An Organized Pantry

My pantry was driving me crazy! Insane! When we moved into this house last January I went from a little cupboard for a pantry to this big pantry. I was so excited to have all this space to organize but no matter how much I organized and tried to keep things tidy, it always would end up looking like this. 

THIS makes me cranky. I walk in and have no idea what to fix for dinner. The kids have no idea what to have for a snack. Because you have no idea what in the world is in there. So I took matters into my own hands and created this mess.

And VOILA!!! I am so super stoked about my organized pantry I just want to close the door and hang out in there by myself. How did I organize that mess you ask? Well....

Hannah helped by making a tower out of Slim Fast cans! Booyah!

TOP SHELF

This shelf is basically for overflow. We tend to buy in bulk quite a bit so I have to have a place to store the extras.

SECOND SHELF

The overflow of ziploc bags and tissues are on the second shelf. We buy ziploc bags in the big cases at Costco so we always have extras of that stuff.

vitamins, adult meds and child meds

paper products (paper plates, napkins and wipes)

Behind are 4 tall containers of rice, spaghetti, beans and macaroni

Somehow I forgot to take a pic of the cereal containers. Also on this shelf is the cereal. I love, love, love these cereal containers. Before there would 2 or 3 different boxes of the same cereal opened, I would have no idea how much cereal we really had left and people wouldn't roll the bag down inside the cereal box so it would go stale. Boo. Not anymore! These OXO containers that I picked up at Bed Bath and Beyond solved that problem. They are super easy to open so even Lauren can do it and they keep everything nice and fresh. Most of all, I know exactly how much cereal is left!

THIRD SHELF

candy, bread, individual snacks

ziploc bags, foil and baking paper

cupcake liners, cookie cutters

boxed dinners and baking

kool-aid, seasoning packets

FOURTH SHELF

dog treats, behind is vinegar and peanut oil

Love these little babies! OXO lazy susans! Oils, hot sauces, dressings

These handy dandy shelves make seeing all your canned goods super easy

Snacks in OXO containers as well

BOTTOM SHELF

extra drinks

cookies, popcorn, crackers

mac-n-cheese

veggie bin

lemonade and teabags

hot chocolate

The chip basket is also on this shelf.. somehow missing a pic of that too.

FLOOR

shopping bags

One tote is for Lauren's school papers and the other is Hannah's school papers

Tada!! Mama isn't cranky anymore!! (about the pantry anyway!)

Halloween!!

What a fun Halloween we had. We were lucky enough to have my sister and her family up for the weekend to join in the festivities. The girls had a blast as usual and it was so nice to spend quality time with my sister and Mark.
Jamie and I put on the Halloween Party at Hannah's preschool for her class. It was a lot of fun. There are only 6 kids and they are all super sweet. We had a great time.
On Halloween Jamie and our neighbor, Mike, took all the girls trick or treating. I really thought Hannah would only do a couple houses like last year and come home but she stuck with them and covered the whole neighborhood. I stayed back and handed out candy. It was my first year not tagging along as they trick or treated. I was kind of bummed but it was fun seeing all the different costumes that came to the door.

Treat bags I made for the preschool party

Hannah's class

Snack time!

Arghhh!

My good friend Sarah and her daughter, Maggie, joined us for trick or treating downtown Valpo on Friday evening.

Yes, he is using a power tool for carving his pumpkin.

How happy does Max look here?

Mama, Hannah, Julia, Abby, Lauren and Daddy