A 6th Birthday.

My daughter turned 6 last week.  We don't really do birthday parties with friends much around here.  But I think number 6 warrants one.  She is in love with fairies.  Fairy dolls, fairy books, stories.  She asked me once to check her back and see if wings were growing.  So we went with a fairy theme.  Most of the decorations were scrounged from around the house or the craft cupboard.  The paintings, flowers, sheet, and pumpkins were all things we had on hand.  So this left little for me to stress about.  And really, the party was simple.  They each had a fairy coloring picture to crayon in at first, then we had a fairy dance, and played until it was time for cake.  

Did I say there was little to prepare?  Okay, wait, maybe I lied.  I did put together the flower crowns and wands.  But really, I love a good craft project, and this way it was fun for my daughter and myself. 

I am so thankful for the little girls my daughter calls friends.  They are delightful and sweet.

I found the tutorial for ribbon wands here.

Flower crowns here.

Cake decor idea here.  (But for the life of me I could find no cute butterflies anywhere.)

And the walnut box here.  The blue tied walnuts had chains on the charms so they were able to put them around their necks right away.  No lost fairies here.

At this moment...

bunny ear all the things!

Making:  A list by copying the prompts from my sister's blog.
Eating:  Oreos
Drinking:  Milk
Reading:  I just quit reading three books.  I just can't pick them up anymore, I ignore my life when I do.
Wanting:  Patience
Watching:  Granite Flats
Playing:  Word Mole… I'm usually outspoken about my hatred for video games, but word games can snag me.
Wasting:  My bathroom rugs!  I washed them with the dreaded red rug of hyper-dye syndrome.
Wishing:  That I knew how to love myself.
Enjoying:  The park in the early morning when I force myself to get the kids out for the day and the weather is amazing.
Liking:  That I finally got past the forces of the universe and was able to get myself an instagram by the skin of my teeth.  Yes, it is here.  No, I still don't know how to work it.
Excited:  For my sister to visit me!  Oxygen to by brain!
Loving:  My sisters.  Seriously, the same blood runs through our veins, that is the only way to explain it.
Needing:  To work/edit photos
Smelling:  polyurethane from the projects we have going on in the basement.
Wearing:  One blue fingernail.  Color test that never made it off.
Following:  Too many things.  I need to learn to meditate.
Noticing:  That my baby has a birth mark.  And her teeth are so far apart it is insanely adorable.
Anticipating:  This next week;  basement finished, son's birthday, new carpet!
Knowing:  That I need to practice what I preach.
Thinking:  That I shouldn't look left, right, or behind me because the kids have been in here and I'd like to remain blissfully unaware of the terrible mess behind me.  On second thought, here's a picture:

Bookmarking:  Beautiful blog and website design ideas.
Opening:  My mouth to beg the kids to whisper so that baby doesn't wake up.
Feeling:  That feeling that comes before baby-hungry.  Like, the-prospect-of-being-baby-hungry-doesn't-seem-so-weird.
Missing:  Melissa.

Stuff happening around here.

Hey peoples!
We're in the midst of pre-Spring.  That time where March lasts forever and there is so much to look forward to in Spring, if only we can just get there.  The classes I've been taking for the past year are winding up.  We've been in the midst of finishing our basement all winter (and when I say 'we' I mean my husband).  Boxes and clutter that will soon be dispersed when things can all have their own place (cue basement being finished) are making our eyes water.  Life is building up at a non-stop rate.  But there's that May.  That clear sky up ahead.  I am so looking forward to that.
So anyway, as life continues on in a hectic tsunami, here are a few things for you to look at that have been going on during our weeks :)

1.  First, that sweet little thing that wormed her way to the side of the crib and held onto the bars until I came and found her.  She won't cry out for me, bless her.  She is such a wonder.  So much more even-tempered than the other two.  I am in constant awe at how nice it is to have a baby in the house.
2.  A little boy asking for just one more cracker.
3.  Sleeping hard.
4.  I love baby baths.  I feel like I give them a little more often than necessary simply so that I can smell clean baby hair.
5.  Bedtime puppet story.
6.  Going through my college artwork portfolio.
7.  Harry Potter dinner.
8.  An example of the reaction this little plate monster has when he is scared.

THE-ONE-WEEK-PURGE

I love the thrift store.  I wouldn't call myself a shopaholic, I rarely go shopping, but stopping in on the thrift store is something I really love to do.  I like walking through the sections, looking through the books, the children's games, the home decorations.  I try really hard to come home with very little.  I often don't purchase a thing.  But sometimes I find something that just speaks what I want my home to feel like.  An old but carefully taken care of toy that I know is something my kids will appreciate.  And then I'll bring it home.  But then bring on the guilt.  It's not so much the money (unless I'm spending it on junk), it's the stuff.  THE STUFF people.  My home is filled with stuff.
I love how descriptive that word is.  Stuffing; filling; a filler; a filler of space.  Since the day we were married and were kindly given house decorations that someone else thought was pretty, we've been hoarding things that don't really reflect us and our family.  And it's building UP.  Up to the sky, our brains are filled with this clutter.  So it comes down to some sort of equation that looks like this:

Bring home more things + keeping things we don't want/need = Major Guilt and House Clutter

The purpose of this post is to change our math to this:

Get rid of more things + bring home less (what we really want here) = Yay!  I get to go shopping AND I love my home!

See?

Of course I can't do it all at once.  We, as a consumer society, are in a state of constantly acquiring.  It will always be coming in.  So for the math to work up there, it stands to reason that something (or more) has to be going out.  This feels like more of a lifestyle change than a one year resolution.
Recently I was reading a post here.  What a dandy way to view things.  Less is more.  Simplicity.  Rohan thrives on providing for himself.  He love to hunt, and gather.  Yet he is ridding himself of his beloved little boat, simply because he does not get enough use out of it.

I'm not nearly as cool or hardcore, but I sure want to do better.  So here's my proposal.  Each week tackle a new subject of the house.  This week: toys.  Go through our toys, go through them again.  Gather them from upstairs, the main floor, and in the closets of the basement.  Rid our home of those we do not need.  By the end of the week begin placing into bags the ones that I though we needed to keep earlier in the week.  I have to break my barriers down like that.  My idea is that something should have something or all of the following:

Is something useful/needed?
It is of high quality?
It is of great sentimental value?

So the toys that are of poor quality, are never played with, or are just toys I hate to look at go in a big box aimed at the thrift store.
Next week is kitchen cupboards.  The next will be dressers of clothes.  Next will be the laundry room.  The next can be books.  And it never stops, take out more, each week.  This is also a fabulous way to organize the house on a continual basis.
So, I'm starting today.  I'll let you know how it goes.  Do it with me?