traveling with some small kiddos and staying organized!

Finally, I'm getting back on schedule and getting some "free" time.  This is going to be a mixture of how we made traveling a little easier with two kids, small kids at that, and how a young mom who has lots to do stays organized!

First Traveling:

I have goggled and researched all I can to help make things a bit easier.  Now please understand that I am not a mom who follows all the books.  I might pull some things out of a book but I'm a little more old fashioned. Same when seeking advice.  I pick and pull what will fit my family, if it doesn't work I try something else.

First I start packing a week in advance.  Each of us have our own suitcase and we are color coded...I will admit I am OCD and proud of it!...Sometimes I may take it a little far but you know it helps that I'm so organized.

The girls are always color coded.  Punkin is purple, Doodle Bug is pink, I am purple and Pink, and Bud is blue and black.

Wherever we decide to go I call ahead and try to get weather reports, places to see, sleeping arrangements, eating places, and even rest stops are on the way.  I always add another hour to our road trips for potty breaks and letting the girls play for about half an hour.  This helps prevent melt downs.

We always try to leave either so early in the morning the girls go back to sleep, around nap, or around bed time.  When we leave early in the morning we pack up my truck the night before.  We only leave out clothes that we will wear the next morning.  I put the girls a blanket draped over their seats and have their favorite toy prepared sitting right next to them, so when we buckle them up (in pjs) all we have to do is let them fall right back asleep and hit the road.  If we leave at nap time, we pack the truck that morning and let the girls place their favorite toy in the car (this helps them know we are not leaving the toy).  I also prepare each of the girls a lunch box with their favorite snacks.  We also pack a small ice chest with drinks, sandwich fixings, and the girls and Buds favorite lunch-ables.  This way we don't have to stop as much for food.  We can stop at a rest area and have a picnic and break out a ball and let the girls play.  Another thing we do to prevent melt downs is when we do stop to get gas or have a potty break we don't just stay 5-10 min like you would if it were just adults.  We refresh our snacks and drinks, everyone goes potty, and we will take a small walk or let the girls walk around to stretch their legs.  We turn a 5-10 stop into a 30 min stop.  Yes, it takes longer but, we get to stop less because they got to stretch their legs longer.  We also carry a potty chair in the very back of the truck.  This is gross, I know but when you have young kids when they have to go a bathroom is not always available.  If it is getting close to dinner or lunch we might even stop at a restaurant or McDonald's with a place place...it wears them out and then they sleep! :)

When we finally arrive at our destination we have a toddler travel bed, its a cot just like one for camping but a fitted sleeping back over it.  We have Disney Princess and you can get one off amazon.com.  I'm not sure what it is called exactly.  Then of course for Doodle Bug we have porta-crib.  We bring our own bedding and pillows and a travel size of laundry detergent, just in case!

The bags we bring and yes this looks like a lot but we are always glad we brought everything.

Front seat with girls: middle row
Ice chest
Lap top (movies) our dvd player broke and I can't see spending so much money on a new one
2 child lunch boxes
A bag of moves, clipboards (coloring) colors, color pages
baby, pony
diaper bag
small back pack for Punkin with a change of clothes
Leapster


Very Back of truck on top of third row:
porta crib
Porta bed
air mattress (depending on where we are going)
4 suitcases one per member
potty
one duffel bag of blankets and sheets
one bag of extra entertainment toys (games, princesses, my little ponies, etc)
Empty back for dirty clothes
emergency car kit (we have a pre-made one that we bought at the store complete with flares, first aid, fix a flat and jumper cables and a bunch of other stuff)
Jump box

Getting close to naptime!

Sleeping oh so sweet!

My OCD out of control, but I had no more room in my closet!

Now how I keep everything organized:

I have calendars everywhere, I can't live without them, sad to say.  I have one on the fridge for everyone to know whats going on along with the grocery list.  I have one in my purse, my planner/wallet, and one that stays on the desk that I keep open at all times and use constantly throughout the day.  They all pretty much say the same thing just one for on the go, one always at hand, and one for there to be no excuse for not knowing what is going on and when.  This part is just mostly a picture demonstration.

Doodle Bugs

Family Calendar a spot for all members and even the dogs

Grocery list; the rule is if its not on the list it doesn't get bought

My planner/wallet

Each day has two columns one side is for school and one for the house stuff

Filing station

Mail station

File drawer, for current items, there is a different one for paid off and taxes

My School Corner (no kids allowed)

Punkin's 

I hope everyone is having a great day!

She was playing so well while I wrote this post!