The Elves are back in town

I don't often cave to my daughter's whims. I typically can say no without alot of guilt especially if I know saying yes will make me hate life for a solid month. But this time I caved.....I said yes and one month a year I look at my kids and think........how did you get me to agree to this.

They will not have today

I remember exactly where I was. I remember the exact punched in the gut feeling I had when I called my Mom and told her to turn on the TV, something horrible was happening. I remember the thought that nothing would ever be the same again after this day. You don't have to tell me never forget.....I won't. But I also won't let the anniversary of what happened that day steal all my other days from now on.

Pants off dance off

Phases.....all kids go through them. I went through an imaginary friend phase, an I think I am Annie from Little Orphan Annie phase and Mischief has had her share of strange obsessions.

Now it's Mayhem's turn. As of last Friday she has declared proclaimed insisted that she will from now and hence forth only wear dresses. When asked why she polietly said "It is far too hot to wear pants. Pants make me sad."

Pants make her sad. What does that even mean?!?!

What it means is that the gauntlet has been thrown, battle lines drawn, challenge issued. Because you see it's not as simple as put the 3yo girl in a dress, no no. This particular 3yo is, how you say, wild. She likes to stand on her head in said dresses, climb things in said dresses, pull up said dresses over her back and say "look at my cape" ::sigh::

So when pre-school starts back next week she has to wear shorts or bloomers under dresses. She will NOT like that because remember pants make her sad and yes bloomer are considered pants in the world of Mayhem. (see why I call her that now)

I am all for self expression. Kids have very little control over their little lives. They are told what to do, when to go to bed, what to eat so I get the need to exert some say so I just wasn't ready for it to happen so soon.

Did you kiddos go through any strange phases? How long did they last? I am sure this is the first of many with Mayhem that will test both our patience but hopefully we will learn a little something about each other too.

Mayhem is a funny, hard headed, unpredictable, loving hot mess of a kid. She can make me want to jump off of very tall things one minute then want to just sit and snuggle the next. You just never know with this kid.

yyeeeeeaaaaaaa

 So begins what shall be know as the Sad Pants phase. Who knows how long it will last but I do know I am enjoying buying up all the cute little dresses I see. (sorry budget)

One word Wednesday......Awareness

Today's One Word Wednesday is brought to you by the letter A for AWARENESS. 

Back to school sanity saver

I know.....I know. I am a day late but better late than never. So Mischief started school yesterday. I thought I would be a total basket case, but remarkably I was ok. (likely because I cried everyday for a solid week leading up to this day)

I am one of those people who needs to "do" things to help me process things. For example, if I am sad because my baby is growing up too fast and I will blink and she will be driving away to college going back to school, I need to make things so that my mind doesn't sit and dwell on the sadness. 

We have some Back to School traditions in our home. Each year I make the girls' school day outfits. No matter how much or little I have sewn that year I make those outfits if it kills me. It is something really special I started when Mischief began in the MDO program. I don't know how many more years I have of her still thinking it's cool for Mom to make her outfit so I am doing it until she tells me to stop.

Day1-First of K (last year)

 We also have a little chalkboard we rotate drawings on throughout the year. It typically resides on our piano and reflects the season or will remind us of a favorite verse or quotation. But on #bts days it is used as a time marker, a visual cue as to what year it is/was and who the girls' teacher was that year.

Lastly I make a special sign for each girl on the morning of their first day. It is always a surprise and helps them get excited for the day ahead....not to mention helps me process what is happening and how fast they are growing up. I usually have a picture from Meet the Teacher day, their class name, school name and such.

This year we are adding a new tradition. Something that will help Mommy not want to add Kahlua to her coffee.

Mornings are stressful. Period. The end. Read I am not a morning person. So when I have a child who moves at the pace of a tortoise snail sloth it is even more frustrating. All last year we would decide what she was going to wear to school the day before, hang it on her closet door and go to bed. Inevitably in the morning she wouldn't want to wear that so we would argue for 10-15 mins about what she was going to wear NOW! Anyone who has ever sat in carpool knows 10-15 can make or break your morning.

Enter the $15 Target sanity saver

The......wait for it.......HANGING CLOSET ORGANIZER!!

I know not ground breaking but let me elaborate.

Each Sunday we will plan her outfits for the entire week. I let her pick most of them and help her decide based on the anticipated weather or if there is a special happening at school that week.  Then that's it. No changing.....unless we drop 20° over night, which is possible in Alabama I kid you not.

We are 2 days in and there has been no argument. She goes in, gets the next outfit down in the hanger and gets dressed. Maybe it is because she took the lead picking them or that they are all laid out for her so she can't beg to wear something TODAY if she sees it already in the week's rotation.

I have alot of hope for this little experiment and besides anything to keep the peace in the mornings is like GOLD up in here.

So go forth and organize and plan. If your kid is anything like Mischief she thrives on routine. She likes to knows what's happening next so this is a visual reminder to her that "oh yea I get to wear that rock star dress tomorrow so I don't have to throw a fit to wear it today".

Fingers crossed a new school time tradition has been born.

Until next time.

Listen Disney we need to talk......

Hi my name is Donya and I am a Disney addict. (Admitting your problem is the first step to recorvery right?!?!?)
Some of my earliest memories are of Disney related obsessions. Snow White is, and has always been, my favorite princess. I had an imaginary friend named Grumpy....yea like the dwarf.....see addict. I have seen every single Disney film more times than I can count. I plan our annual trips a year in advance. (yea do the math on that annual trips+year in advance+=I never stop planning Disney trips) My girls LOVE all things Disney. We are STILL listening to and watching Frozen on a weekly basis. I pretty much adore all things Disney. Until today.........

She's an American Girl

 A place for everything and everything in its place. 

Like most young girls her age in the universe Mischief is in LOVE with her American Girl doll. While her doll isn't an official AG doll (she's getting one for Christmas....shhhhhh don't tell) she has tons innumerable a boatload of the accessories and clothes. So to try and contain the clutter I came up with this pretty sweet idea to re-purpose an old bookcase. Check it out.