I journeyed to the children’s clothing sale this weekend and let me just say that the title sums it up! This was my second year so I kind of knew what to expect but nothing can ever prepare you for this sale. It opened Friday morning at 9:00. I decided to wait in line and arrived at about 8:20ish. The line was much longer than the year before at this point so I was down the corridor, down the building and around the corner. There were probably over 100 people in front of me. I am not sure what crazy time they arrived although I have a guess because my crazy wonderful mother arrived at 7:30 last year to stake our spot in line (we were first in line). I was on my own this year with my mom out of town and Brad’s mom watching Charis. Let me explain the clothing sale for a moment…anything that you could ever ever and sometimes never want for a kid is in this gym and adjoining room. Furniture, Pack-n-Play, clothes, toys, books, strollers, swings, etc. The list could go on forever. The wonderful thing about the clothing sale though is the wonderful prices and the one stop shopping of it. I always try to outfit Charis for the winter from the clothing sale. Charis is tricky though as she is quite the grower. Anyways, the doors finally opened and there is this mad dash of crazy women (a lot of whom bring their kids with them; just imagine screaming kids everywhere) looking for wonderful and incredible deals. Most people run to the toy room first. I head for the clothes and then the shoes. I had a good 3-4 minutes of looking before all the people who were first in line (they had already run through the toy room) headed to the clothes. I looked ferociously for those few minutes because I knew once the others arrived it would be too crowded to continue looking. The racks were packed with clothes but I managed to find some great things. I stuck mainly with dresses because I think that Charis’s height is going to get the better of her but I was really excited to find some great things. I am all about the thrill and hunt! I checked out before the line was too crowded since there have been horror stories of waiting over an hour in line to check out. After I put the clothes in the car I headed back to tackle the toy room and by this point there was even a line to get in, which is just crazy! I found some great and super cheap wood puzzles for Charis. I gave her the ones with pegs on them now and I will save the other ones until her little fingers can pull the pieces in and out. Overall the trip was very successful! I just knew that there were more clothes that I did not get to go through though so I went back Friday night with a friend and then yes Saturday morning with my mom. Let me defend myself though Saturday is half off day! Talk about even greater deals!!! I do love the clothing sale but you really have to be pumped up to conquer it. It is overwhelming but it is a great help to the budget. I am not sure that those would be Brad’s words but it must help somehow!

We tried our local library’s story time today, which is called Baby Bookworm! I was not sure what to expect with Charis but I knew that in the least she would love being with the other kids. I was so incredibly surprised with how much fun story time was. The librarian who led it was full of energy and just really loved the kids. We sang Head Shoulders Knees and Toes to start out with which of course Charis loved! She loves any song and especially a song with hand motions. The librarian read us a book about Spot the Dog next and then told us a story with a little doggie finger puppet. Charis again loved this as she does love doggies. Most of the kids were great and sat with their mommies but Charis was all about roaming and checking out the other kiddos. I had to retrieve her several times but she caught on eventually. After the stories the librarian handed out bubbles to everyone and we blew bubbles for a bit. This was Charis’s first experience with bubbles and she really enjoyed it. She liked the blowing part a lot. Then the librarian broke out the bubble machine, which was incredible for the amount of bubbles that it put out. Charis was up and roaming through the bubbles with the other kiddos. We sang some songs about bubbles and listened to some music it was definitely a great experience and I think that we will try to do it every week or at least every other. I highly recommend a good story time!

This was the question that my neighbor phoned to ask earlier this week. She is an older woman and she told me that she was afraid to call her son and tell him because he would think that she needs to go into a nursing home or that she had to much to drink that day so she called me instead. I confirmed the little red hen with her and let her know that she was in her right mind and that the hen had been around for a few months now. The neighbor decided that someone needed to call animal control but for some reason that just made me sad. I have come to love the little red hen! I assured her that another neighbor is feeding the little chicken and that all is well. After that conversation was put to rest she said that someone should catch it and we could have it for dinner. This made me much sadder especially after just dealing with Sally Sue. This chicken eats from my bird feeder and scratches at my yard. It is alive and real to me and has its own little personality (I would of never made it on a farm growing up). I was not really sure what to say to my dear sweet neighbor who I have now labeled as hen killer so I just politely chuckled with her and changed the subject. I know that many of you are thinking gee, southerners eating road kill and killing their chickens for dinner but let me tell you right now our neighbor is a northerner! Shocking! I know! I will have to look after Miss Bennie Hennie hen now.

The day that we arrived back home from vacation I noticed a bird on the feeder early in the afternoon. It was on the far side of the feeder so I could only see her bum. During the late afternoon I noticed that the bird was still there in pretty much the same position. I found this odd but went on with picking up, putting away and laundry. In the early evening the birdie was still there and I shared with Brad my concerns for the bird. He stepped out on the patio and confirmed my fears that it was dead. We aren’t much for dead things at our house so we decided to leave it there for the evening. The next day we talked Brad’s mom into coming over and helping us remove the dead bird. Dead things make me super sad and Brad just isn’t a big fan. Brad’s mom got elected because my mom removed the last dead thing from our garage, which was a mouse and we are just trying to share turns. We always hope that there will be a long enough time between each dead thing so that the parent who last did the removing will not remember it and come and help us again. Anyway, I found Brad’s mom a nice stick and Brad got her a nice bag and she was set until she shared with us that the poor birds head was stuck inside of the feeder. Note: for all you birdfeeder owners out there always keep your birdfeeder full of food. Our feeder only had about an inch of seed in it but it was below the hole that the bird can retrieve the food from. I am guessing that it stuck its little bird head in there for the food and then totally freaked out and either broke her neck or just plain freaked out and died. I am really thankful that I was not at home when the bird got stuck because I am not sure that I could handle watching her thrash around and not knowing what to do for her. To spare you the details we did eventually get the bird out of the feeder although it was a bit stuck. Where does Sally Sue come in you ask well I do name everything so this poor little birdie had the name of Sally Sue. Think about it though it is so much happier to say Sally Sue than to say that dead bird. Point proven huh!

