Consignment Sales

This last weekend was my MOPS (mothers of preschoolers) bi yearly fundraiser (the money goes mostly to the teen MOPS group but also goes to cover our child are for MOPS meetings): the fall consignment sale.

Since I was a volunteer worker, I got first dibs on items before the general public. I stocked any missing holes in Corinne's closet in size 2T and stocked Evan's closet in 18m with fall/winter clothes and shoes. 

I'm such a money snob about kids' clothes and toys. If I ever buy a new outfit  or new toys, it seriously pains me. On the last day of the consignment sale, most items were half off. 

So I picked up any "must have items" during the first day of the sale and then back filled stuff like play shirts/pants and "sure that would be neat" toys on the last day of the sale. 

I must have bought Corinne about 7 Halloween themed outfits. With her starting preschool next week, now she has an excuse to wear cute clothes like that. 

Here were my finds:

A $5 lobster Halloween costume for Evan. I was planning on having him wear the lion costume Corinne wore last year. But OMG. A MFing lobster. This pic doesn't do the costume justice. I'll get a better one for Halloween.

But here are some stock photos of the costume. 

A $15 tricycle that is push/steerable by an adult:

A $5 art table:

And the coup de grace... A $37 bounce house:

I also got another tandem double stroller ($25) that I like better than my current tandem, so I'll sell the current one. Total cost for everything (toys+clothes): $200.

Ain't bad. I feel so thrifty. 

End of summer

We were going to go to the park today. I got the kids in their park gear, loaded up the diaper bag, stepped outside into the 140 degree garage and thought "uhhhh no". I traded out the diaper bag for the swim bag, and off to the spray park for their final open weekend before they close for the summer.

Pampers box

Cats love boxes and kids love boxes.

Boxes are delicious:

Butts are delicious:

Crayons

We have, what is developing into, a tradition:

1) Corinne sees me writing something and wants to write too (tonight I was writing up a grocery list and weekly menu). 

2) I give Corinne a crayon and a pad of paper. 

3) she happily scribbles on the paper for 10 seconds. Then finds other non paper items to scribble on. Like a chair. 

4) upset that she is told to color on the paper and not on the chair, she puts her crayon to the side so she has both hands available to throw a tantrum since I am the meanest Mommy ever. EVER!

5) Evan finds the crayon and eats it.

Tonight, it was a delicious green crayon. Since these are washable crayons, they dissolve at the slightest hint of moistness. Evan is moist. He's like a big ball of slobbery moist.

Winter Clothes

This weekend was tax free weekend, and the local consignment kid shop was running a 15% off sale, so I took Evan and we shopped for winter clothes for each kid. I got Corinne some 18m and 2T jeans. The 18m length is perfect, the waist is a bit roomy right now. So I figure she'll wear 18m for the first part of winter and maybe 2T for early spring.

I got her a 2T winter jacket and it fits well.  She had lots of fun putting it on and walking around the house in it. 

Evan wasn't thrilled to play dress up with his winter clothes (lots of 18m stuff). I figure I'll fill in 12m pants for the fall at the church consignment sale for him. 

Corinne pulled the jacket I got for Evan out of the bag. I told her it was Evan's jacket. So she kept trying to put it on him. She'd grab his arm and try to stuff it in. 

When that didn't work, she just draped it over his head. Good enough for government work, right?

Then she wanted him to wear her new winter hat.

Then Evan discovered the cat in the bag.

And God forbid Evan get to play with something by himself. So Corinne took the bag (with the cat still in it) and dragged it into the other room. The cat was not a happy camper. 

11m

We have a crawler! Of course, in keeping in line with his sister, he first crawled while upstairs with M while I was downstairs so I didn't see it, even though I'm the stay at home parent.

Thankfully he seemed to catch on really quickly and became a crawling pro pretty much overnight so I didn't have to wait that long to see him in action.

Now, whenever I open up a cabinet, or the pantry, or the dishwasher, or the fridge, I have two kids who are instantly there and trying to grab at stuff. Making dinner I feel like a stealth ninja. I distract in one quadrant of the kitchen then quickly run to another quadrant to grab a pan before they can act upon my movement. Like a cobra. Hissssss.

Tonight, while Evan was grabbing the steak knives from the dishwasher, I turned to M in an exasperated voice and said "knives! Why do they both instantly go for the steak knives?!?"

M replied it was because the handles were black. 

Okay.

And, as he explained further, they can only see in black and white.

Apparently we are raising Cocker spaniels, not children. Bless his heart.

Evan still has separation anxiety, but it primarily comes out when he's tired and at night (I've been trying to sneak out of his room for the past two hours as I type this but he starts screaming the instant I move away.) During the day, though, he will happily crawl into the green room to play with the play kitchen's oven when I'm in another room. Open close open close open close, repeat. 

He's an avid waver and likes to clap his hands. I've been trying to teach him the sign for "more" at mealtime, so I don't know whether he's clapping just to clap or because he wants more. 

Of course teaching Evan "more" with Corinne sitting right next to him has brought it's own set of challenges since she'll start signing "more" for attention.

"Corinne do you want more?"

"No. No."

--She signs "more"--

"Do you want me to get you more?"

"No. NO! NOOOO!"
--She signs "more"--

"Are you all done?"

"No."

"Do you want to sit there like a bump on a log?"
"NOOO! No!"

Evan is babbling a fair amount. He makes pretty much all the consonant "a" sounds: da, ba, ma, etc. 

He's still not pulling to stand, but will try and end up sitting on his knees.

He can throw a ball fairly decently. I'm thinking we nix the 529 and rely on a baseball scholarship. M and I will go to Tahiti with the 529 funds.

Planning Evan's birthday party

I said I wasn't going to do a huge theme or anything. Then the Oriental Trading Company catalog arrived. Damn catalog. Then I looked at Pinterest. Damn Pinterest. Then I started looking at dinosaur cakes. Damn Wilton.

So, knowing I had exactly one month to get everything together. I took Evan outside for a photoshoot today, which was perfect because it was cloudy. And taking pictures outside while cloudy is actually ideal. No shadows, perfect light. 

Most of my attempts ended up like this. Looking at the camera was boring, apparently. 

Animation! 

Then a few pictures were decent:

And some were super cute: 

Then Corinne photobombed: 

But, I was able to get the invite ordered today. It will be sent out a bit later than I prefer, but oh well. 

I need to plan decorations, food and a cake. I'm debating on making it myself or letting the bakery do it. If we get most of the food pre-made, I'll make it myself. 

Evan's First Haircut

Evan was looking rather shaggy, so he needed a trim. M cuts his own hair, so we decided to give it a go at home.

The Before Look:

The During: 

The After: 

The Spoils: 

The "Helper". She helped like a hole in the head helps.

Play date

We met up with a friend for a play date. The same friend who left a casserole dish at our house that I needed to return. The same casserole dish that I wrote myself a note about to not forget today when we went to the play date. 

The same casserole dish I totally forgot to bring. Oops. 

However today wasn't a total bust. Evan learned how to wave on command and a random little girl stranger taught Corinne how to jump in a ball pit. Over and over and over again.