We got rid of some stuff!!!

In our house, there is always the need for more space.  With a family of 5 we can accumulate things at a rapid pace and sometimes it becomes necessary to clean house.  So we planned and scheduled and had a yard sale.

It still amazes me how much work goes into having a yard sale.  Things are collected, stored, cleaned (sometimes more than once), moved to a different spot at least 3 times before the sale, advertisements are placed, signs are hung, everything gets sorted and displayed, sales are made, then it is over.

 

 

  I have never sold everything at a yard sale, but for years I would pack the leftovers back up and take it back to its spot in the basement and just start adding to it again.  

This year we decided to do things a little differently.  We used free advertising on Craigslist.org and Facebook, plus we posted some signs.  After two days we called it a day and this time we re-claimed the things we really weren't sure if we wanted to sell anyways and we loaded the rest in the back of the truck. 

 

The local chapter of the Eastern Stars was having a yard sale the following weekend, so we drove the truck to their hall and donated it to them.  It was an awesome feeling to not only be rid of so many things we have no use for, but also to be able to make a donation to a good organization.

The basement feels bigger and less cluttered after our yard sale.  Although we did not profit financially as well as we have in the past, we earned some karma and space and that is an even greater reward. Therefore, I have decided that the success of a yard sale should be rated on the ammount of space gained, not the ammount of money that is made.

 

Fun on the Roanoke River

With the river in the backyard we want to take advantage of it any chance to get, but just like all other families with toddlers and young kids we are pretty busy most of the time.  I am not totally ok with taking the girls in the river yet.  Normally I am as country as country can be, but there are germs, bugs, critter and other dangers that I feel shouldn't mingle with babies/toddlers.  So for right now we go to the river during naptime for the girls and let them have a quite house to sleep in.

 

 

We have been making progress on our river renovation and are really hoping that it does not all wash away in the next flood.  Aiden was very excited to have his cousin Logan and his Uncle Larry come over and play in the river and he was even more excited when his friend Anthony and his cousin Jacob showed up to his "river party" about 2 weeks ago.

 

 

 

We have created a small canal to tube down into a little pool that comes off the main channel and we are working on clearing some of the rocks out of the middle of the channel and making a nice rocky area at the shore that is easier to walk on than the uneven ground and to have a deeper channel that we don't drag bottom on.

 

We took Aiden out again today at nap time.  He really loves our set-up and wants to be big enough to be able to go anywhere in the river.  Now that we have the pool and the cancel he is so happy to be able to walk around on his own a little.  We have to reinforce the rules sometimes and he is required to keep his life jacket on, but otherwise it is getting to be a more friendly river than it started out being.

I am back :)

It seems like forever since I have had or taken the time to share our adventures, and boy have we had them.  We have been doing everything from moving rocks around in the river to catching fish in the minnow trap to going to touch-a-truck.   I really wish the girls were a little bigger sometimes so that they could join in the activities that Aiden loves so much, but until then we will be having lots of naptime adventures and one on one adventures with either mom or dad.

 

We have found that the girls are not moving around enough to wear them out in the play yard and pack-n-play so we have been letting them roam free more and more.  They are so curious and get into everything.  Izzy even grabbed the bag of cheerio's out of the box and had fun throwing them into the floor.  ((I had to clean up the mess cause I had to take the time to snap a couple of photos, but it was worth it.)) 

 

 

Emma is fascinated with opening and shutting doors as well as taking off her shirt and trying to put it on again and putting on and taking off hats. She really likes the one that Grandma made for her a lot too.

 

Aiden is just a 4 year old boy, loll.  He has been having a lot of fun catching all sorts of bugs and anything else that is slow enough for him to catch.  I have fixed his critter cage so that most bugs cannot escape, but he has tossed it around enough that the lid does not latch and I have discontinued allowing it into the house.  Aiden likes to play with the bugs and occasionally gets distracted and loses them.  He also has lots of fun with his toad, Ribbert. 

Sally the Salamander ;)

Well I haven't seen baby blue tail all day, but the big one we had before was very good at hiding so I am trying not to worry too much.  While we were cleaning up the yard "J" found this little guy in the dirt near the shed.  It is an Eastern Mud Salamander and let me tell you it can be fast.  Unlike the blue-tail this one feels more like a worm than a snake.  I really hope Ribbert does not decide his new friends are dinner.

