Monday, March 31, 2008
Eggsellent Easter
We had a great Easter again this year. Saturday we accepted an offer on our house after negotiating back and forth for several hours. When all of that calmed down, we colored eggs. The kids were so excited and had been waiting patiently all day. They picked out their favorite colors for their eggs to go first. Carlee was just as excited but after a couple of accidents and yanking on the tablecloth constantly, she had to be strapped into her booster seat and observe from afar. She wasn't an active participant but she did bang a few eggs together and point to the colors. When the eggs were colored, decorated, and designed, we had rootbeer floats and pizza and watched Enchanted. The kids went to bed full and happy.
Let Them Play!
These are pictures of our great time at the New Braunfel's Children's Museum. It was a really cute place and the kids had a fun time. There was a house for the kids to "live" in complete with an outdoor swing. The bank was next door and a grocery store was next to the bank.
Across the "street" was an ambulance and hospital including a baby nursery, which was Katelyn's favorite, of course. Outside the hospital was a campground with a cave full of mice and bats, a campfire, tent, canoe, and Indian teepee.
There was even a rocketship and art museum for the kids to make their own creations. Outside the museum was a waterworks area, sand pit, mini rockwall, and several animals for climbing. The kids could even practice their auto mechanics by giving a Volkswagon beetle a custom paint job.
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Spring Break
Well, people (mainly my sisters) have told me that I write too much and that it takes hours to read so I'm not going to elaborate or give too many details on this one. It will be short, sweet, and to the point. This is what we did Spring Break week . . .
Monday--St. Patrick's day picnic with friends at the park eating green food
Tuesday--Tried to go to a museum but was way too crowded. Tried to go to new McDonald's with nice play place but couldn't find it so went home
Wednesday--Melissa helped me sew a zipper into a pillow, ordered Pei Wei takeout, and let the kids play (She actually sewed it. Thanks, Melissa!)
Thursday--Drove up to the New Braunfels Children's Museum (totally fun), lunch at Dairy Queen, and Outlets, which again were way too crowded with clothes all over the floor and too many people to maneuver the stroller through. Did find cute stuff at Gymboree, though.
Friday--Crazy Day that was supposed to be relaxing. Woke up late, slow-moving morning. 10:30 started cleaning the house, stripped the beds to wash sheets and start laundry. 11:00 Phone call to look at the house about noon. Still in pj's, got dressed, remake the beds with dirty sheets and surface-clean like a whirlwind, no time to vacuum. 12:05 Left and ran errands--B1G1F Webkinz at Justice for Girls, drive-thru lunch at Chik-fil-A, pick-up another Webkinz at other Justice store, got gas, stuck in Sea World and Six Flags traffic, home for playdate at 2:30. 4:30 Received offer on house. Joe home at 5. Dinner and shopping at Target. 9:00 Joe had to work. Bed.
Saturday--Counter-offering all day long. House cleaning. Laundry. Accepted offer and House is under contract. Colored Easter eggs. Watched "Enchanted". Bed.
Sunday--Happy Easter. Easter baskets. Egg hunt. Ready for church. Watched "Finding Faith in Christ". Church. Dinner. Blogging. Bed.
There you have it. Few details and no pics. Which do you like better? (I'm talking to you, mean and unappreciative sisters!)
Monday--St. Patrick's day picnic with friends at the park eating green food
Tuesday--Tried to go to a museum but was way too crowded. Tried to go to new McDonald's with nice play place but couldn't find it so went home
Wednesday--Melissa helped me sew a zipper into a pillow, ordered Pei Wei takeout, and let the kids play (She actually sewed it. Thanks, Melissa!)
Thursday--Drove up to the New Braunfels Children's Museum (totally fun), lunch at Dairy Queen, and Outlets, which again were way too crowded with clothes all over the floor and too many people to maneuver the stroller through. Did find cute stuff at Gymboree, though.
Friday--Crazy Day that was supposed to be relaxing. Woke up late, slow-moving morning. 10:30 started cleaning the house, stripped the beds to wash sheets and start laundry. 11:00 Phone call to look at the house about noon. Still in pj's, got dressed, remake the beds with dirty sheets and surface-clean like a whirlwind, no time to vacuum. 12:05 Left and ran errands--B1G1F Webkinz at Justice for Girls, drive-thru lunch at Chik-fil-A, pick-up another Webkinz at other Justice store, got gas, stuck in Sea World and Six Flags traffic, home for playdate at 2:30. 4:30 Received offer on house. Joe home at 5. Dinner and shopping at Target. 9:00 Joe had to work. Bed.
Saturday--Counter-offering all day long. House cleaning. Laundry. Accepted offer and House is under contract. Colored Easter eggs. Watched "Enchanted". Bed.
Sunday--Happy Easter. Easter baskets. Egg hunt. Ready for church. Watched "Finding Faith in Christ". Church. Dinner. Blogging. Bed.
There you have it. Few details and no pics. Which do you like better? (I'm talking to you, mean and unappreciative sisters!)
Come and Get It!
After 10 years of marriage, having four children, and a third move coming up, we decided to hold our official first yard sale last weekend.
