Monday, May 27, 2013

Patriotic Decor!

Happy Memorial Day!  We just returned from a wonderful weekend in Indianapolis (one of my favorite cities!) and while we had so much fun, I could.not.wait. to get back to Avery! 

Since I have been dying for some sort of holiday decor in my house (Easter was a long time ago!), I decided to throw up some of my July 4th stuff early, just in time for Memorial Day.  And since the 4th of July is the next holiday on the calendar, might as well leave it up until then! :)  I'll be adding a little bit more, but here is what I am working with so far:
  God Bless America Banner: 
* 1 sheet each of Red/White/Blue glitter cardstock ($1.99 each at Michaels)
* Cricut (I use the Chip Decor cartridge from Hobby Lobby)
* Thin gold ribbon
* Hole punch
I'm in love with this felt flag wreath.  I actually made it last year for the 4th, but after a mishap with one of the guys finishing our basement last year, I had to put humpty-dumpty back together again.  This wreath is SO adorable and SO easy - follow Capital B's tutorial found HERE.

Friday, May 24, 2013

Bump Watch: 14 Weeks


No change from week 12 ... and I'm OK with that! :)  Ready for an awesome weekend at the INDY 500!!  Hope you all have a great holiday weekend & God bless America & our troops!!! xoxo

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

AV-ocabulaRY

I just love listening to Avery talk.  We can actually most-of-the-time communicate with each other now and it is just such a fun stage!  She is very good with her words and sentences (and don't even get me started on her singing!), but there are just a few words that she refuses to get right!  Even after being corrected, frankly I just think that she likes em' better her way!  Here are my favorites:

LIPS - lip gloss
PINK - finger/toe nail polish
UPSIDE - outside
COME TOONS - cartoons
DADDY'S CRACKERS - wheat thins
BOOM BOOMS IN THE SKY - thunder

What are some of the cutest words your kids say/have said?  I have been tracking Avery's words/development on my phone, but recently received 'My Quotable Kid' - a journal for all of those kids-say-the-darndest-things moments!  I think every kid needs his/her own hilarious journal - how much fun to read when they get older and can't remember how funny they were as kids!




Tuesday, May 21, 2013

In Memory...

May 16 was once a due date for us - the original due date of baby #2.  As you all know, that pregnancy sadly ended in a miscarriage, but we never forgot the date May 16 and it's significance.  I knew we couldn't let the day come and go without any recognition and decided we should do something to honor that little embryo.  At first I thought about planting flowers, but like my husband said - we end up killing (never on purpose of course!) every single flower we plant, so that just didn't seem appropriate.  He liked the idea of planting something, so we decided on a tree!  We got to hand pick our tree which was really cool - Nick decided on a crimson king maple - know for it's beautiful burgundy colored leaves and abundant shade.  Since someone else was planting it for us that day, I didn't want to make a scene or have a cry fest, so instead sealed an ultrasound photo and some red paper hearts in an envelope, said a short silent prayer and dropped it in the hole before the tree was put in.  That was the best way I could think of to pay tribute to such an important event in our lives.     

So baby, you weren't around too long, but we love you and are so sad that the world never got to meet you.  We don't know if you were a boy or girl, but we do know you would have been SO loved as such a special member of our family.  And while we are SO excited for our current pregnancy, on May 16, we just couldn't help but wonder what life would have been.  But once that tree was planted, we decided it was time to fully let go - let the past be the past - and no longer mourn or grieve what could have been.  That chapter is officially closed and we could not be more ready - and excited - for the baby #2 - take 2!


 



Monday, May 20, 2013

Garage Sale Tips


My neighborhood's 4 person garage sale committee slowly dwindled down to a party of one (yours truly!) so I just wrapped up my work for this year's garage sale, which started on Thursday and finished up Saturday.  I fortunately ran out of items (had a few odds and ends left) Friday morning, so I decided to call it quits for the weekend!  In fact, I closed my garage door at noon Friday and by 2:30pm my cash was already deposited in the bank and my garage was already clean! :)

If you are organizing a neighborhood sale (or even just your own!) here are a few tips for organization and success!

