sneak peak

That little girl up there is turning 5 on Tuesday.

What the?

We have big birthday beach plans involving ROYGBIV...

and burlap...

Can't wait...

Maya's new towel dress

Remember when I made Maya a towel dress a couple of years ago?

Well, I made one for me too.

This is it.

OK, it wasn't a dress for me, it was a top. 

But it was way toooooo small.

So I had it stashed in my sewing stuff place and Maya found it and turned it in to a halter dress for her.

Totally works!

Which is your favorite monster?

Last night Owen and Maya put together (separate) activities for us in each of their rooms.

In Owen's room, once we crossed the threshold, we started off stabbing a monster in the belly (for those faint of heart I must warn you that the remaining activities were equally violent).

(We were each given a sword before entering.)

Next he had a pig (this one, from Angry Birds) on his bed and we had to throw a small basketball at it to knock it over.

First prize won a penny. (It was me:)

Then, we had to take turns using his pistol (from the Pirates of the Carribean ride @ Disney World) and shoot the dragon emblem on his shield.

Next he had a stack of pillows with a little stuffed Nemo fish and we had to stand across the room and throw a bigger fish at it and knock it down.

Then came the monster drawing contest.

We were instructed to each draw a monster and he would pick the best one.

Can you guess who drew which one?

Maya spent about 30 minutes on hers....enough time for Owen to go to the bathroom (yeah, that one) and Woody to check our craigslist listing and reply to a couple interested in our futon.

I won again!

Mine is the blue and pink one, Woody's is the melting creamsicle (my favorite), O's is the green one, and Maya's is the orange-faced one.

We ended by launching cookie monster off of Owen's bed frame to see who could make him fly the farthest.

I think this is a pretty cool use of his creativity and I'm hoping the violence aspect is all a part of a developing boy's normal and healthy growth.

He was very supportive of all our efforts and especially so to Maya as she really put a lot of time and thought into her monster.

............

This is what two weekends in a row of camping trips does to a four-year-old...

(this was pre-Owen's Room Activities.)

As Woody was making her some lunch he came back to her clearly not interested in lunch any longer...

Sweet Home River Bend

Relax, you have three different types of mustard*

Spending all this time at home comes with a downside.

I find myself wishing I had more than I do:

a new kitchen floor,

new kitchen cabinets, 

better kitchen lighting,

ok, a whole new kitchen: walls torn down, windows added, complete reorganization of appliances, etc.,

new carpet on the stairs and upstairs,

or better, no carpet, and bamboo flooring instead,

something to hang on that wall where I had the #7,

a new bathroom shower...

I, unfortunately, could go on.

I love looking at design blogs/websites too and get so inspired by ideas I see but we're still in limbo about selling the house and our budget doesn't exactly match all these lofty design ideas.

They (design blog writers) kill me every time they say something like, "we found these cute vintage napkins on Etsy for $30 and were ecstatic, as they usually cost $100 or more."

OK, but you still spent $30 on old napkins.

So, I decided the one thing I can afford is to keep this home of ours clean.

Because, one uniting theme among all design sites is the cleanliness of the homes (and the ubiquity of peonies...seriously, find a new flower people. They're awesome and I swoon every spring when they come around but fo reals, pick a new "it" flower).

And so I found myself last Thursday knee deep in our garage surrounded by, well, garage stuff: boxes (whoa, A LOT of boxes), toys, books, craft supplies, fans, decorations for the seasons, wagons, bikes, old furniture we're trying to sell, and lots of bugs and dirt.

And I was happy.

So, so happy.

I found my FLOW big time.

I love organizing. 

Love. it. 

And, I've sort of been denying myself my natural urge to organize, as all respectable parenting books will tell you to let that sort of thing go and just be with your children. Because before you know it they're asking you for the keys to the car.

So I let it go. 

I stopped organizing (some would argue with me about this, but compared to how I use to be, I've become unorganized).

But it just ain't me. 

To be a happy person, and thus a happy mama, I need to feed this desire to minimize and organize. It makes me feel me.

So, then this week I took everything out of the fridge and cleaned it from head to toe. (Frigde head to toe, freezer is next.)

Check it out, looks like the day we brought her home:

I realized when I had all the contents of the fridge on the kitchen counter that I was losing sight of the abundance all around me and need to start taking inventory of all I have and not what I don't.

I mean, we have three different types of mustard. 

We're doing alright.

But, I have made a couple of life changing purchases.

This lovely site was happening on a regular basis. 

For some reason the coffee would skip the pot and leak out the sides.

(some sort of blockage that we could not detect despite our regular attempts.)

I don't know why I was so reluctant/resistant to replace it but I finally did (with this!, yes, old school baby) and it has made my morning stress-free.

I now feel I can safely leave the kitchen to rouse the sleeping babies without coming back to a coffee flood.

Although, even though I've had my new one over a month I still have the habit of checking on it as it brews. Hopefully this urge will decrease over time. 

I also bought a new salad spinner that actually spins the water off of the lettuce and is BPA-free. 

Score!

I haven't yet, but I plan to relegate the old one to art projects. 

So, not a total waste.

I have no pictures of it but I also bought a new printer.

Man, has that made an impact as well!

It's so nice when paper feeds through a printer with ease and also prints ink with words on the page.

:)

Check us out!

We're cleaning:)

So, scruba dub dub...

No one will ever offer me a before and after post on their design blog but I will continue to keep a tidy (as can be) home and poke my head in the very full fridge from time to time to be reminded of all that mustard.

*Dijon, whole grain dijon, and regular organic yellow mustard.

Camping with the Ladybugs

We went camping with Maya's preschool class this weekend (the Ladybugs).

I wanted to take a photo with the back of the car open but Woody wouldn't let me open it for fear all of our gear would come tumbling out. 

We need to work on our camping efficiency.

Maya isn't going to preschool this summer so this was the first time she'd seen her buddies in three weeks.

She was super excited to see her bestie up there.

It was like a scene out of a movie: Maya ran from one end of the street and Sunaina ran from the other end straight toward each other screaming the whole way and heartily embracing once they reached each other. 

They ran so fast I barely captured it.

Maya's excellent teacher Brianne.

We love her.

The whole crew. 

There were about 12 families that came (out of 20 or so in her class).

It was great. I felt like I got my free range parenting on which felt fantastic. They all did so well exploring and wandering and discovering and playing together. 

I wish we all lived on the same block. 

What a wonderful world it would be.

Next weekend we're off again, hopefully with a bit more camping finesse.