Top hats, Ties, and Total fun!

In October, our #4 turned One. After having organized and celebrated 3 prior boys' first birthday's,  I was at a loss for new ideas for #4's first party. As I searched Pinterest, I stumbled upon a "Mr. Man" party with neckties as the central theme. Since I had already been taking a monthly necktie picture of my little one, the ideas started flowing and it was a go!

Etsy was a huge help to my endeavor. I didn't find necktie invites or printables, they were all the typical "mustache bash" so I had the Etsy shop owners change things up a bit for me and convert mustaches into bow ties or neckties. I just love how sometimes Etsy feels like a magic genie! ;)

On a trip to the dollar store to look for candy and toys for the goodie bag, I came across some shaving cream, razors, handkerchiefs, combs, and thought 'this is what a MAN uses! How perfect for the centerpieces!'. After that trip I ordered top hats from Amazon (also a manly item ;) for about $5 each, and the centerpiece search was complete! 

After printing, cutting, gathering pictures and ties for a timeline, creating the centerpieces, and finalizing cake designs, it was time to wait for the big day and Celebrate Jaiden! 

My Favorite space of the party! His Table. Top hats, bow tie cookies, cupcakes and Cake! :)

The invite! And some pictures taken by my sister in law of our very own "Little Man" party! :D So thankful for the blessing he is to our lives!

Centerpieces. A top hat. Filled with "manly" goodies, and then given to the Men (uncles, friends, and grand dads), of the party at the end of the night! :)

We were busy at Camp during the summer months, so Jaiden's 8th and 9th month pictures are of him doing what we all do during the summer, work at camp! :)

The cake made by a wonderful and talented Cake maker from my church! Isn't it gorgeous!? :)

Goodie bags!

My sweet boy!

First taste of the good stuff! ;)

The need for the Needful.

It occurred to me the other day as I played with my 4 little ones on the living room floor, that although I had so many other matters to attend to at that moment, THIS was the most beneficial activity I could be engaged in. Although there was a kitchen to be cleaned, laundry to be put away, an email to respond to, and a friend to text back, being here, in this moment with my boys was what was "needful". I wanted to get all my responsibilities accomplished, but I was most NEEDED here; playing, laughing, teaching, spending uninterrupted time with the people God had placed in my life to influence most.
As we played, I began to feel pretty good about myself, when suddenly my two older ones began to argue over a silly matter, my two year old yelled "mommy poopoo!", indicating that he had to rush to the potty, and the baby bumped himself with a toy and began to cry, just like that, all at once! The moment of peace and laughter became a moment of rushed stress, and I sighed in frustration. "Why can't I have just 5 minutes of peace? I thought, "Why do these boys need me so much?" I am so needed!" When will this "neediness" end?" I was about to allow myself an overdue pity party, when the quiet, yet strong voice of the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart and said:
"The more they need you, the more you need Me." 

In that moment I was reminded of the wonderful story of Mary and Martha in the book of Luke. How Martha was getting needed things done, but Mary was doing what was needful. Martha was needed, too and she didn't have peace. She was upset. She was impatient with her sister, much like I was growing impatient in my tasks as a busy mommy of four. Mary, on the other hand, understood that only "few things are needed-or indeed only one". She understood that although there were many "needs" to take care of, being with Jesus was the only "needful" matter to attend to. She placed Christ above all other tasks, or duties. This frustrated Martha.  Why? Because Mary was teaching Martha a lesson without saying a single word. She was simply choosing to be with Jesus. Martha was trying to be the "hero", the "doer" the "responsible" one. Mary, on the other hand, was being with Jesus. Nothing else. She was doing the one thing that was needed above all others. She was honoring the true hero, by sitting as His feet. She was listening to the one who gave her the ability to get anything in life "done". She was spending time with the one responsible for her true peace and joy! 
She was doing the needful thing, and in turn, Christ was fulfilling ALL of her needs. As only HE can do.

