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Lego My LEGO
Lego my LEGO LEGOs on the Floor are Torture. What can we do? By Jhoneé Fillmore Man, LEGO building sure is awesome. My two young boys absolutely love them and I must confess I love building with them. We love to build from kits as well as freely. A LEGO is always on a wish list for gifts or a trip down the toy aisle. They are great for the minds of our young ones, fine motor skills and creativity. They are a blast! Let’s be honest though about the other side of these awesome toys…… they are tiny, they are sharp (our feet know this) and they roll and…
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Your Gift Giving Organization
Your Gift Giving Organization By Jhoneé Fillmore The holiday season is filled with so much love, joy, gratitude and giving. However, the planning of many meaningful gifts, family gatherings, donations and travel can feel a bit overwhelming. Here are some things we can organize during the holiday season to make the time more enjoyable and less chaotic. KEEP AN EYE OUT:Begin thinking of good gifts to give all year long. When spending time with someone that you usually gift during the holidays (or birthday), pay extra attention to what they need, what they have, their style or jot down an item that you have heard in a conversation. People often…
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Organize Your Holiday Decorations
Organize Your Holiday Decorations by Jhoneé Fillmore It is that time of the year that we listen to the holiday spirit within us, put on our game faces and prepare to transform our homes both inside and outside with decorations of all kinds. Decorating can be so much fun for the family but lets also mention that it takes some work. Game Plan Make a list of any supplies that you need to purchase or maybe something you need to rearrange or prepare ahead of time. Prepare The Space For me, I like to have a clean and tidy space before upheaving the many items from storage. Any items in…
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Build Your Classroom
Build Your Home Classroom BY Jhoneé Fillmore As we enter another school year, we may need to be prepared for full or partial distance learning. Do you need some ideas on how to physically set up your “home classroom” in order to make it a feel-good and efficient learning environment, even if this is a temporary setup? You know your child and home best so mix and match ideas that will best suit you and don’t forget that if something isn’t working… mix it up again. Set Up BaseWith some experience from the end of the school year, I suggest setting up a base location for your students. This is…
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Keeping Kids Busy and Organized in the Car
Keeping Kids Busy and Organized in the Car Kids like to keep busy and during a car ride is no exception. I like to keep these questions and comments to a minimum: “Are we there yet?” “I’m bored.” “I am hungry.” “I can’t reach this.” “I dropped that”. Here are a few ideas that keep my kids happy and busy during short or long car trips. Keeping It In Reach When kids are buckled in the car there is not much that they can reach. While I adore the organizers that are placed on the back of the seat in front of them, kids in a car seat are not…
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Passwords, Logins, Accounts…. Oh My! Get Organized February 2020
Passwords, Logins, Accounts…. Oh My! Get Organized: February 2020 By Jhonee Fillmore It can be really overwhelming to keep track of all of your accounts. So many accounts must be created for various areas of your life or on behalf of your family members. Just when you get use to using the same few passwords for everything and feeling pretty sane, a couple of new accounts require you to have passwords with “their” requirements. Therefore, more passwords are born in your life. And let’s not forget to mention the logins for your accounts. Some logins are your email address, but wait… which email address? Or was this the account that…
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Organization=Family Peace During Board Games: Get Organized December 2019
Organization=Family Peace During Board Games Get Organized: December 2019 By Jhoneé Fillmore Keep Attention My family LOVES to play board games. Our family consists of a seven-year-old boy and a four-year-old boy. I noticed that the amount of time it took to merely setup a board game was using up their attention span and focus needed to play the game. I decided to create a system that allowed a quick setup. At the conclusion of every game, my family and I take an extra minute to cleanup and the whole family is involved. We have small Ziplocs bags to separate all items in the game such as: character pieces, money, cards,…
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Breakfast Time Savers & Hacks: Get Organized November 2019
Breakfast Time Savers & Hacks Get Organized: November 2019 By Jhoneé Fillmore School Day vs. Weekend The typical school morning is face paced. Many tasks must be done by the kiddos and adults for a successful school arrival. Let the family know in advance which breakfast items are available for school mornings versus weekend mornings. At our house, weekend mornings are for making french toast, baking muffins, making waffles or pancakes from scratch or something as simple as cooking bacon. School mornings however need to happen much more quickly so I limit the menu to: scrambled or fried eggs, frozen waffles, frozen pancakes, cereal, toast, instant oatmeal, yogurt, hard-boiled eggs,…
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School Lunch Time Savers: Get Organized September 2019
School Lunch Time Savers Get Organized September 2019 Jhoneé Fillmore, Owner PACK IT When to Pack: Every family likes to pack school lunches differently. Some like to do the morning of and some prefer the day before. I personally am a night before lunch packer, usually right after dinner. I like to wash all lunch containers prior to eating dinner so that if there are any leftovers from dinner that sound good for the next day’s lunch, I can put it directly into the lunch containers. This saves me time putting away leftovers and then pulling those back out to put into lunch containers. Containers: My sons have the same…
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Missplaced Helps You Get Organized
Missplaced Helps You Get Organized By Jhoneé Fillmore Still not too late for summer supplies! The summer days in Santa Cruz can lead us into many spontaneous family activities. Be prepared by keeping summer adventure supplies ready. Spontaneous Family Fun Supplies Be sure to include: Backpack, sunscreen, dry snacks, water bottle, picnic blanket, towels, umbrella, trash bags and a change of clothes. With this assortment of items you are prepared for any adventure including a stop at one of the many Santa Cruz beaches, a picnic at Wilder Ranch State Park, a hike in Niscene Marks or an outing to a local playground. Keeping these items in a backpack is…
