One way or another...

I'm back!  This has been the longest time between posts....EVER!!!  

We have just been so busy! 

 Writing report cards, planning for next term, public holiday, sick kids... the list goes on....

It has me thinking....as "My Pigeon Pair" approaches the 6 month mark....

is it time for a change?

What do you LOVE about My Pigeon Pair

BE HONEST!!!

Why are you here?

What do you want to see more of??

Organising, Teaching, Personal Stories, Childrens Products, Meal Planning, Reviews?

In the meantime get ready for your news feed to bombarded with Organising posts!!!

We have been getting organised here and I am determined to have an organised home before Master O starts school in January!!!!

Cant wait to share our journey with you!

Flashback....Project Playroom

THIS is A FLASHBACK!

Repost from my very old blog before

"My Pigeon Pair"

Inspired to repost by

The Organised Housewife's post on the Expedit unit!

In my dreamworld, our playroom would look just like this.  

In fact it would even contain the two children dressed so beautifully, sharing their gorgeous tea set, using their manners "Excuse me madam, one lump, or two?".  

There would be no pieces of lego strewn across the floor. 

 No toast crusts in a bowl on the table.  

The books would not have torn pages or scribbled on covers.  

Everything would have its place.  

Every place a label. 

It would be efficient, beautiful, organised!!!  

 I just love this Cameron storage unit from Pottery Barn Kids.  I know this particular colour scheme is a little girly, well really girly, but the classic, crisp white could compliment  any colour palette.  The different storage elements including baskets and drawers that are child friendly and shelves and cupboards that can hide things away from tempting little artists!

 Pottery Barn Kids has long been one of my favourite things.  Do they not realise they would have a licence to print money if they ever went global?  Why is there nothing like this in Australia?  Well I will have to settle with Ikea.  Our Playroom has long been a work in progress.  It has had to constantly expand to control the mountains of toys!  Here is the playroom before Master 0 was born!

The Playroom - January 2007 - Before O was born!

A couch for feeding/watching children play/reading

A collage trolley

An easel with calendar

The Piano

Baby Swing

Bookcase

Bookshelf

and Childrens Table

This all came form my classroom!

Maternity Leave meant I had to put it somewhere!

The Playroom - September 2007 - The toys are mounting up!

The collage trolley has become a "Baby changing station!"

Out with the easel it was taking up too much room for a baby on the move!

THe lounge seemed like a good idea but became too dangerous with "someone" pulling themselves up on it!

The baby swing has also had to find a new home!

The Playroom - Makeover 1 - Out with the piano in with the storage!

The bookcase got moved to make room for a bigger "mat" play area.

We bought a "Trofast" storage unit from Ikea to house the million toys!

THESE ARE A MUST!

I LOVE IT!

With all its pull out drawers of varying sizes it

makes cleaning up a breeze!

The Playroom - October 2010

A new Ikea "Expedit" storage unit, the new must have!

The baskets along the bottom house 

matchbox cars, plastic kitchen set, other small vehicles, anything small 

that needs to be grouped together!

I LOVE our Expedit unit!  

When everything has a space, the space stays so much tidier!

I also love that IKEA makes baskets that fit the unit perfectly!

 Another new addition is the line on the wall above the table 

 It is actually intended for curtains but we use it for hanging pictures (also from Ikea)

It has little clips and you can also buy little plastic pockets to put your treasured pictures in!

Whats a playroom without a quiet reading area!  

I found a gorgeous Ikea net that cost a whole $15!!!

Underneath it, we put some huge cushions to make a comfy, private, chill out zone

and also a favourite hide and seek spot!

Last addition, 

 one very busy 3 year old!

Operation Camoflague Dump Zone.....Project Bathroom..THE BEFORE PICTURES

So are you ready?

Be afraid VERY afraid....

Here are some of the BEFORE pictures for our Project Bathroom

This is the bathroom.

The Left side is for me and the Right side for the Hubby.

Here is what Little Miss A LOVES to do in the bathroom!

"explore" the drawers!

Can you see all the jewellery she has pulled out on the floor!

AHHHHHH!!!!

This is the top Drawer

Makeup.

I have a great divider in there but the makeup needs some serious sorting/culling

The Jewellery is

"Creatively Arranged?"

Bathroom cupboard Number One

Not as bad as I thought but why do I have 4 bottles of deoderant I don't use?

Cupboard Number 2

Anyone would think our bathroom is clean

 judging by the number of cleaning products in this one!

and the solution....hopefully

I went to our local "cheap" store and socked up on baskets and containers of all descriptions!

Even a nice candle to pretty up the vanity!

