It's been a long time, but we are still plugging away on the organizational front. Getting all of our ducks in a row is a big undertaking, especially with limitations of time, money, and space - not to mention the increasing need for organization as we continue to put our one bedroom, one bathroom apartment to the test. Three kids, two adults, and somewhere around 800 square feet makes for a very communal way of life!
I'm excited that the past week has been huge for cleaning out and reorganizing. Posts will (Lord willing) come of the kids' bedroom which is now furnished with more than a couple of mattresses on the floor and a lot of toys. Joshua and Hannah both have a little bit of space to call their own and they get to sleep in a cool bunk bed too.
The living room - office area and our "master bedroom" area - will also undergo some big changes, but we're still awaiting a bit of free time to build a desk and hang a room divider. More on that later.
In the midst of creating more personal space and more appropriate sleeping space, our school wall has been crying out for some attention. It worked well that we recently took a trek to our "neighborhood" IKEA. (When you live in the NY Metro area, driving interstate can be considered both an international adventure and a neighborhood stroll). While shopping we picked out a tall book shelf - The School Shelf. And this is where the school wall received its wish for some much needed TLC.
For the most part, the photo below speaks for itself. I've seen this system of organizing teacher resources on a few blogs, and it seemed like a good fit for us. The magazine files work well because I can easily add and take away items without opening a million different binders and loops and hooks and whatever else I was doing before the change. I like that categorizing materials can be done loosely since it's always possible to add more magazine files for more specific subjects. And I love that I feel like I can now find what I'm looking for in our school area - no more digging around in random cabinets only to discover that the math activity I was looking for is in another bin in a different cabinet. Praise the Lord!
By the way...the kids did an awesome job while I put a lot of energy into organizing our school materials today. I'm pretty sure they were loading freight trains, riding to "Canyafornia", and building impressive bridges to span even more impressive train tracks.
And here it is, in all its organizational splendor, ready to grow gracefully with our schooling and with our family - The School Shelf.
I'll admit that it makes me smile. :)
On Sunday we celebrated Abigail's first birthday. It's crazy to think that an entire year has passed since her birth. At this point in my life I have fully joined the ranks of parents who constantly say, "It goes by too fast!" Didn't we just get home from the hospital???
Miss Abigail started walking about a month ago. She says "what's that?", waves good-bye, blows kisses goodnight, and hugs her baby doll. One thing I just love is when I'm putting her to sleep - I always say, "Good night, Abby Joy. I love you." Each time she looks up at me and smiles a big smile. And can this girl ever smile! :)
Hopefully we'll post a video or two of Abby eating her birthday cupcake and opening her gift. However, in the very likely event that we never get around to it I'm posting a few photos here.
Enjoy!
She couldn't wait to get her hands on a cupcake, but in the end I'm not sure that she enjoyed the texture.
She did enjoy the taste, however! :)
Once the gift was in her line of sight, Abigail all but ran to it. I was amazed because she hasn't really seen us open gifts before, but she knew it was for her and she was excited. Once she reached the bag, she quickly grabbed the tissue paper and started playing. It just goes to show that kids play with the wrapping just as much as the gift.
Picking out a gift for a one year old is pretty challenging, especially when this one already has toys passed down from big brother and sister. I noticed that she was taking Hannah's doll a lot - and that was causing some friction between the two. So, we opted for a very girly gift: a new doll. Just like with the wrapped present, Abby knew that this was for her. Once she got over playing with the tissue paper, she grabbed the doll out of the gift bag, and picked up (as shown above). She proceeded to hug and carry her doll for several minutes. And now she sleeps with her baby for naps - very cute indeed!
Abigail has discovered the keyboard. She walks over, stands on her tiptoes, and reaches up to play whatever keys her little fingers can hit. So, I decided to pull up her high chair and let her have a bit of "practice time". Here's a video of her early keyboard skills. I am her mom and I think she's fantastic in every way, so does it surprise you that I think she's pretty good for an 11 month old? :)
Enjoy!
P.S. After Joshua ruined Abby's piano time, he attempted to console her by singing "Abigail, Jesus loves you! Abigail, Jesus loves you!" He may have done better to kindly move her high chair back to the center of the keyboard and wait for his own turn, but the song was thoughtful.
P.P.S. Please accept my apologies for another dark video. I know...it's hard to see what's going on, but what can I say? The iPad with all its video quality goodness was with Claude at work. :)
And here it is, in all its organizational splendor, ready to grow gracefully with our schooling and with our family - The School Shelf.
