We’ve been busy around here (examples: here, here, and here.) but not really family fun busy!  So I’ve decided that this fall is going to be a season of family fun.  And because I love anything list related, I have made a family fun to-do list. Right now, Mathlete is saying that it isn’t really fun if there is a to-do list involved but what does he know, right?
Wanna see what we’ll be up to?

Looks like fun, right?

[Suddenly Frugal]

I’m going to preface this by saying that I am under no circumstances a master yard saler.  I’ve participated in a few and made a reasonable amount of money but there are a lot of ladies around that are truly amazing when it comes to planning and implementing a yard sale.
Just in case you are thinking of having a sale though, I’ll share some of the things I find important when getting ready for a sale:

1. Pick a date.  Then, pick a backup rain date. — Mother nature can be pretty unpredictable so it is a great idea to have a backup date on the calendar.  For example, my original yard sale was rescheduled to the rain date because of an impending hurricane.  Hurray for rain dates!

2. Get others involved. — This can be done in several ways.  The most ideal is to have several people sell at one location.  The other option is for each person/family to sell at their own house/location.   Obviously, having everyone at one place brings in more traffic to each sale but it comes with the hassle of (potentially) having to haul your stuff somewhere.

3. Advertise. — It helps to advertise in several different ways.  I tend to always go with the free routes because I’m cheap. 

• First is the easiest: Word of mouth.  Talk about it!  Tell anyone you think might be interested. 
• Next, post to places like Craigslist and other free sites. There are even yard sale specific boards out there on the interwebs you can post to.
• Put up flyers.  Even in today’s digital age, some people don’t really look on places like Craigslist.  Put up flyers in your local coffee shop/grocery store/etc.
• Put up signs!  I usually do this the day before but I put several directional signs to help people find me. 

4. Price your stuff. — Please put a price on your items.  It can be something as simple as painters tape with a hand written price or the little pre-printed stickers you buy from the dollar store.  It just helps your buyers to know what you are asking for something.  A LOT of people will simply walk away if faced with having to inquire about a price.

5. Be willing to negotiate. — Going hand in hand with #4, be willing to negotiate on the prices you’ve set because people will definitely try to bargain with you.

6. Be on time. — On the day of the sale, have your items out and ready for sale at whatever start time you put in the ad.  Also, do not stop early even if traffic is dwindling.  I usually plan for a 10 minute window on each side of my start and end times.

7. Keep your tables tidy. — Make it easy on your shoppers by keeping your items neat and tidy.  This way, everything you have for sale is in plain view.  Many yard sale shoppers are attempting to hit as many places as they can in a short span of time.  Translation:  they aren’t going to dig through a pile of stuff hoping to find an item.

8. Have change. — Your shoppers are going to come with money and (hopefully) want to spend it.  A lot of times though they come with larger bills ($10 and $20) when your items are more likely priced at $1 and $5.  Make sure you can still accommodate these shoppers by having plenty of change on hand.  I usually get the following from the bank on the day before my sale:

• $10 worth of $.25
• $20 worth of $1 bills
• $20 worth of $5 bills
• $20 worth of $10 bills

9. Be friendly. — Greet everyone that comes up to your sale.  If they seem to be searching for something specific, ask if you can help them because you might have it and they just haven’t seen it yet.

10.  Extras. — There are several little “extra” things you can do to make your sale a success.  We always have bags for shoppers to help them if they purchase multiple items.  A few weeks prior to the sale I just start collecting the plastic grocery bags (we usually do cloth so I have to actually remember to do this!).  Also, if it is a really hot (or cold) day, I’ll have H come out and give people something to drink.

Hopefully, some of these tips might help if you have a yard sale coming up in the future!  If you have any other tips, I’d love to read about them in the comments.

Whew!  We just keep getting busier!  I started this past weekend with a date (more on that later!).  I poured myself into bed after that fun so I would be geared up for the next day’s activities: H’s first soccer practice.
We got to the fields early and watched H’s friend, C, play for a little bit.

The end of their practice was marked by a parent tunnel for the kids.

This little guy missed all of that though.  He was fast asleep.

With still some time to go before “official” practice, these two practiced a little bit with Mathlete.

Then, it was time for business.  The kids all got their soccer t-shirts.  First up was a game of tag.

Water break!

After a few more practice “games”, the kids split up and played a few three on three “rounds.”

Someone woke up for this action!

We successfully finished our first practice and the kids are excited for next week.

After soccer, we had lunch at Panera with some of friends from soccer and then headed home for nap time.  Sadly, someone refused to nap in his crib and only wanted to sleep in his high chair.  Snacks really are exhausting!

Sunday, while the men played their football game, I hopped in the car with Junior and went for a coffee run.  6 drinks later, we were on our way to pick up the guys and head to the

It was preview weekend at the fall festival so everyone got in for $5/person (under two was free!).  I think there are two girls who are seriously excited!

