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rainbows and unicorns. (40)

When Eloise asked for a rainbow birthday party a number of months ago, I wasn’t sure it would stick. But as party time got closer, she kept up with rainbows and pointed them out everywhere. I was so thankful for a simple theme in a season when throwing a party at all was going to be a little more of a stretch than normal.

It isn’t hard to find rainbow colored items–not especially as the 80s have made their comeback and Lisa Frank type styles are everywhere. I didn’t buy much, but a few cute things that would be fun for details and some rainbow crafts for entertainment for our younger guests. I opted for an email invitation to keep things as simple as possible, and found a cute one on Minted’s beta evite site. As it’s in beta, the invites were free to send. Perfect.

With invitations out to Eloise’s requested guest list, I didn’t fuss around much with planning until the party got much closer. Pregnancy and a busy summer just didn’t leave room for fuss, and that worked out well. I picked up Crayola school supplies (so easy to grab at this time of year) and stumbled upon packages of blank notebooks in a rainbow variety pack at Target for favors. I love making favors, but that plan was out this time around. These did the trick quite nicely:

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For food, a rainbow theme is amazing. Tons of fruits and veggies in rainbow order on trays are just about the simplest, healthiest option available, so I ran with that. I had a saint of a friend stand in my kitchen, slicing and chopping, for three hours the day before the party. Thank heavens for amazing friends and willing hands to help. Throwing a party for thirty takes a small village even if it’s a simple party, but especially when I’m this pregnant. I love how colorful the table was, and how easy to plan, too.

Besides the fruit and veggies, I wanted the food to be all things Eloise likes, so I decided on salami and turkey sandwiches, rainbow pasta salad, pickles, chips and salsa, and popcorn (clouds) to round out the menu. I almost always do drinks in large dispensers, but that calls for cups and drink prep and often, messes the day of the party. Canned Izze sparkling juice, juice boxes and bottled water (with some rainbow unicorn Duck tape for fun) made the drink menu a simple, colorful one.

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When it comes to birthday parties, one of my favorite parts is planning a centerpiece worthy cake. I’ve only made a few myself, and this year, when Eloise requested rainbow pies, I was a little stuck on how to make that happen. Then, last week, she changed her mind and asked for rainbow cake and ice cream, making things a little easier to implement (minus the last minute change and searching around for a bakery that could accommodate a dairy free cake on late notice). Eloise and I ran through photos on Pinterest briefly and took a handful of Eloise-approved designs to the bakery. They thought this design was most doable, so we ordered it up (“with pink where the red is”-Eloise). I’m so happy with how it turned out, and equally as thrilled with how it tasted. Turns out everyone loves a good DF/GF cake! We went with vanilla ice cream and vanilla almond milk ice cream for the DF crowd, and everyone was happy. Simplicity for the win.

For decorations this time around, I planned on bright flowers from the farmer’s market (our Saturday morning market makes this an easy choice every time), balloons, buntings reused from Elle’s first birthday, and some rainbow lights I’d grabbed for $3 a strand at Target. I always decorate our easel with a birthday sign, so that was on the agenda, and then Eloise spotted some stick-on gems at Hobby Lobby that inspired a sparkly number “3” for the food table.

When we figured out mid-week that the party would likely have to shift from an outdoor affair to an indoor one, I started brainstorming on simple ways to add more color inside. I kept most everything the same, but added two simple buntings at the last minute that were super easy to implement and ended up looking really fun. I’d stopped at Lowe’s with the kiddos earlier in the week to pick up paint chips for a possible indoor party craft project, and after cutting them for the craft, decided that some would be relegated to bunting status instead. I would do this again in a heartbeat. SO easy and colorful!