Did I have time to stop and ponder on this thought as I refereed an argument, wiped a bottom, and consoled a crying baby? Nope! I had to do my job first. But later that day, when dinner time was over, lamps turned on for the evening, stories read, and bed time prayers prayed, God gently reminded me to do the needful thing. And I did. And I'm not talking about a daily devotional time, or a quick prayer. Someone has once said that Love is spelled T-I-M-E. I truly believe that the more time we spend with God and His word, the more we prove our true love for Him. It is not easy, but it is needful. "The more they need you, the more YOU need Me."... I wrote this thought down, and thanked God for this lesson that I wouldn't have learned if it weren't for these four sweet and "needy" little boys He had given me. And speaking of boys, the 9 month old just woke up from his nap, and needs me. ;)

 

The Pantry Project!

After the office was in order, it was time to tackle the "oh so scary" Pantry!!! This is what it looked like before I decided it was time to do the overhaul. Once again I did extensive research (in a wonderful and perfect little world called Pinterest), and then drew a sketch of how I thought it should be organized best. The most important thing for me is practicality. So I decided to divide the pantry into 3 sections. The "Breakfast" shelf, the "Lunch" shelf, and the "Dinner" shelf! I know, its like rocket science! ;)

The baking goods would go in a separate cabinet all together because to be honest I do not bake very often, and when I do my family just smiles and pretends to enjoy the goodies. So the baking stuff was going to move to a far away place where I would not be confronted with the fact that I am not a good at it. ;) But I digress, the next thing to do was to clean it out!!

After I went through each box and threw out expired, and non-utilized goods, I began categorizing each item into these 10 categories:Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Salty snacks, Sweet snacks,Baking, Baby food, Fruit, Drinks, and Cans. Once that was done, it was time to organize it all!!

I Found all the organizational products I needed at Target. The day I went they had their wicker baskets on clearance, and great tin and wire baskets in their dollar section. I was totally stoked about that!

Canned goods-categorized, broths and powdered drinks.

I wanted a place where the kiddos would have easy access to fruit! So I created this space on the bottom section of the pantry where little hands could reach in and grab some fruit whenever they wanted. 

The baking lazy susan! The hubby installed this for me in a deep corner of our kitchen that I don't visit much! ;)

I used chalkboard cut-out labels that I had purchased a few months back from World Market in San Antonio, and a bistro chalk pen from Hobby Lobby (my new favorite way to label things these days), to label each container/basket. The very top shelf houses items we don't use much like hot chocolate packets, and the shelf below that, is the breakfast one, then the dinner shelf, followed by the lunch shelf.The drawer has all of our paper goods like napkins,paper plates, cups, and utensils.

A closer look. I have deep shelves so I had to utilize the space as much as I could. For example behind the rice and noodles is more pasta, and cracker containers.

Ta-Da!!! The final product! It has been about 3 weeks since I completed this project and it has been working wonderfully! It has made grocery shopping, and meal planning so much easier since I can actually SEE everything I have! As soon as I arrive from a trip to the grocery store, I empty boxes and place items in their proper container. Doing this has forced me to keep things tidy and in order. It does take a little longer to unpack the groceries, but in the end it saves me so much time when Im searching for the foods I need! And that's what it's all about for busy mommas- saving time on these types of things to enjoy the more important things in life-and that is one of the many reasons I love to organize! :)

Can you organize your entire life??

...that is an interesting question for sure! But I had always dreamed of making that question a reality in my life! For many months I thought about, and researched exactly how I would accomplish this giant task, and finally in the month of September I gathered the courage (and the extra bucks), to actually make this dream a reality!
In my kitchen there is a desk that while we were designing the floor plan I specifically asked to have there, because as we all know, the kitchen is such an integral part of family life. There, is where I envisioned myself paying the bills, making my menu's, filling in our monthly calendar, and basically keeping all of the tools necessary to run our home. 
This is how I went about doing it. First, I sat down and categorized my entire life-what I do every day, week, and month, and what activities,  and ministries my family and I are involved in. After making that list I went out and bought a white half inch binder for each one (there were 14 total categories).

