Round One - Toy Organization

I may be weird here, but I actually like making resolutions and improving myself!  One year, B and I decided we needed to lose weight.  Together, we lost over 60 pounds!  It takes a lot of dedication and committment to achieve these goals, but I think they're totally worth it!

This year, I am committing to being more organized.  I know, I know, I already have OCD, how much more organized can I be?  Well, here's a little hint...

Complete with a crazy-eyed, wild-hair child, the play section of our living was getting out of control.  This picture was from September.  Factor in the three large new toys and a ton of others she received for Christmas and we couldn't walk through anymore!  With an unusual burst of energy, I got to work.

First, I cleared out the "baby" toys.  We'll need them again, that's for sure.  But, for now, they are disinfected and safely stored out of the way in the basement.  We can pull them out as we need them and even rotate them to keep Baby Girl #2 interested.  To make that easier, I linked together all the dangle toys and links so they'd be easy to find when needed.

B put together this toy box I got from Target for just $60!  It has a slow closed hinge and a gap between the lid and the box so no fingers will get smashed.  Plus, it is sturdy enough as a seat even for my preggo bum.  Score for more living room seating! In it went all of the smaller toys that could fit.  After clearing out the baby stuff, this wasn't so hard.  Everything in here got disinfected too.  It's germ season around here - you can't be too careful!

This year, I wanted to encourage pretend play for T, so one of the toys that I suggested was play food.  She scored big time!  More than I expected, so, all those food type toys went into one big basket.  The bonus here is that the basket can easily be transported to the kitchen so she can "cook" with me!

T also got some more wooden puzzles (I love those!).  The best part, and the gift for me, was that they came with a wire rack for storage.  Her other puzzles fit nicely in here too.

The hardest part for me was trying to figure out what to do with the big toys.  She loves playing with Little People and she got a castle, zoo and Noah's ark for Christmas, as well as a Weebles play house, complete with techno grooves (she tells Daddy not to dance now, hehe).  I think B had as much fun putting these together as she does playing with them!  I didn't want to stack them on top of the toy box for fear of them falling on her.  So, for now, they are strategically placed on the play mat.

So, that's our play area, and round one of Organization 2012!  Of course it doesn't always look like this!  T actually does really like to clean up and does a great job.  After she goes to bed, Momma take a minute to satisfy her OCD. Let's hope I can keep it up!

OK, my pregnant self did too much and now needs to sit down for awhile.  Up next, sorting through all those hand-me-downs that we are so blessed with!