All the girls decluttering, except Dora

There has been a lot of cleaning and decluttering going on over here. This has been on the agenda since we moved in 8 months ago but the need to have a vaguely clean and tidy house for an important birthday party pushed it up the priority list which is a win win all round really. Especially when you have a keen and enthusiastic 2 year old to help. All outdoor toys which had been strewn around the yard rounded up, sorted, cleaned and several binned. Liongirl felt the only way to adequately clean the  yellow storage pig was to just hop right in with a pair of sponges and get down to it. She is currently preferring to spend as much of her day as possible sans clothes so this kind of work was well suited to her requirements.

We had a lot of butterflies helping us in the garden, most are too quick to catch a photo of but one paused long enough for us to gawp in wonder, and immortalize digitally. This was one of the biggest wing spans I have ever seen- easily 12 cm.

Today was spent inside doing a massive cull in Roboboy's room. He has unfortunately been genetically predisposed to collecting and hoarding instincts. He likes to acquire complete sets of things, in every possible colour and then store them in an assortment of boxes and " treasure chests". He also has an incredible memory and could easily request an item that he has not seen or played with for a year. It has been with great trepidation that I planned to ferret through his entire toy stash and remove as many items as I thought I could get away with. Only the next month or so will determine if I have been successful but so far so good. I was impressed with my work as I managed to retrieve-

One chainsaw with  matching goggles
One broken metal detector- beeps constantly when turned on with no discrimatory powers whatsoever
One jackhammer
One remote controlled snake ( awesome until it chewed through 7 AA batteries in a nanosecond)
One firefighting outfit with helmets,axe, walkie talkie and gas mask
One yoyo
One lightup Thomas torch
One portable Lightning McQueen FireEngine set
One Matchbox Cargo plane

On reading this list I am also now hoping we will not be involved in any further natural disasters as some of these items could actually be argued to be essential  and life saving.

The plan is to sequester them in the granny flat for a good month or so, make sure there are no desperate or hysterical requests for them as part of an elaborate plan, and then dispatch them somewhere other than here.

I tried to nab the Bob Builder tool belt with matching hard hat but Liongirl had other ideas........note the size 00 pants that she refuses to part with. Having children with a petite builds and narrow bums is extremely cost effective where clothes are concerned- these should last her at least until kindy if Roboboy's track record is anything to go by.

And I suppose you are wondering about Dora, well she was not really contributing to the tidying and decluttering movement. In fact she was taking it upon herself to make a dog's breakfast out of my mondo grass. Remember this lovely border of mondo's lovingly planted a few weeks ago with some vague concerns aired by myself about their permanence?

Well obviously mondo grass edging was offensive to Dora's sensibilities...... or more likely she was remembering the tasty treats unearthed in that gardening marathon and was having cravings. Either way, it's still a dog's breakfast. And I don't think she looks the slightest bit remorseful either.