A Covet Worthy Command Center

Now that we've all had at least a few days to adjust to having the kids back in school, I am sure that some of us are still trying to come up with a system for keeping it all organized. I told you that even with only 2 kids I was struggling, so I decided to invite a long time friend and fellow blogger to share her system.

Amy from the wonderful blog Permanent Kisses will tell you that her strength is on the creative side (as you'll probably agree once you poke around on her blog), but so many of her projects are the perfectly pinworthy combination of organization and craft. Like this one.

 Who isn't dying to ask her to make a personalized toothbrush holder and towel rack for their kiddos now?  But before you go and allow yourself to get sucked into her craft wormhole, read on to see how this amazing mom keeps her kids' school paperwork under control and her countertop available.  ~ ~ ~ ~


Thank you my dear friend! I personally know Alexis as Lexi, (let's just get thatstraight out in the open) – she was one of the lovely girls that kicked my rearin cross-country through our high school career. Maybe she was motivated and I was lazy, butwhatever, she was always faster. We goway back; I could tell you all kinds of stories, but then she wouldreciprocate, and I am not interested indoing that for all of you out in the blog-o-sphere! Just know that we love each other as much as…we possibly could without seeing other on any kind of regular basis.
So, onto my current life… I am mamma to 7 kiddos ranging in age from 11 to 9 months: 5 boys, 2girls. Providing a certain level ofchallenge, raising a family of any size is much harder than I imagined back inmy ‘know-it-all’ teenage years. Yes,parenting is not easy, but anyone who has kids knows that already, so I amtalking more about the staying organized part of life.  Earlier this week a friend asked for advice on Facebook inhelping with the school paper situation that was taking over her life. I mentioned the new ‘command center’ that Ihad set-up in my front hallway. Shewanted to see a photo, I obliged, and Alexis liked it and asked me to writeabout it to share here.  The specific invitation was something about posting as the‘mom who has it all together.’  Funny, Ijust do a good job pretending. We arenot going to talk about the cooler I moved around the corner or the laundrythat was kicked into a pile before I could take this picture.
Working from left to right, let's zoom in:
§  Asmall metal bucket with dry erase markers high enough that the little kidscannot reach.
§  2medium size dry erase calendars – I wanted to be able to rotate them so I did not affix them permanently to the wall.  Activitiesare color coded by child.
§  Underthat is my file box for each school kid and for general school papers. Each child has their own file. {I amlooking for a table/shelf to replace the white cupboard.}
 §  Abulletin/white board combo.
o   Onthe bulletin board: important notes/action items/lunch menu
o   Whiteboard: kids jobs are posted each day. Each of the green notes has the ‘Job’ listed at the top and all of therequired tasks to complete the job. Thisis still a bit of a work in progress; obviously the 3 year old is not requiredto scrub the bathroom floor.  I amworking on tweaking that.
§  Ametal pocket strip with kids clips for papers returning to school: permissionslips, bus pass notes, book orders, lunch money, etc. Currently the pocket holds envelopes that Iused to send in lunch money, book orders, and other fees – it’s purpose maybecome more apparent as the year progresses.

§  Mailboxes:
o   SnailMail on top: all untouched post is supposed to go into the larger pocket – thesmaller pocket serves as an ‘out’ box for a quick grab on the way out the door.
o   SchoolIn: for all the papers that come home. This would be beautiful if at least one of the kids in the house woulduse it properly. We’ll get there it hasonly been a week.  It is all about thetraining.
 
There are a few things that I still need to add, but thosewill come over time and as I see the usage evolve. I have all the things to make a menu boardfor our house, but I am not sure if it will go here or in the kitchen.My ‘command center’ functions well because it is a centrallylocated area where the paper clutter is being processed before it becomesclutter on my counter. Happily, I havebeen cluttering the counters with my other projects instead – currently theresupplies for sewing and painting projects that I will be sharing on my blogsoon!
~ ~ ~ ~
Thanks Amy! I love how she has everything in one place, and especially how it's color coded. I can't wait to see the menu board and whatever else she has up her sleeve to share on her blog.  Speaking of her blog, we were lucky enough to collaborate on this project (and by collaborate I mean she did all of the work and I show it off), at a great time because she's hosting a Leapster GS giveaway on her blog right now. So if you think your kids would love that as a reward for correctly using their school in and out boxes, hop over and enter to win!