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Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Consignment Fun!

Just an update after my frantic post last Friday- we survived the hurricane just fine- I actually was much more relaxed on Saturday- Mike and I gave our dining room a total makeover, giving it a fresh coat of paint and rearranging furniture.  It hasn't actually served as a dining room in many years- it's now much more organized instead of just a storage looking room.... we have Kaylin's art supplies all organized- this is what has overcome the dining room and would just spill over out of control.  I'm crossing my fingers we have this beast tackled and that Kaylin will be able to keep it organized.  We're not quite finished- I ordered a smaller computer desk so we can move the desktop computer up there as well.  I'll post a photo when it's all complete. :)

Anywayyyyyy.... back to the hurricane- neither we nor my parents lost power throughout the storm- major blessing!  Mike and I had to turn around 5 times trying to get to my parents' house on Sunday to pick up the kids- so many fallen trees blocking roads, down wires, and many many traffic lights out.  We finally got there after two hours on the road- our drive is usually one hour.  We decided to take the highways home even though it was out of our way to do so.  All the detours we tried using back roads were out of the way also, and who knows if more trees would fall by the time we left in the evening.  We made it home just fine.  Whew!  Mike's office was closed yesterday as well as many area school systems since there are still so many without power.  Those schools were still closed today (not ours)... he went in to the office today and said it still took him about 2 hours to get there (should have been one).

Saturday morning, hours before the hurricane arrived, I went to one of our local consignment sales- there are two a year I participate in- both buying and selling, and I have to say they are absolutely FABULOUS!!  These are one-day fundraising events for local non-profit organizations- I participate in this one every year in August for our local junior women's club where all proceeds go to charity, and I participate in one each February for a local Lutheran school.  Both are run the exact same way and in the same location- a huge arena at our local Agricultural Center.  This arena is so awesome- it's ginormous, and super super convenient for those of us consigning items.

To participate, you call ahead for a registration packet and get assigned a consignor number.  Since I participate each year, I request the same number so I don't have to re-tag items that didn't sell at the previous sale.  You tag your own items, setting your own price- you will receive 60% of the price and the organization running the sale will take 40%.  There are also two different color tags- items you would like to pick up if they didn't sell, and items you would like to donate if they don't sell.  Items not sold that are donated will be sold during their half price sale a few hours after the first sale ends.  Anything not sold after the half price sale is donated to local charities.

Back to the ginormous arena- the day or two before the sale, you bring all your items to drop off.  In this huge arena- we get to DRIVE right in, drop things off at the table right next to your vehicle, and drive out!!  SO convenient!!  Makes life great for those of us with several kids in tow.  And when it's time to pick up items that didn't sell- you drive right in again and volunteers working the sale will bring your items to your car- you don't even have to get out!!

Here was the line waiting to get in- the sale opens at 7:00 AM and I arrived around 6:45.  Yes, waking up at 6:00 on a day with no kids at home was painful; what was even more painful was that my alarm was still set to 5:00 by mistake since that's when I got up to prepare for vacation last month.  ACK!!


And here's my loot ;)


Many people bring their laundry baskets with them to load up with clothes n such- I haven't been buying as much since we've been blessed with a TON of hand-me-downs for all three kids! :))  LOVE those.  I still shop for nice dresses for Kaylin and any other odds and ends.  Above, I purchased three dresses, one top, and one pair of shoes for Kaylin, two Carters sleepers and a pair of cleats for Justin, two puzzles for Evan, and I couldn't resist two little dresses for P. :)  Grand total??  Just under $40.  Can't beat that!!  These are all in excellent condition also.  To make it better- Mike and I stopped at a local White Rabbit sale near the hospital later that morning, and I found a Spiderman costume for Justin for $3!  He was thrilled. :)

The next sale I will be participating in will be for Carroll Lutheran School held in February at the Carroll County AG Center.  Let me know if you'd like more info! :)

Friday, August 26, 2011

Confession time...

I'm scared.  There, I said it.  S.C.A.R.E.D.  I hate storms.  As a mama bear, I'm always brave for my cubs- I suck all that fear deep inside and am cool, calm, and collected for the sake of my wee ones.  But, the wee ones are away for the weekend.  Away with MomMom and PopPop while Mommy and Daddy get some much needed painting and other odds and ends done around the house.  So, with no one here to be brave for, I'm a nervous wreck.

I know we are definitely safe in this part of Maryland- plenty far from the shores, and we rarely lose power.  We have no large trees around the house, we have city water as well as natural gas in case the power does go out.  I bought a case of water just because everyone else in Target was doing the same.  We have batteries, the phones are charged... I'm as ready as I'm going to be.

I sent my kids an hour east- an hour closer to the shore line but still should be plenty safe.  My parents have well water, so if the power goes out, no water either.  They do have an RV in the driveway that has propane powered refrigeration and a potty.  Mom assures me all will be just fine and I know it will be.  It has to be.