I also have a few of these containers from Ikea that I am hoping to put to better use.

They are currently in all sorts of drawers around the house!

So there it is....

Let the operation begin....

WISH ME LUCK!

Wordless Wednesday - An Irish Blessing

"May the road rise up to meet you, 

the wind be always at your back

 and the sun shine warm upon your face"

An Irish Blessing in more ways than one.

Linking up to

Faith Hope and a Whole Lotta Love

Marshmallows, Milo and Macaroni....Teach It...Reading

So what do marshmallows, milo and muffins have to do with learning to read?

EVERYTHING!

This week we have started our letter of the week program with Master O.

Well actually over the last year we have had a few false starts but now we really feel he is ready!

Each week we will focus on a new letter/sound.  This week its M.

I have debated where to start, but he loves the reading eggs program so much and it starts with M so there we shall begin.....

Here is todays activity.

"The Pantry Hunt"

1. Have a strong coffee (you, not your child) and be prepared that this may get messy.

2. Let your child loose in your pantry.

3. They need to find any items that start with "M"

4. It has to be an item name not a brand name.

5.  If you like take a photo of each item.

So what did we find?

Milo

Maltesers

Muffin Mix

Mini Marshmallows

Milk

Double word points?

Mini Meringues

Marie Biscuits

Macaroni

and what did we learn?

Letters are everywhere - 

encouraging children to recognise letters in a real life context

Text conveys meaning - 

We need letters to make words, words give us information without the labels on the packets how would we know what is inside?

Letters make sounds - 

By sounding out the words on the familiar items we constantly reinforced the mmm sound.

Vocabulary building - 

We learnt so many new words and their meanings!

Why are the marshmallows and meringues called mini mallows and meringues?

Letter Recognition -

Letter M sometimes look different but is still just an "M"!  

The letter M was printed in all different colours, sizes and fonts but we knew it was always M!

Is this an M? Was definitely the question of the day!  

Instead of pointing to a letter on a poster, and rote learning its name and sound

we reinforced the recognition of the letter and its sound soooo many times without anyone noticing what we were doing!

We were having too much fun!

and how do I know it worked....

later that day.......

Master O pointed out at Gloria Jeans that 

"Mummy got a Mocha

and I had Marshmallows in my baby cino

Thats lots of M words Mummy!!!!

mmmm...Magic!

Whats for Dinner? - Meal Planning

Meal plan Monday!!!

Monday

Eggplant Parmigiana with Garlic Bread

Tuesday

Crumbed Chicken Maryland with 

Roast Veggies and Macaroni Cheese.

I got 4 marylands for $3 at Woolworths!

Wednesday

Out for dinner... not getting too excited it is a work event!

Family having whatever Hubby cooks up! 

 They should be excited he is an awesome cook!

Thursday

Beef Fajitas

Such an easy dinner after a long work day!

Friday

Honey Mustard Chicken with Rice, Beans and Zucchini

Saturday

Baked Fish with salsa Vegetables and Chunky Chips

Sunday 

Pumpkin Soup!

Baking

Pumpkin Scones

We have grown our very own pumpkin, yes just one!

It has literally grown from one left over pumpkin seed pushed in the ground!

The vine is huge!

We would love your best pumpkin soup and pumpkin scones recipes!!!

Linking up with

The Organised Housewife

June Project - Bathroom Organisation

Inspired by The Organised Housewife and motivated by my disastrous make up drawer, June's organistaion project is...... the bathrooms!! 

 A whole month for organising bathrooms??  We have 3!!!

The Master Bathroom will definitely be the most work.  It has heaps of storage space, with two cupboards and six drawers but that IS THE PROBLEM!  It has become a dumping ground for anything that could not find a home elsewhere in the house!!!  Sometimes having a small space is easier as it forces you to be ruthless and cull!!!

At least it gives me a starting point....

SO to help inspire and motivate me I have been busy on "Pinterest"

I would love a tissue box like this and something to keep jeweleery in that is similar?

What a brilliant idea!  It is just pvc pipe!

Ikea of course,  next house I would incorporate drawers like this into the layout!

divide and conquer...a great way to keep everything organised in the make up drawer, but would prefer something plastic, easier to clean!

LOVE all these cotainers

I think I may have lost 1000's of booby pins in my life!  What a great way to keep them together!

Definitely need a few woven baskets in the cupboards

So neat, fresh, organised!

HAVE to find these or something similar, not for makeup brushes but other vanity top items!

So let the organising begin!

Will I be game enough to post before pics?

be afraid, be VERY afraid.....

all credits check out my "Pinterest" page.