The Day the Toys Moved out AKA Thursday!

Firstly, I would like to apologise for the excessive amount of pictures that I am going to be posting today. They are mostly for The Hubby's benefit, so that he can see the difference from when he left to now...

So there it was, the whole house clean; no more back up laundry; no kid-like things strewn through the living room; no dirty socks and underwear dropped in the bathroom; it was all clean, except one thing.... the big boys room!!!!

Oh yes, I had been putting it off, and just shoving the toys back into their room for about as long as I could justify. Once again, however, the time arrived when excuses had run out and it was inevitable that I must help them to clean their pig pen of a room. Frog prince wanted nothing to do with this notion though, and instantly launched into melt down mode.

"There is too much, mooooooommy!" he could be heard bellowing, but to no avail. I am impervious to their cries of sympathy when it that pit they call a room, and it's unearthly quantities of toys.

My reply, "If I clean it up... you won't like where they all end up, young men!"

***

Seriously though, their room had grown out of control and it needed some help. After a nice, and well talked through discussion with the boys, we all agreed that it was time to let go of some of the toys they had and give them to other people. Sheepie was pretty ambivalent as long as he was clear that certain toys (like his vast collection of Nemo paraphernalia) were out of the question. Frog Prince though had to have a bit more help understanding that it was actually going to help him take care of his room better.

Once he was on board though, it was time to begin, "Operation Overhaul!"

We literally dragged every single toy in our house into the middle of the living room.

Please note, this is NOT what our living room normally looks like, but it is pretty near close to the state that the boys bedroom was to be found in.

So with every toy in the universe now in my living room, I did an intense vacuuming and dusting of the boys room. Then I realised that their book case, which as been little more than a glorified shoe rack for the last few years, was even looked at wrong, it would break. So it too go the 'out' and I pulled in an old while shelve from the garage. It works lovely, and makes the books much easier for the boys to get to, and put away. (pictured below). I then switched around how some of their furniture was, so as to open up the room more , and make it so they can actually sit down at their desk finally. Once that was all done, I gave them their 'Cars' carpet and some toy cars to pay with, and banished them to their room until I was done in the living room.

I figured that if I had the boys help me in the living room there would be much fighting and it would take ALL day... so they didn't get a say in what I got rid of, but over all I think it was a wise choice to do it that way. After all, it's not like I am going to get rid of the things they love. My philosophy was, though, if it didn't fit in one of the drawers or the dress up tub, it was gone.... That mean a SERIOUS pruning.

I am happy to report that several hours later and many, many toys sorted through..This was my end result. ( It should be noted that those aren't regular, under the kitchen sink garbage bags.. Each one is easily as tall/taller than the boys.)

The next step was putting everything away in their room, and explaining to them the changes I had made in their drawer system and such. But when the day was done... I am pleased to say the room looked like this!

It looks very roomy and open in there now, and I told the boys that with over half of their toys gone, I fully expect that they can put everything away by themselves now....

Room cleaned, I had just enough time to shower before we headed over to my friends house for dinner that night. He husband was out late with meetings, and so she figured she'd invite me over for supper and to let the boys play. Man on man was the diner good. It was a Tofu Chili, and I certainly need to get it figured out.. Frog Prince and Sheepie also quiet enjoyed getting to run around the in the street with the bigger kids out front. My friends live in a very quiet cauld-a-sac, so the neighbourhood kids can literally run around.

That was about it for us... Sorry!