Unexpected Long Weekend

I am home today with a sick kiddo... and so it begins.  Again.  Poor Brennan has had monthly fevers since he was two years old, mostly because he cannot keep his hands out of his mouth.  I feel like he is just as oral as he was when he was a young toddler.  Last year he missed ten days of school, and I got a letter from the school about his attendance.  It was heart-breaking, mostly because I can't change anything.  His oral tendencies are completely subconscious, so harping on him doesn't make any difference at all.

The good news is that today is Friday, so B will definitely be back in school on Monday.  And so today I will do what I can to keep everyone happy until Daddy gets home.  Right now, that involves Caillou and computer games until breakfast.  And so, while everyone gets their daily allotment of screen time, I blog.

Yesterday was my second day having Cora in preschool for five hours.  It was awesome.  Honestly, I felt giddy, being able to run errands with just one child.  And when I got home and Seth took a nap, I dove into an organizing project I have been itching to do for a while.

It is no secret that I get pleasure out of being organized and efficient.  This is especially true in my home.  My house is never completely clean or picked up, (I do have three kids!!) but I do have lots of systems in place to make my life simpler and help everyone stay on track.  My mother-in-law comments every time she comes to visit that I have a new system in place, and she is always learning new tricks from spending time in my home.  She said she loves it because she always knows where to find things and how to step in and help me.  She told me I need to post some of my organizational strategies because they just don't come naturally to everyone.  I thought this sounded like a good idea, so next week I am going to post photos and tips on organization for life with little kids.  If they are obvious, forgive me.  But if they are helpful to even one person, I'm glad to share.

In the mean time, I'll share some photos of yesterday's achievements.  The closets in our house have been driving me crazy for some time.  I picked up a few plastic shelving units at Home Depot yesterday, and voila!  Instant organization.

Brennan's closet before:

... and after:

Seth's closet before:

...and after:

I'll talk about some of the things in the kids' closets during next week's post.  Until then, I'll leave you with some photos.

Brennan and Cora were both supposed to bring family pictures to school, and we realized we hadn't taken one since we were in the hospital when Seth was born.  We threw up a black piece of fabric, set the timer on the camera, and took a few impromptu pictures after church (Jim had been home with the sick baby, so he isn't as dressed up as the rest of us).

Look who is sitting up?!  Oh, wait!  That's a picture of Brennan!  Well, it's awfully hard to tell them apart.  Thank goodness for dates on digital pictures because they are nearly identical at this age.  Check out Seth!!

Have a great weekend!