Our Snow-Pocolypes

This has been a crazy winter for us north westerns. Not crazy like the east coast crazy... Like not normal for north west Oregon crazy. It normally rains non-stop. Yuck! We always hope for snow but that wish only comes true once every 3 or 4 years. About every other year we might get a light dusting of snow that melts once it hits the ground. But for the most part it rains, A LOT! This year was different. The rain hardly showed up. When it did come it was nothing like we normally see this time of year. This winter has been very dry.

And cold.

Very dry and very cold.

As February came along our hopes of snow seemed to fade away. The air seemed warmer and no rain was falling. Until a very quick drop in temperature and clouds swiftly came to our rescue. Snow began to fall! My kids jumped for joy!

Friday morning (Feb, 7th)

"SNOOOWWWW!!! Mommy! Snow is coming!" said Michael.

"Snow is falling! Snow is falling!" sang Emily.

Sam just sat in wonder, staring out the window. Even our dog was watching.

Thursday, Feb. 6th

The snow started falling on a Thursday and was all gone by Tuesday. We had 4 great days of snow. It reached over 10 inches at our house!

"Here it comes!"

The kids couldn't wait to play in it!

Thursday evening

 Unfortunately, due to lack of snow around here we had to make due with lack of snow clothes. Sam was lucky we kept Michael's old snow pants and boots! All the gloves we had were too small for Michael and Emily and poor Sam had no gloves... So we improvised by putting warm socks on his hands. Sam also hates hats... So it was impossible to keep a hat on him. We were blessed with warm coats for all three kids at Christmas time! Thank the Lord! As for Michael and Emily, they had two layers of pants on and wore their rain boots with two pairs of socks on.

Our little pond Thursday night

Friday late morning was the perfect time to make a snowman!

And play in the snow.

Daddy even pulled them on a sled!

And they pulled Daddy!

My princess insisted on wearing her tutu skirt.

Saturday we braved the snow and went to my parents house to play.

The snow melted quicker then it fell. Once the temperature went from 30 degrees to above 40 degrees it took a short 18 hours for the snow to go from 10 inches to 2 inches. And 48 hours for all the snow to disappear. 

As fun as the snow was for my kids, hubby and our dog, I on the other hand don't really like snow. The way I like it, is watching it from the window inside my warm house. But I did enjoy seeing the joy on my kids faces when they woke up to winter wonderland. Watching them watch the snow fall was amazing to me. They loved the snow but did not cry when they woke up to it melting. I think they might have be tired of it.

Our snow-pocolypes lasted less then a week. But the joy and memories will last a lifetime! Thank you for reading and God bless!

How a family of 5 can live in a 2 bedroom home: Part Two

As I said in Part One, we have 5 people, plus a dog, living in 800 square feet... And again I'll say, I guess home builders in the 1940's didn't think of master bedrooms or spacious bathrooms. 

Speaking of bathrooms, that is what part two is about... bathrooms!

I actually had a few requests for my bathroom space saving ideas. Yay! It's so nice to know people are reading and liking my posts! THANKS READERS!

So here we go!

Part Two: the bathroom!

Bath tub & shower:

 We got the frog at Target

I have plenty of storage in the shower! A corner shelf, a shower catty and a cute FROG for the kids toys.

The corner self has shaving creams, body wash, kids shampoos and soaps, hubbies shampoo and dog shampoo (on the highest shelf so kids cant reach it). The catty has my shampoo and conditioner, soap bar and razors. The frog holds the kids bath toys.


Storage:
Before moving into this house I had a nice shelf set. Because we down-sized I had to get rid of it... So I had to replace it with something. Being a Pinterest lover I found a few ways to help with our lack of bathroom storage situation.

With my husbands help, we made this easy (and cheap) mason jar wall decor/storage. Sense the bathroom is so small and has no counter space this was perfect for daily use items.

We also bought a cheap wine rack from a secondhand store to keep bath towels that were not in use. Also, hooks on the back of the door to hang the kids hooded towels. And of course a towel rack for handing damp towels in use.

Under the sink:

This is where I keep extra toilet paper, feminine products, a few bathroom only cleaners, mouth wash, my hair drier and curling iron and a basket of my hair/face products. Pretty much the norm for under the sink... If its big, it goes under the sink.

The mirror:
Luckily the bathroom mirror opens for more storage. This is the place for pain relievers, allergy pills, tooth brushes and paste and daily pills and medications.
Tip: Buy tooth paste that can stand up. It takes up less space. We use Crest Pro Health.

A few other tips:
Keep only what you use in the bathroom. If its seasonal like cold or allergy medicine (my husband has year around allergies, that's why we keep it in the mirror) keep it elsewhere, in a safe place. Same with bathroom cleaners. The only cleaner that needs to be under the sink is toilet cleaner and disinfecting wipes. I clean the toilet at least once a week (I have a 4 year old boy who likes to wait until the last minute to pee...), and the disinfecting wipes for a quick wipe down. As for shower cleaner, that's up to the individual. If you clean your shower once a week or more then you might want to keep the cleaner under the bathroom sink. I do clean ours about every 10 days (or as needed) but I keep the cleaner under the kitchen sink (we have more space under the kitchen sink).

Well, I'd say that's about it for the bathroom. I hope this was helpful! And be keeping an eye out for part three: the kitchen!

Have a blessed day and thank you for reading!