Consignment Sale

I participated in the consignment sale, that I have been for the past 4 years, again this fall. I surveyed the girls fall/winter clothes and figured out what clothes were needed. Kaylee has out grown most of her size 5 jeans/pants, so it was on to the next size up for her. I cant believe that i shopped in that "big girl" section for my 4 year old! She has really grown a lot over the past couple of weeks.

I had a goal set in mind to spend about $100 on the sale, which included any toys/games/educational items I found. I was able to squeak out of there only $10 over my budget, I probably should have put some of the shirts back, but it was hard to pass up shirts that were $1 or $2. The best part of the sale came when I was given MY check for the items I entered into the sale. I put in about 120 items (didnt sell all of them) and was able to make $96.75!!! I was thrilled! The sale paid out a whopping 86% this time, which is considerably higher than other consignment sales. So total I got rid of clothes the girls don't/didnt wear AND bought clothes we needed all for $13.25! YIPPEE SKIPPEE!!! Oh and I got to socialize and have some nice time away from the girls during my shifts at the sale. It is always nice to get a break even if I was technically "working". The best item I think i scored was an Llbean parka for Kaylee that was in fantastic condition for 7 BUCKS! A jacket like that would be at least $80 if purchased new, and the Llbean brand cant be beat. If anything ever happens to it, i can send it back.
The only thing that i wish I would have been able to find more of was shoes. Her foot will not stop growing, she is wearing a 13 in some brands and up to a size 1 (big girls) in others. So I guess we will be buying shoes brand new this year, hopefully i can find some good sales somewhere.

Homeschool Update

Well we are in FULL swing now! We started last week, so this marks 2 weeks down.......many many more to go. So far we are loving it! I have stocked our school room with fun and educational toys and games for both girls. We start each morning immediately after breakfast, usually somewhere between 830 and 9. School usually takes somewhere between 45 minutes and a little over an hour. I was surprised at how well the work held Kaylee's attention, because anyone that knows Kaylee knows that she is a very "busy" little girl. After their work is complete we usually eat a snack, do some chores or dance to music, then we play outside, have lunch and in NO TIME it is time for nap. I am amazed at how quickly our mornings fade away.

I was introduced to a very interesting blog by a fellow homeschool mom friend called Confessions of a Homeschooler. I love this blog, among others! I decided to purchase her Letter of the Week Curriculum to get us started on our homeschooling adventure. This program is really geared towards 3-4 year olds, but I didnt feel like Kaylee was quite ready to dive right into a full time 4K program (beauty of HS, tailor the curriculum and schedule around the child). I decided to try this one first and then move on to the next level. We are speeding through this one, completing not the suggested 1 letter per week, but doing 2 letters per week most weeks. I want to have this curriculum completed before Thanksgiving so that gives us a few weeks to transition into the big 4K curriculum before the baby arrives. I have also decided to use Confessions 4K program as well. I am about to purchase it and begin all the prep work that is involved with it. I have to say so far we have LOVED her curriculum. It did require a lot of prep (printing, cutting, laminating, etc) but both girls have been working on various pieces of it and seems to be doing well and like it. Also, when I move her up to the 4K curriculum I am going to try Math U See with her (Primer Edition). Kaylee seems to show an interest in math, and considering math was my strongest point in school, I would like to tap into it as early as she would like. I have also ordered the Muzzy Spanish to try it out too. I am hoping that the entire family can benefit from learning a language. Needless to say we have jumped right in with this whole HS thing, and have been pleased so far.

We do our calendar each morning and I have implemented a chore chart for Kaylee which has really helped out in many ways. We use the "workbox system" that Confessions recommends on her blog, and although we are only 2 weeks in this system has helped develop a sense of independence when it comes to doing her school work. There are activities that she completes completely on her own, and designated times where we do an activity together. I like the fact that I dont have to sit by her and "hold her hand" through each activity. I can bounce back and forth between Kaylee, Ainslee, my computer work, and things that need to be done around the house.

