Social media is a habit.
Sometimes, and depending on your views, it can be a bad habit.
But, it can also be an okay habit.
Like capturing the little moments in your life that you might otherwise forget about.
And the last month or so, I’ve fallen out of the habit.
Not so much because I’ve been “present in the moment”, but because I’ve been “present in the unpacking”.
And the worst part is that REAL LIFE doesn’t stop. Laundry doesn’t take a hiatus because you’re up to your elbows in boxes. Kids still have to eat three (THREE!) meals a day even if you’re smack in the middle of a closet organization. And snacks. Diapers still need changed, even if you’re not 100% sure where the box of wipes is. All that regular, everyday stuff…the stuff that can consume you when you have nothing else going on…still has to happen. Messes have to be picked up. Spills wiped. Fights broken up. Hair untangled.
And while people keep telling me to Take it Easy! Give Yourself a Break! You Have Four Kids! I can’t. I can’t function with things in boxes, cords dangling, framed prints unhung. I just can’t. I want to get it all done, all pretty, all organized AND THEN I’ll sit and have a cup of coffee. Visitors have marveled at how much we’ve gotten done in such a short period of time, but all I can see is what HASN’T been done yet. It’s a defect. Drives me batty.
So, all of that to say that I’ve sadly been off the Instagramming Train. Which is a bummer because one of my favorite parts of the week is Friday morning when I put this post together and see all the little slivers of Fantastic wrapped up in the mundane of my life.
Gotta get back in the habit.
(I’m jeannettg if you wanna follow.)
When I started packing, I started with the least necessary items.
And pretty as they might be, my Le Creuset collection was one of the very first things wrapped up in paper and boxed away with big, bold, proclamations of FRAGILE scrawled across.
I missed it. Ain’t it purdy?
It’s Birthday Week.
Owen turns two TODAY!
The girls turn 5 tomorrow.
I am not okay with this.
Not one bit.
It’s been one thing after another around here.
And I’m headed off to a blog conference this weekend. Because I bought the non-refundable ticket months and months ago before we ever even had an inkling of a thought that we might be house shopping and the like.
So yesterday we threw a fake birthday party. Because I felt loads of Mama Guilt that I was planning all of NOTHING for three out of four of my kids. As in, they were pretty much gonna get a high five and a rain check for a gift or something. So I thought, if I invite a family with six kids, it’s really just a play date, and the kids won’t know the difference.
Then, I thought I’d invite the neighbors. The ones with four kids. They could just walk over. Sing a song. Walk back.
And then another family heard about it through the grapevine and SURPRISE! they came too.
And an old friend showed up.
And the other neighbor had his grandkids over, so they made themselves at home and helped themselves to a few cupcakes.
So my fake birthday party that started with one box of cake mix and a birthday banner I’ve had in the drawer, turned into kind of a real party with quite a few people and wrapping paper everywhere.
It wasn’t Pinterest worthy. There was no theme. In fact, my “invitations” consisted of a text message the morning of. At 6:30. In the morning. Eleven hours notice. Meh. Better than the high five I had planned the day before. right?
Used to getting elaborate cakes, Lucy asked for a “Belle cake”. I didn’t have the mental capacity to even attempt it (also, I was unpacking, remember?), so I made a cupcake and stuck a brown haired Polly Pocket into it. Jill got “Cinderella”, and I found that Spiderman McDonald’s toy under the couch. I think I even rinsed it off.
It was actually really fun. And I don’t think the kids even noticed there weren’t paper straws, or a single strip of washi tape in sight.
How about you? How was your week?
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Those are my kind of birthday parties. I can’t handle the big elaborate stuff. I love it, I just don’t want to do it. Nor do I have the time to do/plan those kinds of shenanigans. The cupcakes are awesome!
I have never been able to relax i an unpacked house either or in a dirty house. I love the cupcakes!
I refused to throw a big Pinterest-worthy, striped straw, washi tape birthday party for June this year. She turned two… had no clue what she was possibly missing… oh, and I was 8 weeks pregnant with zero energy and the all-day pukes.
I love your “fake” birthday party. And those cupcakes. Genius, my dear.