Penny for your....stuff?

About a month ago Madison held a yard sale out front. She is always wanting to buy things and forever being told, "well earn some money!" so she decided to do just that! She went through her own stuff and then asked Grandma (my mom) if she had anything she might want to contribute. Of course Grandma came through for her (she always does!) and Madison sorted and priced things in preparation of the big sale.

Pardon the graininess of these first two pics-I forgot to check my camera settings...again!

The poor girl had things all ready to go for about a month and a half before the actual sale. Matt and I just couldn't seem to find a weekend that was free of other events so that she could do it. Finally, the day before we actually held it, Matt said, "Let's just do it tomorrow. Just get it over and stop postponing it." So we did. Bless her little entrepreneurial heart! We found a few things in the basement to add to the stash and set it out on tables and told her that it was her idea and she would be in charge of taking money from people and negotiating with them.

She was awesome! She is so shy sometimes but she stepped up to the plate and did what she had to do! At the last minute Thomas decided that he wanted to join in and she was kind enough to let him. They were so cute out there waiting for customers. Every time someone would drive by Thomas would stand up, a bear in each hand, and start yelling, "Bears for sale! Come buy a bear!" and our little neighbor girls would start jumping up and down and waving their arms.

The kids' friends all had to come check out the loot and even Em decided to "shop", bringing her prized findings up to the porch for Matt and I to "ooh and ahh" over.

She spent most of the sale's business hours in the bike trailer and when that sold she moved onto the bench. She single handedly took on the official role of "greeter" by yelling and waving "Hello" and "Good-Bye" from her perch with a hearty "Thanks for comin'!" as people would drive away...so cute!

In the end the kids made a pretty good amount, T about $30 and M about $55 (Bonus! Matt and I made a little too!), and more than that the kids were so proud to have really earned that money on their own! I have to say Matt and I aren't usually ones to hold yard sales. Since we are blessed to be able to afford to shop at other places we usually we try to donate our really nice but unused items to the DI so that people who really have to shop there have nice things to choose from. But this once we decided to let a yard sale take place in our yard and I am so glad we did. It was a fun memory for us as parents and a great learning experience for our kids!

Lagoon....So many pictures!

So we hitched up our camping trailer and headed to Lagoon! We decided we would stay the night there in the camping area so that we wouldn't have to drive back that night exhausted and so we could save money on food by coming back to the trailer for meals. The kids of course asked every few minutes how close we were and the anticipation nearly killed them while we parked and leveled out the trailer before heading into the park.

We headed in and the hot, exhausting, but fun day began. Matt went with the big kids and I headed towards the "kiddie rides" with Em. It was fun this year because she was old enough to really get into the rides and tall enough to even ride some of the bigger ones (The Tidal Wave!). Most of the time she was on the rides was spent with her hands jammed in her mouth in her signature "I'm terrified!" look but each time the ride ended she wanted to go again!

Her favorite rides were probably the little boats, the carousel and one of the new rides that had cars shaped like bugs and animals. She LOVED that one and insisted on riding it over and over which worked out because by that time it was about ten o'clock and there wasn't a line. I'm pretty sure at that point she was "sleep riding" anyway after having no nap and it being 2 hours past her regular bedtime (she finally got to sleep that night at 12:30!)

She HATED getting sprayed with water on the wetter rides and tried to climb in one of the fountains that wasn't for playing in...silly girl!

(No way was she goin' into the splash area and voluntarily getting wet!)

(Time out for a granola bar-way cheaper than amusement park food!)

The big kids meanwhile LOVED getting sprayed on the wet rides and their motto was "the faster, the higher the better!". They went on The Cliff Hanger 5 or 6 times. Wicked saw them repeatedly too. The Wild Mouse was Thomas' favorite and he went on it three times in a row (if it was me I'd have thrown up!).