• Mendoza Family life (vacation planning, contact info, in case of emergency info, important letters, home papers and projects)
• Household Binder (has our monthly/weekly calendar's, to do's, meal planning, and cleaning schedules)
• John, Blandy, Justin, Jacob and Josiah binders has all of our important documents. Mine has a special section for my personal projects, lessons, and prayer journal)
• Budget and Bills binder (has our monthly budget, bills, and expense logs)
• Camp (houses all the projects I do pertaining to camp)
• Church (has my SS school class info, Choir ideas and music, youth workers papers, and any other important paper we might receive from our church)
• Retreat and Banquet Binder (has information on past,  current, and future banquet planning)
• Vehicles (has our titles, insurance info, and any car maintenance paper work that is worth keeping)
• Holiday Planner (has the cutest templates for Christmas lists, shopping, baking and decorating, lists)
• Appliances (has all of the warranty info for our appliances)

   I then decided what was important to have inside each binder. Each member of our family has there own, for example: the "Justin" binder has his birth certificate, passport, vaccine card, any important paper pertaining to his medical history and so on. I wanted to be able to just reach for any binder at anytime and find exactly what I was looking for in it. And whenever an important paper came home (like a report card) I could easily place it in the corresponding binder. Doing this has practically eliminated any loose papers lying around.

   I also purchased sheet protectors, plastic snap pockets (to keep the important documents in), and templates to print out at home from an Etsy shop that are absolutely awesome! I love it when you can personalize stuff to fit your family's needs and this shop definitely did it for us (plus, I don't have the time or skills to make them so pretty)! ;)

The shopping was the easy part, the jumping in and actually going through every single paper in our old office filing cabinet was a different story all together! I started on a wednesday, and finished up on a Saturday. Literally going through every file, paper, and folder in that cabinet-placing the "keepers" in the pre-determined categories, and throwing out the rest. It was more a mental exhaustion than a physical one, but oh so worth it in the end. Many head-aches, and "why did I do this" moments later, each document and paper had a home, and it was time to make the binders and fill them in! This was the fun part! I wish I had thought of taking pictures of the before mess that we had, but I was just too involved in the piles to think of snapping anything. Here is the end result of the efforts. 
You will see in some of the pictures the various categories of life. I can safely say they ARE organized and that has made this momma a very happy camper! :) 

All 14 binders fit neatly in the bottom drawer of the desk with room for more! When I need one I just grab it, and everything is there! :)

I sit down to plan the next weeks meals every friday evening or saturday morning.

I had to hole punch the plastic snap pockets. Bills are placed in there until payed. It's a great place for receipts as well!

Baseball card pockets are GREAT for SS card and important business cards.

weekly memory verse 

Do not underestimate the awesomeness of  a drawer  organizer! 

The giant monthly calendar. Another personalized Etsy purchase is  a 24x36 dry erase board placed in a hobby lobby frame. I just wipe it off and fill it in every month. So easy! Underneath are 2 dry erase organizers. A weekly calendar which is great  to have right in front of you everyday, and next to it a "contacts", "to do" and "notes" organizer with 2 magnets as well, for any paper you might quickly need at a glance or to file later.


This project has brought a sense of calm to daily life. There might be some things to tweak in the future but so far it has been a blessing! Hope you have enjoyed reading about it! :)

A different October than any other...

Every year I look forward to October. For many reasons, but one of my favorites is that it's a month in which my family and I are a little less rushed, less busy, less in a hurry. And I like that, very much!
I knew though, that this October would be different than all the rest, because we would not only enjoy the less hurried schedule, but also, we would finally have the time to stop, and look around, and relish in the blessings that God has bestowed upon us this 2012 (and begin blogging again which I had tried back in January to no avail). ;)
But, I can truly say that this year has been the most exciting one of my life! (Senior year at college comes a very close second). To break it down, the camp finished building our staff home in February, we had our 3rd baby boy in March, moved out to the "country" (new camp site is about 12 miles north of a city) in April, continued with our busy summer camp schedules June through August, and adjusted to life with a kindergartener starting school in September. Just typing it out exhausts me! And I can safely say I am still very exhausted from it all!
But today, although the house isn't even close to being decorated, the baby needs my constant attention, and the almost 6 year old needs help with his homework, I am finally taking it all in and thanking the Lord for all he has given! Undeserved blessings for sure!

Back view of our home...

I once considered myself a "City girl"...but now I am in Love with this!

Future Camp Lake

The boys get such a kick out of the wild life they get to see in their own back yard! If you look real close there is a doe in the way back. :)

Our First...

  Our Second...

Our third...and my wonderful hubby holding him.

I am so excited to live life here! At Camp! Hoping that the Lord uses my life first to minister to my husband and children, to be a happy keeper and manager of my home, and to hopefully be a blessing also to those who come through Camp Loma de Vida!