It started with leaves

I have boys.

They act like... boys.

My boys love to examine nature.  They especially love leaves, rocks, sticks and pine cones.  In fact, everywhere we go they are searching for these special treasures. I love this about my boys.  I want to find ways to encourage this curiosity as they grow.  But this brings us to problem #1.

Problem #1

 Our van floor is covered with broken down leaves and pine cones.  The boys bring them into the house and examine each bit as they crunch them into tiny bits on the floor.  I found a rock in the baby's car seat last week - under him.  I KNOW he did not pick it up, I think it was a gift from one of his doting brothers.

The floor in front of Cracker's seat

I love my boys.  They love to get comfortable as soon as they walk into the house.  Some days I have to walk over one or the other just to get inside, because he is taking off shoes or tugging a jacket off.  Unfortunately, at 23 months old and 3 years old, they are not so fond of putting things away all of the time.  Sometimes we're lucky and I get all 4 shoes where I ask them to put them.  Generally they end up in a bedroom or the bathroom or somewhere in the middle of the floor.  

Problem #2

Things get cluttered and messy.  It is hard to find the right shoe or jacket.  Getting ready to leave the house takes MUCH longer than it should because we are looking for assorted missing items.  It makes me crazy.  I like to be on time.  I also like a clean house.  

Solution

I was really annoyed when I found a rock in the baby's car seat.  It's not a BIG deal, just more mess and clutter.  I happened to be sitting near an unused McDonalds bucket and plunked the rock into it.  I thought, "gee, I should get them each a bucket to use for their nature".  That's how it started.  Then, I realized if I put the buckets on a shelf, behind the front door.  We could collect nature, hats, coats, and shoes as they make it into our house.  

I searched our house for a shelf that was the right size and only found 1 that was narrow enough to fit in this space.  It does not look beautiful, eventually we will make a nicer shelf.  The wall isn't finished yet - but look, organized, functional - now I just have to convince my boys to use it.