One of the not so fun things that happened involved T and his beloved Cookies n' Cream Dippin' Dots. He had finally gotten a cup of them after waiting all day and was walking while eating them and like most kids didn't watch where he was going. Some big guy wasn't watching where he was going either and knocked the Dots right out of Thomas' hand and all over the ground. He just kept walking, didn't apologize or anything! Of course Matt's inner Papa Bear came out and he confronted the guy and asked him if he noticed what he had done. The guy said, "Yeah. The kids wasn't watching where he was going. Whaddaya want me to do about it?" What a jerk! Anyway, Thomas was partly at fault and although he was pretty bummed he handled it well and didn't make too big of a deal out of it. The second day we were there he finally got another cup of Dippin' Dots and was SO happy!

Of course when at and Amusement Park one should always try to win a prize right? When the older three wanted to go on The Cliff Hanger again....and again....and again....and Thomas didn't want to I let him play the water gun race game and he won a bear. Of course he wanted to try again for a bigger prize and when he won that one too he had the choice of a bigger prize or another small bear. He chose to take another small bear so that Em could have one too. What a great big brother! I love it when I get to watch my kids love each other!

Of course when the others got off their ride they wanted to play too and each won a bear also. Cute Alyssa actually won twice and could have gotten a bigger prize as well but let Madison have a small bear so that she could have a prize too. What sweet kids!

(Notice the wet backsides form The Cliff Hanger!)

One of my favorite things about our Lagoon days was how proud Emilia was of her hand stamp. Every time we got to the front of a line she would hold her little fist up proudly and show her stamp to the ride operator. Sometimes she would just randomly hold it up to me and with a proud smile she would say, "Mommy, stamp!". After it washed off in the tub she held it up and asked, "Stamp?" with obvious disappointment at it's inevitable demise. 

To sum it all up, it was an exhausting two days but SO fun! I may be too old for many rides myself now but it's so fun to watch my kids have the time of their lives, and remember when I ran from line to line with never ending energy! I know that in a few months Thomas will start asking when we will be going on our annual pilgrimage to Lagoon again and it will be fun to look back at this trip and relive the memories until we can return next year on another hot summer day.

Like all good things our Lagoon trip came to an end and so did our visit with Alyssa. It was hard to let her go, and harder to comfort Madison after she left. I admit, I cried a little with her, my own heart breaking at the thought of my girl being without her bestest friend again for awhile. Hopefully one day soon we can fly her out to Texas and they can catch up again but until then kids are resilient and there's cell phones and Gmail. Thanks heavens for modern technology!

Random Thoughts...

School starts on Monday. We have been school shopping this week to update the kids' wardrobes in an attempt to send them to school and not have Child Services called regarding their Oliver Twist like appearances. I think we've succeeded. We've found some clothes and shoes and they can now walk out of the house with their heads held high and reflecting well on their parents, which let's face it, if we're totally honest that's our goal in buying school wardrobes right? Can I just say, what the heck happened to being able to buy an entire wardrobe for around $100? Seriously, when I was a teenager my parents gave us each $100 and we made it work. Anyone remember Mad Man Magee's? I'm not even going to tell you how much I spent this year on clothes and shoes for my kids, and I found some pretty good deals too! Anyway, we went and got shoes today and Madison's feet are now a Women's size 10! My 10 year old's feet are officially bigger than mine! Are ya kidding me?!

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Speaking of school...Thomas got a teacher this year that I have heard terrible things about. Even the other teachers I have talked to don't like her. I filed a teacher change form back when he first got assigned to her and found out this past week that he didn't get picked in the lottery to change teachers, but his little friend next door did which makes it even worse because he was excited to be in her class. Yesterday I went and talked to the office ladies and to the principal and still couldn't get him changed due to district policies stating that there couldn't be more than a 6 student spread between the lowest and highest class populations in the grade, which there already is. I even asked about changing tracks but ran into the same problem with policies! I know from what I have heard about her that she and Thomas will not be a good match and I am afraid that his love of school will take a big fat nose dive! I am SO FRUSTRATED!!! He has always loved school and always loved his teachers and I don't want that to change. It makes me sad. We've been thinking about putting them on the waiting list for a charter school that we heard about and maybe this is the motivation we needed...but that doesn't help us this year ya know? He's still on the waiting list for the teacher change so hopefully we'll get some good news soon! At least Madison got a GREAT teacher.

