Trip to Papa & Binga's

Anna got out of school on Tuesday. It was a CRAZY day. I got absolutely nothing done besides running back and forth and sitting out bad weather. I had planned to do laundry and get packed so we could leave on Wednesday. That plan got shot! But Aaron said "If laundry is the only reason you're staying home another day...you can do that up there!" Good point. So I decided to surprise them and not tell them we were coming early. :) One thing I failed to do was check the forecast for places along the way! Dad emailed when I was about 20 miles west of Topeka and said there was a tornado south of Kansas City. YIKES!!!

This is actually just north of Bethany, after I drove through a torrential downpour. But after Dad's email, I called Aaron and turned the radio to a weather station...where I heard there was tornado warning for right where I was headed! He told me to stop somewhere in Topeka and wait it out for 30 minutes or so since the storm was weakening the farther north it went.

So I found an Orscheln's!

Of course you know Jacob found this right away! Anna found a sparkly cowgirl belt. I'm pretty sure she'll be getting a new cowgirl outfit for her birthday!

Daddy requested pictures and believe it or not, I hadn't taken any (it was only the next morning!). So the kids obliged and posed for pictures.

A pose all her own.

It's nearly impossible to get a clear picture of Isaac with my phone...he moves too much. All. the. time.

Isaac likes Binga's washer and dryer, too! He's not nearly as fascinated as Jacob, but then again...no one is!

Binga and I hit the jackpot at some garage sales on Thursday! She got this great toy for Isaac and Tate for $10! They both love it.

I found this doll house for Anna...$3! And the picnic table it's sitting on? $3 as well! I also found a couple of cloth diapers for $10...I couldn't pass up that deal! I wanted to cloth diaper before Isaac was born, but the research I did-it wasn't going to be cost-effective enough (and that was the reason I wanted to do it) to justify the initial investment, especially with this possibly being our last baby (waaaa!). BUT, after this discovery and talking to some friends on facebook, it really looks like I could do it a lot cheaper than I first thought. So I'm on the prowl for some inexpensive cloth diapers!

Isaac decided he would help Papa plant the new tree.

He's so cute he can get away with just chewing on the tie!

We like to start 'em young on the Iowa sweet corn! :) Isaac liked chewing on the cob...get that second tooth in!

Anna was SO EXCITED to find out that Jamie's family was coming up this weekend, too!! She has been patiently waiting for SIX MONTHS to meet Tate!!!

The big kids thoroughly enjoy the corn on the cob!

Anna and Jacob sleep great when they're up here...they have each other to snuggle with! Precious.

-- Sent from my Palm Pixi

Their New Favorite Things...

This isn't really a favorite thing, but I love how Jacob's blue eyes are so vibrant in this picture. :)

The kids & I went to a garage sale this morning. It was so icky & cold (Spring? Where did you go?!) so I told Anna to stay in the van and if I found any kids' things, I would come get them. The girl loves garage sales! Now, I'd just read Dave's newsletter and he talked about bargaining in one of the articles. I had $8 cash and that was it. The only kid toys they had were a couple of kitchen sets (already have one) and a wooden rocking horse. The horse had $12 on it and I thought "where in the world would we put a rocking horse?!" So after browsing around a bit, I went back to the van. I told Anna that the only toys were kitchen sets, which we already have. She gave me her sad face (have you seen it?? It's impossible to resist!). I told her there was ONE other toy--a rocking horse--but it was too expensive. Again with the SAD face!! I told her we could go ask the lady if she would take less for it, but if she wouldn't we could not buy the horse. So off we go in the freezing cold wind. We stopped by the horse and Anna agreed that it was a must-have. ;) Now, my intention wasn't to use my kids as a ploy to get this lady down on the price, honestly. Anna loves garage sales and I wanted to make sure she liked the horse. So we go up to the lady and Anna becomes suddenly very shy. I asked if she would take $7 (I thought that was all I had, not $8). She said "How about $9--we'll meet in the middle?" Sorry...$7 is all I've got. "Well, I would really like to see it go to someone who would use, so I'll take $7" As I handed her the cash I realized I had $8 so she got a bit closer to the compromise ;) As we were walking back to the van, I realized that only a really cold-hearted person would have turned down an offer with 2 children waiting to get a new rocking horse!! haha Oh well! I gave Anna a good lesson on bargaining! :)
So here's the new horse, which is a girl by the way.

I told Mom it's as close as it gets to the real thing for Anna right now!! She can't decide what to name her new horse.

She loves it. Jacob wouldn't get on at first but now he likes it, too.

But what he really likes is the magazine Daddy brought him...a TRACTOR magazine!!!! It was hilarious when Aaron gave it to him. He looked at the cover and went *intake of air* "ooooohhhhhhh" with great big eyes. He seriously has looked through it. He looked like a little old man tonight, sitting in the recliner watching TV and looking at the tractors for sale!! Love it!

Iowa's Largest Garage Sale

Well, I don't know if that's official but it sure seems like it could be! My great-great aunt passed away a few months ago. She loved the home-shopping networks and she loved clothes and shoes (for as long as I can remember!) and unfortunately for all of us, she was a petite woman with narrow feet! So we had thousands of clothes and hundreds of shoes (literally) to sell. Dad hauled them up here and before Mom & I even got here, he had the "hanging racks" put up and all the clothes hung up! What a great (and ingenious) guy!! :) So Mom and I spent part of Wednesday organizing the hang-up clothes and putting out all the other clothes.

This is just ONE SIDE of the garage. These are all the short- and long-sleeved tops (not including sweaters and jackets/coats!!).

There's the other side...all the outfits, sweaters, jackets, coats and skirts! More than half of these clothes (and shoes) had never been worn...still had tags on them!



The ping-pong table was completely covered with pants.

The shoes...oh the shoes. I really wish she hadn't had such little feet (or that I didn't have such big ones! haha).

We tried to sell this one, but Anna wouldn't let us.

Can you tell that over half the clothes are gone in this picture? They really are! We sold a LOT of clothes on Thursday. Dad roughly counted today...there are still about 650 hang-up clothes left. That means there were probably over 2,000 pieces of clothing to begin with!!!!!!!

We brought a few things up (mainly toys). I had Anna go through the toy box at home and pick out some toys to sell. I told her she had too many and needed to "get rid" of enough so that the toy box lid could shut! She was pretty good about it, but she did have second thoughts more than once. Especially once the garage sale started! There was more than once today that she stood over her box of toys with her hands on her hips as kids were looking through it!! She also "hid" a couple toys and emphatically told Binga "I'm not sellin' this one!!"

Papa thought it was a good idea for her to sell pop and cookies. She really wasn't too interested in it. Except to play with the money! The kids were really good the last 2 days. We're hoping tomorrow goes even better than the last 2 days for selling. We're doing a "bag sale" hoping that will entice people to come and buy lots! You know the secret for successful garage sales? The right pricing (and having decent stuff...not a bunch of stained, ugly clothes and just junk). People don't go to garage sales to spend $10 for a dress, even if it is brand new. They come to garage sales to pay $3 for a dress--new or not! I think that's a big reason why we've had good success with sales. There's a "moving" sale down the street that's been going on for the last 2 or 3 weekends. Why? Because they're asking $500 for an end table! *stepping off the garage sale soapbox*

Lots more pictures to come...we went to the state fair and last weekend the kids and I rode a WILD MUSTANG!!! :)