Party.

Last month Natalie turned 5.  (Remember the rainbow cake?)  Well she also had a party with friends.  It had a Power Puff Girls theme- well, the cupcakes were that theme anyway.  My friend Tiffany made the cupcake toppers.  Natalie absolutely LOVED them!  Here are some pictures.

It's been a while.

I feel like I've been ignoring my blogs.  I guess life is just busy.  Hectic even.

You see, I have this little boy.  He likes to get into everything.  Wherever he goes, a mess ensues.  He likes to open the dishwasher and stand on the door.  He likes to climb up and sit on the table.  If there is nice stack of anything he just has to knock it over- or sometimes he takes each piece, one by one, and throws it on the floor.  Needless to say, it is hard to get anything accomplished around the house.

Then there is this five year old girl in the house.  She is constantly hungry.  She longs for play dates.  I try, I really do.  It is just hard when everyone her age is in kindergarten or preschool.  So she gets bored- and we all know that boredom in a five year old means creating messes.  Or maybe you didn't know that.  Well, it does for this one!

Then there is the seven year old pirate loving girl.  She just wants to swashbuckle.  Which isn't really even a word.  It really is just acting like a swashbuckler- which is a swaggering or daring soldier or adventurer (or a novel dealing with a swashbuckler- as in; it was a swashbuckler of a tale).  How can you be swaggering or daring (or a soldier or adventurer, much less) without making a mess?  Oh, and she also loves art.  Art is most assuredly messy!

Last, but not least, is the ten year old bookworm girl.  Her messes have changed a bit.  She doesn't play with toys so much anymore.  She loves to use her imagination.  She too loves art (you know-that messy business we were just talking about).  She is all about mythology since reading the Percy Jackson series of books.  Crazy about it.

Oh, and lets not forget this guy who lives here.  He got a motorcycle.  He loves it.  He has been fixing it up for a while now.  He is almost finished.  Although, when it comes to cars and motorcycles is anyone ever really finished?  There is always more that one can do to them.  At least he counteracts all the mess making with some dishes, laundry, and vacuuming.  He even cleans the bathrooms.  Sometimes he fixes things around the house.  Once he even killed a swarm of bees- or were they wasps?  Whichever, he is keeping us safe!  Oh, and he has a full time job.  That one keeps him a bit busy. (One might say that I am really lucky to have a guy like this hanging around.  I would be inclined to agree.)

Okay, so I'm pretty sure I add to the mess quite a bit.  I mean, I have to cook and bake.  With a kitchen as small as ours (and it isn't even as small as some that I've had in the past) it is pretty easy to make a huge mess.   My sewing (which is an art - you know, that messy business) is definitely a mess maker.  One day I might just figure out how to be organized enough not to make a huge mess when I sew.  Probably not, though. (Hey, I'm just being realistic.)  Of course, travel adds to the hectic lifestyle.  I don't travel on a regular basis- it is usually a last minute thing.  Which makes it even more hectic than normal travel.  I flew to Virginia to see my grandparents last week.  I was able to see her one last time.  She passed away last Saturday.

Things are beginning to slow down now.  I am settling into a routine again.  We set up a new cleaning schedule.  Fridays after school (yes, we stole this from my sister).  Then we can have pizza and a movie night when they finish.  It isn't just them cleaning, I have to clean as well.  I think having the movie as a reward for cleaning will really help motivate them.  Maybe then when people stop by I won't feel bad when I open the front door!  It might also free up some time so I can get some sewing (and blogging) done.
I might even have time to pull out my camera.

Parting shots- artwork via the girls.

All pictures courtesy of the children on my iPhone.