the big purge ...

I've been completely MIA for the last 10 days, devoured by a massive spring cleaning project that has been years overdue. Over the period of 2 weekends and the week in between, we've been working nonstop at our house. The process went like this: each bedroom had all drawers, shelves, and closets completely emptied out - the contents were dumped onto the bed and evaluated one by one. What didn't make the cut to be re-shelved got given away and what we kept got neatly organized. In the end, we donated 7 huge bags of clothing and bedding to Goodwill:

As you can imagine, accomplishing the bedroom purge felt great - but then my husband insisted that we capitalize on our momentum and continue on with the ... wait for it ... garage (gasp!). Let me assure you that our garage has long been one of the scariest and least functional spaces in the house. It was a wasteland of disorganized toys and games on one side and yard gear, coolers, and cushions on the other side. It all sat on shelves, but we had never taken the time (in 8 years of living here!) to adjust the shelves to be functional ... so things got lost as the shelves became overrun and eventually the shelves got blocked in by things like bikes, scooters, and giant battery-run cars for the kids. How I wish I had taken a 'before' photo! Sadly, I have no proof of its previous dysfunction - all the better, I don't need to be reminded of the horror. But I do have this amazing 'after' photo to behold:

Not only is it a pleasure to look at, but we even managed to double the storage space by taking the time to adjust the shelves to functional heights! Note the thin shelves at the top for boogie boards, hula hoops, and sleds - then there's a wide shelf at waist level for bins full of everything from wading pools to racquet games (the bins are now labeled). The open bins at the bottom hold soccer balls, lacrosse sticks, and baseball bats. Even the sidewalk chalk has its own bin - this new garage is pure bliss and makes me so happy every time I drive in. We used the same approach as with the bedrooms: emptied all shelves completely and placed everything out in the driveway. It was a grueling and dirty process, but we purged all the duplicated or outgrown toys and sports gear that were accumulating (our church's annual rummage sale was so grateful!), threw away everything broken, and completely organized the stuff that remains so that it can be easily found ... and it only took about 4 hours from start to finish ... amazing!

brownie baby ...

My 8-year-old is such an interesting kid - she definitely sees the world through incredibly creative glasses. I'd love to get inside her head for a day and absorb just a fraction of her creativity. She's the kind of kid who arranges her eraser collection into a comic strip that tells a story, she'll bite patterns into her food to create imaginative scenes on her dinner plate, and she'll use simple colored hair elastics to make incredible collages of art on the floor. In group settings, especially with guests, she'll often make up elaborate spontaneous games that will gel the crowd in no time. Last year she dressed her 4-foot stuffed dolphin, Jackie, in her own clothes and brought her all over town to run errands with us. Here they are in the doctor's office:

Jackie attracted a lot of attention from onlookers as she rode in the front seat (note the band-aid from the doctors office):

So this is the kind of child my 8-year-old is - she's a ton of fun to have in the family, and we all love her dearly. Recently, she discovered that her favorite skating teacher is pregnant and she was so thrilled by the happy news that she wanted to make her teacher a thoughtful congratulatory gift. She decided that homemade brownies were the perfect answer. But when it came time to slice the brownies, she insisted that we slice the brownies into the shape of "babies" ...

She cut this herself and if you look closely, you can see the smiley face she drew onto the surface using a toothpick. Of course, her skating teacher just about melted over the gesture ... I mean, who wouldn't love a kid like this?!

think pink - part 2

My earlier Think Pink post has me reminiscing about my sentimental favorite pink room - one very near and dear to my heart - it's my older daughter's "big girl room". This was the room I made for her once her baby sister came along and took the nursery:

... drives me crazy that all those toys are on the floor, so distracting ... but anyway ... I had a great time putting together this room for my daydreamy 3-year-old: the gorgeous armoire with painted topiaries growing from tea cups was the launching point for the entire room:

Notice the simple pink/green plaid detail on the side - to die for. I matched the soft pink using Ben Moore's "gentle butterfly" on the walls - from there, I used a pair of antique pine sleigh beds with patchwork rosebud bedding, white rosebud curtain sheers and pink gingham roman shades with scalloped trim, miniature toile print accent pillows, sweet bunny picture frames, a hand-painted play table and chairs (can you see the adorable bow detail on the chair back?), and the ivy vine area rug. If you were 3 years old, wouldn't you love it here?!

think pink!

