What would you do?

So, Shane and I have been on a cleaning out binge. A couple of weeks ago I posted about putting some things up on Craigs List I had some luck with that but not as much as I would like. Our home is bulging at the seams. I am one of those people that keeps every thing, but frankly I no longer have the time or room to keep adding to my “collections.” So as I said, we are cleaning out and selling off anything we can. The extra money makes a difference and makes parting with these things easier. We have been posting on craigs list mostly but are just dipping our toes in the ebay market. For those of you unfamiliar with craigs list it is a market place for locals to an area to post free ads for anything from classifieds, singles, to lost pets. It is completely free to post but typically is really localized. Where as ebay is not free but appeals to a much larger market. Now we are not trying to turn this into a business or anything, we are simply trying to make a little extra money getting rid of things we no longer need. I have been immensely afraid of ebay though. I have heard horror stories, and huge success stories (it seems like everything Shane has ever bought off of ebay has been the wrong thing, broken or completely useless). I don’t know why  I am intimidated by this ebay thing. Do I just get over it? Most things I am thinking of posting to ebay I have already tried to sell on craigs list with no success, so I guess that remains my only option. Right? Do any of you have stories to share about an ebay experience? What am I getting myself into here?

How about any of you?

Want to buy my old junk?

One mans trash is another mans treasure right?

Hahahaha!

 

Anyway, we are recuperated from the birthday bashes of last week and all settled back into the summer time routine. The kids are ready to get back to school (or at least Dylan is). I keep telling them only one more month. I keep telling myself that too…You will make it mom…You will make it mom…You will make it mom! I don’t know why but I am finding this summer hard to cope with. The financial strain of skyrocketed gas prices and trying to amuse two small kids without leaving Thomasville is hard. However, we are finding fun things to do. Dylan has even made a friend in the neighborhood (I know only one is kind of sad but the average age of a neighbor in our hood is 65!). We are still going to the Y and “Ella’s school” which they enjoy most of the time, the library, and the local farm and garden store (they have live animals and a train table). We will make it…all of us! Hope you all are making it too!  

Update!

New Quote Up!

Also, you no longer have to go to my family photos page to get to my Flick’r Photostream, the pictures will appear in the sidebar, simply click it and you can see any and all of my uploaded pictures. Enjoy!

The Last Party!

After two previous parties we celebrated our FINAL 3rd birthday for Ella Sunday. This was the kids party for sure. We cooked out and had a big slip-n-slide for them to play on. I am always an over planer, uber worrier and a stressed out mess gearing up for gathers that I am “in charge” of. This was no exception. I spent the whole week gearing up to clean house and get our yard in order on Saturday and Sunday morning.  Through the week I think I had 10-15 lists going on and all that kind of craziness. I had food to feed thousands, worked super hard and ended up having an hour and a half before the party to sit and do nothing. Oh, well I guess I truly am one of “those” people.

 

I let it all go and enjoyed the party. Watched the kids get wet and messy. Egged on the grow ups to go down the slip-n-slide while trying to stay dry myself. I managed to get Emily and Shane down but the rest copped out on me. We had fun visiting, playing and eating! Ella will probably never remember it but I will. Her last birthday as a baby before she starts school. I think I may have  empty nest syndrome already.

 

 

 

 

 Even Baby Kayden enjoyed himself and I sure hope our other guests did as well. I know we have many more birthday parties ahead of us and I can only hope I will get better and less stressed as time goes on. I will try, that is the best I can promise at this point.  

Happy Birthday Dear Ella!

So today was Ella’s actual birthday! We celebrated low key style today. Dad made breakfast while Ella opened her presents from Grandma and Grandpa, and Great Grandma Shirly. At swim lessons we shared cupcakes with the other kids (left is a picture of Ella’s cupcake face). We then trekked to the local book store (yes that is what Ella wanted to do), where we spent an hour looking at books, playing on the train table and reading. After a pretend nap we went to dinner at Nana and Papaw’s house. There Ella got he present from Papaw Dean (a new big girl bike). She was so tired she fell into bed and passed out at like 8 and missed her birthday call from Grandma and Grandpa (the picture below is what she looked like when Grandma and Grandpa called). She had a good day though and I know she felt special and loved. I can’t believe my little baby is 3 years old now.    

Lake Birthday!

We went to the lake today to celebrate the July Birthdays (Cari, Ella, Wendy and Emily, Donna too but she wasn’t there). Despite some doggie drama it was fun to see every one, visit and celebrate together. We even got to see Baby Kayden and Aunt Emmie. The kids went swimming, played baseball (for picking up a bat for the first time ever Dylan was actually very good, it may be his future sport), and play dough. Kayden beat up my daughter a bit per usual, but they still had fun together. Papaw Dean made home made ice cream, Kayden only tried to eat the rock salt once. He learned that lesson. My kids even swam in the lake, I guess those lessons are coming in handy! They even got playfully thrown in a couple of times and enjoyed it!

