Decluttering with the Littles

First off, thank you, everyone, for your amazing comments and support here, on facebook, on twitter, and on the RTH message boards. The last post about Abbi saying mom for the first time was a big one, and even through the joy, was at times, hard to write. Thank you for sharing in my joy with me!! I'm a lucky woman indeed. :)

I have been busy as of late trying to declutter and organize. It is one of my resolutions this year (*cough*one-step-at-a-time*cough*). I started with one of the biggest problems we have had in this house... toys. I wound up getting rid of *8* bags of toys, and more that wouldn't fit in bags. Each of the girls now have two totes that they can use for toys in their respective toy closets (one each for stuffed animals, and one each for non-stuffed-toys). I am hoping to get it down to one tote each before the move, but we'll see.


I snagged some photos of Anna's room after the big-declutter. Here you see her Dora bed, and her dress-up basket (shh - I know its another bin - lets pretend we don't see it, k?). And yes, that's a blanket on the window. The blinds have been kid-ified and we figured until we replace them (next week), we would put up the blanket... and bonus, its added insulation.

In the corner you'll also see a chalkboard easel with a giant stuffed snake resting on it. The easel is Abbi's (it was a gift from Laura for Christmas!) but we keep it downstairs in Anna's room for them both to play with since Abbi gets overwhelmed by too much stuff in her room. She LOVES to use it though, and spends a lot of time in there during the day!!

What you can't see in this picture is that behind the bed is a reading corner with tons of lumpy pillows that we were about to throw away. We reused them as a snuggle place and covered them up with a silky pink sheet we got at the thrift store. As soon as I set it up, Anna grabbed an armful of books and read in her reading corner for over an hour. Love that!


On the right side of the room is her doll house that mom got her. SHE LOVES IT. It is her favorite toy of all time. Behind the doll house is a build a bear cardboard "house" that the bears come in, filled with my-little-ponies. Its their "pony house." Hehe. Too incredibly cute.


In the room picture you'll also see the therapy ball, the trampoline and the giant bear. Those are Abbi's too, though both girls use them.

In the corner, we have the vanity with the books on top. Shortly after the picture was taken we added twice as many books that we had organized and brought in from the other toy closet. Suffice it to say, the girls are not lacking reading materials!

Also, see those two flashlights on top of the vanity? They double as nightlights! When you turn them on and set them on their "face" - light down - the handle lights up with scenes from Dora the Explorer! Anna loves them!


Under the vanity is her TV and v-tech video game system for kids. She plays her "Dora game" on it for about an hour a day, while sitting in her Dora chair. We don't much like Dora in case you haven't noticed. We actually have 3 other games for the system, but she loves the Dora one so much that she hasn't even TRIED the others. Someday.... ;)

I am going to be working on finishing up Abbi's room over the next 2 weeks. She's getting a new-to-us bed and dresser, and an entertainment center for her TV and toys (thank you Mariah)! I'll be sure to post an update once her room is all set up too.

So, there you go - a quick peek into my home, and a look at how I'm doing with keeping my resolutions so far.

Have you made any resolutions this year? How is it going?