The fall festival is filled with lots of fun.  Farm animals, slides, and hay abound.  It was pretty much a whirlwind so I will let most of the pictures speak for themselves.

When you exit the fall festival, each person gets a small pumpkin to take home.  H always loves picking out the pumpkins.

So, in case you were wondering, that is how you spell exhaustion!

I’ve been tinkering.  Maybe I was inspired with H’s current obsession with Tinkerbell (this week) but I felt like I needed to make some changes around here. 
What’s different?  Here are the five things you need to know:

1. We have a button!  You can grab it (and please grab it often!) anytime on the side bar.



2. You’ll also find some new column headers over on the side bar.  I changed them so they better describe what they do.
3. We’re on Facebook!  Please ‘like’ us to keep up with what is going on.
   
4. New pages have been added!  Want to learn a little more about us?  Interested in partnering with us?  Or maybe you just want to go shopping?  Check out the top bar and you’ll find links to all those things!
5. The list of blogs I follow is gone.  I didn’t remove it because I don’t want to give blog love.  The list kept growing as I stumbled upon other great blogs so I am working on a separate page to share the blogs I follow.  Look for it soon!

Hope you like the new changes!

This past Sunday, we went to hang out with our favorite photographer, Erica.  She did pictures when Baby E (well, technically toddler E now!) and H turned 6 months and 3.5 years respectively.  Since that was in February, we met at her studio and took photos.  The weather this past weekend was amazing so we headed to Sully Historic District for some outdoor photos.  As usual, Erica did not disappoint and managed to capture some great shots of our family!
Obviously, I can only share just a few because they are Erica’s images but please head over to her blog and check out the pictures she posted of our family (and lots of other great images too!)

You usually get a weekend round up post from me on Monday or Tuesday.  This week is a little different though because, while we did lots of fun and important stuff, I feel there is only one thing that we did this weekend that needs to be shared.  It overshadows every other thing we did which is exactly as it should be.  We remembered.

We remembered the day that changed ours lives.  We remembered those that were lost on that fateful day.  We remembered those that fought with everything they had to save even just one person that day.  We remembered those that struggle even 10 years later to cope.  We remembered the tears, the sorrow and even a little of the fear.  And we did it, together.

We gathered as neighbors and friends with flags and candles.  Moments of silence, pledges of allegiance and anthems made the gathering complete.

To some, this is just a piece of fabric attached to a pole.  To us, it is life, liberty and remembering.

Perhaps it is because H now sees me (or me forcing Mathlete) carrying around my camera so many places recently but she has become quite interested in taking pictures.  From about age one, she was always aware of the camera and wanted to play with it.  Her interest dropped off around age three though and she became much more focused on toys and other play things.  These days, H will actually take the camera out of the drawer (simple point and shoot) and start taking pictures.  Or, she’ll ask for the camera in the car to entertain herself while I am driving.

Want to know the sad part?  At four, she is a better photographer than I am!  Some of her most recent shots:

Definitely a reminder of how much I need a haircut!

Self-portrait

So fun!

On this day, many, many (many) years ago…a baby was born.  A total (adorable) geek at heart, this baby would grow up to be a super smart, engineering and mathlete wonder.  Calculators would shudder at the thought of his amazing powers.

In fact, his mathlete powers were so wonderous that he managed to score a wife 7 years his junior (cradle robber!).

In a strange twist of fate, his super powers would enable him to always appear younger than his wife and other friends.  Until, he helped create

These two adorable children would cause his true age to finally show…or at least to make him look the same age as his super young (heehee) wife…23 😉

Happy Birthday to the most amazing mathlete (and husband and father) anyone could ever imagine!

Do you have a faithful friend? A protector who stands by you and watches over you? Maybe one with four legs versus the standard two?

Our family was blessed for 9 years to have a faithful friend to love and protect us.  We rescued her (maybe she rescued us!) back in 2002 and quickly became the center of our growing family.  To meet her was to love her…even the non-puppy people loved her!

She always knew the exact time to come over with a little nudge if you were sad.  Always ready for a cuddle in the evening or early morning. 

She would pretend she wasn’t interested in our kids but then would plant herself outside of their bedrooms doors all night…just in case. 

In April, we learned our beloved puppy (my first “born”) was sick.  Cancer the doctor said.  We said, “what can we do?”  Medicines were prescribed, a change in food occurred and things seemed to be maintaining.  Sadly, no improvement but maintaining meant more time with her. More time for cuddles, belly rubs and hugs

Saturday, the day we knew was inevitable but kept hoping would come one week…or even one day…later came.  We had to say goodbye to our faithful companion…a family member we’d loved for 9 years.
Saturday and each day since has been a day filled with tears and sadness. We know she is in a place where she is no longer sick and can run and play freely.  But the hurt and void in our family still exists.

Goodbye my faithful and loving companion, Honey…we will never forget you and your place in our family!