My pay, the Calendar!

 

So, you've read about my best friend, the timer. Now you're about to read about another good friend of mine, the Calendar. Not my personal calendar, but rather the good ol' family calendar that has been in the kitchen for a number of years now. It became very apparent that this was a necessity in our home shortly after #4 arrived. She was born during the school year and it was the first year that I had a child in school; real school, not pre-school. Add to that a 4th child (a newborn) in the house and well the calendar just had to become part of our family. All of a sudden there were deadlines, dates, events, and parties that had to be out there for us to see on a daily basis, in order to plan properly. And it had to be big enough to fit all of us on! It was planted on our pantry door in the kitchen of the old house. It was a sanity saver for sure. Still is.

However, we have since moved and our doors are a bit different here and well, somehow the old family calendar didn't fit. I had it up on the inside of the door, but well, that just wasn't in your face enough for us me.Oh, I've tried other calendars, but none seemed to work as well as this one. Smaller ones, individual ones (as in one for each kid), one of those monthly ones that you can write every one's name in. My dear friend gifted me one of those before #6 and it was great, for a while. Don't get me wrong, a wonderful idea, but it eventually became quite obvious that writing every one's names in each month was a bit too time consuming for a busy mommy like me, so then we moved to initials. Then we had problems fitting everything on to the little space provided for each person...a dentist appointment, a friend or school event and a game all in one tiny space didn't cut it for me, for us...no one could read what was going on. We simply needed more space. So, after the year passed, up went the old family calendar, again. Nothing else seemed to work...even the computer or our phones. Nothing. We compliment it with the computer, our phones or my own planner, but we still need an "in your face", family calendar.

Sadly, we are getting rid of the old one...the one I got so many years ago now is officially retired! I found a nice, new one! Still big, spacious squares to write many events into but a bit more acceptable than the old laminated one that is starting to show some wear and tear. The kids were a bit surprised, but I think they will soon grow accustomed to the new calendar and its new location: right smack dab in the middle of the kitchen. Now, that's what I call: organization.

We're ready to be organized for the new year. I'm likin' how empty it is right now and the fact that there is only black ink on there. For now, anyway....you see, each kid gets his/her own color so that we can quickly (most of the time) identify who has what each day! This month is sure to get filled and very colorful fairly quickly!

 

How do you keep track of all things going on in your family?