Ellie's Fridge Farm

At the consignment sale, I picked up a toy that I knew nothing about, but that got rave reviews from the other moms there -- a Leapfrog Fridge Farm. It hangs on the fridge and you can match the animal parts and if you match them, it sings a little song. Even if you don't match them, it tells you the color and the animal. Ellie LOVES it and I find her playing with it all the time. Of course, I find the pieces everywhere too!

Oh, and notice, this day was the first time she ever wore blue jeans and tennis shoes. Isn't she cute???

Hand/Foot/Mouth

I have so many cute pix to post of Ellie and her goodies from consignment, but the little pistol broke my memory card reader, so.... I have to wait a few days before I can post pix.

Anyway, just a brief update that The Princess has been diagnosed with Hand/Foot/Mouth Disease. She'd begun to get fussy on Saturday and by Sunday was really fussy and stopped eating and drinking. A trip to the doctor's office today confirmed a diagnosis of HFMD. Dr. H. gave her a prescription for some paid meds to alternate with her ibuprofin.

This afternoon and tonight has been extremely hard for her. She literally cried, screamed and writhed about for an hour and a half tonight while trying to go to sleep. I've spoken with the nurse a bit ago who suggested a mouthwash type remedy of benadryl and maalox. If (strike that) When she wakes up tonight, we'll try that. I've had so little sleep over the past 36 hours I'm brain dead and body dead so I'm headed to bed to see if I can get a few hour's worth of sleep before she wakes up.

The good news is that it is a "one time does it all" type viral infection that most adults are immune to because they have already had it. The bad news is that it is highly contagious to other young children and she was at church Sunday and a birthday party afterward. We didn't have a clue. So sorry!!!

Baby Got Some New Shoes

I'm much too tired to post all my fun activities from today's consignment activities, but I had just a second before I went to bed to post one photo of the shoes I picked up for Ellie today.

Those of you who have kids know that the cost of children's shoes is ridiculous, with a pair of Str*de R*te costing between $24-$30, even for Ellie's size.

So, that being said, here are my purchases for today. I'd love to leave you guessing on the price, but just not enough time. There is a pair of Stride Rite, a new pair of Nikes, a pair of squeaky shoes (that will scare the dog all day long), a pair of Teeny Toes boots, and three other pair of shoes. None of them appear to have ever been worn as there is no sign of wear on any of them.

So, how much do you think for all six pair? Here's the photo for your review.

Would you believe, $29 for all six pair? Incredible!!

More tomorrow on the other "goodies" that both Josh and Ellie got.

WINNER!!

I never win anything -- literally, never.

Today I was at the consignment sale working my shift and it was the day to draw door prizes. If you work six + shifts you get DOOR PRIZES too -- can you believe it? What a deal!!

Anyway, I won a Longaberger basket (I LOVE them!!!), two sweet baby blankets that Linus Ellie will love!!, two $25 gift certificates to use at the sale AND.... best of all ... wait for this: the opportunity to shop with Brea on Wednesday at 12:00!!! I get to shop FIRST!!!! Whoo hoo!!!!

I was already a bit concerned about how I was going to make this all work since worker shop was at 5 p.m., Josh had football practice at 6 and he was going to shop using a worker credit, AND I am signed up to work at 6 p.m., SO.... God, in His greatness (with a little prayer on my part) worked it all out so that I could shop early. He knows and meets our needs (and even wants!!), doesn't He?

Anyway, since I had to take the exersaucers and high chair this afternoon, I took both Josh and Ellie and let them browse while I made lists of things they both wanted. I told Josh I'd just go ahead and get the things he wanted and he wouldn't even have to come out.

Ellie was a RIOT at the store. The phrase, "like a kid in a candy store" doesn't begin to describe how excited she was at all these toys. She rode on ride on toys, played with kitchens, musical instruments, train tables, doll houses, played in those outside type "houses", tried out tables and chairs, fell in love with a doggie purse and a stuffed bear and generally had a great time. We spent about an hour there letting her and Josh browse, and I came away with a pretty good list of things Ellie would like that included:

