And I thought getting ready was the work

Well after 2 1/2 weeks of vacation, it is nice to be home. But I thought it was a lot of work to pack. It is just as hard to unpack, This is what my kitchen and mud room looked like last night.





This is what the kitchen looks like now. If only I had the mud room done too.

Prepwork/ Lists

I have done a ton prep work lately. Packing for trips, laundry to pack for trips, packing diaper bags, shopping and packing for camping, packing for camping. The list goes on and on. As a mom I think that I do more prep work then work after the fact.

Some of the things that I have forgotten lately are towels for camping at the lake, cutting board for camping, and I'm sure that my husband can add a few things. Anyway, my point is list work only if you add every thing to them. I now have a master list for camping. I can only hope that I won't forget anything major in the near future.

What have you forgotten and left at home?

Everything has a place and everything in its place

With lots of kids around they have LOTS of stuff. I know that if things have a place, it is easier to clean it up. I have several rooms that I have organized so that everything has a place. This weekend I worked on my mudroom. It seems there are a gazillion coats,sweatshirts,rain jackets, shoes, galoshes. So how to organize them.

I went and bought a 12inx10ftx1in board and had it cut into two pieces. I also got 8 hooks and a can of paint. I went home and painted the boards and put the hooks on and had them hung on the wall one lower for teh little kidsand one high for the bigger kids. I also had a good friend make vinyl letters that said "home is where you hang your stuff". and a little name for each of the hooks. I love it and now there are not coats all over the floor or on the one hook that was on the door that the little kids couldn't reach. Now I need to figure out how to store all the shoes. any suggestions?