So, when we sent our furniture and etceteras towards the States in June, I tried very hard to keep the absolute minimum needed for clothing, feeding, cleaning, and entertaining the family. We did pretty well--except the one kid who grew out of all of her clothes within two weeks. And the other kid who grew out of all of his shoes. And let's not mention the Stomach that went from fitting-in-regular-jeans at 20 weeks, to gargantuan at 21 weeks, which of course called for all new clothes or endless embarrassment (Lucky me, I went for both options, since none of my maternity jeans will stay up.)
Entertainment-wise, I let each child keep One Toy (which generously expanded to about three each), and we went through three reams of paper and six boxes of crayons. It was a good summer, full of walking in Prague and Paris, and playing in Colorado Springs. But two days ago, it got cold. Really cold. We had light summer jackets and fleeces, but no hats, scarves, or gloves. And sleeping on a borrowed mattress on the floor for six weeks is not all that it's cracked up to be.
So imagine the joy when our Stuff got here yesterday. Sleeping in my own bed--pure delight! (Not to mention, we retired the thrift store quilt with the awesome car-airplane-helicopter design. It will eventually go on the wall of Brigham's room, but yeah, I sort of felt like a five-year old every night. Which is not the worst thing ever.)
Seriously, if you have a family of almost-10, there's probably some little bit of you that hoards things. Or wishes that you had when the inevitable needs for random things come up. All of our hoarded stuff is back-books, art supplies, extra clothes. And our children are zealously breaking open boxes in search of More Stuff. So, I like the Idea of minimalism, but from now on, we'll pass. Except when I get those Mom Urges to Purge everybody's junk. Those are fun, even if they're a little terrifying (for the everybody else, anyway.)
Entertainment-wise, I let each child keep One Toy (which generously expanded to about three each), and we went through three reams of paper and six boxes of crayons. It was a good summer, full of walking in Prague and Paris, and playing in Colorado Springs. But two days ago, it got cold. Really cold. We had light summer jackets and fleeces, but no hats, scarves, or gloves. And sleeping on a borrowed mattress on the floor for six weeks is not all that it's cracked up to be.
So imagine the joy when our Stuff got here yesterday. Sleeping in my own bed--pure delight! (Not to mention, we retired the thrift store quilt with the awesome car-airplane-helicopter design. It will eventually go on the wall of Brigham's room, but yeah, I sort of felt like a five-year old every night. Which is not the worst thing ever.)
Seriously, if you have a family of almost-10, there's probably some little bit of you that hoards things. Or wishes that you had when the inevitable needs for random things come up. All of our hoarded stuff is back-books, art supplies, extra clothes. And our children are zealously breaking open boxes in search of More Stuff. So, I like the Idea of minimalism, but from now on, we'll pass. Except when I get those Mom Urges to Purge everybody's junk. Those are fun, even if they're a little terrifying (for the everybody else, anyway.)
