Dishes outside - organizing the kitchen part 1

(version française au bas)

Yes, I am in a cleaning and re-organizing frenzy. Maybe it has something to do with my youngest getting close to being one (!!!!) and starting to really be an active part of the household, or maybe it is because my maternity leave is about to end and I feel like we will need to be really organized to help us keep a slower pace and enjoy time together. But whether the former or the latter, we are in a cleaning streak lately.

The food pantry was my latest victim (after re-organizing the kid's kitchen corner this weekend, more on this tomorrow), and since we store food mostly in jars in there, I needed a little hand to clean them up while I was cleaning, sorting, filling and replacing on the shelves. Since the weather was great, I suggested dishes outside. That was all I had to say to get them going.

We have an outside low play table that lives on the balcony. It is used for painting, playing games, doing crafts, and in this case, cleaning. I LOVE this table as it was the coffee table that was in the house when I was their age, and I have always thought, even then, that it was the perfect height for kids. I spend so many hours over this table painting, drawing, playing, and I love seeing them do the same

1. Setting the wash table / préparation de la table

We set up the table with the dirty dishes on the left side, along with the soap (in the plastic bottle) and brush. The first tub is the soapy water, and the second one, the rinse water. These white plastic tubs were bought about a year ago at my local dollar store, and they are an excellent investment. Then they also had a plastic pan to put the clean jars to drain before drying them with a smaller size dish towel (X is currently rinsing here)

2. Rinsing the jars / rinçage des pots

3. working with the round brush / travail à la brosse

and yes, EVERYONE had a chance to put their hand in the water (pun totally intended) for the greatest pleasure of the smallest one

4. everyone participating / tout le monde participe

I love how this table is low enough even for the E to work on it. I have to admit that I really had to control myself to not go to the garage and get DH's saw to cut 2 holes when I say Kylie magnificient wash table, but I reminded myself how I like the versatility of the flat surface.

I'll spare you the before picture, but this is the result of our work:

5. le résultat final

everything stored in clean jars and good to go.

Tomorrow, the kid's revisited corner(s).

(voir légende des photos ci haut)

Oui, je suis présentement dans une phase de nettoyage/ organisation. Peut-être est-ce ma façon de réagir au fait que mon petit dernier est sur le point d'avoir 1 an (!!!) et qu'il semble drôlement prêt a participer aux tâches de la maison, ou est-ce seulement parce que mon congé de maternité est sur le point de se terminer, et que j,ai encore un peut de difficulté à envisager comment nous réussirons à fonctionner l'an prochain, mais soit, le ménage me tiens occupée (constructivement)

Ma prochaine victime était le garde manger. Et comme nous rangeons la nourriture dans des pots, et que la majorité d'entre eux nécessitait un bon nettoyage, j'ai vite réalisé que j'avais besoin d'un petit coup de pouce. Je n'ai eu qu'à proposer une activité de vaiselle dehors pour que mes 2 (huh...3) petits assistants soient prêts.

Nous avons, sur le balcon derrière, une vieille table de salon, qui est parfaite en hauteur pour les enfants. Elle est utilisée pour faire des arts, de l'artisanat, des jeux, et dans ce cas-ci du nettoyage

Nous avons organisé la table avec les plat en plastique de nettoyage, un pot de savon et les pots sale à gauche, et un plateau de réception de la vaisselle propre à droite. Les enfants ont pris leur brosse à vaisselle, et leur linges à essuyer. (voir photos 1-2-3)

Même le petit dernier a pu participer à sa capacité, à sa grande joie (voir photo 4. )

Je vous fait fit de la photo avant, mais voici le résultat de notre travail (voir photo5.)

Demain, je vous montre le travail de la fin de semaine: le coin cuisine des enfants re-visité