Babies

I am behind in posting updates from the last couple of months, but I had to share these precious little blessings with you.  I've actually lost track of the total number of friends that have had babies this spring, but one weekend in particular, at the end of April, it was baby time!  3 sweet little ones entered the world within 24 hours of each other!  Two of the 3 were born here in town, and I absolutely loved getting to meet them, and of course, hold them.

Truman and I visited Baby Hailey in the hospital.  She was so sweet and laid back and let me hold her for at least an hour.  She has already grown so much since then, but in those first days of life, she was tiny and absolutely beautiful.

I didn't get a chance to meet baby Kaiden until several weeks later, when he was a month old.  He is adorable and his little personality was already beginning to shine through.

It is such a joy to celebrate these new little bundles of joy with our friends!  It is sad that we haven't had a chance to meet so many of the other little ones who live far away, but we sure are enjoying loving on these sweet ones that are close by.  Soon after we get back in August, some new little faces are scheduled to make their appearances too! 

Organization Overhaul: Operation Closet

If you are anything like me, you love having things organized, with a place for everything and everything in its place.  This particular closet was a joke in our home.  When we moved in, we just stuck things in there that we knew we would store there, but for months I kept saying, "we really need to organize that closet!"  Every time I would attempt to find something in that closet, it took forever to find what I needed, and I often got attacked by falling items.  I dreaded opening that door.  I was seriously a little giddy when it was finally neat and organized.  Even my hubby appreciates being able to find what he is looking for.  I wish I remembered to take a before shot so you could see just how awful it really was.  But, I was so anxious to get organizing that I totally forgot!

During my mom's last visit, I told her that one of my birthday gifts would be helping me organize this closet!  We set off on a mission with measurements of all of the shelves and a list of the items that needed to be organized, to help us pick the right storage items.  All of the plastic bins and canvas totes came from Bed, Bath & Beyond, purchased with a combination of their awesome coupons. 

I used mini wooden rectangles that came in a pack from Michaels to make the labels, and sprayed them with chalkboard spray paint.  I used Chalk Ink Markers (also from Michaels) to write the contents of each bin on the label.  For the plastic bins, I used good ole' duck tape to stick the labels on the front of the bin.  It has held great!  For the canvas bins, I used a piece of 1 inch grosgrain wrapped around the top with a mini clothespin to hold it to the chalkboard label.  The grosgrain ribbon came from Dollar Tree and the mini clothespins came from the office supply aisle at Walmart.  If I ever want to change the contents of the bins, a damp cloth will wipe off the label.

It felt fantastic to check this task of of my ongoing to-do list.  And I still get excited every time I open the closet door.  I wonder how many minutes of my life were wasted hunting through this closet pre-organizational overhaul?  It only took an afternoon and it was 100% worth the effort.  What closet do you need to tackle?