today was a good one

My day started out in one of my favorite ways - we woke up to rain.

And to my husband still asleep beside me, which meant he wasn't going to work because of the rain.

Even better.

I cooked breakfast.

Ran a mile (which I hadn't done since the first week of July).

And soon after, I got in a cleaning/organizing kick.

Knocked out several piles.

The entire basement of kids' toys.

My office.

Dave and I both helped the kids cut out pictures from magazines and glue them on paper.

Canned some tomatoes and cooked lunch.

And even got a head start on some prep for dinner.

Then I got started on the kids' craft supplies.

They were everywhere.

Some here, some there.

Markers in lots of spots.

Paper and stickers stuffed in numerous locations.

I want to be more crafty and creative with them, but it doesn't come natural to me.

And it's even harder when it's all a mess and not easily accessible.

So I started organizing.

It reminded me of getting my classroom ready for the school year.

I felt like such a teacher again.

Stickers all in my Creative Memories sticker organizer (I don't really use stickers for scrapbooking anymore)

All the foam stuff in one bin.

All the paint, paintbrushes and stamps in another.

Then I filled two little tackle box organizers with small stuff.

Definitely stuff that a 2 and 3 year old will not be allowed to play with unattended.

Or I will be on my hands and knees for a month cleaning up.

Then all of our magazine clips in a basket.

Before I throw away any of my magazines, I go through with scissors and cut out anything I think would interest the kids - food, people, animals, things, etc.

Today's big find was a pickle.  And it was a good thing I found 2 of them.

The kids have fun sifting through these pictures and gluing them to paper.

I used these handy dandy pouches for guided reading in 3rd grade.

But now they are to collect the kids' artwork.

And one for me to stuff any ideas or instructions I find.

Surely it will all stay like this for a long time, right?

So we are ready to CRAFT!

I need some good toddler projects - does anyone have any, or any websites you like?

The weather today reminded me how much I love fall and how productive it makes me!

I wish it were here to stay.