When we got back from our trip to Utah, I frantically got to work on our house. I read this book about the Japanese method of tidying up and owning less, and also read a book about minimalism, and suddenly, immediately upon reading those books, felt overwhelmed by the state of my house. Now, granted, having a new baby turns a house completely inside out. All this stuff comes out of the woodwork, clutter is strewn about always, and I have no energy to clean. But this time around, I had the hardest time handling it all, mentally. So, in August and September, I tackled the house and got rid of a bunch of stuff: clothes that I don't love, books I'll never read again, toys, stuff, stuff, stuff. It felt so good to purge! And I'm trying to be conscious of not buying stuff I know we don't need. A lot of it comes from other people, though. Mom will donate to me all of her old stuff, people give the girls little toys and things, clothes, etc. But I've decided that I don't have to feel obligated to keep something just because someone gave it to us.
Aaaaanyway... I reorganized what was leftover, and there is a lot less around. Although I'm currently feeling another purging is needed. But I'm sure I won't tackle another purging for at least a year.
So, Brooke turned 5 years old in August. She was so excited to be having a birthday. And since it was an odd year, we did a little birthday party for her. She requested a pool party (which is what we've done for her parties every time we've had one, haha!), and we invited a whole bunch of people. All of her friends, and their whole families. Almost everyone came, which made for a really big party. We got pizza from Little Caesars, drinks, veggie trays and fruit. Daniel was fairly shocked when he saw how many pizzas I bought. But, it's a good thing I did. We didn't end up taking any home! We had a lot of fun for her 5th birthday.
Brooke could've gone to kindergarten this year, but I felt pretty strongly about keeping her at home one more year. At the start of school, she would've been 4 years old, turning 5 a couple of weeks after school started. I just felt kind of uncomfortable with that. I'm sure she would've loved going to school, and I think she's a smart girl, so she would've been fine. But in my opinion, another year at home, another year to get older, another year to mature wouldn't hurt. It could only help.
And I'm so glad we didn't send her to school this year. Just thinking about having to send her to school next August makes me so sad. Our relationship turned a corner about a year ago. She's just such a delightful little creature! She's so much more helpful; she's always wanting to help me do work around the house, especially the things she can't really do well at her age. She asks questions and shows great interest in things and gets excited about even the smallest things. And, like I said before, she's super helpful with Jack. She's my little buddy, and I'm really going to miss her when she has to go to school every day.
Right after Brooke's birthday (as it seems to me every single year), Daniel's birthday was upon us. He's fast approaching his mid-30s, which is just really scary. His birthday was pretty low-key this year because it was on a Sunday. But I did go slightly overboard with presents. I bought presents, and then forgot about them, so bought some more, so by the time I was done, he had like a ton of awesome presents!
September flew by, like all other months. We started up a preschool group with Turner Hebdon and Elliot Erdmann. 3 days a week. It felt like a lot. We'd each take a day of the week. And it was kinda nice to have 2 mornings a week with just the baby. I felt like I could get a lot done. But then I had to plan something every week. We were pretty relaxed about it, though. Megan and Hillary often just cancelled, and I would often not plan anything, resulting in just a play day at my house. But it worked out for us. For a while, at least. Both Megan and Hillary put Turner and Elliot in real preschools in mid-October, which was fine with me. I regret the playtime that the girls got every week, and also the semblance of structure. And the free time for me. But I really don't care that much. I don't mind not having to plan a preschool lesson. And I really just like having my kids home with me and hanging around the house with them.
We hit the LA County Fair this year. It's one of the things Daniel and I have wanted to do since we moved here. And we finally did it this year, and had a great time! The girls (especially Brooke) were thrilled to be at the fair. They really wanted to try some rides and Brooke asked for Cotton Candy over and over the whole day until we finally got some. We saw a bunch of fun animals, witnessed a lamb being born, watched people eat bugs (gross), tried different flavors of honey, ate cotton candy and corndogs, saw some really cool exhibits and went on a couple of rides. It was kind of sad -- Camille wasn't tall enough to ride ANY of the rides. So we took Brooke to do some rides. She and I did the Farris Wheel together, which was fun. But as we were leaving the fair, Camille kept saying, "I didn't get to do any rides." She wasn't fussing or crying about it; just stating it sadly. And it fairly broke my heart. I felt so bad that we didn't do something fun just for her. Cute little princess.
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