We just took our first long distance trip with Miss Charis and let me tell you what an adventure it was. Brad’s parents invited us to the beach with them this past week and it was so wonderful and such a blessing to Brad and I. This trip held many firsts for Charis as it was her first trip out of the state, first trip to the beach and the first car ride over an hour long. The way there was a little rough.
We headed out of town early in the morning waking Charis thinking that she would go back to sleep in the car…not so much. She was not so pleasant to be crammed in a car with. Every time we crossed a state line Brad and I would make a big happy deal about it and Charis was just so cranky and sleepy that she would scream even louder. There was some humor to this for us…somewhere. When we finally arrived Charis walked around for a bit just so happy to be out of the car. The blessing was though that she went right down for a nap that afternoon since she chose to only sleep for 10 minutes out of a 8 hour car ride (with stops included) plus she cried so much that even Brad and I were beat.
We were nervous as to whether or not Charis would like the sand. She does have some grass issues so it was pretty up in the air. She refused to put her feet down in the sand for a bit but then she warmed up to the idea with some encouragement, buckets and shovels. DaDa, Gpa and Uncle Matt made some quick sand castles for Charis to knock over and she was soon a beach baby. The first trip to the beach she loved the ocean. She would run, crawl and walk to the ocean just anything to get there. She loved standing in the wavesand kept trying to walk out farther. This only lasted for the first day but we were still thankful that she loved the sand. She greatly enjoyed the pool as always. She is quite the water baby!
Charis did warm up to her Uncle Matt and Auntie Becca and of course she ate up her time with Gpa and Gma. We missed having Uncle Matt and Auntie Ariana with us though.
It was a wonderful trip but Brad and I learned that when you take a little one along on a vacation it is just not so much of a vacation for the DaDa and MaMa. Gpa and Gma were wonderful to watch Charis and help out with her but there is just something about knowing that your little one is there. We cannot explain it but it is different. We loved our time with the family though and we look forward to many more grand adventures with them! Brad and I will just plan on making little weekend DaDa and MaMa getaways to enjoy the total vacation.
The trip home was much better than the trip over. Charis was a trooper and fairly happy. She is still working on getting back to the normal routine and catching up on her sleep. It was so much fun to see her enjoy the beach and her time with her family. Thanks again Gpa and Gma for a wonderful trip!

Yes, two at the zoo double stroller included! Earlier this week I had set up a play date at the zoo with my friend Jennifer for today. We have been trying to get to the zoo together all summer so we were excited to have the date set. My dear sweet friend Katy is about to pop any moment with baby number two and she just seemed like she might enjoy a nice little break from baby number one, Charis’s best buddy Drew. I decided that I could totally do the zoo with two if Katy would allow me to borrow her brand new lovely double stroller. Brave I know! It ended up being very doable and we all had a great time with Jen and her little boy Benjamin. The only yucky thing that happened was the petting zoo, which was the fist thing of course. Drew and Charis are pretty good at walking now so I felt that we could make it through the petting zoo, although today the little ones just decided that they did not feel like walking too much but they decided this after we were in the petting zoo. Benjamin, Drew and Charis were all so excited to see 2 week old baby Goats. They only came up to their knees so it was a perfect little height to sit and pet the goats at (so I guess they decided in their minds). Benjamin’s mom swooped in and picked him up but with two it is just a different story. I had Drew and Charis by the hand but they just would not stand so down they went in the Goat potty yep, fresh fresh Goat potty at that. Stinky huh! I figured at that point it was all over so we continued visiting the other animals including the huge sheep, which they loved. They took a few more sitting breaks and then we were out to get cleaned up and back into the stroller. I had to pick up the kiddos since they did not feel like walking for the journey back to the stroller thus receiving a little goat potty of my own for the wearing but overall it was worth the smiles on their faces. We got as cleaned up as we could and journeyed through the rest of the zoo. Drew and Benjamin loved the Zebras. Charis loved watching all the other kids forget the animals although she did love the Goatie Oaties. The huge Gorillas were up against the glass at their exhibit and showing off so I thought that was pretty incredible and I always love to see the Otters. The Otters had a bamboo raft in their exhibit to play on today so they were a lot closer than normal which was great for the kids to see. After lunch we said goodbyes to Benjamin and Jen and headed home dropping Drew off on the way. Once home I gave Charis a nice long extra scrubby bath and now she is in night night land. Ahhhhh! A little night night does not sound so bad right now. ZZZZZzzzzzzz

When I was little I would spend the last few minutes before bed out in the front yard under the trees trying to catch Fireflies. I would collect them in a glass jar with a lid or in a little plastic container (with breathing holes of course). I would sleep with them on my bedside table waking throughout the night to see their glowing dance and then setting them free when morning came. There was something so wonderful about the little glowing bugs. Even now I still anticipate the first fireflies of the season. Whenever I see one it takes me back to those summer evenings with the smell of a fresh cut lawn lingering and the careful dance that I would perform to catch a Firefly. I think that they are just incredible little bugs that the Lord created for a child’s heart of wonder and awe. I think that He even made them for us fast paced adults so that we would remember the simple wonder of His works. Even the Fireflies give Him praise as they dance through dusk with their light shining.