I'm loving this yard sale page!

A while back I found a local yard sale page on Facebook. It is awesome!

I love shopping at consignment sales, but I don't like selling things in them because of all the rules... cardstock tags pinned in a certain way, hangers a certain type and way, must drop off at this time, etc. etc. Plus, they  typically take 30% of the profit, and another $6-$7 advertising fee.

With this page, I can post what I want to sell, and it sells pretty easy as long as it's priced right. It's harder to sell things over $10, but with enough persistence, it can be done. Plus, I get 100% of the profit! I just meet them down the street at the grocery store (I don't like having them come to our place because I don't know them).

So far, I have made about $350 over the past couple of months in selling the kids old toys and clothes!!!

Tomorrow, I am going to be making another $15. And there are a couple of other sells in the making to where I may make up to another $40 within the next few days. I know that's not a ton, but it's some extra cash, which is always nice!!

And I've still got about $100 worth of kids stuff alone to sell.

I've also been donating some things. The other day, we took a garbage bag full of toys to our old neighbors from our first apartment. And we given a way a few other things here and there.

I made a huge list of stuff that we needed to get rid of before Christmas, and I am determined to either sell or donate every bit of it, so that the kids have plenty of room for their new stuff. 

My little sickling...

Long story short... the night before last, Brentley woke up at 4 am throwing up. Fast forward through lots more vomiting, some diarrhea, a fever, and a trip to the doctor... by 7 pm, he had only had two (barely) wet diapers and he hadn't held a single thing down since he first started throwing up, and it had been 24 hours since the last time he had ate anything (dinner the night before). So, we called the on call doctor, and she said to take him to T.C. Thompson's Children's Hospital for possible dehydration.

So, we took Grace to my mom's and headed to the hospital (which is a good 30 minute drive).

He was NOT a happy camper while we were there. His temp was at 101.3, so we stripped him to his diaper. He was crying almost the whole time, and we were in this room with multiple beds, and only curtains divided the patients. Well, the people next to us apparently got nosy .. the daughter stuck her phone over the curtain and started taking pictures!! For those of you who know Chris, you know that didn't sit well with him. Before I could even say anything (which I would have), he said, "Are you kidding me? People need to mind their own business!" To which the mom replied (just like this), "I know he ain't saying stuff to my kids!" Ohhh goodness. Personally I think we had every right to say something considering what the daughter was doing, but I was afraid the mom was going to come around and try to start a fight or something. Luckily she didn't.

Anyway, they gave him some anti-nausea medicine and a popsicle. He ate the entire popsicle (which made him extremely happy because he was finally getting to eat something again), and he held it down for 30 minutes, so they gave us a prescription for the medicine and sent us on our way. So far, it has worked. He's had some diarrhea, but he's doing much better...
On the other hand, Grace and Chris have it now :(


We had to put this sticker on him.


At first he was just checking everything out. (Ignore me... that's what I look like when I've been up since 4 am and been thrown up on 10+ times lol).


Then he got grumpy.


Then his exhaustion, hunger, and sickness caught up with him. This is what apparently prompted the girl to snap some pics of us.


Then he got a popsicle, so he was a little happier. 

Thanksgiving's over... now what?

Well, for starters, school. I have four days left, and on every single one of those days I have an exam. Yay... note the sarcasm.
My last day is December 6th, then I will have finished this semester!

Aside from that, let the Christmas festivities begin!!

November 30th - We will be going to our bank because they are having a Christmas party. I love our bank because once a month they have some sort of party to show their appreciation for their customers. They're going to have Santa there, and Grace is very into Santa this year, so she will love that! And I like the fact that we will be able to take pictures because you can't ever take your own pictures in the mall, and they're crazy expensive to buy the ones they take.

Decemeber 2nd - Brittany and I are going to have a present wrapping day! Yay!

December 5th - We are going to get our family Christmas pictures done. I always plan a color scheme for us every year, and this year I ordered a shirt for Chris and some jewelry for me online to wear to match the outfits that I got the kids a month or so ago. I think the pictures are going to look great as long as the kids cooperate.

December 7th - We are going to the Christmas parade in our town!

And I'm not sure of the dates yet, but Grace and I will be going on the Polar Express, and we are going to get to ride in the car with Santa!
We will also be going to the Christmas house to see their set up as we do every year. Brentley will be able to walk around this year, so I'm sure he'll enjoy it!
And, my friend Ashley is going to come over one day and help Grace do the Cinderella gingerbread house she got her for her birthday!

And, at some point, my mom wants us to go shopping at the mall. I'm pretty much done shopping, but I do need to get a gift card for one of my cousin's kids. And we're going to let the kids play in the play area.