1.  USE FACEBOOK:  My neighborhood happens to have a private Facebook group set up, and even though only around 80 houses are represented (out of approx. 300), it's a great quick way to pick the best dates and times, spread information and relay information!

2.  PASS OUT FLYERS:  Since majority of our neighborhood is not on our Facebook page, I decided to flyer the neighborhood to encourage more participation.   Although I only gave 7-10 days notice to sign up with the flyers, they increased the # of participating houses from 10 to 26, so they definitely helped!  Plus, it was a nice little work out!

3.  UTILIZE FREE ADVERTISING:  I did purchase signs (vistaprint.com was the best price I found, especially after promo codes) to put at all entrances as well as a paid ad in our local newspaper, but I also took advantage of free advertising sites as well!  Always create a public Facebook event, Craigslist.org (I posted on two local cities' sites) and YardSaleSearch.com.  We had an amazing turnout, so free advertising is the way to go!  


4.  MAKE A MAP:  Using GoogleMaps, I created a map showcasing the location of all of the sales.  In Picasa (photo software), I lettered the houses and wrote each address, hours, and descriptions of items below next to the corresponding letter.  We got many compliments on the maps, so i am glad they were user friendly!  Each house had a stack of maps and I would highly recommend this when doing a large neighborhood sale.

5.  ORGANIZE YOUR ITEMS:  Any garage saler can appreciate an organized sale, and I find that the more orderly and organized your items are, the better chance you have of selling them!  For example, I hung all clothes by racks so people could look through, rather than rummage through piles and piles of clothes.  I also arranged all clothing by size and created separators (using Cricut + permanent marker.  I was surprised that for the most part, the clothes stayed in their designated spots! I also made sure to keep like items together.  One table for housewares, one for home decor, one for holiday and one for baby gear/toys.  This way, if someone is looking for something specific, they might end up buying more as everything they want is all right next to each other!
 

6.  COMBINE ITEMS:  Even more than making money, I wanted to get rid of my items, so with smaller or lower-cost items, I combined multiple like items together in a bag.  Instead of selling decorative scissors individually for .25 cents each, throw 5 in a bag with a few containers of glitter and charge $1!  Same goes with baby hair bows, socks and craft supplies.  I don't think I had any "bags" left at the end of my sale ... and I was able to not end up with a bunch of nickels and dimes!

7.  HAVE WATER AVAILABLE:  If you are planning a late spring or summer sale, buy a pallet of ice and a large bag of ice and sell water for .50 a piece.  I wasn't looking to make money on it, but did end up making a few bucks.  And people really appreciated it as it was hot, hot, hot on Thursday!  
Well there you have it - hope these tips help with your sale!  Anything I've forgotten? 






Friday, May 17, 2013

Pink or Blue: Round 2!

I love all of the tests and tricks there are out there to try and figure out what you are having before you can actually find out!  I took a look at my post back from September 2010 when we were trying to guess what Avery was going to be ... and I didn't even have to change any of my answers - literally I answered every single one the same as I did almost 3 years ago!  I have said since I was 5 weeks pregnant, that this pregnant has been a "textbook Avery" pregnancy, and it continues that way through today (with the exception of my high blood pressure round 1). Although 'something' was spotted during our 12 week ultrasound, the tech said that it was 50% chance it was a girl's spine, 50% it was boy parts - we have another ultrasound in 3 weeks, so I'm keeping my fingers & toes crossed we can find out early!! :)

Heart Rate test: Girl (>140 = boy, 140+ girl … baby was 170 at 9 weeks, 156 at 12 weeks

Cravings test: Boy (craving sugar = girl, craving salt = boy) I have been eating a lot of fruit, but I do love chips and salsa, so I think salt trumps sugar again this time.

Morning Sickness test: Girl (they say lots of nausea & morning sickness lets you know it's a girl, feeling great with no nausea means boy) This baby was NOT very nice to me weeks 6-12!!

Chinese Gender Chart: Boy (Legend states that the Chinese Gender Chart was buried in a royal tomb near Beijing over 700 years ago. It is said to be over 90% accurate. By cross referencing your age & month of conception on the chart, it points to either boy or girl).  They SAY it's 90% accurate, but it said Avery was going to be a boy, and we all know how that turned out!

