Feeling Good

Y'all, I have a 6 year old.

Party Post Here!

Is it just me or is 6 pretty much the first year that kids become bone fide kids?  No remnant traces of Babydom.  We are three days into it and so far I'm digging it.  She's a pretty great kid.

We went from, "we won't be doing a big party this year," to having a party, a trip to Babyland General (where Cabbage Patch Dolls are born like for real, for real), and a family celebration at the bowling ally.  What can I say?  We are some suckers for our Josie Girl.

We are learning about dinosaurs this month and this dude totally makes my day everyday.

Maybe I'm spending too much time with people under four feet, but his big ole smile and short stubby arms make even the longest writing assignment a little more joyful.

I painted our school room and it's now my favorite place to be.

I had no clue how disgusting the walls were.  I guess I shouldn't have been surprised considering how many kids have had free reign in that room.  Not to mention the endless hours we spend doing school in there.

While I painted, the kids made bird feeders out of pipe cleaners and cheerios.  They've made about a thousand of these in the past two weeks.  The birds are about as happy as my dino buddy up there.

The orange is gone and it's now a pretty mint green.

New paint is so, so good.

I'm still organizing, purging, and rehanging but you can see the new color in this picture.

Gabe's room is next on my painting list.

We are packing up to head down to my Dad's house for the weekend.

Now that Gabe has proven himself able to not drive me nuts on long car rides, I'm excited to start hitting the road more.  This is our busy time of year, lots of trips and adventures.  I'm 75% looking forward to it all, 25% stressed.  Packing, unpacking on repeat isn't my favorite.

All this coming and going and party throwing is giving me a chance to practice my Just Chill Out Skills.

Of which I have very little.

I can feel God telling me to slow down.  That it's ok to not do it all.

I blame Pinterest and my obsession to make it all fit, but it causes stress and maybe a little (read: a lot) impatience with the people I'm most trying to be patient with.  I want to do it all, see it all.  It all sounds so fun until I'm yelling at my kids to, "HURRY UP AND PAINT!"   

Kinda defeats the purpose if I make them cry during our fun arts and crafts.

So I'm reprioritizing.  Picking which adventures we will go on and which we will just sit out this year.  It's hard to say no to any since they are all good.  But with every, "maybe next year" I can feel myself feel a little bit freer, a little lighter.

And it feels good.

Happy Wednesday Friends!  The weekend's almost here!