Do you have organization on the brain like I do?  January is a fresh start, and the closets would like a fresh start too!  Not to mention the kids toys, the pantry, the laundry room and the list goes on.  One of my favorite places to go when I’m feeling the itch to purge and re-organize is The Container Store.  It’s like Target on crack!  The options are beyond what you can even imagine.  So, I thought I’d show you a few things that I love from this store and a few things that are on my wish list.

(1)  So, I love the colored storage boxes with labels.  I’ve printed labels out so they stay uniform and looking nice.  The kids always know where to put their toys and things.  I got mine at Ikea, but they look really similar.

(2)  This is on my wish list.  I love the poppy colors.  I’m thinking I would use these flatter boxes to store artwork and projects that come home from school.  I hate clutter like no one’s business.

(3)  Another wish list item…storage has to functional, but you don’t want your home to look like a 1st grade classroom.  I love the nautical inspiration here and I would totally use this to put all our blankets.

(4)  Simple natural fiber baskets.  I feel like I have a million of these, but there’s never enough.  They look nice on shelves and fit all the ugly stuff like wii remotes and movie cases.

(5)  A hands down favorite.  My laundry room is filled with these.  It’s hard to see, but these plastic baskets have handles on the front.  I’ve organized all my supplies, like bathroom cleaning, floor cleaning/dusting, laundry cleaning, etc.  So each ‘theme’ has it’s own basket…making it quick to grab it from the shelf and take it to the area that needs cleaning without having to go back for things I forgot.

(6)  Big ol’ plastic stackables.  I like these for my kids’ shoes.  They each have one and they can toss them in and no one ever has to look for matching shoes.  Oh and I have one for the backpacks too.  All hidden away inside the closet!

I made this video 2 years ago when I first bought my 5D mark ii.  At the time Jillian was 5, Cooper 7 and Jake 9.  The funniest thing is to see their teeth…Jillian with all her baby teeth and the boys with their big ole teeth growing in.  Jake has already been through braces and Cooper is in the middle of it.  Oh and their squeaky little voices…don’t you love video to bring you back to those little baby voices?

Anyway, I wanted to share our Christmas with you.  I love to see all the excitement of the month of December culminate into one blur of fun on Christmas Day.

With Christmas being on a Sunday this year we had to be out the door by 9:30 for church.  Of course Brent was speaking and Jillian and I worked in the 3 year old class.  So, we were on a tight schedule for cinnamon rolls, egg casserole and opening presents!

I started taking pictures so early that there really wasn’t much natural light.  My camera ISO was at 3200.  I was makin’ her work!

I love the big surprise gifts and equally as much I love the heart-felt ones.  Cooper shopped for Jillian at the school Christmas store and asked me to wrap her gift.  It was the cutest thing ever!

Brent is such a thoughtful guy…he got me a few perfect gifts like the scarf I’m wearing in the photos and this new kitchen knife.  I may look a little too excited about it. 🙂

Jillian is really into art and we got her an easel and some supplies.  I love that she has taken such an interest.  I can’t wait to see where it leads!

Sometimes I’m not able to get my big camera out quick enough to capture the moment, or maybe I’m just too lazy.  But, I do take a lot of my iphone..and most get uploaded to instagram.  Here’s a little highlight of some of the more mundane moments…food prep (prime rib, scalloped potatoes, proscuitto wrapped gorgonzola stuffed dates, homemade apple pie and vanilla custard ice cream)  also Christmas eve AKA operation find all the hidden Christmas presents and the family starting to gather for dinner.

Lucky lucky us…the weather was nice enough to hang outside later in the day.  Jillian the “hooly-hooper” entertained us…

I was in church today filled with excitement about the coming year…all the possibilities in front of us.  It’s amazing how as you get older the years seem to flip like pages of a book.  But, each January is a like a fresh start.  A time to look back at your blessings and make the changes to live an even better life in the year ahead.

A few summers ago Brent plunged into icy water for a fundraiser…a polar-bearing event, per say.  The kids were thrilled about the whole concept.  So, much so that a few years later Jake insisted on having a pool party for his December birthday.  We normally have smaller celebrations for the kids’ birthdays, but every once in a while, it’s fun to do a big bash.  We went all out with Jake’s icy theme.  Except when it came to the pool.  It was so warm that even though it rained during the party, the pool was packed with swimmers!

I loved the details of Jake’s party, so I wanted to share that part with you first.  I also did a photo booth and took a lot of pictures of the kids having fun, so that will come in the next post.

I bought some 36″ balloons and put some of my ribbon scraps to use.  I made the mistake of renting a helium tank to save a little money.  Trying to tie these guys off has left my fingers about 2 inches shorter than they used to be.  Best to leave that job to the experts.

Okay…so another fun part was the food.  Here’s the table display:

The pendants were from previous photo shoots, so it was nice that they matched with the theme.

I tried to go ‘homemade’ as much as possible, with the exception of these SNOWBALLS from Cost Plus World Market.  They’re basically white cheeto puffs.  Yum.

So a few notes about the food:  I made hot dogs and my ‘team’ of helpful family wrapped them all in parchment paper and blue bakers twine.  We served them with homemade chili and all the fixings.  There were snowball shaped pb&j sammies for the kids.  (cut with my round biscuit cutters)  Of course the cheese puff snowballs and homemade popcorn added to the white theme.  I made Amy Sedaris’ vanilla cupcakes with my own cream cheese frosting.  I love minis…they look so cute with toppers.  The toppers are Martha Stewart snowflake punches hot-glued to toothpicks.  Instead of the traditional rice krispy treats, I let the ‘batter’ cool and little the scooped it into balls for my mini paper cups.  I added a few other white sides like vanilla marshmallows and yogurt pretzels.

The snowmen were made by the kids (with our help) and given as favors at the end of the party.  I found the idea on pinterest.  You basically skewer marshmallows, then paint them with karo syrup then roll into sparkling sugar.  Mini oreos and rolos make the hat, then we piped the rest of the details with frosting.

I’m in love with the vintage style sodas, so we had a big variety of those…along with waters.  And I love the paper straws from Garnish! (that’s also where the paper snow cone cups are from)

I set up a snow globe table for the kids that were finished swimming.  Another pinterest idea.  It was a huge hit!