Month: May 2017

End Of The Year Organizing.

When Kole started school I became a straight hoarder with every single thing he brought home.  I saved all his school work, homework, and art work.  It was almost surprising I didn’t bronze his first pencil!  Ha!  He was my firstborn and I was proud and excited about all the new things he was learning.  So yes, I kept 20 practice pages that had the upper case “A” and 20 practice pages with the lower case “a” and so forth.  Total that up and we were basically buried under a preschool.  Then he started First Grade this year and it was just getting out of hand.  I tried putting them together in regular file boxes and it was ok but I wasn’t in love with the storage technique.  It just wasn’t as organized, durable, or as clean as I wanted it to be.  Remember in the show Friends when Monica’s dad stopped the water from getting to his Porsche using Monica’s boxes and it ruined everything in it?  I’d hate myself if the hard work of those little fingers were forever wrecked.  So I had to have a sit down with my little one and get his permission to let some things go. Although, he can be somewhat of a hoarder about that stuff too, he was on board! Hallelujah!

I kept the first tries, the most improved and the artwork that wasn’t falling apart.  The pieces that were spewing glitter all over the place had to go too.  Those were my worse nightmare.  Thank goodness he was on the same OCD level about glitter as me!  Also, I kept any special certificates and report cards of course.  Now that I significantly downsized the lot, I had to figure out how I wanted to store it.  While I was at Office Depot buying file folders for this project I took a look around and realized plastic storage bins were actually what I needed and were the best way to store Kole’s things for every grade.  This would better protect his academic paper memories for years to come.

Let’s get organized.

After you’ve sorted through all your little one’s paper work, grab your keep pile and file them however you like in the filing folders.

IMG_2310

Since we always end up with extra of  beginning of the school year and mid school year pictures I used them to put in front of the file folder as part of labelling.  Instead of taping or gluing the pictures on, I used photo corners to hold the photos in place for added flare.  I love to hand write everything for a personal touch, as I did for the grade and year, but I know many fancy the label makers or printable tags for a more clean, uniform look.  Do you, boo. Do you.

After those folders are everything you’ve dreamed of, place those puppies in your plastic storage bin and bid them adieu until next summer.  But if you’re anything like me, you’ll keep them close by and accessible so you can just purge and fill it up throughout the school year!

Have a great summer!

HMD. 2017.


That I am, a product of a strong female.

My mom is one of the most hardworking people I know.  She literally is the first one in the office and the last one to leave.  She puts everything she has into her work, whether she is the most energetic or the most exhausted.  She’s accomplished so many things in her life and it came with a lot of struggles and that’s what’s so admirable to me.  No matter what was thrown her way, she got shit done!
When it comes to family, she is all in.  She’s the first one to help in any way she can.  She leaves no man down.  She’s always been there for me and my brother no matter how difficult we are.  Always.  How does she deal with us?  She’s a damn good mother.

The fight and the heart of a mother is the strongest of any kind.  The moment a woman feels that maternal instinct there is no stopping her.  There is no breaking her.  I, myself, know that when it comes to my boys I was always fight to the death.  I will always fight for them to know the value of hard work.  I will always fight for them to know what true love is.  How to show it and how to receive it.  I will always fight for them to know how strong they can be, not just physically, but intellectually.  I will work tirelessly to make sure they embrace equality and to be strong enough to stand up for what is right. I will fight to make sure they know chivalry is not dead and should never die.

I will always fight for them (in any capacity) because, they too, are a product of a strong female.

Happy Mother’s Day to all you strong females!

My Favorite Moments – April

Hey friends!  There are so many special moments that I experience with my family that I wanted to start a little blog series about something that was said or done that stick out to me every month.  A monthly favorites of sweet and sour antics of loved ones.  Let us begin with April and the two little people I spend all of my time with.

Kole (My oldest son) | Kole can be a very shy person.  He is also on the more cautious side and a bit of a worry wart.  I’d say he definitely got that from me.  We have always encouraged anything he was interested in.  He’s pretty into art, so we get him supplies to express himself artistically and we are always there to listen to the why he made the what.  He loves to read and I love that about him.  I’m happy to know that he loves to get lost in words that take him from one adventure to the next.  As much as we love that he is so creative and wants to ride that reading rainbow we also want him to get into some kind of sport so he knows the importance of focus and teamwork.  He just recently got hit with the basketball cupid because he just started talking about basketball non stop.  Now, remember when I said he was more on the cautious side and a worry wart?  Well, as much as he has a newfound love for basketball, he is afraid of getting hurt with the ball.  So we were presently surprised when he asked to go to a conditioning program his P.E. teacher recommended.  Since he asked, we jumped at the chance to take him and he loved it!  It was his very first time doing something like this and we were so proud he made the personal choice to step out of his comfort zone.  Most of the other kids have been going to this program so they knew what they were doing but he wasn’t concerned about the other kids.  He was focused on how HE was doing.  He wasn’t the fastest and he hasn’t made a shot yet but he had so much fun and he was so focused on learning and getting better.  We are so proud of him!  He knows I hate the saying, “Practice makes perfect” because I try to instill in him that no one and nothing is perfect.  But he knows I always say, “Practice makes better” and he has been asking to practice everyday.  So wait and see, better he’ll become.

Monroe (My youngest son) | We have been so surprised with the little things Monroe has been doing on the daily this month.  He notices our routines and knows exactly what to do and the next steps after.  When we get Kole ready for school, Monroe goes and grabs his hat, then his shoes, sits and waits for me to put it on, then turns off the TV.  He’s all ready to go!  He’s starting to call out for us instead of pointing and grunting and he’s showing so much more love.  He is quite the opposite of younger Kole and is extremely harder to raise.  But he’s starting to be better to communicate with and I’m also becoming better at knowing how to work with him and his big, tough, personality.

What are your favorite moments with your favorite people?