Sometimes you just gotta...

purge... toys that is.

Leah has a lot of "stuff." If you have little girls you know what I mean: hair ties, barrettes, necklaces, rings, earrings, lip gloss, My Little Ponies, Littlest Pet Shop, Barbies, Baby Dolls, Princesses, tea party equipment, play food, dress up clothes (and those damn plastic shoes), pastel colored Legos, AND all the accessories that go along with these fun toys.

Every so often I go through Lo and Le's toys and do a BIG clean out. I usually do this once in the summer and once in the winter... in between I do little purges here and there. And these MUST be done when the kids aren't home... or I am in big trouble. (Well, Logan is okay with it now and is happy to give his toys to kids that don't have as much as we do or kids that have to be in the hospital.)

Now, Leah's room somehow always gets filled up with junk, I mean, toys. She likes to get everything out, spread it all over and play. And play she does- she goes into her room and tells us not to come in and bother her because she is busy. How is that for independence??? Anyway, she's got a lot of crap. Yesterday, I got a new shelf/organizer thing for her room- and it fits perfectly in this one little corner. I got to work while the kids were downstairs with Anthony, after dinner. I dumped all her bins, boxes, crates, purses, and such onto her floor and organized. Ponies and animals over here, princesses over there, babies here, etc. And all their unnecessary accessories into one huge heaping pile.

In the process, I tossed a few things that had missing pieces or that we just didn't need. Ten baby bottles really isn't necessary. And does one need fifteen little plastic brushes?? So, my "garbage" pile wasn't big but I felt good about my work. I dumped the "outgoing" into the garbage and away we go.

First, let me say, that as soon as Leah went into her room, she started screaming. "I hate this thing. I want my bins back. Why are my toys in here?" (Meaning the new organizer." She took ALL, yes ALL of her newly put away toys out and threw them onto the floor. In case you were wondering, I was ignoring the whole thing and proceeding with the normal bedtime routine. She finally settled down and that was that. I left the toys... and she did put them away sometime today- not necessarily how I would organize them but they were all in the new organizer.

Now, the funny thing is... that when I got home from work this afternoon, I see all the toys that I had thrown out all over the living room!?!? WTF?? Apparently, Leah saw the toys in the garbage bag as Anthony was taking them out and threw a fit. Naturally, as any Dad would, he got the toys out of the bag and gave them to her!?!
Leah's story was, "I was crying so hard and so sad and I couldn't stop so Daddy got them all for me."

So, now I am back to square one...rounding up the toys that were initially thrown out and trying for a second time. This time, I am taking them out to the garbage pail myself- in a double knotted black garbage bag. And trust me, tomorrow, Leah will be fine... she won't even know!

As for the new organizer, at least the toys are in it!!