They all grow up don't they?

Today is picture day at the kids Elementary School and I'm excited because Nicholas gets to start having his own School Photos added to the wall. Before they left this morning I snapped a quick picture of both, Nicholas wasn't too impressed, as a matter of fact I have no clue what he's doing in this photo LOL

But after a few tries of "smile Nicholas" and "Please just let me take your picture", I gave up, he'll just do what he wants to :) My sweet little boy!


Then I took one of Jasmine and my heart skipped a beat. Just when did she go from my little baby to a 9 year old beautiful young lady? They grow up so fast and it really does seem to be in the blink of an eye and I know there's nothing I can do to stop this process, it's part of life.

I smile at the big girl she is now but my heart also aches for the little baby she used to be. Gosh it's hard being a parent.


I had such a crazy busy day yesterday, I must have walked into the house and back out again for errands at LEAST 4 times, I'm usually a lot more organized but it was one of those fly by the seat of your pants days.

I ventured into the commissary for groceries which, if you've been to one ON PAYDAY you know the nightmare it can be. Not just military families but we have one of the biggest military retiree's community, about 70 000, so they all come shopping too. But for some reason yesterday was ten times worse than it usually is, aisles were crowded, there were shopping carts, kids, elderly couples, frazzled moms and the electric scooter thingies. Yeah it was nuts. But I managed to get everything taken care of before I had to pick up the kids from school.

We came home and after their snack we sat at the kitchen table and made some little ghosts to hang out front. They're SUPER easy to make and the kids had a blast.

All you need is some white fabric of any kind. I have about 10 yards that I picked up at Walmart from their $1 fabric bin. It was perfect, and for the inside of the ghosts I didn't have any batting so we used paper crumpled into a ball, cut the fabric into squares, placed the ball in the middle and gathered up the fabric around it, tied it with some fishing wire and then the kids used markers to draw on faces......VOILA!


They look darn cute hanging out there!

Thank you all for the comments on my Home Management Binder, honestly when I first heard about them I reacted like some of you "I just don't have time for making one". But it's actually SO easy and SO quick, I honestly don't know how I made it all this time without one. I have it sitting on my kitchen counter inside a basket that I got for free at the Airman's Attic back in Idaho. It's perfect for this purpose.


Inside I have my Home Management Binder, you can see it peeking out from behind, then I have 4 folders, one for each family member. I open my mail right in front of this basket and then throw out what is junk or add whatever belongs to each one to their folder. Like military mail that comes for Curt, Catalogues or Magazine subscriptions in mine and the kids school paperwork goes in theirs too.
I go through their backpacks as soon as we get home in the afternoon, trash what isn't needed and sign any forms that require my signature. I put them back in their backpacks OR if they are not needed the next day, they go in their folder.

I DO check the folders every morning to see if something in there needs to go with them. Other things I put in their folders are pictures they've drawn for me, or notes they write, they love drawing and during the day will come to me numerous times with pictures in their hands, I put some on the refrigerator but there's so many, it's hard to find a place for them, now they have one.

I also have my coupon book in that basket and my digital camera, battery recharger and a small pencil bag with pens and pencils.

It's amazing how much this little basket has cut down on my clutter in the kitchen, no more counters full of piles of paperwork and magazines.

But enough about that, I don't want to bore you with all my babbling, so I'll leave you with a question.........

How do YOU deal with all the paperwork clutter and especially all the school paperwork that comes home everyday?

Home Management Binder!

I've wanted to make one for my family for a while now but never got around to it and just couldn't think of what to put in there, so last week when Eden posted about hers I said "that's it, I'm making one TODAY".

Eden is so sweet, she emailed pretty much all the forms she used in her own binder and then I also took a look around the web and got some pretty neat ideas from other ladies too. Slowly it's coming together, it's not yet finished but I wanted to show you what I've got so far and maybe inspire someone else to make one. I don't know how I ever lived without mine, it really is a life saver.

So here we go:

I had some pretty fabric laying around, so I went ahead and covered my folder with, just used a little bit of hot glue and it worked well. I then glued a cover sheet onto it, it just says the name of the family and has a cute graphic and a Bible Verse that I love.

On the inside pocket I have a few cute pencils. I'm going to get one of those mesh pencil holders and use that for all my pens and pencils etc, but for now it will do.

The first section is my Schedules. This is where I keep all our schedules which usually change each week depending on the shift that Curt is work.

Next section is my Menu Planning and Grocery Shopping. I have a printable monthly menu, pantry list, grocery list and also coupons. I'm using the ones that Eden sent me, but you can also download some great ones here. Monthly Menu Planners & Grocery Lists.

Next section is my Calendar and I use this form that you can download and print for yourself.

Next is the House Cleaning Section. I have a ton of Fly Lady forms for cleaning, I don't use her personally, I tried before and it just wasn't for me, but I think she has some great ideas for decluttering and cleaning so I keep those in the folder.

I also have a Stain Removal Guide that I found online.

Next is my Brain Files. Now while looking around online at other Home Binders, I found this and thought is was an awesome idea. You can download the files for yourself, thanks to Little Turtle Mama.

They're split up into days of the week and each day focuses on a room to clean. I think it's great because usually I'm more of a "try to clean every room EVERY DAY" kinda gal and it can get overwhelming. This will help me stay focused on just one room per day.

Next section is our Monthly Budget, Eden sent me the form she uses but if you want one for yourself, you can download some great ones online.....OR ask Eden for hers? LOL

Next section is my Contacts. I'm using both the form that Eden sent me plus another really great one I found online.

You can find it here, Phone Resources and print it for yourself. It has a place for family phone numbers, schools, doctors, vet, local hospital, neighbors etc.

In this section I also have menus and take out pamphlets for some of our favorite restaurants.

I still have a few sections to work on......the next ones will be:

Birthday & Christmas Lists - it will have a page for each family member that lists things they've requested and ideas for Christmas and Birthday presents

Bible Study - I'll keep track of Bible Reading schedule, Bible Study notes or devotionals etc.

Blogging Friends - I have quite a few of my bloggy friends addresses and will keep a list with their blog name, real name and info. It will make it easier for when I send out Christmas cards or want to surprise someone with a little gift in the mail.

Family & Health Records - shot records for the kids, I'll keep a record for each family member of shoe sizes and clothes sizes to make it easier to update as it changes, doctors visits and yearly well exams.

Hobby and Home Decor Projects - I always find some great projects in magazines and never know where to put them, this way I can clip them and add them to the binder.


And that's pretty much it, I'm sure as time goes by I'll probably add different sections to it. Hope I gave you all some ideas for your own binders and if you make one for yourself, I hope you share it with all of us too :)