Four kids in one room

With the arrival of baby #5 quickly approaching, we decided to redo the “big kids” room to accommodate the older 4 (baby will have her own room for now). Their ages are 5, 5, 3.5, and 1.5 and this is the arrangement we came up with. The result is a room that is very functional, not overly cramped, and the kids LOVE it. We also maintained our policy of no toys in their room. Want a tour?

Each bunk bed has a trundle (not pictured, the trundles arrive in a couple weeks). For now it will be used for storage, and later we will put mattresses in to accommodate sleepover friends. This is where we store off-season clothes, shoes, or clothes that are in-between sizes for the girls.

I went with neutral comforters for all the beds and then they each got sheets coordinating to their favorite color. I also coordinated their shelves (made from Ikea spice racks) and letters with the same color.

The animal  Storage Boxes hold each of their pajamas  and shoes are in the baskets on the bottom row. Sweaters/jackets are hung up (and organized by hanger color per child). The grey baskets in the top of the closet are used to store things that we rarely access like winter hats and such.

Their clothes are sorted on this 4 x 4 shelf. They each get 4 baskets to accommodate all their clothes. The girls are separated into Underwear, Tops, Bottoms, and Dresses. Cooper doesn’t have a Dresses basket but one for button up shirts. In case you’re wondering, I’m completely over trying to keep my 1-5 year olds’ clothes neatly folded in a drawer, so baskets work great! Each morning they all congregate on the rug and retrieve their clothes and get dressed.

On the walls I printed a few pictures of the kids in black and white mixed in with a few cutesy signs. With 2 sets of bunk beds, and a large closet and window, there really wasn’t much wall space left.

Under the window we have tubs for things like head bands and kids jewelry, and they each have a “treasure box” to keep a few personal items that they don’t want others to touch.

Well that’s the tour. It’s been a few weeks of the new setup, and it’s working really well.

Cooking 4th Birthday Party

Today we had friends over for Mady and Cooper’s 4th Birthday party. It was cooking themed!

Our cooking themed party included some crafts, a giant cake to bounce in, and our little chefs would be making their own pizzas, salad, and decorating their own cupcakes.

We had 2 tables set up to color their cakes and make their chef hats.

The kids all had fun making their own chef hats too.

We had snacks and drinks, but the “pizza parlor” stayed closed until it was time to make pizzas.

Our little chefs had lots of energy so they mixed it up inside the giant cake out front.

When it was time, all of our little chefs washed their hands and lined up to make pizzas in our “pizza parlor.”

Each friend put on an apron with their initial and then found a seat at the table.

We passed out pre-labeled (with names) foil lined plates and a plate of toppings for our friends to make their own pizzas.

We collected the pizzas and popped them in the oven. Meanwhile everyone got to put together their own salads.

After salads, our pizzas were done and everyone got to eat their own crafted pizzas. For dessert, each friend got to decorate their own mini cupcakes!

The birthday boy and birthday girl had to blow out their candles before the decorating began.

Each friend took home some Madylin & Cooper (homemade) cookie mix in a mixing bowl with spoon, and some cooking related stickers.

Cute 4 cupcake shirts!

Banner by Chickabug

Shirts by EMTCreations

Paper cakes by PaperGlitter

Our Toddler Library

We have a lot of children’s books (thanks to many of our family and friends)! But the (lack of) organization was getting out of control. Stacks in the family room, and overflowing shelf in their bedroom, and random piles throughout the house. We decided to move and organize all the books to one central location so the kids can access them all without reading the same stack over and over.

First we cleared a space in the living room and measured for bookshelves. We ended up getting the Ikea Expedit Shelf (3 of them in this setup).

For the ages of our kids (3.5, 3.5, almost 2), it made sense to order them based on the bind type. So board books went on top, and books with paper pages went on the bottom. And then they are sorted by size after that. I like this separation because then we can say “mommy and daddy need to help read you the books from the bottom”.

The next thing I wanted to do was somehow keep them from just shoving books wherever they fit, so I introduced the kids to the idea of marking the book they “borrow” with a tail. They think it’s fun! They pick a tail, then put it in place of the book they want to read, and after reading return the book to where it was before marked by the tail.

I put up a few rules because kids love rules, right? Ha! But it does help remind the responsible adult in the room because my kids WILL try and convince the babysitter that it’s ok to stack the books to climb into the attic. Here’s the printable.

And that completes our family library.

Finding a bookworm curled up on the couch with a book brings a smile to every mom’s face!