We pick my mom up at the airport tomorrow! She’s coming to visit for Bracken’s birthday. (I still can’t believe Bracken is going to be four on Tuesday!) This week I’ve been doing some extra tidying up in preparation for her visit and decided to tackle Bracken’s play area, since it had been on my mind for awhile. His toy shelf and wooden kitchen are in the living room. Not long ago I moved most of his books (except for the few board books) to another area to make more room on his toy shelves. Even with that extra space, that area needed a little help still. I took a picture afterwards because it hardly ever looks like this. That’s a good thing, it means he’s playing. But way too much stuff was accumulating there and it started getting a bit overwhelming. I love the advice in the book ‘Simplicity Parenting’ to keep toy areas simple for children so they are not too overwhelming. We do our best to do that (and yet it still feels like we always have too much stuff.) I like to stick to natural toys and we avoid plastic as much as possible (in our life in general as well), but it does sneak in here and there. Especially for bathtub toys. I didn’t intend for this to be a post about toys and play areas, but the picture got me talking.
Today I went to get the vacuuming done around the house. I should have checked to make sure the vacuum bag wasn’t too full before I started, but I didn’t. I ended up getting a giant dust cloud in my face. Apparently the bag got too heavy and came off and all the dirt was getting sucked up off the floor and coming straight out the back. After crazy allergies and feeling a bit grumpy, it was confirmed that we were all out of vacuum bags. I wanted to finish vacuuming right then so I told Jeff I would just tape a bag to it. His comment was that it would be more worth my time to drive to town and buy new vacuum bags. He was being more practical than I was at the time. Our vacuum is so old that we’ve had to buy the bags online in the past, since local stores don’t have them. Luckily, I discovered a hardware store in town had the kind we needed! (By the way, not that you would ever try this, but if you find yourself really desperate and try emptying out a vacuum bag so you can reuse it, don’t. It’s just not a good idea.)
P.S. Jeff will be at the market on Saturday. We aren’t able to fit an extra passenger and all our market stuff in our car (and I didn’t want my mom to get a rental car just for a single day) so my mom, Bracken, and I will be home that day. I’m really looking forward to it, with birthday decorating and baking to do.
Every year I make a birthday journal for Bracken. I tape his birthday cards in it and ask people if they would like to write something: a note to Bracken or write something they love about him in there. His birthday books will be special for him to look back on and read. I mention it here because I am sending the birthday book along with Jeff on Saturday so that market friends can write notes to Bracken in it. If you’d like to contribute to it, feel free to visit our booth.
Dana says
Happy Happy Birthday to Bracken! And he gets to have Grandma for a visit too! How exciting for your family!
Earnest Efforts says
Wow – 4!!! I’ll be sure to write in his b-day book! Enjoy your Mom!!!
angelina says
such a sweet little nook. Happy birthday Bracken!
Can you tell me about your play kitchen ?
I’ve been searching around for one – its on my christmas list this year .x
tarynkae says
Hello, the play kitchen was a Christmas present last year to Bracken from family. He loves it so much. It came from Nova Natural. http://www.novanatural.com/
Natasha says
What a wonderful idea about the birthday book. I will have to start that this year.
Happy birthday Bracken