toys ARE us

6 years ago when Steve and I were engaged and were house hunting we eventually landed on our current neighborhood because

a) Steve wanted a house
b) I wanted to live downtown where I could walk places
c) We loved the idea of a historic home.

All great ideas when it was the two of us. (Minus the where I could walk places part. I've walked just about nowhere since I've been here. I guess you can take the City out of the girl- or at least replace it with lazy!) But now that we have a family our urban living = incredibly stupid. We have no yard, no basement and no play room. That means there are toys in every nook and cranny of my house!

Today I am getting ready for Olivia's birthday on Saturday and then for her actual 3rd birthday on the 19th. As I do this I am purging the toy boxes, dress up bins and other random places of un-used toys. (Didn't I just downsize 2 months ago for Christmas??)

If you know my daughter or anything about her, you know that we are about to get all kinds of pink sparkly crap around here and the big question is, where to put it? I like to think I've been pretty creative and have tried to hide the toys but a basket loses its cuteness when bulldozers and Elmo figurines are poking out of the top.



So I've been spending time filling some bags with toys that I will either sell at a local consignment shop or will go straight to Goodwill.

I'm sure if I were a better mom there would be some kind of cool teaching opportunity here somewhere, "Olivia, there are many kids nearby who don't have all the nice stuff you do. We are going to box up some of these toys and bless them them the way you've been blessed."

But honestly, I'm just trying to keep my head above water here. As we speak, there is a pink Disney Princess pop-up tent that my mom sent waiting up in the attic for the big day. Where in the SAM HILL is that gonna go? Tents in the living room... Oye Veh! Yet another thing that was on the "I'll never do THAT when I'm a mom" list to cross off. I was such a better mom before I had kids.

If you have a creative way for me to hide my toys or get rid of them for that matter, please leave a comment and share the wealth! Help a mama out.