A Last Minute Park Playdate

On Saturday, Sophia really wanted to go to the park and it was such a beautiful day, so we headed out to the park. I quickly texted my friend Tricia to invite her to go with us. But I figured it was so last minute that they wouldn't be able to come. But I was happily surprised to pull into the parking lot and the Harden's there.

Sophia was really into the swings. Her mood was a little off that morning. I think it was a combo of me accidentally hitting her head with the trunk door and Dude (he's a very sweet but very large dog).

They had brought a ball to play soccer with.

And they brought their wagon which is always a big hit.

At one point, they had gotten out of the wagon to explore. I think Atticus needed a moment to himself.

Here are Sophia and Russell digging for bugs.

And Apollo and Atticus climbed trees.

Sophia, defying gravity.

After the park, we ate lunch and stopped at Walmart to pick up a few things. We picked up Sophia's first fishing rod. It's a Princess one, of course.

She can't wait to use it and has been practicing for next weekend where we plan (weather permitting) on going fishing.

Things Can Change in the Blink of an Eye

 

It's been a slow week as far as pictures go. But I did manage to snap a few of Sophia dressed up to celebrate Dr. Seuss's birthday on Wednesday. I was super busy on Monday with dropping off our items at Just Between Friends, but it was well worth it. I made $262 (and that was mostly clothes). I didn't sell all of my items, so I'm going to put the remaining items in the Grapevine sale, plus all of our baby equipment. I've decided to put all of the money made at these sales into Sophia's savings account. So don't worry friends and family, the gifts you've given us will still be used for Sophia.

It's funny how quickly your life can change in an instant. A couple of weeks ago, Russell finally went to the Dr. for an ingrown hair that just needed to be removed on his neck (his dr. had recently retired, so he went to my dr. for the first time). The Dr. heard a murmur and referred Russell to a cardiologist. So, this past Wed., Russell went to the cardiologist and was told he had a defective valve (it's missing one of the parts, it's a genetic thing). So basically, he's going to have to have open heart surgery. We don't know when yet because his blood pressure was so high (180/100), they want to get that under control before they even talk about when. The Dr. did say it could be as early as a couple of months or as long as a year or 2. All I can say is THANK GOD (and no, I'm not using his name in vain, I really mean thank God), for that ingrown hair and for his Dr. retiring. Russell had been going to his Dr. since he was a kid and was never told he might have a heart issue. So now we're just waiting to see when his surgery will be.

On a lighter note, I wanteed to document a couple of things about Sophia (and most of you have already heard this if you're on facebook, but I print this out so I want it in the book).

The other morning she was throwing a fit because she didn't want to wear the outfit I'd picked out, and she said "Mom, my eyes are watering" and I said "No, honey, you're crying". Then later that same day, she was throwing another fit on the way home and she said"mom, my face is wet" and I said "Yes, Sophia, you've been crying". She just cracks me up.

She's REALLY into dress up and baby stuff right now. She's eating really good. She loves peaches, strawberries, blueberries, mandarin oranges, apples. She's not a big fan of veggies at home but she'll at least try them. At school, she loves peas and green beans. She'll at least try everything on her plate. She's starting to want to pick our her own outfits and loves the color pink. She only want to wear her Tinkerbell underwear. And last night she told me she wants pink hair.  She LOVES all things princess and Tinkerbell. She loves playing games like Red Light, Green Light or racing.

Just Between Friends Sale

My friend Jill told me about this consignment program called Just Between Friends. They have sales all over the country. The 2 I'm going to participate in are in Ft. Worth (this weekend) and in Grapevine (towards the end of March). Basically, you tag your items and put them on hangers. You set the prices and you make (65% of what it sells for, 70% if you volunteer at the sale). They also accept baby equipment, toys, books, men's and women's clothing (and yes, maternity clothes, which was very good news to me because I bought clothes like crazy when I was pregnant), shoes, furniture etc. They have very specific rules for what they accept, how you tag it etc. And each sale is slightly different. So make sure you check the rules for your specific sale.