• Fridge phonics set - $5
• Fridge phonics farm set - $5
• Barney DVD (she loves Barney and singing and dancing with them) - $3
• Elmo book with microphone and buttons to push that "talk" - $3
• Disney Princess rolling backpack and lunch box -- this is a maybe, but it's only $5 and I'm thinking if we go on a trip, she would enjoy her own little suitcase
• Leap Frog Little Touch Leapster for Infants and Toddlers - $10
• Blues Clues chair -- ok THIS was a shocker. There was a LONG row of different kinds of chairs and she plopped down in this red chair that resembles a sofa and jumped up and down and laughed and clapped and giggled. Josh showed her other chairs and she'd shake her head, bounce up and down in the chair and laugh. It was so cute and funny. Josh and I had a great big laugh over her. We don't need the chair for her, but it brings her such joy. $5
• Doll Stroller (that she pushed all over the store) - $4
• Various Little People sets -- unsure which ones I will get until I can "get down into them"

Josh's list includes:

• Some sort of "does everything" Robot: $10 -- not sure what it does, but he wanted it
• A tow truck (it's pretty large too). I'm not sure where this request came from but, again, he wanted it - $5
• DVD of the movie Click - $5
• Book called Inventor Robots - $3
• ESPN Game Station - it's a ridiculously large (where will we put it??) basketball/baseball/football/hockey THING that he wanted from the last sale but I wasn't willing to part with the approximately $75 being asked for it (I don't remember the exact price only that it was more than I wanted to pay). The owner has obviously gotten tired of it sitting in her house and is letting it go for the wonderful low price of $30. Yay. *sarcasm* I didn't want it -- didn't want to deal with it -- don't have a good place for it. *sigh* He's only young once. Maybe I can re-consign it in the spring???

The balance of my "credit" for work will be used for winter clothes. I CANNOT WAIT to shop tomorrow. I'm so excited. Did I mention that I never win anything??? Allison, it appears the black cloud ... well, you know I'm superstitious and can't bring myself to finish the statement!!

Consignment - OY!!!

I've spent the better part of Monday and several hours here and there getting ready for the Encores and More North consignment sale. I didn't know we had so much stuff in our house. No wonder we don't have room to move!

I've made one trip already with some clothes and various other smaller things (a large storage tub full) this weekend when I worked. Tomorrow I'm going to try to haul all the following things in. Who thinks it will take more than one trip?? Me.

• Two exersaucers (one is a friend's that I had borrowed and I'm taking to the sale for her)
• A high chair (another friend's who let me borrow so I'm just taking to the sale for her)
• A bouncy seat
• A large tub of Josh's toys he wanted to get rid of
• A large tub of Ellie's "stuff"
• A large tub of clothes (overflowing too)
• Three airline carrying bags for strollers and carseats
• A carseat
• A playmat (also a friend's taking it for her since she let me borrow it)
• A crib (*sigh* Josh's that I kept for 11 years that is just taking up attic space)
• A bag of shoes (yes, I said bag -- sad)

I have two tubs of Josh's toys that I found in the attic that now need cleaning to see if Ellie has any interest in them. If not, I'll take them during restock on Monday/Tuesday. I also have one of Josh's strollers that has stains on the seat covers. I'm going to try to wash it to see if I can get it clean. If it comes clean, it will go off to the sale as well.

Things I have my eye on at the sale (so far):

• An Elmo table with two chairs as Ellie is starting to like to draw and sit in chairs
• A "dollhouse" style bookcase (that closes up and could be used, I suppose as a dollhouse)
• An ironing board/iron (maybe/maybe not -- still debating)
• Several pairs of CUTE CUTE shoes (can a girl have too many???)
• Little People playsets (I might put these up until Christmas -- several sets have never been opened)
• POSSIBLY an art easel that you can draw on and chalk on, but I think it might be too soon??? Still debating that. Others who have children a bit older should comment on when that might be a good toy.
• CLOTHES -- I have seen some of the most incredibly cute clothes come through the doors when I was working.
• POSSIBLY a pink bean bag ($5!!!!)
• Books
• DVDs - not a bunch though as we already have tons from Josh, but maybe some girly ones
• A Princess style vanity and stool (plastic of course) ($7!!!)
• Christmas outfit
• Halloween costume (what WILL she be this year???) I haven't been through her sizes yet to see what's available.

That's pretty much it. With my worker credit, I'm hoping to basically "trade" that for my "goodies". And no, there is nothing on the list for Josh. There is little that Josh would be interested in here AND he has a $50 worker credit that he is going to use for video games and DVDs (per his statement).

I'm back to getting this stuff ready and adding the last few tags. Then, I'm off to bed. I'm tired!!

