A Happy Birthday

We should all approach our birthdays with the zeal and excitement of a soon-to-be first grader. Our daughter, who is the middle child of the family, gently placed her hands on my face last week and said, "Face it, I'm going to be six soon." Guess she was trying to help me adjust to the idea. Well, Friday was her day and it was a happy one. We had celebrated the occasion on the previous weekend with a make-your-own pizza party at Little Anthony's. What a fantastic time! Mary Lauren's group of very sweet friends and cousins really enjoyed being pizza chefs, and coloring their take-home boxes. One of ML's favorite gifts was a Webkinz, a pink dog to love and care for.

Summer Field Trips

The kids and and I had a great time at Imagine It! The Children's Museum of Atlanta recently. It was a fun way to beat the heat and summer boredom. The only snag in the day was when the automated parking payment machine ate my ten dollar bill. In recent summers, we've enjoyed trips to the Wild Animal Safari in Pine Mountain (take lots of hand sanitizer) and the Southern Museum of Civil War and Locomotive History (especially if you have a young train enthusiast). Have fun on your excursions, and suggest some places for us to feature in our Day Trippin' series in the Times-Herald.

Laundry, Laundry Everywhere

Laundry. (Read with a big sigh). It's the chore that left me feeling the most overwhelmed during the past school year. When I got married 12 years ago, my cousins gave me a washboard. It's a "Dubl Handi" from the Columbus, Ohio Washboard Co. I thought it was a prank gift. But really it was a harbinger of things to come. Now it hangs in my laundry "closet." I desperately need a better system. The piles of clothes never seem to go away. I'd like for any family member to be able to go their dresser, open it up and see neatly folded, fresh-smelling clothes at any given time. Midway through the school year, we were always searching for matching socks, or a particular pair of pants. Eventually, the socks didn't even have to match; clean was fine. Maybe with three kids, laundry disorganization is inevitable. Panoply (a Newnan design firm) created a gorgeous laundry room for the Atlanta Symphony Associates Decorators' Showhouse this spring. It had sky blue ceilings, green walls, asparagus ferns and other pretty house plants,a tile back splash, a rinse sink and a desk area. If only I had that room I know I could conquer these clothes! If you've got a system that works, please advise.