Introducing The New Improved Play/Game Room

This weekend we cleaned out the kids playroom to make it more of a big boy playroom/game room.

Here it is "before"....

And here it is "after"....

Aside from the 3 bags of broken or too badly worn toys we threw away, we have a heap to give to charity!

We did move a lot of toys into the kids rooms. Josh has one toy bin in his closet. And Sam has one in his closet and one at the foot of his bed. But they are still no where near to overflowing like they were before.

The boys really love it this way. They've been playing up there most of the day. And even when they wake up in the morning, they go in there, close the door and play -- which is nice for me because they don't make me get out of bed!

Now they can get to the toys they really like to play with. Sam spent almost all of yesterday playing with his GeoTrax. Before it was hidden away at the bottom of the closet. Now, he can see it and bring it out to play with it.

And when we were done, Rich looked around and said, "Hmmm... Darts (it's a magnetic dart board), PS2, Football/Air Hockey table.... all we need is a mini fridge stocked with beer and I'll hang out here."

I hadn't told him what Josh said earlier in the week. Like son, like father!

T-shirts, Blue Jeans and Boys Things

Yesterday I went through Sam's closet and got rid of most of his 2T's and replaced them with Josh's hand-me-down 3T's.

It was something that needed to be done, but I kept putting off. Every time I would start, I would just stop and think, "No, he's a baby still! I can't get rid of his 2's! He only just turned 2!" And then I'd stop and pull clothes out of the 3T box on the floor of his closet for him to wear.

But it was nice and spring-y in the air and I had the windows open so I just thought "why not!" Besides, it got me out of folding the laundry! And since the cast comes off tomorrow (fingers crossed, fingers crossed) I am going to attempt potty training in the next week or so.

It was so sad clearing out his clothes and putting them in a box for charity! It was harder than getting rid of the little baby clothes! Every time I put something in I thought, "Maybe he can wear this just one more time!" Then I'd sigh, remember all the fun we had when he was wearing it, or remember when Josh wore it and how cute he looked, then I'd put it in the box.

I did have fun going through the "new 3T's" too, though. Remembering when I bought something or if Josh really ever wore it... As I was unpacking, I discovered I could open my own thrift shop for 3T blue jeans. No joke, there are at least 13 pair of blue jeans, 5 sweat pants and 4 cords, chinos or other dressy jeans! Shorts, we're good, only about 8 pair! I don't know if the jeans multiplied while in storage or what, but there are tons of them!

Now I have to do the same for Josh... go through his clothes and figure out what fits and what doesn't. He does not have as many clothes as Sam, but he's got quite a bit. He also does not seem to out grow them as quickly anymore. Or maybe I just buy big and hope they will last two years! I'm just never sure what fits and what doesn't. Boys just aren't willing to play the "Lets try this on and see if it still fits" game. Sigh! What's a mom to do? (He's also wearing clothes out now -- his shirt sucking/chewing habit wearing out his shirts and the playground wearing out the knees)

After I cleaned out Sam's closet I went to Target and stocked up on Big Boy pants. I also went to three stores (Target, Old Navy and Kohls) to get new clothes for Josh.

It was really hard trying to find clothes for Josh. He's at that age where the "big boy" clothes just aren't as "cute" or are too plain or something... maybe they're too grown up, I don't know. They're just boring! Plus, Josh has decided to be a bit picky about the clothes he wears. It's so hard. I'll pick something out and I get "EEWWW, I don't like that!" (sort of like dinner times around here some days...). So I picked out a few things I thought were okay -- luckily, Josh LOVED them (especially the Spiderman t-shirt).

So, tomorrow's chore is set. Clean out Josh's closet -- out with the old, in with the new.