In June we did plant the raspberries and a blackberry but the blackberry roots died. I replaced that spot with my blueberry plant. Yeah. Last Saturday I built a little strawberry bed ready to plant them this spring. We planted bush beans with the kids last night. We will see how they turn out. Have not done those before but I love green beans. Our sunflower is sprouting. I love how excited the kids get. Along with me. I am just a little kid out there with them. They even are telling me the names of the flowers and plants. Almost like little pets. So much fun.

This spring got me thinking about my favorite flower, the tulip. I love them. Always have. I also thought about organization. I have been on this gardening kick now that the weather has gotten so nice. I am in love. My mom and I did square foot gardens in my last house. Oh my, if you have never had or planted a home grown tomato, you are missing out. We did peas too in the last house and oh my again! Yum. They don't make it in our house. I did strawberries last year. Never as good as the second year of them. My are they tasty. Just coming on now. Love, love, love the gardening! It takes a lot of organization and planning. Planting my tulips last fall was great! Can't wait to plant some for next year of daffodils and crocus. So for May I have been working on my garden. I even want to plant blackberries and raspberries. Maybe next year I will do blueberries and some grapes. Who knows? Endless possibilities. I am so a rookie at this gardening but I am having a blast at learning to grow veggies, fruits and of course flowers. Want to come on this ride with me?

See this is my garden my mom and I built 2 years ago at our old house. It was a blast. I missed that garden so much so I got another times 2! Yeah!

Clematis that blooms in May until now...

 Don't know but love it.

 Geranium. I think it needs a friend in there don't you? I will have to find another one.

Don't know what the pink and white one is but love it! I remember it from last year. Just started blooming.

I planted my first Hosta about a month ago. Plenty of room to expand. Love it! Very shaded area. I had to put some impatiens too (my moms idea).

 I just planted a blackberry pant on the left and raspberries on the right. Should arrive next year.

My pea and strawberry garden on the south side. My peas fell over. :( I will have to trellis the fall crop). See how that goes. The kids are eating the peas and strawberries like candy. Love it.

My two 5x5 box gardens. So excited. Have to figure out the trellis for the tomatoes, squash, pumpkin, cantaloupe and cumbers. Yikes. That is What I have been organizing this last while.

The kids closets! 

I totally forgot in February I worked on organizing their closets. They turned out great I think. Found some shoe organizers and 11x11 fabric bins at my local Target. $3 a piece. Score! Got them in my kids favorite colors, green and pink.

 Used command hooks to store my sons dress-up clothes and basketball hoop on the back of his door.

Put some adjustable shelves on the side, only let them pick their favorite stuffed animals to keep in the bin, and purged the rest. Who else feels claustrophobic when it comes to stuffed animals? I do. They just seem to multiply on their own if you aren't careful.

 Took Jen's advice and laminated tags. Used some ribbon I had to tie them on. I was pretty proud of it. I also loved her idea of putting the sheets in the bin. I hate feeling like I have to have them folded perfectly. This way they are out of sight and mind on how they look. In a cute bin. Yeah! Only store 1 sheet in there. Again, we don't have a linen closet so this is our linen closet. In their own closet for their blankets and sheets. Works great!

 I also store their out of season clothes on the top rod in their closet. They are still to little to reach up their so I thought that would maximize the space. It also gives me a good idea of what clothes they have for the next season so I don't buy too much. The shoes are stored that way too. The top shoe storage is for the out of season. In season is on the bottom. I wanted to organize their closet so they could reach everything to get out and use and also put away. It has been working really good so far. They both told me thank you for their new closet and bins. They love it.

 Found a net garbage can from Target that matched his bins and shoe holders to put my son's swords, bow and arrow, etc.

 Made the middle shelf taller to store their awkward sized toys. Dolls for her and houses and Nerf guns and helmets for him. Typical boy and girl. I store just their own toys here. Their shared toys are in the family room. More on that in another post.

 

I have a little drawer bin in each of the kids closets that house their random treasures (AKA happy meal toys and random miscellaneous toys that are little and you don't know what to do with but they want to keep them of course). We have nicknamed them the "treasure bin." They have to have their own little area to save their precious items don't they?

