Yard Sale/Thrift Store Finds

I haven't posted yard sale finds in awhile.
This weekend I hit several yard sales and our Goodwill - I don't like our local Goodwill very much as they generally price things a bit high but I happened to be in on the day all kids clothes were $1 and they had some household items priced really low. Here are some of the household items I picked up this weekend:

I got this gorgeous glass bowl for $2. A friend of mine has one just like it that I have admired since I first saw it. It's got a hallowed out part you can get to through the bottom of the bowl and you can fill it with decor to match the holiday. Right now I am loving it with no decorations, just holding lemons. (Which are .19 cents each at the grocery store right now!! We're making lots of LEMONADE these days!)


A brand new-in-the-box punch bowl with 6 glasses. It will double as a deep salad bowl or trifle bowl should I need either :) It was $5.


This three tiered dessert stand was $2. I need to find the perfect plates for it. I love how simple it is, it will blend in easily with any setting and can be decorated easily if I feel like making it look more festive.


And my favorite piece is this long candle holder. It was $8 which is more than I normally pay for second hand decorating pieces, but I have wanted something like this for AGES! It goes perfectly on our long dining room table.

Thrifty Treasures

Judah Funnies

I adore Judah's developing vocabulary and grasp on when and how to use words. He LOVES to talk and delights us daily with funny responses or random one liners that he throws at us. There's no way I can keep up with them all, but here are a few that I have written down recently;

When Judah wants the window rolled down he says “I want the window off the car.” When he wants the window rolled up he says "Put the window on please."

One day we were sitting beside each other and he passed gas. He looked all around and then to me and said “Did you hear it?”!

Judah hurt his foot and was telling me it hurt and then said “Put on diaper rash cream?”

I was singing him a song while we were waiting in the car and he said “No mommy. Judah no like your singing.”

Baby Faces

I remember when Judah was a baby someone laughing at the amount of pictures that I took of him. When they found out I was pregnant with Wesley they said "Well, this is when the picture taking will slow down."


Well, it hasn't.
In fact the amount of pictures I have taken has increased significantly.


I think I have an addiction with taking photographs of my children.
Do you think there is a self help group for that?

I checked my "2007" folder - the year Judah was born- and it has 5,000 images in it.
And then I checked the "2008" folder - the year Wesley was born - and it has 8,000 images.

I love living in a digital age where it's possible to both take thousands of pictures of your children AND store thousands of pictures of your children with minimal cost and space!

TGI Friday's

Sorry for the poor image - I snapped a quick picture right before opening it up for dinner :)
I wanted to mention this deal because if you already eat at TGI Friday's it is a pretty good deal. These Skillet Meals are $7 at my Walmart and inside is a $5 off a $15+ purchase at the restaurant. If you already eat at TGI Friday's than this is a decent deal.
The skillet meal was tasty but small. I made it while Paul was away hoping there would be leftovers for another meal, but the boys and I finished it off in one sitting. It was a fun treat to get, and we have a giftcard to use at TGI Friday's so we'll enjoy the $5 off coupon!

Homemade Dishwasher Soap

While Paul was out of town I unexpectedly ran out of dishwasher soap one evening - not wanting to run out to the store that night, or even the next day, I sat down with my bestie Google and looked up homemade dishwasher soap.
Oddly enough I had all the ingredients on hand to make the homemade dishwasher soap and I TOTALLY love it! I don't think I'll ever go back to the store bought stuff.

The homemade dishwasher soap is cheaper (although your upfront cost will be more.) It smells better. It doesn't have any hidden or mysterious ingredients in it. And it looks pretty sitting in a glass jar next to the sink.

Here's what you need:

1/2 cup Dr Bronners Sal Suds (increase the amount if you have hard water)
1/2 cup water
1 tsp lemon juice
3 drops tea tree oil
1/2 cup white vinegar

Combine all ingredients and store in a covered jar. I use 1 TBSP per load and .5 TBSP in the pre-rinse compartment.

4th of July Themed Food

Remember THESE sticks I picked up at Target? This is what I did with them on the 4th. I wish they weren't so pointy and sharp on the ends - I'd love to do something like this for snacks for the boys! Any ideas on something similar I could use that isn't quite as dangerous?!

I Joined A Gym...

This was taken about 7 years ago when we were 17.

Paul is a committed guy. When he makes up his mind that we're going to do something he is going to do everything he can to make it happen.

He decided that this week we were going to get serious about working out together - which really means he wanted me to get serious about working out. He's already good about working out. He actually loves working out and is completely serious and committed to it... he just thinks I need to be. But he's gracious and kind enough to use the "we" line.

We had done well so far this week, and this evening after Bible Study we were planning on hitting the gym. My brother is here visiting so the plan was to put the boys down for the night and Paul and I hit the gym for a late night workout. I tell ya folks, that is COMMITMENT. It isn't easy working out at any time of day, but to head out at 9:45pm?! It's beyond commitment, it's ridiculous.