Skin test: Girl (it has been said that carrying a girl can cause your skin to break out. This stems from an old wives' tale that your baby girl will "steal your beauty.")





Monday, May 13, 2013

Bump Watch: 12 Weeks

This post is a little delayed, but I want to document #2's bump like I did with Avery.  I decided I will take a picture every other week, starting at 12 weeks, so here we go!  I plan to post a side-by-side with my Avery bump to see the differences - sounds fun right?  So why is there no side-by-side this week?? It's because I didn't HAVE a bump with Avery at 12 weeks!  In fact, I didn't even take my 1st bump picture with Avery until 17 weeks, which is what I look like now.  So the old tale that you show earlier with your 2nd kid, at least in my case - is TRUE! 

Friday, May 10, 2013

Bucket Full o' Sunshine!

My mom got a bucket, got a bucket full o' sunshine... for Mother's Day!

What do you get when you cross this pin....
With this pin....
You get this Mother's Day gift!
An adorable gift basket ... that is actually practical & useable!  And not bad for $25.  Here's the breakdown:

Bucket:  Target $3
J.R. Watkins Lemon All Natural Cleaner: Target $2.99 (on sale!)
Choose Happiness Sparkling Yuzu & Lime Candle: Target $12.99
Kitchen Towel: Walmart $1.42
Yellow Chrysthanemum Plant: Walmart $1.78
Juicy Fruit Gum
Peanut M&Ms

I hope everyone has a wonderful Mother's Day weekend!  To all of my mom friends, I love you!  And to my mom, I love you even more! :) 

Thursday, May 9, 2013

Don't forget Mommy!

Baby Shower tip:  A mommy (especially a 1st timer) LOVES to get gifts specifically for their baby, but mommies have a very important job and could use a gift too!  So next time you attend a baby shower or want to spoil one of your favorite mommies-to-be, don't forget to pick mommy up a gift too! 

Here are the gift bags for one of my best friend's baby showers this weekend (due with baby boy #2 in July!) I love that my Cricut (and a little help from some ribbon & hot glue) can help turn a boring gift bag into a custom one!  In case she peeks at the blog this week, I'll update this post with what she actually got in those bags next week! ;)


Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Irony? Fate? Coincidence?

Does anyone believe in signs/fate?  Or is everything just a strange coincidence?  We've had a few ironies/coincidences/fate/signs happen with this pregnancy - call it what you want, but I'm kind of fascinated and love the idea that there really is a plan for all of us, even if we don't always understand or see it.

1.  Our due date is the same day as my Grandpa's birthday (the one who passed away in November)...

2.  We got pregnant the same month we started attending church regularly...

3.  After our miscarriage in October, my dream/goal was to get pregnant before Avery's 2nd birthday.  According to my doctor, we got pregnant the day before Avery's birthday....

4.  Four days before I got a positive pregnancy test, I got a fortune cookie that read "good things are coming to you in due course of time."...  (I also got a fortune cookie right before I got pregnant with Avery that read "you will soon gain something you have always wanted" - and trust me, it's not like we have fortune cookies in the house very regularly!)
What do you think?  Coincidence?  A sign from above?  Kinda cool, right?!

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Friday, May 3, 2013

Happy Friday!

I feel like such a slacker for the lack of posts this week.  I'm organizing our neighborhood's garage sale coming up in two weeks, and although I've been keeping busy (passing out flyers, recording emails of participating houses and items, and pricing all of my own stuff) - there is nothing exciting to write to you about just yet!  I PROMISE I am planning a big garage sale post with all of the fun details - how to organize a neighborhood sale, how to price and organize your sale, but that won't be coming for a couple weeks! 

This weekend's agenda is surrounded by family - tonight we are celebrating Greek Easter with Nick's mom & step dad and tomorrow night we are going out to eat for my grandma's 88th birthday... and here I am freaking out that I am almost 29! :)  Hope everyone has a great weekend and I promise I will be back next week with some goodies! :)