I will be gearing up this week for Ella’s backyard birthday on Sunday. Lots of cleaning, yard pick up and cooking! Fun, fun, fun! Wish me luck!

Update!

I put up a new quote and added a link to my book shelves at GoodReads. Check out what I’m currently reading, what I’ve read and what I plan on reading next. Don’t judge me I am not as freaky as my book choice make it seem. I will try to add reviews of my most recent reads and all new reads as I finish them. Pass along your favorites and any suggestions you might have for my next read.

Hope you enjoy!

Swim, Swim, Swim!

Well, we are into week two of our second session of swim lessons. This time Ella is getting to join in (as she will turn 3 on the last day of the session). They have come leaps and bounds. Dylan is jumping in to the deep end all by himself (going under and all). Ella is getting braver about her face going under the water. She still drinks half the pool. Tuesday the lifeguard was joking with me saying they were going to have to send me a water bill.  They both love it and ask me every day if we can go to the pool. Despite the 8:30 lesson time they are up and ready every morning. The picture to the left is them getting ready to go. Notice Ella’s foot ware? Yep cowboy boots, I guess she is a cowgirl after all. Despite his facial expression in the picture below, “big kicks” is one of Dylan’s favorite parts of the lessons. Enjoy the video of the jumping in below!

 

Family Dinner

Back when we moved back to North Carolina I had these grand dreams of once a week family dinners, birthday parties and Saturday afternoons in the backyard. Well, that never happened. We do see our family often, but not quite like I had envisioned. We moved back here to have more family around, and more support amongst other things. We enjoy having the auties, grandma, grandpa and great grandparents around and we try to get together as often as our schedules allow. We are all very busy!

Well last night we got to have a nice small family dinner. Shane, the kids and I went to Aunt Cari’s house and enjoyed a quiet, fun dinner. Dylan took pictures, Ella colored, Cari, Shane and I got a chance to visit. It was nice to have a smaller group (when we get the whole gang from just one side of the family together the numbers top 15-20). We talked shop (pizza), family and all that good stuff. It was really nice. Simple as it was, it warmed my heart to see two generations of brother and sister together. The love that brothers share with sisters never ends, despite the bickering that always go hand in hand with siblings. I only wish we are able to continue to get together, call me a sap, I don’t know, but I had fun.

           Aunt Cari, from Dylan’s point of view           

     

Ella from Dylan’s point of view

Dylan from Dylan’s point of view

You can see more of Dylan’s handiwork on my flickr phostream.

Just click the link from the family photos page.

Update!

If you click on the “Family Photos” page (in the top right box, I have included a link to my Flickr Photostream. I will still include pictures in my posts but frankly I take way too many to post here so if your interested in more of us, check it out.

Mission Acomplished!

Well, my weekend had me finishing a project Cari and I started last week. She and I began painting her new/old house last weekend. She called and asked me if I would help her paint her room…Well, long story short, we ended up painting the walls and trim in her living room, computer room, bathroom, hall and her bedroom. I don’t know why but for all the hard work that painting is, I find it highly relaxing, rewarding and even a bit fun. Maybe that was just because it was two days away from my kids. Anyway, we made some great progress last weekend and finished up this weekend. I truly had fun spending time with Cari and painting. 

I don’t know for sure, but I think I may love painting. I love picking out the color, that may be my favorite (although it takes me forever and I am very indecisive when it comes to color selection). I love the prep, I love seeing the first look of the color in the room and I love the instant affect that a new coat of paint has on a room. The only thing I don’t like is the brush and roller clean up after. So if you need some help painting, just let me know, I think I maybe a pro by now. Hahaha!

When we moved into our current house we literally painted every surface in the house. I picked out lots of colors, yellow for the main rooms, blue for Dylan’s room and pink and green for Ella’s room. The only color I did not pick is the color I am now longing to change. When it came time to pick the master bedroom color, I guess I ran out of inspiration, because I gave way to my husbands preference. I told him I kind of wanted a blue but not too much like my son’s room. His solution…find a name he liked…teeny  bikini blue(picture Duke blue, almost crayon box blue). Now two years later I am dieing to change it again…but alas I am again at a loss for inspiration. I will find it soon I am sure. Sage maybe, khaki maybe( Cari used khaki for her living room, hall and computer room and I liked that), a calmer shade of blue maybe. I just don’t know. Do you all have any ideas (leave me a comment or email me)?