Organization on the Run

Am I organized?  Yep!  Most of the time.  Don't get me wrong, there are times when I leave the house without everything that I need, but if I have my system in place, that usually doesn't happen.  Here are three quick and easy "on the go" solutions that we use around here to keep us de-stressed, on time and happy!

Restaurant Bags
These are simply bags of toys/books/art supplies that the kids can take into a restaurant and we can play with them while we wait for our food.  A personal pet peeve of mine is watching families at the booth next to us all play on their personal electronics (IPOD, IPAD and the DS) and they don't interact with each other at ALL!  They play, the food comes, they eat, the fast eaters play some more, they pay and they leave.  Social interactions are too important to give up in our lives.  Right now we are trying to find our son a small backpack (similar to our daughters) so that the bags aren't as large.  We just want to wait for a great deal!

Summer Bag
This was an idea I came up with the summer that my boy was an infant.  My boy would not sleep unless he was in his crib.  Not in the car, not in the stroller, not in my arms - ONLY if he was in a crib.  So getting out of the house fast as SOON as he woke up was REALLY important.  All we have to do for that spur of the minute trip to the park is grab this bag and we're ready to go!  No more searching all over for each little item!  There is sunscreen and bugspray (both for the kids AND myself), sunglasses, a first aid kit, comb and Tylenol (just in case!)

Car Baskets
Last September when all the back to school supplies were out at Walmart, I saw these and had a great idea.  Each kid would get a basket and it would stay in the van so that we always had what we needed.  The baskets include books (my kids love to read while we drive), sunglasses and most importantly a change of clothes for those unforeseen accidents.  Every six months or so we take the baskets out and change the clothes (new sizes, new season) and the books (so that they don't get old and boring) and take out what we no longer need (diapers!  YAY!)