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Indoor activities were a little more challenging in my head at first, since I’d planned on a piñata, a ball pit, bubbles and a few other large muscle activities for our outside event. Not all of those would fly inside, but we improvised and managed to make things work. Our non-adult guests ranged in age from 1-9, so I thought indoor entertainment would be more challenging. Turns out a craft table, a mess of ball pit balls in the playroom, an indoor piñata extravaganza and a highly entertaining balloon artist/face painter do the trick. The party lasted about two hours, and the kids were amazing. No one seemed overly bored, few tears were shed, and best of all, no one got hit with the whiffle ball bat as it swung in tight quarters through the living room. 🙂

Our crafts were super simple and not at all messy: scratch off rainbow hologram sheets from Hobby Lobby (24 for $3.99, or less with your 40% off coupon), paint chips turned bookmarks with rainbow stickers, crayons for decorating, and rainbow washi tape, and best of all, Wikki Sticks in rainbow colors. The kids had a blast with these, and they designed shapes and creations that went up all over the house throughout the party. The wax sticks cling to just about anything, but leave no color or residue, so they were a fun addition to the decor and a breeze to clean up. I would order them again any time (thank you Amazon Prime for filling this last minute, rainy party need).

I have to say, of all the parties we’ve thrown for the kids, this one turned out to be one of my favorites. In spite of the rain (and let’s be real, the two tornado sirens that went off during the party as well), everyone seemed to have a good time. The birthday girl was happy, our friends were gracious and accommodating about the space and the rainy weather, and it truly felt like a celebration, which is really all I could hope for for our sunshiny, rainbow-y girl as she turned three.

I learned a thing or two about simple being best (you’d think I’d know by now), and also learned the value of a good entertainer when you have a house full of kids on a very wet day. Balloon animals and pink kitty cat faces for the win, I tell you.

There are traces of the party still coloring up the house in corners, and I love that. Lingering birthdays are the best kind of birthdays, and go with the flow parties are the best kind of kid birthday parties, too. I’m so thankful for all of the many hands that helped to make the day a smooth one, for the friends and family who came to celebrate, and for the chance to rest well at the end of the day, with plenty of great memories to last for a long time to come.

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Rainbows and unicorns were not on my radar, but Eloise was as sure as could be. And I’m so very glad 🙂

celebrating another red letter day for the books,

mm

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pocket change. (61)

Back in the day, when everyone carried cash and made change with each transaction, emptying your pockets into a jar at the end of the day was quite the lucrative operation. In months or a year, you might save up hundreds of dollars or more and never feel a thing. That is, until you picked up said jar or took it into the bank; suddenly the weight of collected change was apparent. You could feel the impact of that plinking change, a little bit at a time, amounting to something much greater.

There are days lately when I feel like I’m picking up our change jar time and again.

It can be exhilarating to weigh the coins you’ve collected–payoff for the diligence you’ve made to save and not spend, remembering to pour them out at the end of each day. Change of the other variety can be exhilarating, too, and it can undoubtedly add up to amazing payoffs.

It’s just that trading anything for something else is sacrificial in a way, and sometimes, that’s hard and heavy.

Lately, the list of things we’re trading here feels lengthy, and the payoffs aren’t so instant. Hopefully they’re long term instead.

Maybe I should be keeping a glass jar of change nearby as a visual for this season of our lives, remembering that the impact over time has potential to be really great. There’s a task for the rainy day to do list. 😉

I’m so able to appreciate change that’s visible in the moment, especially when much of my focus right now is on emotional space that isn’t quite as obvious to the naked eye. For the past few days, Jason has spent most of his “spare” time painting our living room. It’s been the same color since we moved in almost eight years ago, and while we liked the old color for a long time, the new color has us wondering why we didn’t decide on the project sooner.

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Fresh paint. Lighter, brighter, and opening up our space to new possibilities.

My appreciation for painting projects has grown over the years, particularly because you can see and feel the difference upon impact. The more time you put in, the more a space is transformed right before you. This is the kind of change that doesn’t collect in a jar, but more like the kind you find in your pocket and run quickly to spend at the candy store. It’s sweet, and instantly gratifying.

When you’re saving a lot of change in a big ‘ol jar for some time down the road, it feels good to mix in a few impromptu stops to spend your spare pennies on something sweet along the way.

Someday the baby that’s growing here in my belly as I type will (hopefully) look back on these days before his or her arrival and smile–so many of the unknown pieces at this moment having fleshed themselves out as good and growing parts of our family story. When I think about it like that, the days and months of collecting a figurative nickel here and an abstract dime there seem worthwhile.

