Summer ~ Day Six

I love when I find her here, knitting.



She's part big girl part little girl. Twelve is great. One minute knitting and quiet in her room surrounded by American Girl Magazines and books so thick it would take me months to read... one minute in the family room setting up a Calico Critter world. Twelve is great!

Sometimes I like to take pictures of how the girls play and what they're playing.  How they set it up, and how they see their play world.  Just so I can remember.  People tell me all the time (from the moment I stepped off the plane from China with baby Anna in my arms) "it's gonna go by so quick.  you'll blink and she'll be grown."  Ohhhh those comments always made me feel uncomfortable.  And I think I decided way back then to prove them wrong.  So I soak in every single detail.  I slow it down with my camera.  I watch, I listen.  I look around me.  And on day six of the summer this is what I found.

































I love looking at the way they chose to put everything the way they wanted.  Darling to me!



A card game in the middle of the day. Life (they love it!!!)



We are slowly working our way though this book. It's life changing. Here's the basic concept. Instead of cleaning out a section of your house, you pick a 'topic.'

 For example, if the girls closets were very messy in the past we would take everything out of them and sort in the hallway: games, puzzles, doll clothes, etc. Tidy it up, throw a few things out... and put it back nice and neat. It works, right? It's the way we all do it.

 But all of that changed when I read The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up. In a nutshell,instead of tidying up the closet toys or the playroom as two separate events, you pick a topic.

 So yesterday was stuffed animals. The girls and I took them off of their beds, out of their closets, up from the playroom, off of shelves, everywhere. The rule is if it doesn't join the pile when you start it's automatically gone when it's found later. It motivates them!!!

 Then, with every single stuffed animal in front of them they hold one at a time and and ask yourself, "does this spark joy?" And if it does you put it in the 'keep' pile. If it doesn't you put it in the discard pile. There's so much more to it but trust me it's really a better way to get rid of things. We have been bringing bag after bag after bag to goodwill! This is their discard pile of stuffed animals. (which looks little in the picture but was really huge) Fun times!!! (no that new baby elephant that you gave her 10 minutes before cleaning wasn't discarded grandma, it just couldn't leave her arms that day)

Sometimes when stuffed animals all have a memory it's hard to discard them, even for me.  My grandma bought that before you came home from China.... I should keep it.  But not really.  Think of it like a bouquet of flowers.  Those are given too.  They cost money but when their time is up (they die) we throw them out.  Sometimes time is up for things in our houses.  Just because we loved it once doesn't mean we have to keep it now.  Guilt gone.



I found this in front of me after bath that night on day six of summer.



It was the second night of Annie (musical theatre) And she has her script in her lap. She's reading the script like it's a bedtime story. No parts were given out yet but boy oh boy was she ever excited to have a script of her own.