Action Figure Museum, Pauls Valley, OK

We've been talking about visiting the Action Figure Museum in Pauls Valley, OK for a little while. We had gotten coupons from the kid's summer reading program at the library... but unfortunately, they expired before we made it out there. But we decided to go anyway, on a rainy pre-fall day. Jackson wasn't feeling too hot... he had some sort of cold. I think he would have enjoyed it even more if he'd been in good health. But we all enjoyed in none-the-less. It was a pretty small museum but they had a TON of action figures. And then towards the end, they had a dress up area.

Hot Mama Run & Baby Parade

My sister, Laura, asked me if I'd like to walk with her at a locally put on race/walk. I hadn't been running over the summer (too hot outside!!) so I definitely didn't want to do the run. Laura had a new baby and was going to do the walk/baby parade. So I packed the kids up in their strollers & we walked with Laura, baby Miguel, & a friend of hers & her baby.

Here we all are! (Isabella didn't want to be photographed!)

First Day of School 2012

We started our homeschooling near the end of August, when our schedule calmed down. It's one of the nice things about homeschooling... super flexible. :)

Here are our pictures for the first day of school. It was tough to make the kids get pretty for pictures... another plus of homeschooling is none of us have to get dressed unless we're going somewhere.

Just Between Friends Consignment Sale

Two times a year (spring & fall) our city has a fabulous week long consignment sale at our local fair grounds. The sale is called the Just Between Friends (JBF) sale but it is so much bigger than that name would have you believe.

This year I had so much to sell! I gathered up a lot of the kids out grown toys (I don't usually sell a ton of toys, we haven't really had a bunch that they've totally grown out of) and clothes along with the rocking chair/ottoman I used with both kids as babies and a crib mattress. I had a ton! I started the sale prep early but I had so much stuff, I was doing it for weeks (little bits here & there in between our trip to GWL & other things here & there).

Here is just some of the mess all the stuff I was selling created on my dining room table! (I even pulled out a portable table to help me with the process!)

And here was the stack of price tags that I printed off! The sale recently went to a new way of numbering the consignors & so every tag had to be re-printed off and reattached. So anything that hadn't sold from previous sales, had to be reprinted/retagged. This is 229 tags.

Now the fun part! The shopping!! Since Isabella was a baby, I've gotten about 90% of the kids clothing at the JBF sale. It is a very economical way to get the brands that I like at a fraction of the price (sounds like a commercial, but it's true!). The owner of our JBF sale is super organized & runs a great sale in which much of the stained/worn out clothing is screened out and what is left is some really great clothing! I volunteer 8 hrs working the sale so that I can shop early and I think it is totally worth my time because there are some pretty dedicated moms (dads and grandmas!) who shop this sale & grab up the good stuff quickly! So I do 8 hrs of work to shop a little bit before the masses. :) 

Here are a few things that I got for Isabella.

Here is Jackson wearing a new Spiderman shirt & Spiderman house shoes. He's all boy!! (I'm not crazy about character stuff but we do things like this for around the house play and pajamas. It's a good compromise that has worked out for us so far!)

 And some of the things that I got for Jackson. I actually did some Christmas shopping this year, which I've never done before. But I saw some new & nearly new toys at great prices so I couldn't resist! (BTW, these collages were entered in a contest on FB, in case you were wondering!)

The even better part... I made $619.56!! So if you minus $369.71 (what I spent this season & costs associated w/ the sale such as card stock, tape, etc) it equals $249.85 profit!! That covers the chair we bought for Jackson from IKEA ($80) with $169 to spare!! :) This is the most I've made at the JBF & I think it might be the least I've spent on 2 kids! So all around a great sale. (I sold 161 items including the rocking chair/ottoman & mattress.)

Isabella Hula Hoops!

We went to my nephew, Cameron's birthday party in July and while we were there, we learned that one of his little friends was a really great hula hooper. Isabella has wanted to learn to hula hoop for awhile, and has owned one for some time. She just never has been able to figure it out (nor has she put a whole lot of time into it). So this motivated us to work a little bit more at it... I found her some videos on Youtube to teach her and she diligently watched and practiced. Before too long, she had it down and was doing tricks (like walking, spinning, etc) while hula hooping. She has tried to teach me her skill but I have only had it going a couple of times. :)

Here is a video (be aware... she's quite silly!).

Tie Dye with MOMS Club

The day before we headed to Great Wolf Lodge, we had a tie dye party with our MOMS club friends! It was lots of fun and all the shirts, dresses, and hats turned out really cute!!

And here are some of them when I was rinsing them all out in my kitchen sink before they went in the wash. (Note to self- don't do this on the day before you plan to leave town!)

Isabella's Actual 6th Birthday Day

Since we weren't having a party on her actual birthday, and really we weren't having a traditional party (since we were going to Great Wolf Lodge), I did a couple things for Isabella to make her day special.

She woke up on her birthday to balloons hanging in front of her door. (Nothing fancy... just went with what I had! :)

I devoted my picture wall to her birthday pictures for the past 6 years. (And here is Bella's silly grin she likes to do for pictures!)

And perhaps the biggest surprise... to welcome baby Mimi (what my kids have called the baby since Laura found out it would be a boy) or rather Miguel Angel Valle IV aka Mavy into the world! Isabella was pretty excited to share her birthday with her new baby cousin. :)