Getting Organized

I have been pitiful at updating my blog this month, mostly because I find January such a lackluster month and our days have been quiet and ordinary.  I felt uninspired and a bit like hibernating.  I took it as a compliment when my Mom e-mailed me tonight to see if everything was okay, as I hadn't updated my blog in a few days.  Apparently I haven't been as bad as updating this space as I thought I had!


I took great pleasure in wandering through the house today and flipping all our calendars to February a day or so early!

I love that the pictures for the month of February are brighter and involve no snowy, wintery scenes!

The past few days have been filled with lots of time at Paul's office as I am getting things organized for a new staff member who is joining us next week to cover for his receptionist while she is away on maternity leave having twin girls.  It's exciting and nerve wracking all in the same moment having someone new starting.  This morning I spent an hour at his office and then decided that I needed a little time to myself, so I headed down the street to Homesense. 

I found myself quickly swept up in the organization aisle and ended up piling my cart high with a new toy box for Sydney, new laundry hamper and clothes basket, waste paper basket and drawer organizers.  Just buying all that stuff instantly made me feel more organized!

I couldn't wait to get home and get everything settled into it's new containers!  I especially love this wicker toy box that I got for our TV room that will replace a giant, overflowing mess of a basket of toys that has been annoying me for months.  I let out a huge contented sigh when I saw how neat and clean it looked!  Syd loves it too, is thrilled to have a lid to open and close and loves putting all of her toys and treasures inside the box, it's quite cute!

After

Before

Sydney's class has been focusing on a few themes this month, one of which is Eric Carle's beloved children's book 'The Hungry Caterpillar.'  They had the great fortune of seeing a kabuki puppet show based on Eric Carle's books and have done numerous art and reading projects around puppets.

I thought in keeping with this theme that I would do a little craft with Sydney today and we painted a single row of egg carton as the hungry caterpillar.  I love how it turned out!

Sydney's class has also been celebrating Tu B'Shevat, the Jewish new year for trees.  They have had such fun in class.  They each made a beautiful centerpiece from silk flowers to take home:

Then lined them all up for their special Tu B'Shevat Seder where they enjoyed all of the fruits and vegetables that trees give us:

We went for a playdate this week to visit one of Sydney's preschool buddies, Julia.  We decided to make a batch of homemade Gingersnaps to take with us, Sydney loved helping me make them, especially the part where she rolled the balls in the sugar!

After we were done baking she insisted on washing up all the dishes by herself!  Gotta love it!

Julia sent us home with a very special picture that she had made for Sydney that was covered in ladybugs!  So sweet and Syd loved it so much.  It's proudly hanging in her bedroom as we speak!

I am so happy to be at the end of January and am looking forward to many fun things that we already have planned in February!