But I did it because I love my man.
And when we got to the gym they told us it would be closing at 10.
We both thought it was open til 11:30, but I was definitely more excited than disappointed with the news and happily walked back to our car.

My love got in the car and matter of factly said "Lets go get a trial membership at the Omni. They're a 24 hour gym."

I totally thought he was kidding, but he wasn't. He drove down the street and walked right in and nicely asked about us getting a free trial membership. They signed us right up and let us work out right then.

It was the funniest workout I have ever had :)
My man is a determined one and I love him for it!

And not that it matters, but I didn't like the Omni at all and would never switch gyms.

Baby Bum

Back Porch

I have had these pictures on my computer for a while meaning to upload them - I will eventually get around to taking pictures of all the rooms in our house!! For now here is our back porch.

I just love this room - we spend a ton of time out here. From morning quiet time to the littles play time to evening movie dates (on our laptop) with Paul, this room is our go to room. It overlooks our backyard and the neighboring horse farm which is pretty cool!

This is the right side of the room - the window you see above the couch looks into the kitchen.


The door leads into the living room.

There's a doorbell on the back door and Judah loves to ring it and watch me run to the front door to see who it is! In fact lately he has started ringing the door bell at the back door and saying "Who is it?" and will run to the front door.

I set up a little table for the boys back here.

Tank

A couple weeks ago I borrowed my friends kids so I could play with my new lens. I am still processing the images (thanks to my computer being out of commission for a week!) but I just love this one of the two boys on the tank. They were great sports laying across there - it didn't look comfortable at all but they did it and didn't complain!

Easy to Please

Judah: "Momma I want some food."
Me: "What kind of food would you like?"
Judah: "Food on a plate please."

Lampshade Makeover

I forgot to take a before picture, but just imagine the lamp shade without anything on it.

We were given this lamp (and a second matching one) as a wedding gift and I just love them! But after many moves the shades were a bit scruffy looking and ready to retire ... but before I could let them go I decided to try a project I had seen in a magazine.

I used painters tape to tape off the bottom part and then painted it the color that we plan on painting the Family Room - "secret passage". It's a light gray almost blue color. Dreamy.

I will eventually get a wider ribbon and put it around the lamp shade - this one doesn't fit the entire way around and is being held on with double sided tape.


While the pictures are poor quality and the ribbon is a bit crooked at the moment the paint and ribbon really does jazz up the lampshade and I kinda love the new look!!

The boys and I got to the airport two hours early on Friday - they both enjoyed watching the planes landing and taking off while we waited for Paul's flight to get in.

Judah dressed himself that day - a size 12 month shirt and his brothers baby legs ... Judah rocks his own style for sure!

I am taking a week long break from blogging - my regular laptop is currently out of commission, Paul is coming home soon and a bunch of other things have popped up, so I'm taking a break!

I am currently using my old laptop (that has a broken screen!!) and I haven't used it since last summer. It's been fun looking through all the old pictures that are still stored on here, like this one of Judah last summer:

A Boys Love

Judah: "Mommy, I like you."
Me: "I like you too Judah."
Judah: "Mommy, let's cuddle, ok?"

30 Days with Littles Day30

When I was 20 weeks pregnant with Judah I almost lost him. It's almost overwhelming to think back on the circumstances. But in looking back I am comforted by seeing God's hand so clearly guiding us through the situation - from the timing of everything, to the doctors that were on call, to the hard decisions we had to make. Until I was 32 weeks pregnant the doctors were iffy on whether he would make it full term or not, and while he was born 5 weeks premature he was healthy and totally normal.

All that to say - not a day goes by that I don't remember how close I felt we were to loosing him and in turn thank God for saving him and giving us our precious son.

And while Wesley's pregnancy wasn't nearly as dramatic as Judah's, it easily could have been - and I praise God for giving me two healthy boys.

Kristin mentioned in her guest post that her main survival strategy is prayer. I couldn't agree with her more. And digging a bit deeper into it - if we are thanking God each and every day for our children we will be cultivating an attitude of thanksgiving and thereby living a joyful life - seeing the Glorious in the mundane. Loving our children in a selfless way. Showing them what a true relationship with Christ looks like. For a Christian mother, that should be our goal for each day that we spend with our children - to show them Christ.


This concludes the 30 Days with Littles series! Wow!! Thanks for tagging along and adding your ideas in the comments. There were some great ideas I was going to try out with my boys!

30 Days of Littles Day 29

Children are funny.
And absolutely hilarious.

While most of the time it is easy to see the humor (funny things they wear or say!) other times it is easy to let exhaustion and the mundane chores of daily life get in the way of how I see the boys.
The other day I was exhausted. I'd drank a bit too much coffee the day before (*ahem* 12 cups to be exact. I only know how to much coffee by the pot full.) and I didn't fall asleep til after 3 am.

