June 2, 2014

Today, my project du jour was to quickly go through all of the kids' clothes I had packed away (ok, stuffed into garbage bags and threw in the closet) quickly, and only keep those items that meant something to me or brought out an emotional/sentimental/physical response. 

I'm proud of myself. I only kept 1 full (medium sized) bin and another only a third full, to save room for additional clothes I find worth saving. I sorted a box of shoes and clothes to pass on to our niece who is younger than our girls. And six garbage bags full of clothes from newborn to 4T to give away. Six bags! And this is after I had already gone through these clothes probably a year ago and couldn't bare to part with them. Yeesh!

I went through quickly and easily enough, but I had those moments where it was hard to look at the little onesies. My kids were that small?  

I showed them individual pieces. "Genna, you wore this the day we came home from the hospital."  "Gabby, look at how tiny you were! And this thing was big on you!"  They smiled or "oohed."  But they didn't see my heartbreak each time I folded a dress or tiny hat and stored it away, never to be worn again.  How did it go so fast?

Some things I kept, only thinking that maybe one day they will have their own daughters and think how cool it will be to put them in one of their outfits.  Or maybe just because I still can't part with it all. 

Gabby asked why I was keeping them. "Why are you keeping those shoes if we can't wear them?"  

"They were your first pair of shoes, ever. You learned to walk in these.  I want to keep some things so I can look at them later when you're all grown up and I can remember you."

"But you can just look at us.  We'll always be here." 

Heart clinching moment number two of the afternoon. 

Next up is clearing out the toys from the play room. And not just boxing them and stacking them in the closet. Really deciding what goes. That seems just as hard as the clothes. 

The puzzles Gabby mastered at 12 months (total brag but who cares, my kid's a friggin' genius).  The baby toys that I can't seem to get rid of. Why can't I do that?  What is it about the toys my girls had from 0-12 months that holds some kind of bond?  

I guess I miss that age more than anything. Most of the clothes I kept were little ones, too. 

Wish me luck, friends, because the next few days of sorting that is gonna rock my world. 

Stuff My Kids Say

A drafted post from over a year ago that I never posted. 

Looking at our sad potted plants that I tried to plant and grow with them. 

Gabby:  Aww they don't look good. 

Me:  No, they don't. *frown*

Gabby:  Maybe they need water!

Me:  With all the rain we've had this week, I think they had too much water. 

Gabby:  Oh, well then they need more sun. 

Me:  Yes...

Gabby:  And love!

Making a card for J for Father's Day. 

Genna: How do I draw a picture of Daddy?

Me:  Start with his head - draw a circle. 

Genna:  *draws large circle on paper*

Gabby:  Mommy, Genna drew the circle too big!

Genna:  Well that's ok 'cause Daddy has a big head. 

As I was getting dressed. 

Me: *checking myself in the mirror, the usual yoga pants and tshirt*

Genna:  *watching me* momma you have to be FASHIONABLE!

Me:  oh, I'm not fashionable? 

Genna:  nope. 

Me:  oh, well that's not nice to say.

Genna: you just need a dress!

Six months later

Aaand and I'm blogging again. :)

It's summer. My oldest will be starting kindergarten in August. And my youngest will start a two-day-a-week mom's day out program.  I cannot express how amazed I am at how fast time has passed. They were *babies* yesterday. 

I'm hoping to enjoy this summer even more than last. After a full 9.5 months of routine and bedtimes and morning and afternoon commutes. Making lunches and forcing breakfasts. Snack days and the evening rush-rush-rush. I want to embrace this summer.  Especially if it means I will be sending my littlest little on to school as well come fall. 

We're only two days in, so it's been easy thus far. One laid back-wake up late day, another with a visit to a play place. 

Genevieve is beyond excited to have Gabrielle home everyday.  My poor kid - I've obviously bored her to tears up until now.  The main reason I'm happy to send her to the two-day-a-week program. She needs the play and structure and socialization that I just can't offer by myself. 

Otherwise, we are looking forward to our first family vacation this summer.  We're headed to Pensacola Beach with family later in June. I cannot tell you how excited I am. We haven't been to PB since 2008, and then it was only because we were evacuating due to a hurricane. I miss the sand and sun. The lack of schedule and work. The family time. The water.  And I am so happy to allow our girls to experience it this year. 

I want to write more. But this has become a long post and I'll have to gather my thoughts and try a few themed posts in the coming weeks. 

I'm glad to be back - even it it's only to document my journey with my littles. 

January 3rd

In an attempt to blog more...

I took the girls to see a movie today. We did this over the summer and it was a fantastic success. All of my well intentioned plans in my head of keeping us active over Gabby's two week winter break have fallen to the wayside. Between bad weather, or my own obligations, or any of us being sick - we've done very little. I have, however enjoyed the fact that I have not put gas in my car for two weeks. 

Win. 

But last night I promised Gabby we would do something, anything, today. Not that the coolness of the Christmas toys has worn off yet, but they needed to be OUT.  I didn't realize it was going to be 34 degrees when I woke up this morning. Ugh. 

So we saw Frozen. Easily the best movie I've seen in a long time. But I like musicals. And Disney.  I told Jimmy it was better than any of the live action films I've seen in a while. I keep humming the songs and I want to get the girls Anna and Elsa dolls. 

Back to the kids - they enjoyed it. They actually watched the movie. We then escaped the warmth of the theater and went to the park. In the freezing cold. 

Ok it was like 45 degrees. But good lord, we were all frozen. 

Ha. 

We fed the ducks. I panicked when Genna went too close to the edge of the pond. We swung, and went down slides. We came home and drank hot chocolate.

Dinner was mostly done when we got home (sometimes I embrace the crockpot). It was an easy evening tonight. No rushing, no begging or pleading. Gabby asked to go to bed. That never happens. Never. 

After story time and our bedtime chat, they both easily fell asleep. I feel like a good mom tonight. 

I know everyone has those days - where you feel like an utter failure. But I am just happy to say that today - it was easy. It's a re-energizing feeling. 

I can handle tomorrow. 

Missing Elf!

First, let's ignore my lack of posting the last few months.  Moving on!

Ya'll - it's November 30th, and I can't find our elf.  Our ELF.  You know, our version of the Elf on the Shelf tradition.  It's 7:00pm and despite my threats over the last couple of weeks about our elf showing up on December 1st, I've got nothing.

Last year, I shopped early, I found a girl fairy doll on clearance at Target.  I sewed her a jacket and leg warmers and even a HAT, and voila - we had our own unique elf.  We named her Ella.



I was a lazy Elf mom, I'll admit.  She did a few things, she hid sometimes, but mostly she just moved around and sat serenely in different places around the living room.

I really wanted to get into it this year.  I really did.  I actually have marshmallows on hand this year.  I have books she can present to them as gifts.  I have IDEAS this year.

I'm seriously contemplating heading out to Target or (omg am I crazy?) Walmart (**shudder**) and buying a blasted real Elf.  Ugh.  Then I'll have to come up with some reason why she looks different this year.

Cross your fingers, ya'll, that Ella is just hiding on ME this year.