All of this “pocket change” we’re storing up could amount to savings we can’t possibly see or imagine now, so we’ll keep putting change away with hopes for best possible outcomes and character building as we go. Meanwhile, I’m going to take the penny candy and fresh walls as bright spots in the process, appreciating the tangible evidence that sits before me as encouragement to take one day at a time, and counting on the fact that there will be beauty around each new unknown corner and turn.

collecting pennies,

mm

 

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the emotional to do list. (63)

Maybe it’s because we started out with most of the things we’d need to welcome a new baby this time, but as the weeks go by, I’m noticing that my to do list in prep for baby number three is far more emotion driven and way less about what needs to happen around the house. There’s a list for that, too, and I sure would love to check off some boxes between now and mid-September, but I’m finding myself way more vested in taking care of the things that might make baby’s arrival a more smooth transition for my heart than for our home.

This bleeds into my desire to make things as gentle as possible for Henry and Eloise as they transition in their roles, too.

While tubs of baby clothes are sitting in the attic, wall decor for the nursery is stacked in baby’s closet, and several larger pieces of furniture have yet to shuffle to new spaces as we make room, my mind is much quicker to jump to other things–things like making sure we capture maternity pictures, getting the kids squared away with school and schedules for the fall, and, before baby comes, finishing some writing projects that really matter to me.

I care about the aesthetics of things. I do. I just know that our living room wall color or the replacement dining room rug aren’t going to mean a thing to me if life feels like a complete mess inside my head and heart. So I’m trying to place the energy I do have on being healthy from the inside, out, and letting the chips fall where they may on some of the physical things that would actually be more fun to address in the short term.

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In the exercise of minimizing our clutter and clearing out some physical space this summer, I find myself really challenged to keep decluttering while we get closer to baby’s estimated due date. It’s easy to want to add things to the nursery or to make changes to rooms in the house “before it’s too late and we never get to them,” instead of staying committed to letting more things go. While it’s definitely realistic that some tasks will be held off a bit when focus shifts to a new baby, it’s not as though life doesn’t change again once they’re mobile and more independent. We can certainly get back to projects then, and it’s doubtful anyone else will even notice they were on hold.

Letting go is not my natural tendency. I have to work hard at it. I want things a certain way, and I have visions in mind. Toning down my Pinterest-loving self and just being content with good enough is a stretching exercise for me, so that’s on my emotional list right now as much as anything else.

I’m doing all kinds of evaluating in this space where we’re likely eight or nine weeks out from snuggling our little love. How do I want to spend time with Henry and Eloise between now and then? What matters most to me? What can I do now that I definitely can’t once baby gets here? What are the non-negotiables, and what can wait?

I keep thinking about all of the moms and dads who welcome preemies into the world. Not only do they jump from baby prep mode into parenting mode well in advance, but they suddenly have potential health concerns, hospital bills, work schedules and care for other children to pile on top of the things they hoped to accomplish before baby arrived. Focus shifts from aesthetics to life-impacting choices that we don’t mix into paint colors and stroller styles and coming home outfits when we’re looking down the line to a due date.

More than ever, I really want to maintain perspective as we prep, even while I’m enjoying thoughts of baby getting closer and embracing the joy that comes with little steps toward baby along the way.

I want to be healthy in spirit–almost as much as I want to have a healthy delivery and a perfectly healthy baby. I don’t want to lose sight of the relationships that matter most to me or the things I need to keep in place to stay well myself (prayer, rest, time with the people I love, boundaries, exercise, chances to keep writing, sunshine).

A beautifully appointed, inviting nursery–one that’s just waiting to welcome baby–is a lovely thing. I’d be delighted to have baby’s room looking as I envision it before he or she ever spends time there. But an emotionally stable, sane mama–one who has bandwidth for this new stage that’s coming, for our other littles in tow, and for the curveballs that life throws often–is what I desire more than the completion of any other task or home project.

Heart space first. Physical space after.

I have a feeling baby will be more keenly aware of (and certainly more impacted by) my ability to love well over my ability to decorate well, anyway.

