Day #23 of 30 Days to a Simpler Life --- Give Vanishing Gifts

Today, tackle your wrapping paper, ribbons, gift bags, and gift tags/cards.  Save a few of your favorite rolls of paper, some matching ribbon, and some gift enclosure cards. Give away your extraneous wrapping supplies (give a few rolls to the kids).  If you cannot bear to give away beautiful wrapping paper, store the excess out of sight.  Simplicity is about using up what you have --- and keeping things flowing through your life.  (30 Days to a Simpler Life, p. 147)

OR for serious simplifiers only...

Give far fewer gifts and far more hugs.  Gifts are symbols of love.  (30 Days to a Simpler Life, p. 151)

I really enjoyed this chapter.  I find it so hard to pick gifts for people.  I want to give something that shows I put thought into it and still have it be within my financial means.  Some of the suggestions the authors include in the chapter are gourmet foods, local wines, fresh flowers, toiletries, experiences (love this idea!), gift certificates for services or events, photos, stationery, and services by you (like babysitting or dog walking).  Another suggestion that I thought was great was to create a signature gift wrap look for all your gift giving---one look that works everyone and all occasions.  Love that!

Here is where I keep my wrap.  It's in my "craft closet" and the Cobbler set up an ingenious organization system for me.  He put the gift bags by genre (baby shower, birthday, etc.) all in the biggest bag in their category and then hung them on hangers.  He also crafted me that hanger for the bubble wrap made from old wire hangers.

Then I keep all my ribbon and tissue paper inside an old plastic file bin that I used to carry my files to and from my car at my last job before kids.

My gift wrap tubes (I don't have too many---maybe 6?) are all standing up inside a small basket.  For once, I feel like I have a daily assignment under control.  I'm going to be working on the valuables binder of last week for quite a while.  Don't even mention the 3rd and 4th shelves inside my pantry that I'm still working on.  What I've liked about this whole 30 day process is just doing a little bit and that still being a success because I did SOMETHING.  I'm proud of me and everyone else who I know who is doing this too.  All those little somethings add up to a BIG something.  Yay!

On a totally different note, it was like wild kingdom around here this weekend.  We took a hike as a family on Saturday and found a ton of snails!  It made me wish my R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey Life curriculum (we're using that to do science camp at home this summer) was already ordered because I know they have a unit about snails and snail keeping.  It was really cool though.  They were absolutely everywhere!

Then, yesterday afternoon the Cobbler kept seeing a rabbit (a fairly common sight in our neighborhood) running back and forth across our backyard with different natural materials in its mouth--- grass, leaves, sticks.  This morning after church we came home to baby bunnies in a nest on the side of our house.  Here they are!

The kids couldn't stay away from them (it was too cool!) but we didn't want to scare away the mom so the Cobbler erected "The Bunny Cam".  We have some small security cameras that we used at our last house.  The Cobbler mounted one on a stick and aimed it at the bunny nest.  We now have a TV channel totally devoted to all bunnies all the time.  I'm just hoping the neighborhood cats can resist the temptation and stay away!

And in other big news---Red finally swam this week in the lap pool without a flotation device for the first time ever!  It has been a LONG time coming since she's been taking private lessons on and off for the last eight months.  Last summer she was afraid to put her face in the water.  Now she's a swimmer!  I am just bursting with happiness for her.  Here's a photo of Red with her instructor Colleen after her big triumph.

Happy Monday to all!

Enjoying the last days of spring...

We did some finger painting last week. 

Then we went to my parents' house in northern Michigan for some outdoor fun.  The kids caught a toad.

and a newt...

And we did some swinging at the park with Papa.

Good times!

Big improvement today...

We spent this morning with our homeschooling group at the park.  Another gorgeous day!  Red and Tom Thumb frolicked with the other kids on this giant play structure.  I think lil' Tom went non-stop for about two hours! 

When we got home, Red and I did a 15 minute only reading session and she breezed through both the lessons she struggled with during the frustrating 30 minute marathon yesterday.  This was definitely confirmation to me that sticking with the 15 minute lessons is the best bet in terms of keeping her attention.

We probably were outside today for about three hours again.  Not bad for a bunch of rookies trying to get back in the being outside game after being cooped up inside for 4 or 5 months.  After dinner we went to a skating exhibition at the rink.  Red was thrilled to watched the synchronized teams.  Tom Thumb was more interested in the zamboni.  Typical boy :-)

The Cobbler's off work tomorrow so hopefully we'll have another fun day.

We made it nearly 3 hours!

Yesterday was so deliciously warm (yay!) Red and I were outside from about 1-3PM while Tom Thumb was taking his nap.  We spent sometime swinging on the neighborhood communal swing set.  Then she jumped on the ever popular dead willow tree for a while.  Then she proceeded to lose one of my rings (just an old silver pinkie ring) inside said tree.  Luckily, we were able to retrieve it.  We raked our yard for a while.  Little did we know that we weren't supposed to do that since it had just been fertilized the day before.  Oops!  She also played outside for about a 1/2 hour while I was making dinner.  Then, Tom got up and we played for another 1/2 hour while waiting for the Cobbler to get home from work.  Overall, a successful day in terms of outdoor time.  We're moving in the right direction for sure.  Four to six hours, here we come!

On an unsuccessful note (well, I guess it's not unsuccessful, it's just I learned a valuable lesson), I pushed little Red too hard on her reading lesson.  I was trying to do the two review, one new method and it ended up going way too long and definitely beyond keeping her full attention.  It dragged on for about a 1/2 hour when I would like to keep it at 15 minutes.  It ended up being frustrating for both of us.  Lesson learned.  From now on I set a timer when we start.

T Minus One Day and Counting Until...

...it's time to start reaching for our outdoor time target of 4-6 hours per day.  Where do I get this random number of hours?  From my spiritual guide Charlotte Mason.  Just kidding!  I do, however, think her philosophies are so right on in so many ways that I definitely want to follow this one.

"I make a point, says a judicious mother, of sending my children out, weather permitting, for an hour in the winter, and two hours a day in the summer months. That is well; but it is not enough. In the first place, do not send them; if it is anyway possible, take them; for, although the children should be left much to themselves, there is a great deal to be done and a great deal to be prevented during these long hours in the open air. And long hours they should be;  not two, but four, five, or six hours they should have on every tolerably fine day, from April till October. Impossible! Says an overwrought mother who sees her way to no more for her children than a daily hour or so on the pavements of the neighbouring London squares. Let me repeat, that I venture to suggest, not what is practicable in any household, but what seems to me absolutely best for the children; and that, in the faith that mothers work wonders once they are convinced that wonders are demanded of them. A journey of twenty minutes by rail or omnibus, and a luncheon basket, will make a day in the country possible to most town dwellers; and if one day, why not many, even every suitable day?" (Volume 1, p. 43-44)

Thursday is April 1st.  We'll see what I can make happen.  Maybe I should do a running tally on here of how many hours we spend outside.  That might be kind of entertaining...okay, maybe not that entertaining.  I think it would interesting though to see how many hours we can clock outside in a season.

Today we were outside from about 1PM until about 3PM because it was in the low 50s and sunny.  I thought we did pretty good, considering Tom still takes a nap and Red had ballet class that we had to leave for by 430.  We'll get there.  4-6 hours here we come!!!