We're home!...and a commitment

After being at the beach for 2 weeks, we're home - YAY! We couldn't be happier to be sleeping in our own beds tonight! We got home at noon today, in time to have lunch with daddy and then take naps. The boys took regular length naps, 1 1/2 hours (yes...even Daniel, who normally doesn't nap)...but the girls napped for over 3 hours! Yes, we need to rest and recover from our vacation at the beach...

We had a fantastic time, and I'll be posting more about the past two weeks soon (along with many pictures, of course)...but first I wanted to post something, mainly to hold myself responsible:


I'm going on an organizing/de-cluttering rampage, er, I mean...campaign!


Living in the one-bedroom, one-bath condo with only the bare essentials for the past two weeks was, in a word...glorious. Another word for it...peaceful. Yes, even with 6 of us in that one-bedroom, one-bath condo...

The only thing I hate worse than packing for a trip is unpacking from a trip. While we were in major unpacking mode today, doing laundry and putting everything else back where it belonged...all our stuff was increasingly driving. me. crazy.


Now, by American standards we do not have much stuff...and we certainly don't have a large house. (The only reason it is over 2,000 sq. ft. now is because we added another bedroom so we could bring more children home) Every 6 months or so, I go on these tears and throw and give lots of stuff away.



It is time.





And I'm declaring this in a semi-public forum because I want to be held accountable to do a better job this time than I normally do. I normally get a good start - enough to make me feel better for a few months - and then I peter out...



My "real" friend Cara recently inspired me with her de-cluttering campaign...and my "bloggy" friend, Linny, has begun a series on "Simplifying" that I am loving. They've inspired me.









They inspired me...and so did these sites that welcomed us home today...









Our "school" room...

And our "play" room...

This had already been cleaned up ALOT before I took this picture...after I realized that a serious campaign needed to get underway.

Now, I don't know that I will be brave enough to post many "before" pictures, like Cara did...but I'm committed to doing this. And right now is the perfect time...we still have another month before we'll start back to school.


I feel better already, just for posting this commitment.

Stay tuned...