simplify(ing)

i've wanted to move the girls into the same bedroom for about a year. i knew that this would be a process, there was no way i could move them and have it work because 1. the room didn't have a functioning closet and 2. they had WAY too many clothes/stuffed animals/stuff.

Ty solved number 1 by building a custom closet shelving unit to my exact specifications. I think I'll keep him.

For number 2 i've been slowly purging things out of my life this past year and it is absolutely glorious. at the beginning of december phoebe and i took an entire car full to donations. i'm talking, all the seats folded down load. i can't describe in words how utterly light and free i felt driving home. it took me 33 years to realize i loathe "stuff". we played our first Christmas music of the season on the way home and it was glorious. the older toys went up into the attic that they don't play with, we have a tub full of baby dolls. sniff...sniff.
the girls have been so good at looking at their clothes with me and deciding what they "Love" and what is just there that they could bless another family with. hand me downs are the absolute best! but...not if you don't actually "need" all of them. how many shirts/coats/jeans does each kid need? we've decided, not a lot actually. we pared down their shoes to 1 pair church, 1 tennis shoe, 1 flat, 1 sandal and 1 boot for winter. We spent a little more $ not the shoes so they will last, and it has been so great!

anyways, enough of the great! and amazing! i'm setting myself up for failure with all of this bragging, but....Ty had to work last Saturday so it was a perfect opportunity to take apart all of the furniture and rearrange the rooms by myself. (ty's left brain does not like the mess/chaos that moving furniture entails).

so, we've tried to have the toy room a bedroom for the 4 years we've been here and it has always looked like this:

yup, chaos.


after letting go of toys we don't cherish and clothes that weren't needed, we ended up with a quaint bedroom with 3 giggly girls and a toy room that is actually getting "Played" in. it's awesome, i'm so happy with it.

No major fights yet, but it's only been a week. Hehe

We've been storing the books in the closet and it was chaos there also. Disheveled, falling off the shelf. Could never find anything, I love seeing them easily on the bookshelf. I'm always surprised at how just looking at books gives me warm fuzzies. 

And the kids have loved playing in their toy room, and BONUS, I can't hear then from the kitchen. You know, just in case I wanted a little peace and quiet. Cough cough.