 

Our latest addition! :)

This is baby blue tail.  She is the newest addition to the terrarium and luckily Ribbert has not eatten her (I think I have seen him eat bigger worms.)  The little lizard is about 3 inches long and we rescued her from a spider web near the eve of the house a few days ago.  She is finally getting a little braver and coming out to sit on her rock daily.  We almost caught a companion for her today that was a little smaller, but Aiden's help didn't quite work out the way he hoped, lol.  Maybe next time. 

She is so small that we went out in the yard today and captured some ants to add to the terrarium, otherwise I really don't know what to feed her.

Dollar Tree Find!!! :)

Aiden loves temporary tattoo's.  I found some neat ones at the Dollar Tree last time I was there and he was excited to try them out!  THis one is from the Han-i-mals pack, too cute and there are 4 more to try!!!

Just another day in the neighborhood! :)

 My favorite pictures are the ones I take of my family.   The lighting and clarity of my pictures could use some improvement, but that can wait until I can afford a kick-ass camera.  Until then I will rely on my so-so camera phone and happily preserve my memories.  I love seeing my babies smiling in their daddies arms so I try not to miss the opportunity to grab a new shot!!!

Emma and Izzy's favorite snack is baby goldfish.  Really they will eat just about any variety, but we feel safer with the smaller ones for now.  I had given them each a mini blueberry muffin which Izzy ate gladly, Emma choose to hold onto hers and see if she was given a better choice.  It is so funny how different they still can be. 

 The kids are usually so good about going to bed and staying there, that I told "J" that it was no problem for him to go hang out with a buddy and watch the fight tonight.  Little did I know that he would tell Aiden that he was leaving and that Aiden would be "helping" me work until like 11:30 pm.  It was touch and go a couple of times, but overall I am proud of how good and quiet he was while I was taking calls.

A picture is worth 1,000 words :)

People say a picture is worth a thousand words.  Here is a great one that I captured on July 1st (day 3 of no power.) Barb and the kids went to Mom and Dad's to help them clean-up after the storm.  After helping they all came over to enjoy some time in the river (and reliving childhood moments.)  Unfortunately, I can't work from home without power, etc so I had to go to work while they were visiting.  I missed out on the fun, but saw a great photo opportunity right before I left!

The girls lived in bloomers or just shorts for a couple of days, but we gave them a fan as soon as we got the generator going.

Power Outage 2012

It's been awhile since I have had the chance to post.  We lost power Friday night at 8:50 pm and it came back on Tuesday right around Noon.  We were all so grateful that we could turn off the generator and that we were lucky enough to have one through this whole ordeal.  (Thanks for stocking the house with a generator Daddy!)

The wind storm was incredible to say the least.  It was almost like being in the middle of a hurricane without the rain and once it was over there were more than 300,000 without power.  Since we are on a well it also meant that we were unable to keep it working and we ran out of water after just a couple of days.  We are at least lucky enough to have a river in the backyard so that we could still flush the toilets!  I really feel for the people that weren't as lucky. The poor AEP workers have been working around the clock to get everything back on track and they were even presented with a large thunderstorm on Sunday that took out power for an additional 30,000. 

Living without power, water, internet, home phone, and spotty cell service for 4 days gave us all a new appreciation for them. I really don't know if we could have managed to stay at home without a generator, but I was happy not to have to move into a hotel like so many others did.  Aiden asked several times "Why can't we just have electricity?" and stated "This is not the way I wanted things to go." and "nope I still don't have room electricity in my room."  I hope that he was old enough for this to be a learning experience for him and that he never has to go through it again.

I am very grateful that Mom and Dad were able to get their power back on Saturday.  With the condition Dad is in I really don't know if he would have survived without power.  The stress of the situation and the fact that temps reached triple digits over the weekend almost took him from us on Saturday and it was miraculous that the power came back on when it did, especially since the other side of the street was still without power until this afternoon.  Dad is still kinda touch and go, but he is here and I am enjoying the time I have left with him.

There is still a lot of clean-up to do from the storm.  So far we have carted about 8 wagons of sticks out of our yard, and we were lucky enough to not lose full trees.  Mom and Dad and many others were not that lucky and clean-up at their house is going to take awhile.  "J" will start working over there soon and see  how much he can get taken care of for them, but I have a feeling this job is going to take him the better part of the summer.

I did get a few more good shots of the kids during my down time and also accumulated a bunch of chores.  So for now, I will say goodnight and be well to everyone out there and I will post again when I get some free time (or I take it ;)! )