Yard Sale

One of our biggest projects while Mom was here was working on a yard sale. I think I may have one every year, I seem to collect enough junk!! 

Yard sales are a ton of work but thankfully Mom was here to wrangle children while I sorted and organized my collection. This years motto was everything must go and only a handful of things were priced at $5 or more. 

E really enjoys yard sales, both hunting and hosting. This time around she was pretty okay with getting rid of things. I told her she could "rescue" one item from the sale and she picked a puzzle. The next morning she found one of her pony's that she wanted to rescue. I told her that it was alright but then she ran inside, she came back out with her head hanging and holding her puzzle. I asked her what she was doing and she said with the saddest voice "Here Mama, I know I can only have one" and handed me her puzzle. It was so sweet. I told her that it was alright and she could keep both. I have never seen a child so happy!!

Manny on the other hand was determined to keep his cars. I originally bought him a few cars from the disney movie but they were all plastic, slowly we have been replacing them with the die-cast cars. So I had a small collection out for sale. Every time he would come out he would walk right over and rescue his cars. Every. Single. Time. After his 20th attempt I finally gave in. Poor kid. It was pretty cute too!

We made a decent chunk of change, which made it worth it to me. We also traded a kitchen cabinet for a bike for E, but that's another post. 

We made it until noon and then we got rained out. I was glad, as I was done. It was a successful adventure! Thanks for all your help Mom!!! Now let the fun begin!!

Fire Pit

Sunday night the men headed outside to scope out more projects. The work is never done. All of a sudden Jakob comes back in and says he needed some matches. It was finally time to christen our curbside fire pit! 

E has a pretty healthy respect for fire but Duke is fearless. He would run over to the pile of sticks and toddle back hands full to throw into the flame. He was in heaven!! 

It wouldn't be a fire without roasting marshmallows. E was all about technique.

Duke was all about lighting them on fire.

Thankfully Grammy was there to blow out his marshmallow which he thought was hilarious. 

It was a beautiful evening and I see more fire pits in our future! Thank you curbside hunt for providing not only the fire pit but those awesome folding chairs!

Yard Sale Virgins

After attending yard sales for so many years it was about time to finally have one of my own. I collaborated with a few friends which made all the difference. Our weekends were filling up quick with everyone's plans for traveling so we picked a weekend that Jakob had to take a practice exam on... whoops. 

It was a chilly morning so we put six kids inside the house to play with toys and watch shows. My house looked like a bomb went off but the kids were happy. I tried to sell a few of E's treasures which she wasn't very happy about. She was allowed to rescue two things. She chose a pink and blue bear. 

Justin (Hattie's Hubby) brought us some muffins. Mmmmm... SO Good!

In the end I made $97. Which was pretty good considering I would have just donated everything. It was a lot of work but I'd do it again if we could get  a group of friends together to make it pretty big!

I have bee soooo blessed with our friends. We are a family and I am SOO grateful to be surrounded by such amazing friends! This was our first yard sale for Barb, Hattie and I. (Becca is a seasoned vet!) Thanks for making it a fun morning girls!

Curbside Finds

 I now have a new favorite day of the year. Large Item Pick Up Day! Essentially, everyone puts out their big items on the curb that the trash usually doesn't pick up (couches, mattresses, ect.) and then the trash comes and gets it.... but not before we went and hunted through it! We were up at 6:00 in the morning and the hunt was on!!! 

 We all had things we were searching for and some things just happened to be treasures we never knew we needed. At first we went in Gretchen's SUV and we would haul things back piece by piece, it took a bit of creativity to fit them in the car but when there's a will there's a way! 

 3 hours in and we already had quite the haul, then my friend Becca came with her truck... it was a whole new ball game!

 Some times we had to but our backs into shutting the door. And other times we would just tie it shurt with an extension cord.

 I was oddly tempted by these candies... but I decided I best leave them on the curb. 

 And here are my treasures!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! First up, a little person table. Well, that is what we will use it for I think... or get rid of it, which is the best thing about curbside finds, no commitment!

 A little bookcase!

 A desk for my sewing room.

 A wing back chair that WAS completely intact. My friend Gretchen just recovered a wing back chair and she said that she would help me rock mine out. We were so excited we started ripping it apart right away, little did we know when we picked it up... it's a recliner!!!!!! So excited to finish this baby! Now what color should I do?

 Another recovering project... I'm thinking this baby will be grey??

 Little People Toys.

 Who doesn't love a wagon to tote all of your treasures?

 Then there's this FABULOUS pillow!

 I was on the hunt for a chicken wire frame for my RS bulletin board at church. I saw a few at Hobby Lobby and they were $49.99!! I just ripped this bad boy off of a chicken coup. I'm going to paint the frame white. 

 Who would throw away a ladder?!?!

 Another bike, because Duke needed one!

 A futon frame that needed a bit of love but it will be perfect for all of the company we have coming. 

 STORAGE!

 A little car... I'm feeling like painting it to be a Batmobile!

 A large outside slide!

 So excited to have an indoor and outdoor slide!

A picnic table!

 Another computer mat.

 A drying rack... I've been hunting for one for awhile now. 

 A portable DVD player which is bigger than the one we have currently. Perfect for the tornado room. 

 Peg board... in perfect condition!

 Some cupboard doors which I'm feeling like turning into chalk boards but who knows.

Glass cupboard door which I think I will add some vinyl too and make a cute little saying out of it. 

 A super soft blanket!

 And (in my opinion) the find of the day for me.... a baby swing... In PERFECT condition which is nicer than the one I have AND the batteries are still good! 

Best part of all was it was all FREE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I get all jittery just thinking about it! It was soooooo much fun! Now to get back to my chair!