LOVE a productive 3 DAY weekend!

What is it about the 3rd day of a 3 day weekend that makes me suddenly more productive?

I'm pleased to report that I just cleared about 2 years worth of stuff out of my house. 2 Years! Kira is 14 months old so that's part of my excuse. Let's recap what has happened during that time while it's fresh in my mind from sorting through all the mess.

Months of morning (all day) sickness. Months of gestational diabetes - which will suck every ounce of energy you've ever had. Delivery of an almost 9 pound baby in the occiput posterior position. (I use the real name because "sunny side up" just doesn't cut it). Healing from that delivery. Maternity leave with both kids at home. Returning to work full-time. Sending Kira to daycare. Getting her to take a bottle. Pumping at work. Nursing all night long. Sending Will to school and figuring out Kindergarten and homework. Finding the balance needed to be a full-time working parent of two with one in his first year of school and another in her first year of daycare. Figuring out how to pick up one from daycare and one from school and carry everything into the house through the snow and eat snacks and make dinner and eat dinner and do dishes and do homework and give baths and wash clothes and get everyone ready for bed all within the 5pm - 7pm window. Speech therapy. Doctors appointments galore until we figured out what Will was allergic to and why he couldn't breathe. Learning about immunizations and doing them differently with Kira. Collecting every piece of artwork a Kindergartener can make. Helping Will learn to read and write. Tying shoelaces. Riding bikes. Swimming. Diapers. Kira - learning to crawl - learning to walk - eating solid foods - learning to talk...

Whew!

Plus we'd been SAVING all our boy stuff since we didn't know if Kira would be a girl or a boy and so we'd accumulated 6 years of toys and clothes that would have been hand-me-downs had she been a boy. She's not. And we're NOT having any more kids so I am in "get rid of this stuff" mode! We've been giving away all the baby stuff that she doesn't need anymore. We've been donating toys and clothes to the "give away store" like mad.

And today....it was time for the PAPERS to get the boot. It is insane how much paper one can accumulate when their method of cleaning is to shove it all into a laundry basket and then stick the laundry basket into the closet...at least quarterly...for 2 years.

But now - thanks to this 3 day weekend - the attics are clean and the closets are clean and the papers are tossed or organized.

We are ready for a new school year! BRING IT ON! I'll try not to save every item of artwork my first grader makes. If I do, I'll put it right into the "WILL KEEPS" box! I will use my files and folders and organizational system that I've spent countless hours creating and re-creating and labeling with my label maker over the years.

Next on the "to-do" list: getting back in shape, catching up on the last 6 years of photo albums and scrapbooks, and filling in those darn baby books.

Here are a couple of gems I found while cleaning:

Quote from Will - "It's good to be alive 'cuz then you can do lots of good things!"

The 1st sentence Will wrote - "I SEE MY CAT ON A HAT."

Kira in her swing fussing from boredom turns into loud cry of pain. Mom hears change in cry and enters room to find Will on couch with rubber bands. Will says, "She's not crying because I shot her! She was crying before I shot her!"