's just the color he is. She retorted with, "Well, what color is his butt? If it's the same color as the rest of him, then I'd believe you." Of course I didn't show her his butt! That night though, while in the tub, I double checked (because you know I want to be a good mom) and sure enough... no tan line.



Nathan looks so much like Jeff it's crazy... especially when you look at Jeff's younger years. Same oval shaped head... same big brown eyes... oh, and the lack of hair helps, too! :)


Witt, well... I think I finally got one that looks more like me!

No matter who they look like, we can't and would never deny them!

Dirty Baby Carnival

For those of you on a reader, I just wanted you to know that I've picked next Wednesday for the Dirty Baby Carnival!! The code for the button is on my sidebar if you'd like to pick one up for yourself.

Spread the dirt... invite your friends! :)

Let's Get Dirty!

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UPDATE 2: Go Here for the Carnival!

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UPDATE:

Here's HTML code to get your own Dirty Baby Carnival Button (anybody know how to make the button fit a little better on the sidebar?):

<a href="http://boysrulemylife.blogspot.com/2008/07/lets-get-dirty.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff107/missbecky75/dirtybabycarnival-1.jpg" border="0" alt="dirtybabycarnival2"></a>

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I've been mulling this idea around in my brain for a while and so I want to throw it out there to see if there's any interest:

I want to do a Baby Picture Carnival - not pretty, all put together pictures, but dirty, food-crusted, I've had a fun-filled day kinda pictures.

Our Pigpen is Witt. Dirt just clings to this kid!

And Miss Elaine posted a fun picture of her little guy after some good 4th of July eats here.

If there's enough interest, I'll get a date together, give you plenty of time to take pictures (or find some) and I'll set up Mr. Linky for our Dirty Parade of Kids. (The pictures wouldn't have to be current; they could even be of you when you were little...lol!)

So, what do you say? Got any dirty kids?