It's My Party!

Emily turned six last week.  I can't believe I have a six year old! I seriously get emotional if I think about it too long.  Five was great.  Six just seems so much older!  She's not so little anymore :(

Anyway, I decided to take the plunge and throw her a friend birthday party.  I was kind of intimidated with the prospect of hosting a party. They just seem so much more elaborate these days.   

Back in my day a birthday party went something like this:

You delivered invitations to your buddies.  Parents dropped off the kids at the party, almost always at the home of person throwing the party. Games were played.  Presents were opened.  Cake was eaten.  Everyone had a good time.  End of story.  I still remember the classic gift was a box of crayons and a coloring book.  You could always tell.… a flat rectangle wrapped in paper, with a box on top, also wrapped in paper.  I swear, that's what I gave to all my friends.  My mom must have thought it was the best birthday gift ever. 

Anyway, today's parties are more like events.  They have a theme, with expensive or even worse, creative homemade decorations.  It seems like parents by default stay at the party (which means you have to feed them too??),  they're often not held in homes, but venues that cost like a bowling alley, indoor play park, amusement park etc.   And it seems like everyone and their dog is invited… 

Please don't get me wrong, I'm totally fine with people throwing parties like this… Em loves attending them and she's had a great time at them.  But I just can't do it.  I don't have the skills or the confidence or the ambition, or the wherewithal, or what ever it takes.  

So, I just threw my Emily a good old fashioned birthday party like the ones I used to go to.  And it was fabulous!  She invited eight friends, and seven came. 

They played games:

I'm making a very nice face, I know.

And then the real hit was this dress up game we played.  Man, give kids some dress up clothes and you are set!

And then they had a dance off… to one of Em's favorite songs:  All These Things That I've Done.  This was my favorite part of the party.  The kids were so cute! 

Notice, the boys were nowhere to be seen.  No way were they getting in there and dancing with the girls! 

Then presents:

Cake:

And that's a wrap!  I've officially thrown my child a successful birthday party.  Now that's a reason to celebrate!

*Please don't fret, I asked the parents' permission before posting these pics

Paris? Pourqoi Pas?

We're going to Paris next week! Wahoo! 

I'm pretty much stoked out of my mind.

Paris, 2011… Unfortunately, the girls have no memory of this

 I kind of have a love/hate relationship with Paris. I've been before, three times in fact.  The first time was as a missionary when my parents came to pick me up…went to the top of the Eiffel Tower, loved it, had a great time.  The second was in 2011 when we lived in Poland.  Em and C were three and one (oh man, those were tough ages), and the last time was in 2013 when my friend Monica came to visit. 

My visit in 2011 kind of soured me on Paris.  Granted we were only there for one night, and beside booking our hotel room I had done no additional planning.  The hotel was ridiculously expensive for what we got (they were doing construction and we got to wake up to the sound of a drill boring through the wall), parking was 30 euro for the night (might as well just pay for a parking ticket, right?)  and we visited on the 4th of July… it was sooo hot and crowded and dirty.  But what really did me in (warning, this is really gross) was when we first arrived and got in the elevator to take the metro, we were assaulted by an overwhelming odor... someone had defecated in the elevator.  Swear on my life. That did it for me.  All the notions of romance and culture and culinary delights vanished right then and there.  Paris was forever sullied in my mind. After that trip I vowed I would never return.  

Well, then we got this assignment in Stuttgart.  And Paris happens to be one of the easiest destinations to visit from here.  It's just under a four hour high-speed train ride, or an easy five hour drive across flat uneventful terrain…. kind of like driving through Kansas, only prettier (no offense Pat and Nancy).  And then Monica came to visit, she was touring Europe, and I mentioned we might as well take the train to Paris… so close and easy.  Well, we ended up having a great time!  It was December, crowds were smaller, the weather was crisp and cool, and everything was so much cleaner… no nasty stenches.  We sipped chocolat chaud at the neighborhood café, perused charming boutiques on the ile de la cité, and sauntered through the gardens of Versailles.

But what really convinced me I needed to bring my family back was this gem I found at one of the bookstands along the Seine… 

This vintage book (1984), is wonderfully illustrated and tells about this sweet little girl and her group of animal friends and all their misadventures visiting Paris.  This girl not only shares the same name as my four year old, but is a spitting image!  So of course I had to buy it for her. (Can I just tell you how fun it is to read it to her?  Even though my accent is horrid and she can't understand a word I'm saying, it's still fun!)  

A sampling:

Then, to give even further credence that it was meant to be, while I was in Paris Caroline told me on the phone that the night before she DREAMT she went to the Eiffel Tower.  Ok, it was fate.  So I started planning our family trip to Paris.  And this time I'm much better prepared.  

Along with Caroline Visite Paris, I've purchased a couple other children's books to get the girls in the right frame of mind.

And some books to help me plan:

And with a little research it turns out that there's a lot more to Paris than the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, and Notre Dame.  This time we're going to museums, parks, monuments, churches, etc. that I never even knew about.  And we're spoiling the girls and taking them to Disneyland Paris.  I'm justifying it because it's their birthdays. 

So now I have this grand idealistic vision of how it's going to be, and then there will be the cold hard reality.  I hope they're not too far apart!   Wish me "bon chance!"  A bientôt!

Spring Cleaning

These pictures have nothing to do with my post… they are just uber cute.  

So, before we moved to Germany we moved every year for three consecutive years… which is a huge pain in the you know what.  But in some ways ONE way it was nice because it forced me to go through every single item we owned… every year... and decide if we were keeping it, selling it, storing it, donating it, or trashing it.  And then after we moved and set up house, everything was in its proper organized place, a fresh start.

Well, for the first time in quite awhile, we are actually staying put for a few years.  Which I TOTALLY love.    We've been here over a year and don't plan on going anywhere for a couple more. I can actually relax a little.

But, it's amazing how quickly order evolves into chaos... and how much STUFF we've accumulated in just one year.   Every closet in every room and drawer in every dresser and shelf in every cupboard is in desperate need of a good cleaning and reorganizing.  A "spring cleaning" if you will.

Here's the problem.  I have like ZERO motivation to get it done.  There are like a kajillion things I'd rather do than clean out my kitchen cupboards. For instance, I'd rather 

read a book

read a book to my child

go outside

plant some flowers

plan or daydream about our next trip

cuddle with Jamesy Wamesy

play a game with Caroline

read a book… did I already mention that?

go to a park

go for a walk

take a nap

Yeah… the list goes on.

The problems associated with this type of project are these:

1.  Nobody cares if I do it.  Ben has a very high tolerance for clutter and disorganization… and my children are totally oblivious.  And no one else is coming to my house to go through my closets.

2.  I'm not getting paid

3.  Even if I do it, there's a high probability that nobody will notice

4.  I'm not held accountable to anyone.

5.  It is extremely boring drudgery

So last week as I was trying to get myself all psyched about doing it, I thought, maybe if I BLOG about it and post some before and after pictures, it'll get me moving.

So, I did. The first thing I tackled was the laundry room.  Are you ready for the before picture?  It's pretty embarrassing.

Yeah, it was getting to the point where we couldn't even walk in there. 

So, it took just under two hours and I had a brand new laundry room:

And I'm happy to report Ben DID notice.  

Next was my closet.  Note:  I did not do this on the same day.  Or even the next day.  That's how much time I need to recover between jobs.

Before:

And after:

And the nursery.  Really, there's no words for the state it was in:

And after:

There's still a long way to go… but for now, hanging out in the laundry room or James' room is pretty sweet.  What gets you motivated to do this sort of thing?  I need HELP!