Kaylee and Ainslee are growing so fast (as all kids do) and i am so thankful that I get to let them grow up before my eyes and influence their growth, instead of them learning new and often undesirable things from children at school. There is a HUGE of list reasons why we made this decision and I am SO thankful that we not only made this decision but that we were able to do it.
I have enjoyed the discipline that HS has provided for both the girls as well as myself. I was really beginning to miss being in the classroom, and this opportunity has afforded me the ability to "feel" like Im back in the classroom, but with MANY more benefits!


Here she is doing a math counting/number recognition game

coloring her math page on the floor, cause these are the kinds of things you can do when you homeschool
Drinking a delicious smoothie while working on a unifix cube activity

Both girls doing their work on the floor

Math puzzle game

Ainslee working VERY hard on her do a dot letter "O" page

Check out the necklace she made

Check out her necklace, but ignore the crazy hair

3D feel and find game

Cleanse Recap

As I mentioned a while back, I did a 7 day cleanse. I thoroughly enjoyed this experience and would suggest it to just about anyone! It has me thinking differently about food and making healthier choice for myself and my family. Dont get me wrong we still endulge in some perfectly unhealthy foods from time to time, but the addition of "good stuff" has been welcomed by all! Our lastest unhealthy dessert, but it was oh so yummy, was chocolate fondue. We dipped pretzels, strawberries, bananas (frozen and fresh), clementines, and marshmellows. The girls ate like they hadnt eaten in years, and loved every last bite.

Back to my cleanse.....so while on the cleanse, my only complaint was the prep time of my meals. Im sure it will get easier and easier as I become more and more acquainted cokking with different ingredients. Because I plan on completely this cleanse between 3 and 4 times a year. The benefits were so amazing. I had SO much more energy, my mood increased dramatically, I no longer woke up in the middle of the night and lay there sleepless for hours, i felt better and "lighter". It was awesome!

Basically the cleanse had me give up meat (which I had already done voluntarily due to pregnancy and just not wanting to eat meat), gluten (which I obviously dont eat anyways), corn, soy, alcohol, and dairy. After reading that list you might wonder what I did eat, basically fruits, veggies, quinoa (my new favorite food) and beans. During the cleanse the food I craved most was cheese, but after the cleanse I didnt even jump back in to eating cheese immediately, I think it wasnt until like the 3rd day after that I thought to myself "man I still havent had any cheese, and that's what I missed the most". It was strange. Now I still eat cheese, but no where near as much as I did pre-cleanse. I also made a smoothie each day of the cleanse, and the girls loved helping me "experiment" with our recipes. We all realy loved having smoothies, and I loved that they were packed with good stuff and tasted yummy too. We still incorporate smoothies into our "almost" everyday routine.

If you have any questions about the cleanse, or would like more info about which one I did, let me know and I will be glad to share with you. Even if you dont want to do a "cleanse" you should consider trying out some easy, heathly, and delicious smoothies.

I also made homemade Lara bars for snacks. Here were my ingredients: raw unsalted almonds, raw unsalted cashews, dates, unsweetened coconut, GF oatmeal, vanilla, and chocolate. I mad e2 different kinds one was chocolate coconut and cashew. the other was almond crunch. They were both delicious! Try it for yourself, these puppies are EXPENSIVE to buy, but easy to make your own.

The chocolate and dates all processed up, it might not look delicious, but it is!

Wordless Wednesday - Baby bump

21 weeks (and 1 day)

23 weeks

and an interested onlooker

disclaimer: i own more shorts than the ones pictured, but for some reason I had them on both times. I promise they were washed during those 2 weeks as well! ;)

Pictures and Videos GALORE!

Enjoying some watermelon after swimming

I love that she used the mouth hole to look through

eating fruit on the boat in Hot Springs

About to tube

daddy on the boat

is she eating again? yep, thats my girl!

