six: a kitty party.

The birthday deal in our house is
you get a party every other year.

On the "off" year,
the birthday kid gets a special dinner and a family get-together, but no big party.
{in other words...mom gets the year off from planning a party.}

This year was Avery's "on" year.
And because she is a fan of all things kitty,
it had to be a kitty cat party.

But the thing is,
Avery's birthday is around the last day of school.
Which, of course, is a totally peaceful, relaxed, uneventful time of year.
{insert stifled sarcastic laughter and eye rolling here.}

So even though her birthday was in the beginning of June
we just had her party on Friday.
{side note...if you can swing it, i'm a big fan of the friday afternoon party.
saturdays and sundays are always so crazy that it's hard to find
a free weekend to throw a party.
but with a friday afternoon/evening shin dig,
the weekend is still yours to enjoy.}

So...the end of the school year had left me feeling a little tapped out,
so this party had to be easy.
I decided this party would be small - just the girls from her class.
Instead of making them, I ordered invitations from etsy.
The games and activities were going to be simple, too.
The boys made us a kitty face for
pin the nose on the kitty.
Old school!



Avery loved it.
Lucy...not impressed.

The boys made mouse eggs for a mouse hunt in the backyard.
{the eggs were filled with stickers, except for one which had a toy mouse.
the girl who found the egg with the mouse got to go first on "pin the nose".}





I made a toy mouse garland
and got a lot of slack on instagram from all of the cat haters out there.
{you know who you are}



Colin made the goodie bags for me out of lunch sacks.



I stuck a hello kitty lollipop, kitty sticks, and a kit kat inside.



I ordered a dozen little stuffed kittens from Oriental Trading
and the girls each got to choose one.



At the party they made kitten collars out of ribbon, office tags, and stick-on jewels.

My friend Liz has the coolest little printer for the iphone:
it's called the Photo Cube,
and you plug your phone into the printer and it prints right from your phone.
It's awesome.



The girls posed for pictures with their kittens
and I printed them out and they got to take home a photo in their goodie bag.



Also, to keep things simple for me,
I ordered a cake for the first time in my kids' lives.
I thought I would be sad not to make their cake.



I wasn't.
It was awesome.





It was probably the easiest party I've thrown.
It was simple and the kids had fun.








Six is a fun age.

my new favorite tradition.

You know how when school is winding down
and you are SO ready for the year to be done
because if you have to pack another lunch you are going to cry?

And then school is out and you head home
after the class parties and the goodbyes
and you unpack the backpacks and throw all of the crap
{did i say crap?  i meant treasures}
in the recycling
{did i say recycling?  i meant special archive box}
and twenty minutes later your freshly graduated kindergartner is telling you
she's bored?

Yeah.

And then by God's grace you've reached Summer, Day 8, and you've logged
a lot of togetherness already
{because don't summer days go by at a snails pace?}
and you're just kind of missing those days when the kids are in school
and you can go to Trader Joe's by yourself
and browse the frozen foods section in peace?

Yeah.

This weekend I was mourning my alone time.
But thinking at the same time I love having them home.
I know.  I don't get it either.

And then a little idea was born.
I'm not even sure who spoke it first.
But born it was,
and it was a beautiful thing.

"The Night Before Father's Day Backyard Campout"

Don't you love the ring to that?

It's so simple:
tent + backyard + everyone except mommy
{key words: everyone except mommy}

At first mention of the idea the kids were sold.
Like, so sold they practically set up the tent all by themselves
and couldn't wait to get to sleep in it.







This first annual backyard campout there was nothing fancy.
Just the tent:
Hanging out in the tent.
Reading in the tent.
The dogs in the tent.
The cat in the tent.
Shining the flashlight around the tent.
Selfies in the tent.



And then after the selfies mommy said,
"ok guys, good night!  have fun!  stay warm!  love you!!"

And mommy went inside.
And mommy had the house to herself for the evening.

God bless the Night Before Father's Day Backyard Campout.

Next year - because there WILL be a next year - we'll get fancy:
we'll grill burgers
and roast marshmallows
and sing campfire songs.
{no we won't.}
And then mommy will still go inside
and rejoice in one night of solitude
and watch So You Think You Can Dance all by herself.

And the next morning she'll be happy and refreshed when the crew
comes running back into the house at 7:30.
And then when she has to roll up all of the sleeping bags
she'll vow that next year those kids are going to learn
how to roll up their own dang bags.

the first seven days of summer.

"The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco."

You've heard that one, right?
We live about 35 miles from the city,
but that quote rungs pretty true for us too.
June and July aren't our warmest months.
{april and may? awesome.  august thru october? awesome.}

So swim team can get a little chilly.
But nothing a little post-swim hot chocolate from Starby's can't cure.



I broke down and bought Gwyneth's new cookbook.
I hated to do it.
I really didn't want to like it.
Does Gwyn really need my $18?  No.
But darnit, it's a good cookbook.  Good, healthy cooking.
So I broke down.



This wasn't from her book,
but it's so good.
I could eat it every day.
Garlic and mushrooms and brussels sprouts sauteed in olive oil,
and tossed with quinoa.
I'm becoming a brussels sprouts fiend.