I’m so grateful for this third journey through pregnancy that’s allowing me to see even more of what really matters, and so thankful for the first two that have taught me well along the way. I’m always growing into this ever-changing role of motherhood, good days and bad days and every other kind of day in between.

keeping lists of all kinds while trying to keep myself in check,

mm

 

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garage sale love and the long blink. (83)

I’m going to keep tonight’s update short and sweet, because this morning’s wake up came much too soon after I went to bed last night, and today was a full, full day. We have all been doing the long blink since about 3:30p. 😉

Our “let’s become minimalists” garage sale was a success! I’m looking around here now and feeling like we could have another one already, not just because there’s still plenty in the house we could live without, but because letting go of things provided a very lovely natural high today. It was so fun to see people buy things that they were excited about, and ones that they or someone else they loved could enjoy. My favorite encounters included a man who stopped right at the end of the sale because he saw a rug that “spoke to him,” and that he knew his wife would love. What a sweet guy! Then there was a delightful family who came to browse and ended up buying a few fun things to gift to their littlest, who turns one this coming weekend. And the gentleman who came and picked out some of our more vintage items–he was great to talk with and certainly had an eye for things with character and history. So nice!

There is something about someone else appreciating a thing that you’ve moved on from–it lends life to the object, and I think brings joy to the buyer and the seller alike. So much of what has been sitting dormant in our space is living elsewhere tonight, and finding better purpose and use. It’s a beautiful thing.

Each time we have a garage sale, we meet more people from our neighborhood and make more lovely connections. I had a blast just chatting with people today, hearing their stories and learning more about what makes individuals tick. It was an unseasonably cool day here for July, and I think lots of folks were just out and about to enjoy the cool temps (and probably to find something to do when their beach day got bumped to tomorrow :/ ) Whatever the case, we live among amazing people in an amazing community. Days like today remind me so much about why I love it here.

The very best part of the whole day was watching the kids come out of their shells after a little while from behind their lemonade stand. Henry and Eloise both gained confidence as time went on, and Henry even tried to explain a little about Preemptive Love to strangers. Our duo poured lemonade and offered cookies, waiting patiently for new customers to engage. And people showed up and supported two of my very favorite little hearts in a big way. (Special thanks to the friends who stopped by just to support their cause!) By the time we closed up shop, our lemonade stand novices-turned-pros had raised $78.50 to send overseas. I am so proud of their enthusiasm and tenacity, and also that they learned throughout the day how to better connect with people and to think outside of our little corner of the world.

When we wrapped up the sale, Jason took two car loads of leftover items down the street and we put away only a rubbermaid tub and a few more salable items in the garage to put on Craigslist this coming week. If there are takers, great, but if not, we’ll make one last trip over to the donation center and bid goodbye to the stuff that’s just stuff. It’s a good and freeing feeling to have moved on from it all, especially before baby gets really close. Now it feels like we can think about the next exciting step in baby-readying around here, whether we decide that’s painting a room, working on the nursery, or decluttering even a bit more.

After the driveway was back to its natural state (Thank you, Jason, stuff mover extraordinaire!), we got to celebrate one of our favorite little buddies on his third birthday. It was such a sweet thing to be pregnant at the same time as his mama three years ago, much like it is to be pregnant alongside my beautiful sister with our third babies now. Celebrating Max tonight was a good reminder of just how blessed we are to be so surrounded by friends and people we love, and also just how fleeting time can be and how much we should soak it all in while we can. Eloise will be three in just six short weeks, even though it was yesterday that we were taking bump pictures of our very pregnant bellies in the backyard. What a gift these kiddos are in our lives…

completely zoned and ready for bed, but she sure did love her face paint (and was determined to wear her "party dress" to celebrate, too. :)

completely zoned and ready for bed, but she sure did love her face paint (and was determined to wear her “party dress” to celebrate, too. 🙂

I have mental space tonight that I didn’t have yesterday. I love it so much. And I’m tired and fairly uncomfortable, but in a rewarding way. These aches and pains are a sign of a productive day, which feels really, really good. No complaints here on that front as I fall into bed. The house is quiet as can be, and we’re all going to enjoy the rest that comes after a full and busy and life-giving day.