I haven't been that tired in a long, long time. And it was totally my fault I was that tired.
Totally didn't make me feel ANY better knowing I'd brought it entirely upon myself.

Anyways, I was crabby and exhausted and wanted to lock myself far away from my children.
But seeing as that's not really an option I pulled out this clown hat I'd bought for the boys, grabbed my camera and took some pictures.
Oh. And I ate an entire cut-n-bake thing of cinnamon rolls.
Laughing with (ok, AT. I laughed AT them) my children and eating 5,000 calories worth of yumminess made my day so much better and put things in a better perspective.

Happy 4th of July everyone!

Missing Him

Paul sent me this picture from Texas.
*drool*
Isn't it gorgeous?
And that was just taken with his cell phone camera.
I want to go there!

If it wasn't so very far away I would drive there to surprise him for his graduation next week - I think it's a tad crazy to attempt a 24+ hour drive alone with two little boys.
So I won't be going. BUT I WANT TO.

We went to Texas together once.
It was just before we were married and my brother and I were visiting Paul in Oklahoma.
My brother was - and 4.5 years later still is - oddly obsessed with Texas, so we surprised him by going to Dallas on our way to the airport.

I wish I could show you how much sense that didn't make.
Go to google maps and add three destinations.
Start with Ft. Sill, OK
Then go to Dallas, TX
Then go to Oklahoma City, OK

I don't know what we were thinking.
But that was my one time being in Texas.

Paul's always said he wants to take me to San Antonio, which is where he did some training with the Army. I am adding El Paso to the places to see in Texas. From the pictures he has sent me it looks so beautiful!

30 Days of Littles Day 28

I don't like to have a lot of toys in the house, and so I don't. It is really hard keeping their toys to a minimum, but they just don't need lots of toys.
The toys they do have are scattered throughout the house. There is a small box in their room of toys, a small one in the living room and a small basket on the back porch. Then there's a couple cars in the TV Room and a couple wooden toys near where they eat breakfast - and that's it.

I like having toys accessible in every room we are in - whether it's to grab one to distract Wesley during a diaper change, to entertain the one who finishes his meal first or so we aren't dragging toys all over the house - I like having designated toy areas in our main living areas.
And that's not to say that dragging toys around the house doesn't happen. Because it does with favorite toys. The Abacus is a current favorite of Wesley's right now and it is so funny to watch him drag it from room to room and up and down the stairs =)

Cupcake Love

Tuesday evening some dear friends had us over to celebrate Wesley and my birthdays! It was a fun evening, and Wesley adored his first cupcake! =)
Click on the image to see an album of more images from the evening.

Sun Kissed

30 Days of Littles Day 27

The boys are much more pleasant and calm inside the house if they have had time to romp and explore outside the house.
I think before they came to live with us they were honorary members on the island from Where the Wild Things Are.

The amount of their arguments with each other and their disobedience are closely connected to a few factors:
How much sleep they have had;
Their diet;
And how much time they have had just running around and being boys.

Sometimes it's hard getting them outside to play. It gets SO hot here - like nostril hair burning hot. And sometimes I am just plain lazy and don't want to chase a ball or run after them. (Yes, I said it. I can be lazy.)

But really, the boys NEED time to let their energy be exhausted. I see such a difference in their attitudes when they have had that time outside to just be crazy, playful, wild boys - shooting at cars, hiding in the grass, chasing balls, rolling down the hill.

I couldn't help myself... I had to tackle this picture in Photo Shop - so much better edited! =)

The Boys and Their Tats

straight out of the camera - from my memory card to this blog. No editing was done to these pics... in an effort to better myself at photography I thought I would start posting some SOOC pictures.

Happy Canada Day!

Thanks for the shirts Esther!

30 Days of Littles Day 26

Judah takes great delight in doing things for me and giving me things - on a daily basis.

Picking me weeds.
Clearing his dishes and spilling food along the way.
Pulling all the diapers out of the box while trying to get me *one* diaper.
Coloring me pictures on documents I need.

Those are just a few examples.
There is a true joy that he has when he thinks he has done something to please me and I cherish his boy-ish love and enthusiasm.
It would be easy to get frustrated with the extra mess he makes, but he has such an eager spirit to serve and I think any frustration or negative response on my behalf would discourage him from trying to help.
It could be easy to overlook the weeds he picks me - but he doesn't look at the weeds as weeds. To him they are as beautiful as any expensive bouquet Paul might bring me home. (And honestly?! They do the same melt-my-heart-thing that Paul's flowers do too!)

Sometimes, while going through the same day-to-day activities, it is easy to overlook the little things Judah does in an attempt to help or be sweet- and not just overlook them, but see them as more work and frustrating.
It's been on my heart a lot more lately about being encouraging to my children.
Purposely, each day, encouraging them.

"Therefore encourage one another and build up one another..."
1 Thess 5:11