Here are some muscadines we got from our "egg lady". We buy fresh eggs from a lady down the road, and they also sell muscadines this time of year. These little suckers were so sweet and delicious!

I found some more pictures from Florida. Here are the girls drinking their virgin "special" drinks by the pool

We were waiting for the alligator show to start

Mary and B came to the alligator show too. B was SUPER excited!

No explanation needed

B and Kaylee holding the alligator, the lady kept referring to B as her "daddy", Kaylee was quite confused but just went along with it. I suppose she does look more like him than me!

Kristy and Kaylee at River Island

Kristy and I on the last day in Florida, right before we pulled out for the drive home. Kristy came with us to Florida back when we were in High School, it was so much fun to be back with our families this time.

And the videos....

Here is another one of Ainslee jumoing in off the side of the pool

Amma and Abba gave the girls a trampoline for their "back to school" gift. Despite the directions saying 2 people are required for assembly, I had that sucker put up in no time. This video was taken before I got the net up, they were just dying to try it out.

Here is not so good video of her tubing at the lake. We went to Hot Springs with some friends for the weekend and rented a boat. I have to admit Kaylee could be a lake rat, if we gave her the chance. She LOVED it! Too bad Ainslee didnt get to join us for this trip, she turned up sick the night before we left. It was quite sad to leave her behind. But she was promised another trip to the lake so she can ride on the boat.

More Florida Videos

This one is really dark, but it was her favorite slide! We went on it like 15 times! You can tell by the audio and her comment at the end that she thoroughly enjoyed it!

Here's a clip i filmed of Ainslee following me down the slide. She was SUCH a dare devil when it came to the slide. She didnt even care if no one was at the bottom to catch her! She experimented with all ways of going down, on belly headfirst, sitting up, on back head first, on belly feet first, on back feet first. She loved every minute of it!

and here's my little fishy jumping in off the side and swimming. She decided, by HERSELF, that she wanted to take off her ring and jump off the side like the big kids. So thats just what she did! and she LOVED it! but this video does not do it justice. By the time we got home, she could jump off the side and swim about 4-6 feet to our waiting arms.........we need a pool!

Florida videos and pictures.......FINALLY

This post nearly drove me to the crazy house! Blogger kept deleting my videos and after over an hour of trying to upload 6 short videos, I have decided to try again later and just stick with the 2 it is allowing me to keep.

Here are a couple of the pics we got, we didnt take many pictures mostly just videos, and I didnt sift through the 160+ videos (just a few of them) to find ones to post. i narrowed it down to 6, hopefully i will be able to upload the other 4 later

All these videos have sound problems......sorry!

Kaylee swimming under water to get her goggles

Since my last post.....

• I have NOT gone through our Florida pics (I know I am SO bad for not sharing, I hope to fit that into my schedule sometime soon)
• I have pulled BOTH girls out of MDO and have decided to start home school this year, as apposed to supplementing this year and starting full time next year.
• As I prepare the "school room" the girls can hardly contain themselves, they want to spend all day in there doing "school work", it is going to be such a fun adventure!
• I have been busy growing a belly, feeling baby kicks, and noticing all the differences between this pregnancy and the previous ones.
• I was informed by Kaylee that "if I am going to go to school at home, and you are going to be my teacher, then we MUST get a playground for the backyard so that I can have my recess time!"
• I completed my "cleanse" and it was AH-MAZING!!!!! I have decided that I am going to do it about 3-4 times a year. I love love loved it! And hopefully one day will have the time to blog about it!
• Our washer finally bit the dust, we have been without a means for washing clothes (except for at my moms house) for about 12 days. We only have 7 more days to go until the new ones are delivered! I cant believe I am joining the 21st century and getting front loaders!!!
• Ainslee has began the lovely "sleep transition". Dont get me wrong she still sleeps better than most, but both girls think that 7 am is the new wake up time. While I think that 7:30-7:40 is a nicer wake up time, I think I am going to be the one that makes the adjustment!
• I am busy trying to get my items ready for the consignment sale that I participate in twice a year. I am looking forward to getting rid of items they dont wear and buying Kaylee some bigger clothes/shoes, as she will NOT quit growing!
• I have been working on a delayed vaccination schedule for the new baby, as well as how I am going to catch Ainslee up on her vacs, because that has sort of slipped my mind for the past 6 months! (anyone with delayed vacs schedules please let me know your thoughts/ideas)
• I have joined a Gluten Free menu planning website, and while I am still unable to eat meat, my family has been enjoying wonderful tasty and healthy meals. And I am enjoying the ease and simplicity of the help with meal planning and shopping!
• thats about all I have been doing, at least that I can remember right now. Kaylee is awake from her ever shrinking nap, and we are off to get allergy shots and pay Whole Foods a visit.

