Vacation is getting B-O-R-I-N-G!

I'm pretty sure the kids are getting sick of their vacation from school. Not because they want to go to school necessarily - but because we have no routine when they aren't in school. There isn't anything concrete to take up all those hours in a day when they'd normally be at school learning and spending time with other kids of the same age.
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This week will be crazy.

Somehow, I'd like to go and visit my family. Then I'd like to visit my very good friend and her family for an overnight and have a friend from home come over with her kids later this week. I'm not sure how to accomplish that all in four days time without driving myself completely batty. The visit to my family is a four hour trip. Visit to friend is at least two hours from my family. Trip home from friend is roughly another four hours. Any suggestions?
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We took a family trip to IKEA this afternoon.

Mostly, we were looking for a storage solution for Lorelei's toys. She ended up just getting a purple bin with everything shoved into it. So, we found something we liked and ended up getting it for both kids because quite honestly -- we weren't satisfied with how things were working out in Caleb's room either.

We're also going to be getting the kids some new bedding. Something they can grow into. To get started we got Lorelei some cute pillows to go along the back of her daybed -- though we now realize we need one more. We're hoping to find a bedding set that will go with these because they are super cute. I'm not sure yet what route we'll take with Caleb's age.

It's hard having two kids with opinions. They both tend to want to keep what's familiar even if realistically it's something they've outgrown.

Tomorrow, I Declutter the Toys!

It's about that time of year. The time when I take stock of the kids toys and start getting rid of some in preparation for jolly Old Saint Nick to walk in through the garage and deposit gifts.

Tonight, I sent Caleb and Lorelei upstairs to pick up the huge mess they'd made. This was about 7:15. At 8:45, they weren't done yet. Yeah, the mess was that big. Caleb is a bucket dumper. Anything in a bucket or bin will eventually end up all over the floor of his room. And that's precisely what happened today.

So, we sent them to bed anyway because we'll hopefully have school tomorrow and I realized that I need to get my butt in there and declutter.

First on my list -- annoying McDonald's Happy Meal toys. They are totally fabulous in the car for a little while, but once they get in the house...I'm so done with them!