I also have four other kids I need to get something for. I wasn't planning on buying for my cousin's kids because I didn't think we'd be meeting this year (because of my aunt's surgery), but now that I know we will be, I'll have to get them something. I decided on a Wal-mart gift card for the older boy, some arts and crafts stuff for two of the girls, and the stack and roll cups for the baby boy.

And we're trying to find a way to juggle six different places to go within three days at Christmas. One Christmas eve, we have Chris' extended family, Chris' step dad's parents house, and Chris' mom's house. They all want us to come, and I just don't see how that's going to work.
Then we're going to do our own thing Christmas morning, go to my mom's around lunch time, and my dad's later in the evening.
The day after Christmas, we will be going to my extended family.
Holidays are so much more stressful now that I'm an adult!! I do like that I get to see everyone though. As a kid, my dad got all holidays per the divorce agreement, so I barely got to spend any time with my mom on holidays, and I always hated that.

I'm also going to attempt to get some Christmas crafts in there somewhere lol.

Anyway, as if you can't tell, we are going to be busy busy busy in December!
I'm just glad I won't have to worry about school anymore after the 6th... we'll at least for about a month I won't.

Ohh, and just because I feel like I need to mention this... Chris and I decided that, NEXT Christmas, we are going to get the kids a bunk bed! Grace is FINALLY sleeping in her own bed! So now, we're going to work on getting Brentley in his own bed, and by next Christmas, he will be plenty big enough to sleep in a regular bed. Plus, it will be a space saver. I don't know why, but I am really excited about that! Lol.

Happy Turkey Day!!

We had a very busy day.
We watched about two hours of the parade before we had to go. I put the ham in the crock pot to cook, and we went to eat lunch with my dad and brother, then Chris and Grace headed to his step dad's parents' house for another meal while Brentley and I headed home to cook for dinner.
At five, Chris, Grace, his mom, and his brother came, and my mom and sister got there about 15 minutes later, and we had our Thanksgiving dinner!

I was a good mommy today. I remembered to take pictures!! Just before we went with my dad, we took them outside and got some cute ones!










I LOVE this one!









And, I also remembered to take pictures of our dinner (and the kids playing before dinner).


He is my monkey. He climbs EVERYTHING. Just another way that him and Grace are different lol.


Grace and Cheyenne!


Dinner! Ham, green beans, mac and cheese, mashed potatoes, stuffing, rolls, orange delight, deviled eggs, cranberry sauce, and pickles! We also had three different pies, but they aren't in the picture.


The kids eating at the "kid table."

It was a really busy, but a great Thanksgiving!

*No black Friday shopping for me. I'm already done Christmas shopping! Lol.

Randomness.

Today was Chris' 24th birthday. We went to see the movie Red Dawn and got coffee afterward (well, he got coffee... I got hot chocolate because I hate coffee).
Red Dawn was a really good movie! And he was talking about how he wanted to see the original one again, so when we got home, I ordered it for him, and I'm going to give it to him for Christmas :) Shhhhh. He doesn't know!

After the kids went to sleep, I cleaned the house from top to bottom. Like, I was literally on my hands and knees scrubbing the kitchen floor (our Shark mop won't work, so we are mopless).
I also boiled the eggs (for deviled eggs) and made orange delight (it's a mix of a bunch of stuff that I don't feel like listing, but it's good!). I also got out everything that I'll need tomorrow that doesn't need to be refrigerated.



I'll be cooking ham, mac and cheese, mashed potatoes, corn, and rolls and finishing the deviled eggs tomorrow... my mom is making everything else and bringing it.

Also, just wanted to show the cute plate sets we got for the kids that will be here tomorrow.

I'm going to try to get some pics of the kids in their outfits tomorrow, so hopefully I'll have some cute ones to post tomorrow night!

Also, this time a year from now, I will be sitting in a theater waiting on the premier of Catching Fire!!! A year seems like forever away. 

Decorations!!!

We put up our tree tonight with the kids! Well, sort of. The kids started getting tired about half way through, so we put them to bed, and then I decorated the rest of the tree and everything else! Lol.

The top of our bathroom mirror.

Our stove.

Our nativity scene. Hey, it's kid friendly lol.

I told Grace she could put the reindeer on the fridge. She did it all by herself! I think she did a pretty good job!

The inside of our front door.

The kids' stockings.

The inside of our living room window. Complete with the picture frame decorations I made :)

These two things will go in the kitchen once we take our Thanksgiving decorations down. 

