Organization Week 6 Done

So this is my last post on the organizational series that I started. It worked great to keep me motivated and have some accountability. I didn't accomplish everything on my list yet- actually most of it is what is left on Shelby's list :), but I'm happy with the overall results.

• Cars vacuumed and scrubbed.
• Car seats washed and scrubbed and re-assembled.
• Baby's clothes washed
• Swing, bouncy seat, car seat, etc. washed and disinfected.
• Coupon binder bought, put together, and filled.
• RS binder organized
• Livvy's bow drawer cleaned out. It was driving me bonkers.

I decided with regards to planning that I was actually quite happy with the way that I plan when it comes to menus (I plan for every two weeks) and cleaning. I could probably schedule in more deep cleaning time, but let's be honest- don't we all feel like we clean enough? Yuck. I did find a few great resources to help me in planning activities for the afternoon for the kiddos. Here's one of my favorites: fun.familyeducation.com. I'm going to strive to do one activity a day after naps with Wyatt and Livvy on Mon-Wed, which are school days. Then on Thurs. and Fri., we are going to do one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Sometimes these activities may be replaced by just story times, but I'm going to try and get daily story time in addition to the activities. I'm not aiming for perfection- just improvement :) Of course, life always gets in the way- so I'm planning on being flexible with myself and the schedule. And now- a sigh of exhaustion.

Organization Week 5 or something...

I think it's Week 5- maybe I skipped a week and bled over into Week 6? I don't care as long as all of the tasks get done! We have been able to accomplish quite a bit from the last few lists, and still have a few things to finish up on each one as well.

• Puppy kennel built.
• Flowerbeds cleaned out.
• Oil changed in both vehicles.
• Shelves built and baskets bought for laundry system! The baskets are lime green- while it adds color to the room, they're not exactly what I wanted- but I couldn't find anything else! Plus they were $2 each at Target. So they'll do for now and I'll keep looking.....
  
• New curtains made for dining room.
• Decorations hung that I've been begging for just about forever!
• Supplies purchased to install our new wood burning stove.
• Sold the old pellet stove.
  

Still need to do:

• Vacuum out cars well.
• Refill the anti-ice windshield wiper stuff :)
• Paint the shelves- later.
• Have Shelby build a boot rack for the mud room to organize all of his boots.
• Install the wood stove and tile surround.
• Caulk the windows and install better sealings around the doors.
• All that planning I talked about :)
  

But here are a few pictures of the results from this week:

Happy Halloween!

Wyatt was a pirate for Halloween and Livvy was a ballerina. We had plenty of costume malfunctions to start off our night. Wyatt would not leave his pirate patch over his eye- so it stayed put in the middle of his forehead and he broke his gold earring before we were even out the door. On the plus side- everyone loved his chest hair :). Livvy was supposed to wear another ballerina costume, but that morning when I went to get them all laid out and ironed, I found chocolate milk stained all over the front. Argh! So thank goodness for the dress-up box!

This is all of the grandkids on the Turner side of the family- including Baby Charly- the newest addition. Aunt Hailey and Laramie even dressed up.



Wyatt got captured by a spider at the Trunk or Treat. He didn't mind at all being put in the spider's web :)
He kept trying to pick up candy with his hook. What a goof! Finally he just decided to carry his pumpkin by hanging it on his hook instead.
Here's the look of our caravan traveling around Amber's neighborhood Trick or Treating. Wyatt and I were leading the pack because he was the 'pro'. All in all- a very fun Halloween!

Pre- Halloween Fun

We did lots of painting pumpkins and other Halloween crafts this year. It seemed like every day after their naps the kids were begging to do another one. Luckily we had lots of little pumpkin gourd things from our garden, so they painted and painted away! Also (not pictured) they painted larger pumpkins with chalkboard paint and then colored on them with chalk- Thank you Aunt Hailey!

Baby name help

Well- as you can see from the countdown, we're less than 2 months away from this new sweet baby coming to our family. We're all excited, but kinda hitting a brick wall. We have lots of names we like, but nobody can agree. So please give me your ideas- or vote on the side for those that our family likes best. I'd love some new names to consider as well- so get your creative sides working on my behalf- please!