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We said goodbye to Nikki today, well until September anyway. It was sad. September isn't that far away but it'll never be the same now. We're used to seeing her at least every other Friday. By the time we left Em was tired, hungry and grumpy and wouldn't hug Nikki goodbye and that made me sad because I know how much Nikki adores her and Emilia adores her right back. Em walks around the house sometimes calling for Nikki or randomly talking about her. We will miss her so much...*sigh*

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We took family pictures last night out on our front porch. We wanted one with Maya before she leaves us and we needed one with Em in it since she's TWO and we don't have a family picture with her yet...embarrassing! So I arranged us on the porch and my sweet sister took the pics for us. It was quite an adventure! Em wasn't exactly cooperative and we had a dog to work with too and at one point it started raining but I think we got a few good ones and really, that's all we need so when I get them edited I'll put them on here. I do have one done of all of us so without further adieu...

Whaddaya think? I wish Em had a real smile on and my eyes are a little squinty but 

otherwise it turned out ok I think... 

Anyway, Madison's bestest friend (that moved to Texas last year) is coming tonight to sleepover and go to Lagoon with us tomorrow so I'll have fun pictures and stories next week to blog about. Have a good weekend and thanks for stopping by!

Water Water Everywhere...

(Do you see how DETERMINED Em was NOT to smile?! --Click on it. You gotta see that face closer!)

A couple of weeks ago I drowned my poor iPhone in Diet Coke...PAUSE FOR STORY....I was at target with my kids and I had gotten a 32oz. Diet Coke (like I always do) and I had put it in my somewhat large purse (like I always do) so that it would not tip over in the cart. We walked to the back of the store and there I was in the toy aisle with my kids when I looked down to see everything in my purse literally floating in a sea of Diet Coke and ice! I don't know how it happened! My heart sunk when I realized that my phone was completely submerged. I dried it off as best I could and left it turned off like I had been told you should do when a phone gets wet. I even came home and buried it in a bowl of rice to help draw out the liquid. Around 24 hours later I took it out and turned it on. At first the screen was dim but looked normal. Within a few minutes though the "White Screen of Death " descended and it was all down hill from there. I could still receive calls and the screen buttons still worked, I just couldn't see them. I tried everything! I got on YouTube and looked up videos on what to do with the "White Screen of Death" (do you hear a really deep echoing voice everytime you read that? Good!) but nothing worked. I tried restoring it on the computer. Nothing. Finally I admitted to myself that I would have to take it to the Apple Store downtown. Here's the problem--my insurance plan on it does NOT cover liquid damage--Egads!!! So...! Since I had to go downtown anyway, why not drag my sis and her boys with us and make a day of it with the kids and the fountain?

It was supposed to be a nice, sunny day but actually turned out to be overcast and a little windy, but the kids had fun anyway...even if they did get cold walking around wet afterwards. Amber was kind enough to watch my kiddos while I went into the Apple Store to see what I could do about my poor phone....PAUSE AGAIN FOR MORE STORY...So on my way in I though to myself, "Hmmm...Maybe I should drop it now so that I can honestly say 'Oh! I dropped it!'" when they asked me what happened. Don't worry, honesty won out and I didn't do that! I just hoped they wouldn't ask. I got in there and a nice Apple Employee took my phone and informed me that usually they could just replace the screen and top third of the phone and it would probably fix the "White Screen of Death Death Death " (You heard the echo that time didn't you?) He said if that didn't work they could just replace the phone for me. HE DIDN'T ASK WHAT HAPPENED!!! So I let him take it and do his thing and sure enough he came back to me and said they would have to replace it. "I tried changing out the parts and it didn't work so something else must have happened in there," He said. You bet something else happened but I'm not telling you what! I thought. So there you have it! My phone was replaced for free and I didn't have to lie to avoid the $299 replacement charge I technically should have had to pay! When I was done I went out to see how things were at the fountain and the kids were having fun.

