I like all my ducks chicks in a row!
PEEPS! They are nothing but sugar and a tiny dot of wax. Such a simple pleasure. I love the texture of the squishy marshmallow, the crunchy sugar, and the waxy dot that sticks in your teeth. It all goes together marvelously. They come in many shapes (chicks or bunnies) and colors (yellow, pink, blue, green). I have eaten all of the possible variations, but I have to say that my favorite combination is the yellow chicks. I love the curve and the color! Of course, I prefer to eat mine after they have cured for a few days, and are a little bit more firm (but not stale).
I also like to have all my ducks in a row, meaning having everything organized and in its place. I can't take too much clutter! I am a thrower. At least four times a year, I purge my house and get rid of anything that is in the way, or hasn't been used in a reasonable amount of time. This includes toys.
Have you ever notice how toys seem to multiply without any help from us parents? I don't know how this phenomenon happens, but over my twelve years of being a mom I have witnessed it to be true. I don't buy my kids very many toys. I don't have to! Any spare money they get is spent on them, although Landon is starting to go for clothes as well. Along with the accumulation from the grandparents, birthdays, and Christmas, our toy piles just continue to expand throughout the year without any help from me. Oh and don't forget all the things they bring home from kids meals. (Although I must say that Chick-fil-A's are worth bringing home!) My kids are also involved in AWANA at church. They memorize verses, and for each verse they get shares (AWANA money). A few times a year they get to spend it on . . . yep, toys in AWANA store. They are getting better about their choices , but still it adds to the collection.
When my children were little, I would purge the toy box by myself and immediately take the bag to Goodwill so that they wouldn't drag it all out again. Now that they are older, and have grown used to my quarterly tangent, they are quite willing to help me with the process. This makes the whole thing go much faster.
Our method:
- We have two bags . . . one for Goodwill, one for trash.
- Going drawer by drawer, we take every one of the toys out and analyze it.
- If it is broken it goes in the trash.
- If they don't like it any more, it goes to Goodwill.
- If I can't stand the toy any more, it goes to Goodwill. (Some of them are just obnoxiously LOUD!)
- Also, if I see that the toy hasn't been played with in quite a while, we have a discussion on whether it should stay or go. If they decide it should stay, I keep an eye out to see if they actually play with it after that. If they don't, it goes during the next purge.
- After the drawers have been emptied and the unwanted put into the correct bag, we organize the toys and put them back into the drawers. It's much easier to find the Lego piece you want if it's actually in with the Legos!
The whole thing doesn't really take that long, once you get the process down. And what peace of mind I have knowing that everything is in it's place! So can you guess what we will be doing during Spring Break?
