calm in my chaos

Pity party is over and it's time to getting back to the business of making this place home.  This week has been better.  We're taking small steps, getting things done and slowly putting our home back together again.  Unpacking is reaching the final stages and next we'll move to the decorating phase.  That's always more fun than unpacking.  

However, in the midst of all this unpacking and busyness, I can't forget that there are still 5 wee ones who need lots of time and love and attention.  That has to be the priority, thus the boxes sometimes have to be put on the back burner.

In an effort to create a little order in my life this week and do something fun the kids would enjoy, here's what we did....

If you have more than a few small children in your house, you know the amount of cups you can go through in a day.  For every drink of water a new cup is needed.  No, it shouldn't be that way, but until now I haven't had the organizational skills needed to keep up with whose cup is whose and where it can can be found.

Soooo... here's my handy, dandy new system.  Each kid has their very own cup.  They all hang on the side of the fridge with a little adhesive hook.  When they want a drink, what do they do?  They grab their own cup, get their own water from the fridge and neatly hang their cup back on the fridge.  If, by chance, they forget to re-hang their cup, they will have no problem looking around and finding their very own cup because it has their name on it. [Side note.... I have not changed the name of my middle child.  Her first name wasn't available so she was more than happy to find a cup with her middle name.  It makes her cup even more special, she says.]

The kids love the new system and think it's so cool that they get to have their own cool cups.  I think it's so cool that I have saved at least 3 loads of dishes in the dishwasher this week by all the dirty cups we no longer have!

Of course this could be done with any old cup and a Sharpie, but this way it gets to be practical and pretty.  And, honestly, I'm more likely to use practical if it's pretty.  

It's the little things, you know.  The little things that add just a little bit of calm to our chaos.