Sponge

All of a sudden Ellie has become a little sponge for learning new things. Each day we see her developmental progress just grow a little more. Today, when we got home from taking Josh to school, she walked over to the "Cat Alert" sticker on the front door, pointed to the cat and said, "Cat". Now she can't pass it without pointing out that it's a "cat".

Later this morning, she was eating a banana and I showed her the sign for "banana". When she wanted more of it, I told her to "Show me banana" and she promptly signed for banana. She has also picked up the sign for dog in the last few days.

She makes the funniest "kissing" noises at everything now -- calling the cat or dog, air kissing to us. She has a new funny wave too and she waves at any opportunity -- hello, good bye, leaving the room -- whatever. Tonight when we picked up Braiden, Kirstin and Josh, she kept yelling at Braiden, "Hey, Hi!!" until he finally realized she was talking to him. He was amazed. :-)

Tonight, when it was time to take Josh to football practice, I asked her to give me a kiss and she leaned her jaw over to me did "air kisses" to me and then waved at me over her daddy's shoulder as she left. HA!!

She has also begun to realize that there might be things on a fork she might not like. Tonight she had some rice with chicken, corn, black beans and tomatoes and if there was any hint of tomato or chicken on the fork she would flip her hand at me (as if shooing it away) until I got it off and only then would she eat it. What a prima donna, huh?

I've also started calling her Mari*lyn Mon*roe as she love, love, loves to sit over the air conditioner vent and let her hair blow wildly while playing. She has done it several times now, her wispy brown hair flying. If she had a flowing skirt, I am certain she would give us the infamous MM over a subway vent pose.

First Day of School

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As is an annual tradition on the first day of school, I take Josh's picture on our porch and outside the house. This year, he got crazy silly making faces. And, this year, we had the blessed addition of Ellie in the pictures (even if she IS still in her pjs).

We got to school just fine (read "on time") and Josh is excited with his teacher and class. His teacher and I went to school together and I know Josh will have a great year learning with her and the other teachers on his team. We are so blessed to have the team we have! I hope he has a great year!!

How handsome is this guy??

I will add that I got the obligatory eye-rolling (from the DAD, no less) about taking the pictures this morning. I explained that one day, Josh will be happy to have these pictures later in life when he can look back at how he changed each year.

Blog Slacker

Yes, I know, I have certainly been a blogging slacker. I've been trying to get things ready for the consignment sale, getting work done, and I've had both Ellie and Josh home since Thursday, so blogging gets put to the back burner during those times.

Saturday, Josh's team, the Joelton Vikings, had their second set of scrimmages, this time at MBA where they played Goodpasture Christian and a team from West Nashville. They won their first game 23-0 and lost their second game 0-28.

I got a chance to use my new camera and have decided that I probably shouldn't move the settings around a lot until I can fiugre what settings I do need to change. I made a few changes and found that my photos were a bit lighter than I would have preferred. For those who are bored interested, you can view Saturday's photos here. I will say that I have edited them in Photoshop, so the photos, I think, look better than they really came out to start with. I have found the camera is faster than my other computer -- which stands to reason -- and that I thought the pictures would be more clear as they appeared that way in the viewfinder. I hope to get some time to try to take some photos this week of Ellie and Josh to try out the camera settings some more.

Here are a few fun ones from this weekend.

Ellie, eating ice to stay cool.

Notice a theme? Trying to stay cool, Josh has a cold rag on his head. It was HOT out there Saturday.

Thank goodness the game was ending, because Ellie decided she needed to be out on the field with mama and came running out.

This was pretty much her reaction to the second game. One game in the heat she tolerated, the second game -- not so much. She wanted to be on the field with mama and there was a fence between us.

Josh by the second game's end -- hot and tired.

These were some of my favs:

QB after an intercepted pass thrown by him -- love the facial expression

One tired, hot and frustrated player

Game's end with the sun coming it at an odd angle. I just like the light on this one.

An injured player -- notice the pain on his face -- fortunately it was not serious.

Anyone want to tell me what is funny about THIS photo? *sigh* I didn't notice it until I got home and was looking at it. Apparently "this" was a problem during the entire game, per Josh's report. Poor guy!

I just thought this one of Donovan was cute!

