Interactive Wall Art

Warren received a very cute animal puzzle for his birthday (thanks Grandma & Grandpa B!).  The pieces are always all over the place, and the puzzle doesn't store easily in our toy cubby.   Enter Rachel's brilliant solution:  turn it into wall art!

 First, develop a system of keeping the pieces in place while hanging vertically.  Hello velcro!

Next, hang in a manner in which the little one can easily take it down and play.  For this I placed two hook & loop command strips on the back of the puzzle and placed at Warren height on the wall.
Done, and cute!

Warren's Closet Reorg

I've been moving right along on my household organization projects.  I recently overhauled Warren's closet:

left side before: not a very good use of space

left side after: dual hanging bars, better shoe storage and room for toy parking

top shelf before: not so top shelf

top shelf after: organized diaper storage

much better

right side before: a terrible mess

right side after: better

A Boy & His Vacuum

Warren really likes my vacuum cleaner, so I've been looking for a toy vacuum for him for awhile.  During a recent stop at a local thrift store, I found one.  This might be the best $2.99 I've ever spent.  He was very excited!

Hooray for Clean Day

My favorite product purchase this week?

Mrs. Meyer's Clean Day!

I was looking to replace my old kitchen hand soap & lotion combo.  We've been using the same system for 3 years and I'm over it.  I really wanted some William Sonoma products, but didn't feel good about spending $40 on soap & lotion.  While shopping at Fred Meyer, I was drawn to the Mrs. Meyer's products, because of the packaging, so I decided to give them a sniff test.  I loved the basil scent the most, and the label just happens to be the perfect color for our kitchen.  Score!  Hard to go wrong with a price tag of $3.99.  Mrs. Meyer's does not have a lotion option (nobody ever used the lotion in our house anyway), so instead we have a bottle of hand soap and a bottle of counter top spray (which has really come in handy) sitting in our soap/lotion tray; it's actually kind of cute.

Linen Closet Reorg

I am on an organizing spree.  Here is the result of my linen closet redo.  I decided to start small... bigger projects to come!



The Before: Mommy's little helper






Before

 

After






After: hung some artwork that wasn't being used

  




After

  

Merry Christmas

We spent Christmas in Palm Desert with all the Burkholders.  A bright, warm, sunny Christmas was just what the doctor ordered!  It was a fantastic vacation.

A big smile on Christmas morning

Warren with Grandma & Grandpa B

Burkholder Ladies: Rachel, Kay & Julie

Warren enjoying a little Christmas magic

Family pool time!

Burkholders on the "Bump & Grind" hiking trail, Palm Desert, CA

Mike & I got an awesome new camera for Christmas, which is what we used to take the above photos. Now we just have to figure out how to use the thing ;)

I love My Fitness Pal

In my seemingly endless quest to lose the baby weight, I downloaded a new iphone app, My Fitness Pal.  Yes, it's free.  I've been dedicated and it has been working for me.  My favorite part about the app is when you complete your daily food/exercise log,  it tells you how much you would weigh in 5 weeks if every day was like today.  So encouraging!   I've lost 7lbs so far.