This is Evan's very first sleepover away from Mommy and Daddy.  Why does it have to be during a hurricane???  We could have rescheduled..... *sigh* Everything will be ok.... Good time for him to get accustomed to being with MomMom and PopPop and without Mommy and Daddy since Mommy and Daddy will be traveling in a couple months..... if we can get through a hurricane, we can get through anything, right?

The house has never been this quiet.... at least I can't remember a time when it was.  There is no white noise from the baby monitor.... nothing.  It's depressing.  My babies have been gone for about 2 hours and I'm going nuts already.  I. Want. Them. Back.

Mike should be home from work in about a half hour as long as traffic is cooperative.... We're going to enjoy a nice dinner out together.... Hopefully it will help me keep my mind off missing my babies.

Ok, I think I'm finished whining now, just had to get this out.... thanks for putting up with me and my ranting! And above all else, please stay safe, all my east coast friends and family out there!! <3

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Ahoy, me hearties!!

Before I begin this blog post- a quick recap of yesterday's earthquake:

House shaking, things rattling, sounds like a strong wind outside or something...

Kaylin: [in a very worried voice] Is this an earthquake??

Me: Noooooo... it's just the wind blowing against the house or something... we don't get earthquakes in MARYLAND... sheesh, silly kids....

I look out the window to see the sun shining and air is pretty calm... odd... The shaking was pretty intense in the beginning.... I hear things rattling through the baby monitor up in Evan's room- did he wake up and is fidgeting around with something?  What in the world would he be fidgeting with up in his crib??  I go up to check on him- some things are rattling on his bookcase... I attribute it to the ceiling fan blowing but it doesn't quite add up... hmmmmm....

Later, my mom calls... "Hey, just checking to make sure everyone is ok...."

Ummmm of course we're ok... why wouldn't we be??

"Did you feel the earthquake??"

Hey Kaylin, you were right!! It WAS an earthquake!!  WOW!!

Ok, back to our regularly scheduled blog post.... :)



Last Saturday we embarked on a super fun Pirate Cruise!!  I scored discount tickets off Living Social- $11 per person, so I figured it was definitely worth a shot!  We took the Family Adventure Cruise- first they dress you up in pirate vests and sashes, then give the kids tattoos and draw scars or moustaches on their faces.... oh and give out Pirate names. ;)  Our names were Jack knife Justin, Kannonfire Kaylin, and Adventurous Amy (somehow Daddy snuck out of the dressing up and naming part, sneaky guy... and Evan enjoyed some spoiling time at home with MomMom and PopPop).

Before boarding the ship- we purchased some bandanas, eyepatch for Kaylin and plastic sword for Justin :)



The ship's captain


All dressed up and ready to set sail!  Arrrrrrrrr!!!


The ship sets sail from Fells Point in Baltimore and took an hour long cruise around the harbor- the four pirates on board were quite entertaining with their little skits and had lots of games and songs for the kids to participate in- they had a BLAST. :)







Some sights around the harbor





Love this red lighthouse!!  You can read about it's history HERE.




 The tall building on the left in the photo below is the World Trade Center in Baltimore; the triangle-shaped building is the National Aquarium.  There are also several retired military ships (one shown above) and a submarine docked here for tours. :) Fun stuff at the Baltimore Inner Harbor!

 If you look closely in this photograph you can see the USS Torsk and LV116 Chesapeake.





 Another shot of the Constellation with a water taxi driving by :)



Can you tell Mommy enjoyed the sightseeing?? :)

Meanwhile, the kids enjoyed using the water cannons to fight off an evil pirate!!  Kaylin and Justin are at the far cannon at the top, Mike standing behind them.


And then celebrating that the evil pirate was defeated!!  There was much dancing... even Daddy participated in the action. ;)



Yes, he'll prolly flip when he finds out I posted these. ;) hee hee shhhhhhhhhhhh

And after this... my camera battery died.... so here ends our tour! :) We highly HIGHLY recommend going- they also have adult BYOG cruises! (Bring your own grog ;) ).  Mike and I really aren't into that sort of thing, but we absolutely recommend the family cruise. :)  Super fun day!

***Oh, and since my camera battery died, I didn't have pics to remind me about stealing the pirate booty back from the evil pirate!!  The kids were all over that action. ;) They scored two pieces of treasure each. I think I snapped some other pics on my phone but haven't gotten that far yet.  I'll add them when I get the chance!***

Monday, August 22, 2011

Buddy Walk Time!!

Last year, some of you may recall we traveled to the beach and participated in the Boardwalk Buddy Walk in Rehoboth- and got to meet Chris Burke, or "Corky" from Life Goes On!!





  This year, we're staying local in hopes of many friends and family coming out to join us!!  Please shoot me a message if you'd like to join in and be a part of Evan's Entourage!  If you want a special Buddy Walk t-shirt you can register on the site (there is a registration fee), otherwise, feel free to show up and walk along with us without registering.  We would LOVE the company!  You can find Evan's site here with all the info:

http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/amyl1023/BuddyWalk

We'll be walking in Frederick, MD on Saturday, September 17th.  Please save the date and join in the fun!!