In "The Princess" department, Ellie is coming along a little with her language. I can tell she is trying harder to make words. I routinely hear her saying, "Baby", "Cat" "Duck" and "Mama". She replies, "Moo" when you ask her what the cow says now. Occassionally, it sounds like she is saying other things, but it's not consistent enough to count. The improvement seems to come more quickly when we watch the sign language videos. For some reason, she seems to be able to connect that these words have "signs" that go with them and we'll see a language improvement after a day of watching them. She knows the signs for "baby", "dog", "eat" "more" and "daddy". She really has enjoyed watching a Barney movie she has and doing the dances along with the kids. It's funny.

Josh has his first short day of school tomorrow -- from 7:45 - 10:45. He says he is looking forward to it. He was upset tonight that I didn't have any bacon to cook for his breakfast. We NEVER cook breakfast during school days, but he insisted it's a "tradition" to cook bacon on the first day of school -- I'm certain this is a "wishful thinking" on his part. He went to bed early (enough) tonight and I'm hopeful he'll get up easily in the morning. Oh the joys of early rising!

New Camera and New Found Respect and NEED

Today I stayed home with Ellie. I have a new found respect for 1) full-time stay-at-home moms, and 2) Dee'Anna (Ellie's babysitter). That girl wore me out before nap time. She is busy, busy, busy and you can't keep up with her no matter how hard you try. I attempted to clip some coupons -- HA! -- that didn't work so well. I pretty much just followed her along picking up whatever she was throwing down. We played a lot today. She enjoyed helping me do laundry (you know, closing the washing machine door and watching the laundry twirl around. She also enjoyed running me up and down the steps.

Her new favorite activity: wearing everyone else's shoes. It's funny to watch her put them on and try to walk in them.

And, my Canon EOS Rebel has finally bit the bullet, I suppose. I sent it in to get the on/off button repaired, but the estimate to fix it was more than I wanted to pay for it. Canon has a trade-up deal and so I have traded up to a Canon EOS XS. It should be here Friday. I can't wait to try it out on Saturday at Josh's football scrimmages. I love that it has a few new features but that the body style is the same so I don't have to learn a whole new camera.

I have a couple of pix from today, but the camera is upstairs so it will be tomorrow before I can post them.

NEED:

On another note, my friend Terri emailed me today asking me to post some information requesting help for friends of hers who are under an extraordinary deadline to raise funds to bring their daughter home from Taiwan. The Johnsons live here in Tennessee as well. Their adoption is ON HOLD until they can raise the $6,820 needed to pay the orphanage donation and agency fee. Imagine having your daughter identified and wanting so badly to proceed and then have this stumbling block. They have until AUGUST 30 to raise this money. I've been here. I know the fear, the faith required, the prayer required. If God leads your heart to help this family, PLEASE visit their site (link above) and donate. Even a small amount is helpful. The small collective efforts of many add up quickly. Imagine ... if this were your child in an orphanage. If you can't give, please visit their site, read their story and pray for them and their daughter.

Back to School Night

Tonight was back to school night where you get to find out who your teacher is, what team you are on, what supplies you will need and where your classrooms are located. Josh was really looking forward to tonight. He got ready without being asked and even combed his hair, brushed his teeth and put on the deodorant without being asked. It was a big deal.


I would have loved to have taken pictures, but when you are in "middle school" one does NOT take pictures for fear of embarrassing your child. *sigh*


The only picture I was able to take was one of him getting ready. He even got mad that I took this one of him. What a shame it's blurry. But, at least, it's something. One day he'll be glad to have these photos and memories from these middle school years. I suspect he'll get a laugh out of them. I'm certain his wife and kids will get a chuckle. I'd love to have some pictures and stories like this of Kevin!!

He seems well satisfied with his team and teachers. The benefits of having lived in the same community forever are that you know the majority of the teachers having either gone to school with them, know them from church or know their kids. It also makes it nice to be able to keep tabs on your "little man" when you know others who know you are in contact with him every day.

I pray that this will be a good year for Josh. These are very important, formative years and I want them to be good ones for him.

Tomorrow we are off with MeeMee to buy school clothes and supplies. I wonder if he'll let me take pictures tomorrow??? Hmmmm.....

Consignment Tagging

While I SHOULD have been out in the field working today, I spent a part of the day beginning to tag my items for the Encores and More North consignment sale. I cannot believe the amount of things we have amassed for Ellie during the past six months that no longer fit her. I've tagged close to 150 items so far and still have more to go and Josh's things to do.