U2 -- St Louis

Our internet AND tv were fixed today, and since I already had this post typed up on the ipad, but no internet to get it off, I figured I would post it first, since the Florida pics are estimated to take 31 minutes to transfer off the memory card.


We were supposed to go last summer to Montreal but when show got postponed we went on our trip to Germany. And Montreal was rescheduled to the weekend we were in Florida this year, so we decided to sell our tickets and try to go to the St Louis show, which was within driving distance, therefore cheaper. We sold our Montreal tickets literally hours before the concert. Mom agreed to keep the girls for the weekend and pretty much everything else fell into place......perfectly.

Marcus and I headed out Saturday early afternoon, I drove while he slept. We made it in about 6pm and our first stop was my grandmas house. We stayed and chatted for about an hour and a half. I just hope that when I'm 94 I have 1/2 the brain she has! She is such a remarkable woman! After leaving her we checked in to the hotel, and then drove around the corner to grab some dinner. We decided on a Japanese Hibachi place and it was probably one of the most entertaining meals I have ever had. You know when you eat at one of those places you sit at the same table with strangers, well we got the perfect table. To our right was a couple (mostly the woman) who was very outspoken, which proved to be a funny quality to witness when the other group at the table appeared to be an older gentleman with 2 call girls (one of which he claimed to be his cousin). Between all the alcohol consumed and the "openness" of all involved including the cook it was a fabulously entertaining evening! We returned to our room and watched a movie on the iPad before crashing for the evening. I definitely "missed" the girls at this point but was enjoying our date weekend too much to let it interfere with that.

Sunday morning arose bright and chipper (at about 1030am, lovely getting to sleep in) ready for our exciting and eventful day planned. First on the agenda was the Women World Cup Final, we went to Albert Pujols' sports bar to eat and enjoy the game. That is all i will say about that, as it was probably the worst/most disappointing part of the trip.

After the game we went back to the hotel to get ready for the concert. We tried to stop at Ted Drews for some custard but due to road closures we decided to skip it. We found perfect parking right across from the stadium, which ended up being about 100 yard walk to our seats (perfect planning?). We picked up our tickets and went to get Marcus a beer at a nearby Brewhouse, before making our way to our seats. Which turned out to be perfect as well! We bought them last minute on stubhub, because we had already seen them this tour and knew the stage configuration I decided I wanted to save money and buy cheaper tickets at were located behind the stage. We were in the top row of a section of bleachers so we had a nice breeze on our back, which proved invaluable in the excruciating heat. There were 6 seats in front of us that were empty leaving us feeling less claustrophobic and with the ability to put our feet up. The concert did not disappoint! Bono and the band put on such an amazing show! After the show we stopped by a bar and grill to get dinner at midnight! Cause you can do those kind of things when you are on a date weekend! We rolled back in to the hotel at 1:30am! It was then that I began feeling thankful I am no longer in college or the "party" years of my life. Those late nights out are just not for me!

