Hello, Friends! How was your week? I am busy trying to finish everything up today so I can enjoy our newly found 3 day weekend due to school closing because of an unexpected “rain day!” I want to finish up in time to have a little one-on-one time with Eben before the mister gets home for the weekend.
Tomorrow night, the mister and I are heading on a date night. One of my goals for 2014 was to spend more one-on-one time with my guys. A long evening out with my husband is exactly what I think we need to jump-start it! During the day we are taking Eben’s great-grandfather out for lunch, followed by a family sailing trip on Sunday. Sounds like a great weekend to me – how about you? Do you have any fun plans?
You have heard of a snow day right? Well, today all of the schools in our county are closed due to rain. That’s right – it has been raining for the past 4 days and last night it poured all night long dropping 12 inches of rain on our county. Luckily, we live in a new area that was build with proper drainage and retention ponds, so we feel fortunate not to be negatively affected by the water. However, my thoughts are with those who have been impacted by the flooding.
I hope everyone stays home out of the rain and safe. I am secretly excited to have Eben home today – I am thinking we should bake some cookies and snuggle up with a great movie or craft.
Sweet Potatoes are an excellent source of Vitamin C, B6, fiber and potassium. They also provide 3 grams of fruit fiber per serving. Tip: Each 10 grams of fruit fiber may reduce your risk of coronary heart disease by 30%. Tweet This!
For some reason I really crave sweet potatoes in the winter and the mister makes the yummiest ginger mashed sweet potatoes. They add a perfect sweetness to any meal – and kids love them, read on for the recipe:
Ingredients
3-4 large organic sweet potatoes (peeled and cut into quarters)
1/2 stick organic butter
3 tablespoons organic brown sugar
1 teaspoon organic ginger
salt and pepper to taste
Preparation
Boil the sweet potatoes for 20 minutes until you can easily pierce them with a fork, strain them and while hot, mash all of the ingredients together with a hand masher.
I have always loved children’s toys – especially fantastic vintage ones. Believe it or not, I still have a lot of my childhood toys stored away in my cedar chest. Which reminds me, I should really go through it one of these days – it has been years! Anyhow, I came across these reclaimed cardboard robots from Rika and I was a little nostalgic for times past. Aren’t they fun? I love their simplicity, moving joints and they are eco-friendly too!
These cuties are made in Lima, PerĂș by industrial designer Ricardo Geldres and plastic artist Kareen Nishimura. I think a set of these would look amazing on Eben’s bookcase – and then I could go in and admire them everyday. Ha!
Do you have a favorite vintage toy from your childhood? photo credit
We recently moved into a tiny 2 bedroom townhouse and while downsizing is super exciting to me – initially I was concerned about the lack of storage, especially in Eben’s bedroom. He has so many small trinkets, art supplies, LEGO pieces, books, and other fun kids stuff. I wanted to reuse the pieces of furniture that we already owned in any way possible. Here are the solutions that I have implemented into his new bedroom which have given him a ton of storage and cut the clutter too! Check it out.
#1: Floor to Ceiling Shelving We love this IKEA Expedit Bookcase – it is perfect for holding his insane book collection. I recently pushed all the books to the back of each shelf, giving him more room for those little trinkets in front. He has also utilized the top of the bookcase for displaying his comic book, coin and vintage toy collection. There are 5 large pull out bins on the bottom level that house all of his trading cards, robots and other toys.
#2: Under the Bed Storage I always feel like the storage space under the bed gets ignored. We have large sliding bins under his bed that are perfect for storing his large art masterpieces. However, I also love the idea of an elevated bed with drawers and shelving underneath – what a great way to add more space to a small bedroom. This particular solution wouldn’t work for Eben because he sleeps with these cuties – and they can’t jump very high. Ha!
#3: Stacking Storage Bins We have three of these fantastic Sortera stacking bins from IKEA in Eben’s closet right now. They were designed to house recyclables in the garage – however, they are perfect for storing LEGO pieces. Since Eben has seriously over a million LEGO pieces this has turned out to be a great storage solutions. They are easy to slide out and since the lid comes off, they make clean up time a breeze.
#4: Top of the Closet Bins The top of the closet can become a waste land of anything that your child throws up there that doesn’t fall back down! We purchased large fabric bins and were able to get 6 of them to fit perfect side by side on the shelf (however we only have 5 up there – since his overflow LEGO bin is up there too!) They are tall and deep, so they fill the shelf up exactly and this is where we store all of Eben’s stuffed animals. He doesn’t play with them anymore, however they have sentimental value to him and it’s a great way to store them, keeping them off of the floor or cluttering up the bed.
#5: Rethink the Closet Eben’s new bedroom had a much larger closet which is great – except for the fact, that he doesn’t have a ton of clothes. He wears a uniform to school – therefore he only needs a handful of outfits for the weekend and special events. We removed the doors from his closet and transformed it into his office space. We had a 6′ slim desk from my office that fit perfectly inside, giving him tons of space to work. We hung all of his clothes at the far end of the closet, giving him the rest of the closet space to organize his art, photography, computer and animation supplies. This project is probably my favorite storage project that I completed in our new space because it gives him the space he needs for his creative endeavors.
YOUR TURN: What suggestions do you have for adding more storage and reducing clutter in a child’s bedroom? photos via here, here,here