The outside :)

The outside of our living room window. 

The outside of our front door.

This is on our kitchen counter. Chris' grandma made it. She is no longer living, so it's very special to him. 

Our family ornament. I haven't gotten our names put on it yet, but I will. 

Grace's 2012 ornament.

One of Brentley's. I couldn't decide which one I liked better, so he got two lol.

And this is his other one. 

And... here is our Christmas tree!! :)

As I mentioned, there a couple of things we will be putting up in the kitchen once I take down our Thanksgiving things around the table. And we have several crafts we plan to do that will add to our decor, so there will probably be another decoration post sometime before Christmas, but this is most of it! :) I'm pleased with how it all turned out.

And strangely, this is the first time since we moved out of my mom's that it truly feels like home. Like, I was actually happy to be decorating here. I love that feeling! Like we actually belong here. I don't want this to be our permanent home, but I don't mind staying here until we buy a house!

Good news.

I found out today that we are still going to get to see my dad's side of the family for Christmas. We just aren't going to go to my aunt's house.

My cousin and her family lost their house during the tornado last year. The ONLY good thing about that is that they used to live about 45 minutes away, but instead of rebuilding there, they just bought a new house, which is about 5 minutes away. And, it's in a nice subdivision that has one of those pool house community type things that residents can use. We are going to use that a day or two after Christmas to have our family get together!
I'm excited because I barely ever see most of them! My aunt (that had the brain tumor) lives 45 minutes away, my other aunt lives over an hour away, one of my cousins lives 45 minutes in the other direction, one of my cousins lives in Scotland (yes, Scotland. He'll be flying in.), and I'm not even sure where my other cousin lives honestly. I know it's somewhere within an hour from here. But, needless to say, we never see most of them, so I'm glad we're still going to get together.

My aunt is doing well. She has a few more days of rehab and then she gets to go home. They did a biopsy of the tumor and it is NOT cancerous!!! Thank goodness!


On a side note: I got to see Breaking Dawn Part 2 today. Oh my goodness it was good! Best one of all of them! The ending was sooooo crazy. They did something completely unexpected with it, and I was literally on the edge of my seat saying, "WHAT??? That did not happen in the books!" I can't really say more without giving anything away, but I can say that the ending turned out to be epically amazing! The fangirl in me was pleased lol. I was very sad that it's over though :( I've still got 3 more Hunger Games movies, so yay!! Lol.

Easy Christmas decorations!

I was browsing Pinterest awhile back, and I saw a Halloween idea that I decided I would turn into a Christmas one instead. It can work for any holiday really.

I did two of them, but you can obviously do less or more.

Here's what you'll need:

• Picture frame(s)
• Window clings
• Ribbon
• Hot glue gun
• Scissors

I got the ribbon, window clings, and picture frames all for $1 a piece, so this literally cost me $4. 

First, remove the backing from the picture frame. If necessary, hot glue the glass to the frame. I didn't have to because the pieces that held the back in worked to hold just the glass too. 

Next, add your window clings however you would like. 

Then, flip it over and hot glue some ribbon to the back.

Here are my finished products!

I really like them! Very cute, and now we have something to decorate our walls with that didn't cost a fortune. 

Oh, I did buy some of those hooks that stick on the wall and come off clean. I didn't want to poke holes in the wall for something we were going to be taking down after Christmas. So, in total, I spent $6 on everything, and got two decorations out of it. I'm going to hang one on each side of our big window in the living room. I can't wait to hang them up when we decorate next week!

Thanksgiving activities!

I got a Thanksgiving banner and a couple of little Thanksgiving activities for Grace from Target the other day. We did them today, and I hung the banner up :)

Our kitchen :)

The thankful turkey :)

She didn't quite understand what being thankful meant. I explained it to her, and then tried to ask her what she was thankful for, and she just kept saying "butterflies!" So, I wrote "butterflies" on one of the feathers, and for the rest of them, I would name three things, and she would pick one. We ended up with butterflies, mommy and daddy, Brentley, food, and our car lol.

I couldn't find a black marker, so we used gray, and it didn't show up very well. It''s still cute though!

We had another turkey, but it was too hard for her to do, so I did it, then I let her put the extra stickers it came with on a piece of orange construction paper.

And, what's a post without Brentley in it, too??

He's sporting his new outfit from Children's Place! 

 

We got the food today, so we have everything we need for Thanksgiving! I also have their Thanksgiving outfits picked out as well. Hopefully I'll remember to take pictures this year! Two years ago, I didn't get any good pictures of Grace, and last year, I forgot to take pictures all together. I'm determined to get good ones this year!