Reality:



That was a few days ago.
It's worse today.

Riley has taken piano lessons for a little over four years.
He's decided he wants to switch to guitar.
I'm a little sad, but I get it.

His guitar-playing daddy, however, is verrrrry happy about this.

Plus he's such a cute guitar player.



Playdates that end at In-N-Out are the best kind.
Especially when they started at the bowling alley for "kids bowl free".
{have you signed up?  it's awesome.  totally free bowling!}



This week ended with two days of dance recitals.
There really is nothing cuter than a dance recital.
Avery's class danced to "Proud May".
We curled her hair with curlers.
She wore her first tiny smidge of mascara.
Adorable.



We crammed a few other things in this week, too,
like smog checks and sick kids and bible study
and grocery shopping and play dates and birthday party prep.

After this week my brain can slow down a bit.
I hate that I haven't done anything crafty in the longest time.
It makes me sad.
Next week I am going to fire up that sewing machine.
And paint something.

********************

1000 Gifts:

quiet mornings



fresh air

summer - the beginning.

Summer is here
and the antibiotics are flowing!

It's funny...
right after my last post about
appreciating all the moments and finding joy everyday
Avery got strep.
On her birthday.

She woke up like this...



and looked like this by five.



Bummer.

Some of my joys for that day:
:six years with this sweet girl
:health insurance
:antibiotics

And that night,
my biggest guy said goodbye to elementary school.



I'll spare you the waterproof mascara-covered details.

One of my favorite traditions at their school is the fifth grade "clap-off".
On the last day of school, in the last ten minutes,
the fifth graders walk throughout the school
while the others kids line up to give them high fives.



It makes me teary every year.

And now...summer is here.
Swim team and dinners outside and lazy afternoons.
And the summer list, of course.
This is our fifth year making one.



Avery was mostly in charge of this summer "lest".
:)
I think we'll probably add more to it,
but this is a good start.
let's get this summer started.

********************

some of my 1000 gifts from this week:
antibiotics


smores


laughing during board games

1000 gifts. 1000 joys.

I've never been a scrapbooker.

I tried...for, like, a month.  

It didn't stick.

My photo albums are embarrassingly out of date.

Except the ones I did before kids.
After kids...sad.

Most journals I've started over the years are pretty much blank.

Except one I kept in high school when Gary and I started dating.

It's 10% hilarious and 90% embarrassing.

This space is my scrapbook and photo album and journal,
wrapped up into one digital bundle.
And lately I haven't been so great at keeping up with this space either.

I guess what I'm saying is I'm not a good documenter. 

But...

I'm on a new mission.

I have a new motive.

I've begun a new journal.  

I'm journaling the every day gifts I have been given.
The big things, when those come along, and the little things that I am given every day.

If I'm being honest...I have a tendency to be a glass-half-empty kind of girl.

I hate to even type that.

I don't want to be that person.

I wish I was the one with permanent smile lines and a laugh always on the ready.
I wish I didn't struggle with worry and anxiety and fear.

It's my reality, though.
I struggle with finding joy in the everyday.

More often than not I find myself hurried...stressed...furrowed brow...preoccupied.

There's laundry.  And dirty floors.  And kids that are arguing.
And rude people.  And headaches.  And that lady just cut me off.
And did we seriously run out of milk? 

I started reading Ann Voskamp's book One Thousand Gifts recently.
It's a beautiful chronicle of how Ann found joy in her everyday.
Even on those days where dinner is late and kids are grumpy and mom is done.  DONE.
I know those days.

So I've started writing out the beautiful things that happen in my every day:
clean sheets
birds that never stop singing outside
lavender blooms.
Those little things that I overlook that are constant reminders of His love.

I'm finding there is always something to write.
There is joy to be found in everything.
Laundry means we have clothes to wear.
Dirty floors means I have kids at home to make messes.
That lady that cut me off is teaching me patience.
{thanks, lady.  so much.}



"The whole of the life - even the hard - is made up of the minute parts,
and if I miss the infinitesimals, I miss the whole."

Yes.
I want to live my existence thankful for even the tiniest of moments.
"Giving thanks for one thousand things is ultimately an invitation to
slow time down with weight of full attention."
Full attention to this life in its entirety.
Not the rushing to get to the next thing.
Not the anxiety of to do lists and schedules.
Each moment deserves my full attention.
And the full weight of thankfulness.
I choose to remember to be conscious to thank God for all He has given to me.

So I'm writing them down.
One thousand things.
I have no idea how long that will take me.
A year?
Maybe.
I'm on number 24.

Number 24 happened today: no bills in the mail.
Amen and hallelujah.

And since this space is my scrapbook...
some of those one thousand gifts will surely land on these pages too:

a day at point reyes


ten quiet minutes with coffee and nail polish


a date with my favorite man to listen to my favorite band


Giving thanks deliberately.
Being present for each moment
and fighting the urge to rush and stress and overlook joy.
Finding the joy.
Documenting the gifts.
Sending up thanksgiving.
1000 times over.