Hoarding: Buried Alive

So for Christmas this year, Maggie & Jonathan got Gracie this cute cardboard playhouse.  The kids loved playing in it and coloring the outside.  So fun!

Then one day, I was in the basement and tried to push the house over to the side.  And I couldn't.  So I peeked in one of the little windows and found the house filled with toys.  You couldn't walk in it.  Nothing could really be played with because there was so much of stuff.

Have you seen that show on TLC "Hoarding: Buried Alive"?  It is about people that have so much stuff they cannot even walk through their house.  It is disturbing.  It is sad.  It is addicting.  It makes you question whether you yourself are a hoarder. 

Well, my children could be on the toddler edition.

Now I have noticed a tendency to hoard for a while now, but I assumed it was normal child-like behavior.  Grace never wants to throw anything away.  Ever.  Old ribbons, packaging for stuff, nasty lipgloss, etc.  When she is at school I go through her room with a garbage bag.  Andrew's hoarding isn't that severe, and he is still young.  There is still hope for him. 

I didn't know it was a real problem, until I saw the interior of their cute little gingerbread house.  I realized that this house gave them the opportunity to let their hoarding impulses run wild.  The most disturbing thing is they loved sitting in the house amidst their hoard.  

Or maybe they just liked being away from me?   No....not possible!

Needless to say, it the house has been taken down and the toys have been put away. 

If you ever thought I was an organized person...

The baby could arrive any day (maybe that is a little bit of wishful thinking on my part, but I'm hoping) and you can really tell by taking a look at the condition of my house today.  Uh, not!

Dead flowers on my kitchen table.  They were so pretty.  Last week.

My dining room.  Filled with recycling that won't fit in our recycling bin.  Leftover stuff from Gracie's party.  A pile of winter coats.

Legos.  Everywhere in my living room.  Watch your step!

5 loads of laundry waiting to be folded in my bedroom.

And here is the nursery.  Not so welcoming.  Ironing board?  Clothes that need to be put away?  Tools that need to be put away?  Garbage to throw out?  Doesn't exactly scream, "Welcome home little one!" now does it?

And don't forget the bags full of stuff to be washed, sorted, put away and sterilized.

And finally, this is my purse.  Good luck finding anything in there amidst the used kleenex, and random stuff my kids hand me (half-eaten lollipops, toys, bobby pins, dress up jewelry, snacks, garbage, etc).

Today

Here are some snapshots of Grace singing, dancing and spinning by herself in the backyard while I made dinner.  

Happy 5th Birthday Gracie!

Today is Gracie's 5th birthday!

 

 

I had her at the doctor last week and she is 44 inches tall and 41 pounds.  She is getting so big!

She had a special day at school and then we went out for dinner.  While we were there, Gracie opened her remaining cards and gifts.

 

And had a delicious meal of macaroni & cheese and milk.  

 

Andrew said "Happy Birthday Gracie" and enjoyed a dinner of milk and a forkful of ketchup.

Here is a link to a video from our dinner out on Gracie's 1st birthday 4 years ago in Chicago.
And here is a link to last year's post with a bunch of cute pictures of Grace.

Beautiful Weather and Grace's Birthday (again)

The weather the past few days has been amazing!  Unfortunately, we could not get any great pictures of the kids at the park this weekend.  Most looked like this....

And I kept asking the kids to sit with me on the bench to get a cute picture of the 3 of us, because I do not think one of those exists. 

 This is all I got.  Me carrying a defiant Andrew to a timeout for running away from the playground.

 Both, errr, all three of my kids had a great time on the slides.

 The kids each have a favorite song that they call "my song".  Andrew's is "Your Love" by The Outfielders.  Grace's changes all the time. 

 

So we heard Andrew's in the car today and Grace was soooo sad that we didn't hear HER song.

 

On the way to my parents house, we took the lakefront.  Everyone was out enjoying the weather.  Gotta love the first really warm weather of the season.  All the Milwaukeeans break out their shorts and tank tops.  This is not necessarily a pretty sight.  I didn't get any good shots from the moving car.  And that is a good thing.  Lots of pasty flesh.

 And finally, we celebrated Grace's birthday with Mark, Maura, and both sets of Grandparents.  Grace chose the menu "Pasta, fruit, orange juice and brownies."

Gracie's 5th Birthday - Fancy Nancy Party

This past Saturday, we celebrated Gracie's 5th birthday with a Fancy Nancy party for her and all of her friends.  We had 10 girls join us and it was a lot of fun!

We held the party at the Little Red Store (not my house as originally planned - which ended up being a very good move), and it was adorable and a great location for the event.  All the girls looked so posh.  The decorations were smashing.  And all in all it was a great success.

When the girls arrived, they each chose a fancy bracelet and a bag with a tiara and wand to decorate.  The girls all sat silently and worked on their bags, tiaras and wands for about 15 minutes.  It was pretty cute.

After that, the girls enjoyed a delicious meal of goldfish crackers, cheese sandwiches, PB&Js, cheese skewers and fruit.  Everything was on a frilly toothpick, except the goldfish which were in fancy cupcake liners.  So delicious!  Note, if you are going to serve 4 and 5 year olds food on a toothpick, be sure to remind them to remove the toothpick before eating the food. 

 

Andrew and Daddy were the only boys Grace allowed at the party.  Andrew was so excited, probably a little too excited, to go to the "fancy fancy" party.  He and dad even dressed up with button downs, khakis and Andrew wore his dapper saddle shoes.  He loved sitting at the big table with all the ladies and eating goldfish. 

After lunch we played games.  First was "Pin the Tiara on Fancy Nancy".  It was pretty cute and funny.

One little girl even got confused and thought we were playing "Pin the Tiara on Gracie's Mom's Belly"

Then we played a rousing game of "Guess How Many Fancy Necklaces are in this Jar"  (snappy title, huh?).  Some of the girls refused to guess, and we had other funny guesses like "a lot" and one girl asked if she could count first.  So cute.  The winners of each game got a new fancy necklace to take home. 

Then (finally) it was time for the cake!  I topped the cake with a little bunting I made that matched some larger paper buntings we hung around the room. 

Gracie wanted a purple cake with pink frosting.  So I did not disappoint her.  Although I must say that I don't think any of the girls noticed the ombre purple cake I made....not sure that was worth the effort!

Oh and here are the invitations.....

and flowers (Gracie picked them out)...

I would also like to say that Gracie was a very good sport.  She was nice to all of her friends and made everyone feel welcome. I was a little nervous because she did say, right before the party, "This is all about me!"  I do think she just said that because I always reminder her, before she goes to other people's parties, that it is their special day.  And really, it was all about her. 

She was also a generous little girl.  She agreed that she didn't need a bunch of presents so we had girls bring books for the House of Peace.  Such a sweet girl!

Also a big thank you to Jane for getting dressed up and helping with the party!  Gracie, Kevin and I really appreciate it!