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

California, Baby!

I was very nervous upon reviewing our flight itinerary from Texas to California- we would be landing in Los Angeles at 3:15 PM- just in time for LA rush hour! ACK!!!  I had visions of being stranded on the highway for hours on end, children moaning in hunger in the back seats, Evan uncontrollable just itching to get OUT of that darn car seat.... but alas all went amazingly smooth.

We left Uncle Billy's house at 10:00 AM to allow 2 hours time to get to the airport in Houston... grab a bite of lunch and board our plane scheduled to depart at 1:50.  We pulled into the airport at EXACTLY 12:00, checked our luggage, and found the most amazing sight as we found the security line... a kind woman opened the gate and let us through into the FAMILY LINE!!  HALLELUJAH!!  We got a most wonderful shortcut- the sign we were standing in front of read "maximum wait time 30 minutes" but we went right to the front!  Got through security and sat down for some lunch.  Departed on time and landed in LA.... and Uncle Phil was there to greet us and graciously drive us to his house.

Evan was an absolute ANGEL throughout the drive to Houston airport, fell asleep as the plane was taking off on the runway... slept a good hour and a half and woke up happy.... got back into the car just fine in LA, ate a bunch of chicken nuggets for lunch on our way home, and was content for the drive out to Hemet!  What a good boy!!  The big kids were pretty good, too. ;)

Kids adjusted just fine to the time change out in CA- 2 hours earlier than TX... in fact, the transition to Pacific time seemed much easier than just one hour from home to TX!  Evan's naps were right on time and the kids slept past 6 each day.  YAY!

The view out LouLou and Uncle Phil's front door:





Our first adventure in CA- taking the big kids to Disneyland. ;)  I have to say- if you've been to Disney World in Orlando- don't bother with Disney in CA!  In my mind I was comparing it to Magic Kingdom in FL, but really it's much smaller than Magic Kingdom.  You have all the classic rides that were there when I was little- the Dumbo elephants, the Haunted Mansion, Space Mountain, Thunder Mountain, It's a Small World.... you get the gist.... but that's about it.  There are no shows or performances like there are in Orlando, and the lines were very long.  The kids still seemed to enjoy it though, and we were all thoroughly exhausted when we walked out around 8:30 PM, still having missed a few rides since we didn't get there until noon.


Before we go any further- I must share our amazing story about how much we actually paid to enter the park!  While we were driving the hour and a half commute, I thought about our Disney credit card we opened over a year ago.  We originally opened the account to earn points toward a Disney cruise another year or so down the road.  Well, a year into it, we saw the points weren't adding up as quickly as we had anticipated.  But we did earn about 292 points so far.  I thought to myself- wouldn't it be great if we could use them towards park tickets instead?  Who knows if we'll ever get to that cruise....

While Mike drove- I called the number on the back of the card.  I was instructed to ask someone at Guest Services for  a rewards card.  After we get the card, call back and they will transfer our points over.  So.... we get to the park, get the card, call to have them transferred, and walk up to the ticket booth.  Oh, and I also still had a $15 Disney gift card given to us when we opened the account.

The man at the ticket window informs me that our total is $308.  I hand him the rewards card and then the gift card.  Our total is now... ONE DOLLAR!!  Yep, we paid $1 out of pocket for the four of us to go to Disneyland!! WOOOOHOOOO!!!!  




The little castle- much smaller than Florida!  You actually just walk through it like a little tunnel.


Trying to pull out the sword from the stone ;)





The next day, LouLou took Mike and the big kids to a local children's museum.  Kids had a blast!

Kaylin playing dress-up


Justin to the rescue!





Mike coaxed Kaylin into posing like this- he first tried to get Justin to do it but Justin refused LOL


Pretending she was just run over :-s


Justin was pretending to be a police dog in this photo ;)


Next day- Legoland!!  LouLou and Uncle Phil generously treated us to tickets!  Kids had a blast.










They had one volunteer during the whole show- guess who was chosen. LOL


Notice the two children sitting down in front- the splash zone.





Yes, that would be Mike and Justin!  Kaylin rode with me the first go-round.  SCARY!!  There are five different levels of intensity for this ride.  So glad the kids were too small to select the level that goes upside down- both wanted to!  We opted for level 2- the highest they could go due to their size. 




Daddy being a goofball.


Mini World- amazing all the buildings they created with the tiny Legos.



The marching band would march around with the press of a button :)



Justin was just starting his obsession with Star Wars.  This trip totally magnified it!



I am totally kicking myself for not getting any pics with LouLou nor Uncle Phil. :((  Crossing my fingers they will be able to come visit us next year after we get Pauline home!!  Then we can get a group shot with EVERYONE. ;) 

We want to thank both Uncle Billy & Adele as well as LouLou and Uncle Phil for your generosity and most wonderful hospitality.  Our family vacation was the most memorable we've had by far!!  <3 Time spent with family is absolutely priceless and we do hope it happens again soon!!

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