Oldgirls and the scruffy bear

Yesterday afternoon, I finally had enough. Something had to be done. Kendle and I spent two hours, (yes two hours) cleaning and organizing her room. Sometimes I get really frustrated with her for not putting her things away and keeping her room tidy, but maybe it's partly my fault for not having things accessible enough for her. So we got some big bags to put all of the stuff we would donate in, and then another trash bag to throw things away not worth donating. I'm not kidding that just before Christmas I went through and did a little dejunking, but it never ceases to amaze me the amount of clutter and "little treasures" that can accumulate in a few short months.

If it were up to Kendle her room would be chalk full of marbles, shells, drawings, rocks, stickers, little bits of stubby pencils and those annoying McDonald's toys. And stuffed animals. She loves them with all of heart, and though she has her favorites, few escape her care or concern. But miraculously, she was great about weeding through all of the knick-knacks and letting go of some of her old friends. One in particular was this old scruffy bear that she has had forever. That thing is missing an eye, totally frayed, and it looks like it's survived a tornado. Mr. Bear has had many adventures with Kendle and I was even a little sad to see him go. Or maybe it made me sad that she's outgrown him and let him go so easily. She's growing up.











Then we started going through some of her clothes, particularly summer things that aren't going to fit her this year and we found her "Oldgirls". That's what Kendle has always called overalls and I think it's the cutest thing ever. I don't even want to correct her and have her say it the right way. We discussed how her "Oldgirls" weren't going to be long enough anymore, but that maybe I could make them into "shortgirls" for spring and summer. She liked that idea, so I put them in the sewing pile. I'm amazed to see how much she has grown just since the beginning of the school year.

At the end of it all, we ended up with a toy box no longer overflowing with toys, two organized bookcases, clothes hung and packed away, and one happy little girl.