Organization Week 4

Since Shelby returned to the land of the non-hunting, he's been accomplishing so much around here- which I am super grateful for! But he hasn't been following my organization outlined plan :). So we have bits from Week 4 and bits from Week 5 accomplished. Since posting about it is keeping me very accountable and motivated- here goes:

Tasks accomplished this week:

• Laundry room painted!!!! We still need to touch up the trim.
• Kids outdoor toys sorted and stored for winter- except the tramp- it can stay up for a few more weeks.
• Hoses rolled up and stored away.
• Camp trailer winterized.
• Weeds plowed up and burned.
• About half of the trees cleaned up and ready for winter.
• Mailed off the remainder of the boxes left over from my office organization.
• Shelby hauled his stuff out of my office to the shed.
  

The sad thing is that while I helped a little with the above tasks, most of it was Shelby's hard work. But I'm happy about it! So today I'm going to try hard to get motivated to do my part- we have a few roadblocks including a dentist visit for Wyatt and Bedtime Stories at the library tonight, but I am vowing to myself to get my flower beds cleaned out and get to work on cleaning out and organizing the mud room. At least a little.......

Organization Week 3

The office- Check. I didn't take a picture of the entire room because I still have a few boxes that need to be sent to Boston for one of my former clients and a pile of Shelby's stuff that he needs to carry out to his shed. I still need to move the guest bed around so I can set up the crib in here as well. My plan is to have the baby sleep in here when I get over the 'needs to sleep next to me' stage until he's sleeping through the night well and then he will move in with Wyatt. But the desk is organized, coupons caught up on, closet cleaned out. Much better. The rest will have to wait until I have my husband back from hunting and he can help me with the heavy stuff.

How are my fellow partners in organized crime doing? I'd love to hear your updates!

Hogle Zoo

On Friday, Grandma Wendy and Grandpa Jon decided that they wanted to take the kids to Hogle Zoo to see all of the baby animals. I couldn't believe how many babies there were! We saw the baby elephant, baby giraffe, baby monkeys, baby crocodile, three baby tigers, baby lemurs, and many more that I can't remember. We invited Shelby's cousin Brandee and her girls to come with us and we had a blast!
Grandpa Jon and Uncle Shane holding Wyatt and Livvy up to see the penguins.
Our group in front of the giraffes.

Little Miss Livvy was on a bit of a grumpy streak that morning and hated having her picture taken. So you'll notice that there are more of Wyatt- that's because the above situation happened every time I tried. She had a serious time-out and talkin-to after this fit though.
Wyatt's favorite animal in the entire zoo was this green snake. He 'loved' it and wants one of his own- Dream on little buddy :)
All the cute kiddos with Grandma Wendy- this is a tradition. Every time we go to the zoo, Grandma Wendy takes a picture with the kids here so we can see how much they've grown.
The monkeys and I on the 'zoo train.'
Wyatt loved the playground and pretending to be a turtle.
Livvy and Taylee playing in the eggs. Aren't they so dang pretty? Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for a fun, fun, fun day!

Welcome Home Elder Scoffield

Shelby's little brother Shane returned last Wednesday from his mission to Vancouver British Columbia. We had all missed him so much and the kids were so excited to pick him up at the airport. Wyatt, Livvy, and I made signs for all the kids to hold and as you can see they enjoyed their important job.
Wyatt rushed up to Shane and even beat his mom to hug him. The first thing Wyatt said- 'You need to change your clothes.' Wyatt wanted to wrestle him and knew that as long as Shane was in his church clothes- he couldn't wrestle :)

Hugging Mom and Dad Scoffield
Wyatt was very helpful in hauling Shane's luggage to the car. He really, really, wanted to ride on the luggage delivery system, but Mom wouldn't let him.
We're all so glad that the last two years are over and Elder Scoffield is home! But we're so proud of what a wonderful missionary he was and how hard he worked to serve the Lord and the people of Canada. Welcome Home Shane!

Charly Sue Turner

My new niece- Charly Sue Turner- was born on Thursday evening. Her proud parents are Cody and Tori. She weighed in at 7 lbs. 2 oz and 20 inches long. She has long fingers and toes and sandy blonde hair. She's beautiful and we are so happy that she is here and healthy- and Momma is doing well too! What more can you for?

She slightly has a proud Daddy too. She spent the first night of her life asleep on his chest and every visitor has to practically steal her out of his arms. Even her mommy has to fight for a turn :)