Needless to say we slept in Monday morning and I thought it would be a good idea to try this gluten free place for lunch. This stop turned into a 2 hour stop, and get this: I ate veggie pasta served with a bread stick (I added 2 more because they were so good), I knew I wanted to buy stuff to take home so Marcus went and bought a cooler while I picked my foods. In the meantime the owner and I were chatting telling stories about Celiac diagnosis, children, gluten free diet, etc. She then offered me samplings of zucchini nut bread, sandwich bread, gazpacho, and pizza (I ended up eating 1/2 of it). I left there with a cooler full of tasty food and a full belly! It is my new favorite place in St Louis! We hit the road about an hour later than we wanted to, but it was oh so worth the time and drive to the GF place!

To sum it all up we had the most fantastic trip, and I realized this whole "getting an extended break from children" thing could become part of our monthly routine. (wishful thinking huh?)


I have to say a HUMONGOUS thanks to my mom and sister who kept the girls for us. They kept them happy, entertained and even took Ainslee to her dentist appointment for me. I am so thankful for family who loves to hang out with our heathens!

Out of Commission --edited

Not much to say today, well actually I have a LOT to say, but Im not doing it tonight!

Last week we think our house might have been struck by lightning, if not that then some strange and strong power surge hit us. It completely fried our phone, like the ACTUAL phone wont even turn on, but the phone LINE is working fine. Since we had an "all in one cordless" set of 3 phones we have had NO house phone for over a week now (its been really peaceful around here in that regard). The lightning/surge also blew out our modem, so I got a new modem, and that apparently isnt the only problem, having man come out tomorrow to find out where/what the the rest of the damage is with the darn internet. Which BTW is why I havent posted any Florida pics, info, or videos. I am currently typing on Marcus' computer and dont want to load everything on here and then onto MY computer too. UGH! The lightning/surge also affect our DirecTV. We have 2 boxes and it only affected one......weird. And it only affected certain channels the others work perfectly......weirder! AND the channels that were left intact are Marcus' favorites.......weirdest! So the DirecTV man is coming out tomorrow as well.

In other news I have started my cleanse. I cant wait to tell you about it!

I am growing bigger and bigger, baby is kicking more and more and the girls are DYING to be able to feel the kicks. They are so sweet with my belly, showering it with kisses at random times during the day, and the baby is the first one to get a "good morning" every day. I can only imagine what it will be like once the baby arrives.

The girls have become MASTERS at playing by themselves (especially upstairs). It is so fabulous to have some minutes to myself during the day. However, there is a price to pay for such alone time, as in extraordinary messes, unwanted things being touched/played with, and water play on the hard wood.

I have been crazy busy the past couple of days. We have spent both of them at home, which has been quite nice considering all the time we have been away lately. I have done some serious cleaning, and feel like I havent even put a dent in what needs to be done!

Kaylee has become more and more independent, she is helpful most of the time when it comes to "chores", she will eat just about anything to get dessert oh how I LOVE a good eater, is FEARLESS when it comes to water/swimming, and there was one more thing I had in my brain I wanted to mention about her, but somehow my "pregnancy brain" got the best of me and I have forgotten. ***

Ainslee astonishes me daily with her speech (her sentences are growing into some serious conversations), her memory, her resourcefulness, like her sister is fearless when it comes to water/swimming (just wait til you see some of the videos), and her LOVE of smoothies even the disgusting ones! stay tuned for cleanse update for more info on that one


I said more than I wanted to......so good night to you all......have a HAPPY FRIDAY!


***I remembered......Kaylee slept in 7 different beds in during the 3 week times around our vacation, and her questions about the baby are becoming more and more interesting some of them are, "How did the baby get in your belly?" and my most favorite "How is the baby going to get out of your belly?" I have not answered either question honestly yet. Honestly I dont know how to answer those on a 4 year old level, especially the second one. I told her to ask Marcus and his response was "let's ask the doctor at mommys next appointment." I thought that was a pretty good answer, but that day is coming up really quickly and I know my elephant will never forget to ask the doctor her question.***