I did both of the kids closets the same. That made it so easy for the kids and me to stay organized. 

So, what do you think?

 I organized by color her ponytail holders.

 Ziploc is my friend. Labeled the bags and put her brushes, headbands, curlers, clips and detangler in the bigger bin. Her ponytail container fits on top.

 Bins for their shampoos, soaps, and lotions and a bin for the toys and water cups to rinse their hair off.

 See their cute baby bath photos in the background. That is my art for the bathroom. Again, used the dollar store and got the frames.

 Their toothbrush drawer. Lined the drawers and got the little bins at the dollar store (3 for a buck).

 I have 4 bathrooms and no linen closet so I am going to copy the storage in each bathroom and do a bin for the cleaners, room for TP and some towels. That's it. I have had a washrag in the cleaning bin too for scrubbing the bathroom. I think this system has been working great so far.

 My blue lid bins in the pantry I did in February with Jen's challenge. I had the white lid bins already. Want to make cuter labels for them. They hold my beloved Ziplocs. Love clear bins. Lined the shelves when I moved in a year ago though. I will have to organize the pantry on a later project. Good for now.

 My desk I purchased in January from Saunder and my Christmas gift laptop. I don't know how I ever survived without a laptop. 

My colorful files. Yeah! A little more organized. Love it. Doesn't it make you feel more relieved? I do.

 I made a file to organize my ideas and notes for my organizing projects I want to do.

 Then I divided them in themes of 12 areas of my home: Kitchen, Office, Bathrooms, Bedrooms, Craftroom, Laundry/Cleaning Closets, Living Room/Family Room, Outdoor, Garage/Storage, Seasonal Decor, Downstairs Family Rooom/ Media, and Closets/Clothes. Whew!

I jotted down all the things that have bugging me in my home to organize. I labeled, 2013 spaces to organize this year. Lets see what happens. I tend to get over ambitious on a project. I think it will take longer than this year but I am going to give it a go and see what happens.

Jen's challenge, at iheartorganizing.blogspot.com, for January was the home office. I thought, man I don't have one set up and I really need to. I got a desk online from Sauder and put it in our main family room. Got some fun colored files to try to manage that ongoing paper clutter. I wanted to have it out in the main hub of our home next to the kitchen and front door (as you know it is an unloading zone). I wanted to place it in a spot that I could keep an eye on the kiddos too. Done for now. The system still is working. I do need to organizing just a tad more but I feel more relieved. Isn't that the whole idea?

February was organizing the kitchen. Not much organizing there. I just got a couple containers at my local Dollar Tree for the pantry for cereal. Done. That's all I could do that month.

March was linens and the loo. I actually finished my kids bathroom! Anyone who knows me that I am a good starter but not always a good finisher. I am going to work on the before and after pictures better. I bet you can imagine the caped on toothpaste in the their drawer and disarray with the bath toys and soaps. Yikes! Next project will have before and after pics. Went to my local Dollar Tree, love that store, and got some bins. Some for their toothbrush drawers, bath toys, shampoos and for the cleaners under the sink. I lined the kids (my boy and girl) drawers and under the sink and presto and more organized bath! I am so excited! I used leftover shelf paper from my kitchen that I did when we moved in a year ago. The only real expense was the new bath mat and curtain. My kids love tubs still so we didn't even have a shower curtain. I had this idea when the kids were babies to get bath pics of them. I thought I would be fun to hang them on the wall in their bath one day. Well, yeah! One day is here. Love it!

Thanks Jen for helping inspire me to use my creativity and to think about organizing my home simply while finding the beauty in it. Can't wait to see what you have in store for April. 

So, I am just starting this blog to help me get organized in our house. I thought it would be a great way for me to unleash my ideas and follow how I am organizing and have fun while I do it too. I have been reading iheartorganizing.blogspot.com and have been working on the challenges that Jen has inspired me to do. I am excited can't wait to tackle this ongoing organization problem that we have at our house. Who doesn't?