I hate to think about getting ready for school, but it is right around the corner.  As usual, I am a little bit behind in this unhappy (happy?) task, but it will all come together (I hope!)

One thing I need to do is get my son’s bedroom organized so he has a clutter-free area to do his schoolwork.  This is very important, as I don’t want him to be distracted by any “shifty” Legos laying around, begging him to stop and play. If this sounds familiar, invest in some cute storage bins.

This Prep School Blue 3-Piece Storage Bin By Trend Lab will do the job. Use the large bin for storing bigger toys or even dirty clothes.  The medium for all of the tiny toy pieces he or she will have scattered around, and the small for whatever is left.  The colorful fabric inserts are removable so they can easily be washed if he (she) chooses to store, say a paint set in them!  Let your kids decide and get involved in keeping their important stuff neat and organized.

Granted, you can use clear plastic storage bins, or old Tupperware, but this looks so much better. There is even a clear plastic label area so they can easily identify what’s in each bin. Little girls may be more interested in this room improvement project than boys (Trend Lab Hula Baby 3-Piece Storage Bin Set) and getting them to actually put the “stuff” in them will depend on your child’s interest, but why not give it the “Old College Try?”  (Sorry, I couldn’t resist, but they are perfect for college students too!)

When it’s time to wrap things up at the end of a long day, it seems most children just aren’t ready to go to sleep.  Getting them to go to bed can be a real problem for most parents.

I think I found something that will make it much easier to coax them in to their rooms, and keep the scary monsters under the bed away at the same time.  The Twilight Turtle is the first plush constellation nightlight ever created and a gentle way to help ease kids off to dreamland.

A magical array of stars is projected on to your child’s walls and ceiling in three-color options. Eight real constellations are included in this awesome show including the Big Dipper.  Little ones will be fascinated and even older kids will enjoy it.

The Twilight Turtle Star Guide is included for those of you who need a refresher course as well as an adoption certificate (don’t forget to name him) a delightful Twilight Turtle book is also included for a quick read, and automatic shut-off safety feature is standard.

What a wonderful way to say goodnight to your kids. And a neat way to learn about the constellations too!

Now when we’re all tightening our wallets, children asking for various gifts and treats on every shopping excursion, of which there are, of course a lot fewer, can be a bit grating. It’s hard not to try to explain the current global economic crisis in age-appropriate terminology, or even the personal family one.

Instead, I’ve been focusing on teaching my child how to purchase with his own money. Interesting concept. So, it’s back to the old fashioned way – bringing back the piggybank, like this, My First Piggy Bank, available in pink or blue – a perfect starter bank to get kids on the road to financial security.

Though intended as a gift for the new baby, which is of course not a bad idea, this cute piggy is a great gift for older children too. As we’ve all woken up to the fact that we could, um perhaps be a bit more fiscally responsible, it’s a good time for us to instill those long lost attributes into our children – we all remember them, right?

This 7 3/4″H X 7″W X 8″D, is plenty big enough to hold quite a collection of coins, encouraging extended savings before purchase. It’s hand painted ceramic so is cute enough for display in a nursery or child’s room or even your own…should you need to remind yourself of the value of saving.

Maybe it’s because we live in a house with a lot of stairs, railings and other places from which children can fall, I’m a big fan of “baby gates”. I’ve written about fireplace gates and have a variety around the house. But often the gates you tend to see at your local store just don’t seem to fit in the types of doorways we tend to have in modern houses.

So, I was excited to see this Wide Spaces Swing Gate, available from Evenflo. It expands from 42” to a big 5 feet for those really wide doorways. You can even buy add on panels for…well, I don’t know…really, really wide spaces.

Anyone who has carried a baby while coaxing a toddler down the stairs knows that a one-handed gate is optimal. This one closes easily with just a quick shove and swings wide to allow easy passage of adults, kids, dogs and other sundry family members.

The mounting hardware is low key so it prevents huge holes on doorframes and can easily be removed when not in use. And, it’s moderately attractive so your home doesn’t end up looking like a prison for little ones. Though, of course the gate is childproof so prison may not be so bad a choice of words…NOT!

Decorations?

Check.

Costumes?

Check.

Crafts? Ummm. Since I decided a few years ago that continuing to buy lots of interesting, electronic and plastic decorations for… each holiday… every year was a wee bit wasteful, we’ve been into crafts. Rather than buy and discard, we make one or two crafts each year to add to our growing stash of home décor. Admittedly, our home will not soon be featured in a major decorating magazine with our limited repertoire, but over the years our stash will grow and we will remember, not where we bought each piece, but when we made them

Since our skill levels, both mine and my child’s are not, shall we say, well developed, we try to stick to simple crafts. These Halloween suncatchers are easy to make,  and work well in just about any home, provided you don’t live in a cave. I’m looking forward to scattering these across the house, much to the annoyance of DH, of course.

These Halloween placemats are another good choice. We love placemats around our house, especially ones that last. Rather than purchase holiday-decorated paper cups and plates that will be pitched each year, we choose to decorate with reusable items that we pack away and take out again and again. Since these are also homemade, they meet both of my priorities!

Boo!

In our peripatetic society, we move, I’ve been told, on average every 5 to 7 years. Though this number may increase or decrease over the next few years, depending on your place in the current housing bubble crisis, it’s almost certain you will not spend all of your children’s formative years in one house.

This of course has led to the demise of the charming habit of tracking children’s heights in pencil on the wall of one’s home. Lacking the tools and often the will to carefully cut out the sentiment laid piece of plaster on which you’ve marked your children’s growth, most of us have started to consider a paper or plastic growth chart instead.

This Alex Toys Watch Me Grow - On My Road Growth chart is 42” tall which will easily cover your child’s first years and features 4 photo pockets. Since I’m always looking for new ways to display photos of my son, this seems like an easy way to take a trip down memory lane.

Easy to hang up on just about any wall and carefully remove and pack in one of the stack of boxes accompanying every move, growth carts are the new “wall”.