I'm rarely excited about all the promotional emails that come my way each day - but occasionally one of them will catch my eye. With a subject line of "spring into pink", I bit into this promo hook line and sinker! It was from Ballard Designs:

The Ballard Designs catalog is a favorite, so this promo was a double whammy since I'm also a huge fan of pink ... must have been fate that I ended up with 2 daughters, lucky me! Naturally, when it comes to pink, seeing a quick promo like this can get my mind wandering ... thought I'd share some of my very favorite "pretty in pink" selections ...

(Carleton Varney)

(Domino - April 2008)

(Ruthie Sommers)

(Jonathan Berger)

a week of records ...

well, when we broke a high temperature record on Easter Sunday, I assumed it would be a one-day fluke ... amazingly, the 4 days that followed were perfection as well and just this last Wednesday we broke (like shattered) the high temp record again with a whopping NINETY degrees in Boston. Seeing as the normal temps for early April should be in the low 50's, it was pretty incredible ... up here, 90 is hot even by August standards! Of course, with a week of crazy warm temperatures and bright sunshine, spring has been triggered a bit earlier than usual - buds and blooms are popping out all over the place. No complaints from this ladybug when spring is running a few weeks early! I snapped a few shots to prove it's all true ...

It's been an amazing run! Sadly, today is our reality check - gray with rain showers and a high of 58. But it's ok, I have the pictures to remind me that it wasn't just all in my head ... and I'll embrace the clouds after this amazing week we were blessed with!

look who came to visit yesterday ...

Can you see what it is these children are looking at on the shore?

... I couldn't tell either ... so, being curious to know what the crowd was all about, I pulled over and walked down with my 2 girls on our way home from school to investigate - and look what we found:

Do you see the beautiful black eyes of a harbor seal looking back at you?! He had been sunning himself on the rocky beach and when a crowd started to gather, so he wasn't quite sure whether he wanted to stick around. He waddled down to the water line and then decided to turn around and come back up onto the warm rocks for another try ...

But when some older kids started to get too close taking cell phone pics (that's their shadows across him, they are immediately to the left of the photo's edge), he decided he wasn't really excited about his celebrity status and with that, his nap time in the sun was all over. Pretty cool, I must say ... his slow and gentle way was very heartwarming to watch and it's not every day we get to see a harbor seal on the way home from school ... pretty cool indeed!

Happy Easter!

Today we were blessed with one of the most beautiful weather days we've seen here since last September and certainly one of the most picture perfect Easter Sundays I can ever remember, so tonight I'm feeling especially blessed. Normally in New England you still need your winter coat on Easter, the air typically has an icy bite even when the sun is shining at this time of year - but today Boston broke a high temperature record for this date by reaching an incredible 77 degrees - today the sun was high, the air was warm, the sky was blue, the tulips and daffodils are in full bloom and the forsythia is just starting to pop ... a true Easter blessing! With spring bursting forth, I've been searching for fun seasonal craft ideas to do with my girls ... love these ideas I found on the blog crafttutorials ...

... the last photo is from a girlfriend of mine - they just added chocolate licorice to create the basket handles on those adorable "Easter basket" cupcakes - too cute! As for chez moi, the most clever Easter trick up my sleeve each year are the "bunny footprints" that we leave on the path to the front door - years ago I made a stencil of a giant (6 inch?) "bunny" paw print and each year I toss some baby powder over the stencil - it leaves behind a powdery white bunny print ... I usually alternate left/right and leave about 4-5 prints in all. It's a huge hit with my girls, they still rush to see the prints each Easter morning.

But beyond the fun crafts and household traditions surrounding Easter, the real meaning of Easter should not be forgotten, so I'll close with the opening verse to one of my favorite Easter hymns. It's #207 in our Hymnal and the one that opened this morning's service - hope it's been a blessed Easter for all ...

Christ the Lord is risen today ... Alleluia!

Our triumphant holy day ... Alleluia!

Who did once upon the cross ... Alleluia!

Suffer to redeem our loss ... Alleluia!