lighter and feeling content tonight. i’d do a little dance if it wouldn’t hurt 😉

mm

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minimalism and lemonade. (84)

So much of life is about making room, isn’t it? And when we don’t, the physical and emotional piles can stack up to what feels like an insurmountable height. That is, unless we’re good at tucking things away…

We’ve lived in our house for almost eight years, and although our storage spaces are an interesting challenge because it’s an older home, we’ve gotten pretty creative about putting things out of sight. It’s easy to think we’ll need or use something again, justifying our “clutter” so long as it’s organized into bins and boxes. We’ve added a large dog and two kids to the mix around here since our early married days, and a lot of “stuff” has accumulated in the process.

I’m not sure how many trips we make to the nearby donation center each year, but in spite of those visits, we’ve still looked around here lately and felt like a much more drastic de-cluttering was necessary. The itch began even before we went to a screening of Minimalism in May, but viewing the film together pushed Jason and I both to a new level of desiring clarity in our space. We decided to play the Minimalist’s 30-day Minimalism Game, which meant we would both aim to get rid of a total of 450+ items in the month of July.

900 fewer things in our house sounded crazy, but also awesome. So the piles began.

We’ve tossed plenty of items in the past month, but there’s also a lot here that still has so much life left in it, so we decided a garage sale was likely around the corner. I’m not sure having a garage sale in July in your third trimester with two small kids running around is a brilliant idea, but I’m certain that de-cluttering is, so tomorrow’s the day.

The house looks insane. Truly. There are things everywhere. Jason’s been pricing in the garage and I’ve been on the hunt in long-forgotten spaces around here for things of potential value or use or treasure to someone else. We moved the dining room table to the side of the room today and just filled it with things. I’m both twitchy (at the ridiculous mess) and excited to see the amount of items that will exit our house tomorrow morning, never to return.

Can someone tell me why I've been hanging on to these all this time? Tomorrow...out the door. Wish I'd been taking pictures all day, but I'll be sure to take more of the fun tomorrow.

Can someone tell me why I’ve been hanging on to these all of this time? Tomorrow…out the door. Wish I’d been taking pictures all day, but I’ll be sure to capture more of the fun tomorrow.

We make a deal when we have garage sales (which happen once every few years because we are not big fans of this process). Nothing that goes out comes back in. It finds a new home. So whatever people don’t want to buy tomorrow, someone else can find next week at our favorite thrift store down the street. But they won’t find it here. I’m thrilled about that part. I am praying that lots of people will come and be able to enjoy things that would love a good home. Poor Jason has to do all of the heavy lifting on his own while I just move small piles from here to there, so the more that walks off the driveway, the better. It will be so good to get to 3 or 4pm tomorrow afternoon. 🙂

We’re also looking forward to our kiddos’ first lemonade stand in the morning (so if you live nearby and you’re out and about in the morning, come say hello)! We asked Henry to think about something that he would like to raise money for, and I love where he landed. Remember when I shared about Preemptive Love just over a week ago? Henry has been drawn to the stories of refugees since the crisis began, and when we talk about what’s happening in Fallujah and how people are living without basic health and safety needs right now, he jumps right to the kids and wonders what it’s like for them. I’ve explained about leaving their homes and all of their belongings, and the feelings of fear they have in the refugee camps without guaranteed shelter and safety. It bothers him that they have to wear just the clothes they have on and what they can carry. I love his heart.

We chatted about the people in Fallujah a bit more tonight, and he said, “Mom, I think when we send the money, we should make little invitations to send with it, inviting those families to come here and live with us.” Oh, sweet, sweet boy. If only we could do exactly that.

But we can do something, so tomorrow, we’ll have lemonade here, and the kids will accept donations to send to Preemptive Love toward their efforts to provide food and clean water to refugees. My hope is that this will be the first of many lemonade stands for a cause on our driveway.

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These popsicles were pretty cool, but lemonade for good is even cooler! Come see us tomorrow!

The clock is ticking on pricing and sorting and piling and such for tomorrow, so I’m off to get back to garage sale to-dos. Surely we will all rest well tomorrow night when we’re through!

making room for baby and sipping lemonade, one day at a time,

molly madonna