For anyone wanting more information on this fabulous sale, click the link above. You'll find a whole store full of Goody's (pun intended as the location is in the former Goody's location in the Rivergate area) at great prices!! And, considering I just read on her blog that she currently has over 550 consignors, WOW, imagine the good stuff to pick from. If anyone is interested in my consignor pre-sale pass to shop on Friday night, let me know. I will have a consignor one and a guest one. First dibs to the first one to comment or email.

I will be working several shifts throughout the sale so maybe I'll see you there!!

Happy Photo

Another happy photo -- this time from Russellville, KY.

Hotdog Comes for a Visit

We were so excited to learn that Ellie's "BFF" and former "suitemate" (ha!) in Tokmok would be coming for a visit this weekend. They are two weeks apart in age and came home just a week apart. Hotdog and her mom arrived Saturday morning and we visited the local mall for a quick lunch and trip to Gymboree, The Children's Place and the Disney Store.

After the mall, we went to watch Joshua play a scrimmage in football and it rained and rained and rained. Fortunately, the men had the forethought to bring some tents and we stayed dry -- except the little girls who wanted to play in the rain. They played so very hard that they were soaked through. They had a blast!! Everyone loved getting to see Ellie and her friend too. Josh's team won one game and lost the other. It was good practice for them, however, for the upcoming season. We have another scrimmage next weekend before the season opening jamboree. I hope the boys do well this year. The line appears very solid and there are lots of players for the line as well, unlike in years past. Josh is going to have to work hard to earn his playing time this year as this is an 11-12 year old team and he is 11. Priority will likely be given to the 12 year-olds. I'm sure he'll play quite a bit, just maybe not as much as last year. He did very well in the first two scrimmages though.

After the game, Kevin and Josh stopped and got pizza and we went home and had a great time letting the little ones (and Josh too!) play. They had such a good time!!

We have hooked Hotdog on the idea of a DVD player in the backseat and I'm thinking mom and dad will be getting one soon. Ellie and she watched a sign language video over and over during our road running and Ellie picked up a new sign, "Baby" which is what she apparently thinks means Hotdog because after she left she went around signing "baby".

After spending the night and having breakfast and a little play time, Hotdog and mom went home today. Hotdog was exhausted as her schedule was all off. Hopefully, she rested on the way home!

Both Hotdog's mom and I agreed that we are so glad we live close enough together to be able to let the girls continue to be "BFFs" and that we can't wait until years from now when they are able to "spend the night", call each other and continue to be great friends. It's an added blessing that our families really like each other a lot too!!

Here are photos from our fun, fun weekend.

Hotdog giving Ellie a hug.
Josh and his team mates resting between games.

Josh (#74) tackling

Although you can't tell this Josh is the one who has tackled #20, carrying the ball. Go Josh!!

One of Josh's team mates, Austin, hanging out with Ellie. All the boys on the team think Ellie is "the stuff" and she thinks they are way cool too!!

Ellie and Dad playing in the rain ...

Josh flew through the air to make this tackle on the ball carrier.

Hotdog taught Ellie how to stomp in puddles. It was Ellie's first time to play in the rain. They were absolutely soaked. We had to take all their clothes off and let them ride home in wet diapers! No worries, they both are blanket addicts and each had their blankies to cuddle up with (and their sign language DVD) - ha!

BFFs!! Are they not adorable????

I love this picture of Hotdog.

This picture of Ellie really shows how much her hair is growing. I can't wait until she has as much as Hotdog.

These pix are for Hotdog's Dad -- a Wildcats fan -- here you go -- our girls playing UK basketball!

We had our own version of WWF going on -- Ellie and Hotdog had Josh penned down and Ellie was beating him with a pillow. They were just giggling!! Josh was such a good sport.

Ellie with her crayon and paper...

The girls played really well together. Here they are hiding the crayons in the stove on the kitchen.

This is Ellie "painting" Hotdog's mom's toes -- with a crayon!!

Not to be outdone by Hotdog riding on the toy, Ellie decided to climb on too.

Hotdog getting ready to leave ...

Ellie and Hotdog got crowns from Burger King at the mall (they are princesses, after all). Ellie still wants to wear her and will bring it to us to put on. It reminds me of when I was adopted my parents took me to Burger King on the day they got me. Ellie is about 5 months younger than I was on my Gotcha Day, but I'm sure this picture will take them back. So, this picture is for my parents!!