Well, except for Em anyway. Apparently she got out there and freaked out  the first time the water hit her. So she was in a "mood" and tried really hard not to smile or look at me much but I got some cute pics of her anyway.

It's funny what you'll do to get cute pics of your kids. At one point I looked over at my sister and just had to laugh at the positions that we will get into to get just the right shot at just the right angle.

After the fountain we went to lunch and then got ice cream cones ( I highly recommend the Pina Colada smoothie at Orange Julius...Yum! Just don't think about the calories!). It was a fun day!

Swingin' Into Summer...

A couple of weeks ago we decided to get a swingset for the kids. We've had a trampoline for a while but I felt like I needed something else to entertain Em during the day when we are at home and she LOVES to swing so it was only natural to add one to the backyard. Of course, we have been talking about getting a real swingset for years. When the older two were small we had one of those Kmart specials with the little slide and swings and stuff and back then it worked just fine, but it quickly wore out and the kids quickly out grew it and it went the way of all old rusted out swingsets...to the dump. This time we wanted something a little more sturdy and higher quality so that the big kids could swing also and it would last for years. Matt's grandparents have a really tall metal swing in their backyard and he grew up swinging on that and has always wanted one similar for our family. I never had a swingset growing up so I wasn't picky, I just wanted something to entertain the kids and last a while. Well, we decided that being able to swing really high is the best part of a swing set so we settled on a swingset that is 10 ft. tall with just swings on it, no slide or any fancy shmancy steering wheels or monkey bars. Matt brought it home and laid out all the parts and got to work. Can I just say that I am so thankful that it's usually the man that puts things like that together?

The kids had fun helping him (Madison helped the most and was so proud of her herself!) and when it was all done all the hard work paid off with a swing fest! Thomas was at a friend's house so he wasn't there for the big reveal but they've all gotten plenty of time in on those swings. A week or so later we added a plastic PlaySkool slide set for Em and we were set!

I have to say now that we have a trampoline, a swingset, and slides we hardly even need to go to the park anymore...we've got one in our own backyard!

Dance Fever...

A couple of weeks ago the kids had a chance to show off the dance moves they've been learning at school. Their elementary school has had a dance program for the last 2 years and the kids go once a week to be taught by a cute girl, Miss Chelsey, who is getting a dance degree and teaching for credits. They have LOVED it! This year she taught each grade a full dance and then they all performed their dances for the parents on the school lawn. Thomas's grade danced to Miley Cyrus's "Hoedown Throwdown". They were all supposed to wear western gear but T refused to wear anything but the requested basics of a white t-shirt and blue jeans. That's my boy, always going against the grain!

(Notice the distinct lack of anything "western" on my boy!)

It was so cute watching those first graders get out there and bust a move! Thomas was SO excited for it and would ask everyday leading up to the big performance how many days were left.

He was definitely one of the kids who put their all into the performance and I was so proud of him for getting out there with no fear. He must get it from Matt because I HATE performing publically!

Madison's grade did a native American dance using rings. It was so neat! Madison would come home each day that she had dance and tell me how hard she was practicing and how much she enjoyed using the rings.

She was excited that she was one of the taller kids and therefore got to be a "butterfly" in the back. They used rings to make the shape of a butterfly on their bodies while they danced and it was really cool to see that these 4th graders could do something so intricate.

She was terrified to perform and I was SO proud of her for getting up there and pushing through the fear to pull off a great performance. I love watching my kids do things that they have worked so hard to learn. It makes my heart swell with pride every time. Man I have cool kids!