Our 'big' garage sale earnings

The kids are all in bed and I'm relaxing after what was really an enjoyable day. It started out with a very cute moment when Abby and Becca were lying on my bed this morning watching me check my e-mail. Abby was lying on her stomach with her chin in her hands, propped up on her elbows. Becca was lying on her tummy next to Abby - she looked over at her, then put her hands on either side of her little cheeks. She didn't quite understand the propping up on the elbows thing so her chin was pushed down into my comforter and her elbows were splayed out to the sides, but it would've made a darn cute picture.

Unfortunately by the time I retrieved the camera from the kitchen and came back, they had both moved. I got Becca to do it again, but as soon as she saw the camera, she got all excited and sat up. The best I got was this:

Lately, as soon as Becca sees the camera - instead of posing with a big, cheesy smile like she used to, she just wants to see the photos on the screen on the back. That's my fault - we've been watching 'Becca-tv' on the back of the camera where I play back videos I've taken of her. So she heads straight for me and tries to pry the camera out of my hands whenever she sees it. Whoops.

The girls and I spent the day having a garage sale at my friend Kristi's. Normally this is cause for a great deal of stress as we attempt to entertain 5 kids for hours on end while also making change, keeping piles of baby clothes sorted in somewhat organized piles, keeping various kids (our own and others) from walking off with toys we're trying to sell, and picking up everything that has blown off of tables and racks - for some reason we have a tendency to pick windy days for these things. But today the kids could even color without the wind blowing paper everywhere.


Today was not only wind-free, but also the perfect temperature - not too cold or too hot and humid. And somehow the combination of ages, genders and personalities of our kids hit the jackpot and they all got along. All day. All of them. Well pretty much, there were a few moments, but all in all - it was amazing. Hannah and Kristi's 5-year-old, Noah, played together all day (and Hannah stayed dry!). Abby wandered back and forth between playing and haunting Kristi and I, until Kristi came up with the ultimate Abby activity - she paid her a penny for every acorn that Abby found in the front lawn and collected in a bucket. A win-win situation - it kept Abby occupied and got Kristi's lawn cleared of acorns, for the moment anyway. Abby made over a dollar and Hannah made the 50 cents that Kristi penalized Abby for not staying to help count the acorns all out (Hannah did).

Even Becca did well today, especially considering she hadn't had a nap. She was quite 'helpful' in trying to put clothes on tables or in bins while I walked around behind her removing said clothes from said tables or bins. :) She played for quite a while with a shape sorter toy that I was trying to sell, but which ended up coming back home with us instead. And trying to put clothes on over the ones she was wearing...


(yes, this was a pajama shirt she was trying to pull on over her legs...)

Oh, and how did the sale go, you ask? Well, we had fun. That's what matters, right? It was a great excuse to be able to sit and chat (how often does that happen...) and for the kids to play together.




And yes, for us to make a whopping $24. I think Kristi made a bit more. I put $20 of ours in the gas tank on the way home. It didn't even fill it halfway. Sigh...

Some more highlights of today:

• Driving Becca around the block until she fell asleep in the van, only to have the automatic unlocking of the van doors when we got back wake her up...
  
  
• Four kids eating red popsicles on Kristi's front step.
  
  
• Kristi's son Aaron (he'll be 3 in October) drawing his first picture of a 'person' - a smiley face... Too cute!
  
  
• Making more than I spent on McDonalds for lunch - just breaking even was a thrill, woo hoo!
  
  
• Kristi finding one of Noah's old pencil boxes for Abby to use for school. Abby sat down at the little picnic table with it and showed it to Noah. Noah - "Hey, that's my pencil box!", Abby - "No, this is my new one!", Noah - "Wow, I have one just like it..." And he never realized that it was actually his, thank goodness...
  
  
• The tooth fairy making yet another visit to our house tonight as Abby lost her third tooth after we got home. Is it normal for them to come out so quickly one after the other like this? Kristi asked me that and I have no idea... At this rate the child's not going to have any teeth left!
  
  

I brought home most of what I'd taken to sell (which wasn't really much to being with - I fit all 3 kids, a long table and all of the sale items in the van at the same time), but that really doesn't matter.

It was just a really, really nice day.