So needless to say, I was a little nervous about dropping off for my first sale. We dropped Sophia off at my parents house so we wouldn't have to watch her. But like I said, I was nervous and I think it was just the fear of the unknown. So I thought, why not help out my fellow mamas who might feel the same way if they were going to sale at this event.

Russell was kind enough to help me. My first tip would be that if you're going to do this from year to year, get a rolling cart. I got this one at Target for $60 and it made the whole experience so much easier. Also, sort your clothing by sizes and gender and have them in order. It will make putting them on the racks much easier.

And yes, Russell thought I was crazy for taking pictures.

Step 1

There's a consignor waiver and an envelope you have to fill out.

Pick up your info. sheet that has important info you may have forgotten or overlooked on the website. And it has a form for car seats to pick up.

Then we waited in line for step 3. But we only waited maybe 10 minutes.

Step 3

You check in and confirm that your info is correct. Have one item ready for them to scan and hand off your consignment waiver and envelope.

Then, it was off to step 4, the volunteer section. they ask if you want to volunteer but I'm not so off we went to Step 5.

Step 5

Inspection

Here, they inspect all your clothing and if it has spots, it's rejected. If it's out of season, this was the Spring/Summer sale, then it's rejected. But you can just bring the out of season items back for their Fall/Winter sale.

It took about 10 minutes for them to go through our stuff.

Then it was time to place our items on the sales floor.

In all, the process took maybe 45 minutes to 1 hour. We went at around 6 p.m., so I'm not sure if that's normal, slow, fast. But was expecting it to take much longer. Can't wait to see how much money we make! And I get to track that on-line everyday.

Where'd Ya Get Those Eyes?

It's been a topic of conversation lately every time I get together with friends or family, "Who does Sophia look like?". And so I began digging through photos and it's actually inspired me to create a scrapbook called "Where'd Ya Get Those Eyes?". In this scrapbook, I'm going to get help from our parents to get family photos.

I love this photo of Sophia throwing a fit.

 

And here's Russell throwing a fit. I definitely see a resemblance. This is Russell getting his first haircut.

Here's Sophia at around 4 months.

Here's me, I'm not sure how old (6-9 months?). I can definitely see me in the pic above.

Here's me around 2. Nose and cheeks....from me I think.

But Sophia's big beautiful brown eyes definitely came from her daddy.

Here's me around 4 maybe?

I just think it's fun to look through old family photos and see where you get your features. So in this scrapbook, I'll also include pics (if I can find them), of who I got my cheeks and nose from, who Russell got his eyes from. That kind of thing. Can't wait to start digging! And I also can't wait to see who Sophia will look like we she grows up! Wait a minute! Yes I can wait! I just want to freeze her at this age forever! I love this age! She basically eats what we do, sleeps through the night, is potty trained, can tell me how she feels and what hurts or what she needs, and she's so funny!

Another Park Playdate

We had a very MAGICAL playdate this past Saturday.

It started off with the usual park activities. Slides, swings etc.

But then we went on an adventure.

A MAGICAL adventure, complete with trolls, fairies etc.

Meet Apollo, Atticus's dad, Tricia's husband, a.k.a, Mr. Creativity. He took the kids on an adventure in the "forest". He made it totally fun. He sped up so they went fast in the wagon.

They sped through ravines and ventured over the water.

And he brought equipment, the scooter and the skateboard.

Sophia totally loved the scooter again!

And she watched Atticus mastering the skateboard.

And had to try it for herself.

Atticus is so brave!!!! Check him out, head first!

Then we went on the trails.

It was really fun watching the kids try to make it through the "forest".

And then they made it to the desert. :)

And then after all that, they were in their own little world where they were puppies.

Thanks Tricia, Apollo and Atticus for a GREAT playdate! Two hours never went by so fast!