When we put our house on the market last month, I went through every tote, container, bin, drawer, and cupboard in the entire house for items to either trash, donate, store, or sell. Everything was re-organized, labeled, and hauled to their respective places. Joe reserved a storage unit for the "extras" that were moved out of our house so that it looked more empty and spacious for potential buyers. I was sad and relieved at the same time during this process. It was hard for me because I saw my home's personality packed up as our family pictures, home decorating items, and small furniture pieces were packed in the Yukon for over 6 different trips to the storage unit. My walls look empty but so do the closet floors. This is where the relief came in. All of the unused outgrown clothes and toys, holiday decorations, scrapbooking stuff, craft totes, quilting fabric, medical papers and files, and kitchen appliances are packed and stored away. It is actually nice to see our closet floors. It's hard to believe that when we moved into our first purchased home "that is so big" 5 years ago, we had 2 little munchkins under the age of 3. Now we have 4 and are starting to bust at the seams! So the time had come for a YARD SALE!
Every six months our community holds a yard sale. My friends, Kaori and Melissa, wanted to join with me so we lined tables up in our garage and laid everything out on them and under them the week prior. So after about 3-4 more trips back to the storage unit to bring items back to our home, we were ready and the garage was packed. On Saturday the official time to start was 9:00 a.m. but when we opened our garage door at 6:30 a.m. to start pulling out the tables and lay out the tarps, we were swamped with several people. They were in our garage and we couldn't even get our stuff out! Joe sold our TV and a couple of our car seats before they even touched the driveway. The craziest thing was that it was still dark outside but, don't worry, these hard-core yard sale buyers had brought flashlights to peer into the boxes and through the piles of clothes. I have never seen anything like it. I guess yard sales are like Black Friday to some people. I am in bed on Saturday morning for as long as possible.
The kids were pretty excited about this sale because they helped go through toys, books, and stuffed animals that they don't play with anymore. They also wanted to provide a bake sale. My cute friend Melissa made a darling sign and got these cute aprons for the kids to wear while working their bake sale. We had told them they could split the money they earned so they were thrilled. Mia, Katelyn, and Kaiya worked the booth while Clark and Jake were the marketers making loud (embarrassing) announcements and giving incredible bargains such as "Buy One, Get Two Free". They were also trying to sell Hot Wheels cars on the side. We had cinnamon and orange rolls, muffins, rice krispie treats, and cookies. Our next door neighbors were selling too and they set up a drink stand. The kids made about $55 and were so excited with their earnings.
We did very well and got rid of a lot. We have quite a few outgrown clothes left, mostly long-sleeved stuff from living in D.C. that is not appropriate to wear in hot TX weather, and a few items that I wasn't willing to barter on but our storage unit is now keeping only our treasures. I even got a suntan from standing out there for 8 hours. (Okay, a sunburn, that is now peeling) But our first yard sale was a success--a ton of work and preparation, but it paid off. Maybe we'll do another one in 10 years.
When we put our house on the market last month, I went through every tote, container, bin, drawer, and cupboard in the entire house for items to either trash, donate, store, or sell. Everything was re-organized, labeled, and hauled to their respective places. Joe reserved a storage unit for the "extras" that were moved out of our house so that it looked more empty and spacious for potential buyers. I was sad and relieved at the same time during this process. It was hard for me because I saw my home's personality packed up as our family pictures, home decorating items, and small furniture pieces were packed in the Yukon for over 6 different trips to the storage unit. My walls look empty but so do the closet floors. This is where the relief came in. All of the unused outgrown clothes and toys, holiday decorations, scrapbooking stuff, craft totes, quilting fabric, medical papers and files, and kitchen appliances are packed and stored away. It is actually nice to see our closet floors. It's hard to believe that when we moved into our first purchased home "that is so big" 5 years ago, we had 2 little munchkins under the age of 3. Now we have 4 and are starting to bust at the seams! So the time had come for a YARD SALE!
Every six months our community holds a yard sale. My friends, Kaori and Melissa, wanted to join with me so we lined tables up in our garage and laid everything out on them and under them the week prior. So after about 3-4 more trips back to the storage unit to bring items back to our home, we were ready and the garage was packed. On Saturday the official time to start was 9:00 a.m. but when we opened our garage door at 6:30 a.m. to start pulling out the tables and lay out the tarps, we were swamped with several people. They were in our garage and we couldn't even get our stuff out! Joe sold our TV and a couple of our car seats before they even touched the driveway. The craziest thing was that it was still dark outside but, don't worry, these hard-core yard sale buyers had brought flashlights to peer into the boxes and through the piles of clothes. I have never seen anything like it. I guess yard sales are like Black Friday to some people. I am in bed on Saturday morning for as long as possible.
The kids were pretty excited about this sale because they helped go through toys, books, and stuffed animals that they don't play with anymore. They also wanted to provide a bake sale. My cute friend Melissa made a darling sign and got these cute aprons for the kids to wear while working their bake sale. We had told them they could split the money they earned so they were thrilled. Mia, Katelyn, and Kaiya worked the booth while Clark and Jake were the marketers making loud (embarrassing) announcements and giving incredible bargains such as "Buy One, Get Two Free". They were also trying to sell Hot Wheels cars on the side. We had cinnamon and orange rolls, muffins, rice krispie treats, and cookies. Our next door neighbors were selling too and they set up a drink stand. The kids made about $55 and were so excited with their earnings.
We did very well and got rid of a lot. We have quite a few outgrown clothes left, mostly long-sleeved stuff from living in D.C. that is not appropriate to wear in hot TX weather, and a few items that I wasn't willing to barter on but our storage unit is now keeping only our treasures. I even got a suntan from standing out there for 8 hours. (Okay, a sunburn, that is now peeling) But our first yard sale was a success--a ton of work and preparation, but it paid off. Maybe we'll do another one in 10 years.
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