The "taming of the shoes" :)

Meet my nemesis:  The shoe pile

I organize this area, weed out the shoes that don't need to be in the kitchen and yet in no time at all it has grown to this mess.  Add to the shoes the coats, backpacks and other random items that get dropped when we walk in the door.  This corner of the kitchen and I have been fighting for quite some time.  I've looked at many different ideas but none of them quite worked.  for one thing we have lovely old radiators (you can see it in the far right of the picture) and large low windows that don't leave any space for large storage options.  I had this cabinet between the two windows

this seemed to just add to the problem.  More things would get piled on the cabinet and soon that whole wall in the kitchen just looked messy.  Enter Pinterest!

I love browsing Pinterest and have used several ideas and recipes with great success.  I decided to search for storage and organizational ideas.  I found many but again, most I couldn't use because of the space restrictions.  Finally I happened upon a pin that showed a bench with large storage baskets that I thought might work.  After showing my husband (and finding out that the bench was on sale) we ordered it.  My husband also made a coordinating coat rack and shelf.  So here is what the area looks like now.

 The cabinet has been moved to the dining room and makes a great place to store fresh fruit and place the water pitcher during dinner.  We still have a rug with a couple pair of my husbands shoes (and space for visitors to place their shoes.  But all of the other shoes are neatly stored away.  The backpacks are off the floor and the shelf provides a nice spot for the kitchen radio.  I will be making new covers for the cushions (they are already quite dirty) that are more kid friendly.  I now love this area and the kids love the fact that they don't have to dig thru piles of shoes to find their shoes in the morning.

Another great organizational idea I found on Pinterest was something called a "family command center".  Basically an area to have all the lists, schedules, etc in one place.  I loved the idea and set out to find the supplies.

I found the calendar board at The Christmas Tree Shop.  The smaller "frames" were  for pictures but I simply printed up backgrounds on card stock for these areas.  One for a shopping list and one for our menu.  The frames below were also found at The Christmas Tree Shop and work great as chore charts.  I simply write on them with dry erase marker and then change up the chores as needed.  I customized each one with each child's name and a Bible verse about working/labor.  Here are a couple close ups of the chore charts.

So there you have it.  I definitely have a lot more work to do; especially upstairs, to really feel organized but this is a nice start. 

A summery summary, in Pictures.

I finally got the hundreds (literally) of pictures uploaded from my phone.  I still have some to upload from my camera but wanted to get this post up before summer officially ends (seems crazy that fall is so close).  So this will be a picture heavy post highlighting some of the fun times we had this summer.

In May I ran my second 5K with my friend Laurie.  I beat my previous time and had a lot of laughs before and after the race.

In June, we started the summer with a kid free trip to South Dakota to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary.  The scenery was gorgeous and we had a wonderful time together.

The beginning of July included trips to different local parks

Lots of outdoor water play in our backyard

Ethan & Hailey had swimming lessons at the local lake

And many, many trips to the local library

A special day with Mimi at York's Wild Kingdom ended with all of the kids "winning" inflatable toys.

The end of July saw us going South to Virginia to visit family.  We also made a stop in PA to visit my brother & his family. A highlight of our time in Virginia was going to Jamestown Settlement.

August included more library trips, gearing up for school and a fun day with Grammie B. at Storyland.

We also enjoyed several Science Centers, family gatherings, tye dyeing tshirts, baking together, visiting local friends and many, many special times of just being together and being silly as a family.  God has truly blessed and it is wonderful to look over all that He has done over the past few months.