Scenes from our Week

About a year after CJ was born, I discovered consignment sales.  I fell in love.  I hit the jack pot.  This was a baby gear-buying-momma’s dream.  Well, this baby gear-buying-momma.  For all the guys out there, these "Jackpot consignment sales," are, how do I describe them...  Imagine the most boring thing you've ever done, and then double the boredom.  Don't ever agree to go to one of these.    

Consignment Sale – (BD’s definition) a twice a year event that happens usually at churches that has everything you could need for the mom and mom-to-be.  From maternity clothes to shoes to toys to costumes to books to puzzles to just about everything.  Also known as the holy grail of second hand for kid stuff.

Every time I paid full retail price for a baby gear (clothes) item, I had a little heart attack (This happens any time Brooke pays full price for anything.  Or if I pay full price for anything).  I never understood why anyone would want to pay that much for clothes (or toys) that a baby might wear (or use) for less than a couple of months.  I just didn’t get it.  And then I found consignment sales and didn’t have to pay full retail price anymore.  Don’t get me wrong, I occasionally buy something straight from the store with tags still on, but it has to be either a deep discount or something super special that the girls pick out themselves.  I wouldn’t call myself cheap (although JD might)(yes.  Definitely cheap), I just say it’s much more practical and plus we can spend the savings on things we will actually use for a bit longer. 

In the world of consignment sales, this year was a first for me.  I sold and volunteered at one.  The process was actually not too bad.  I am the self-proclaimed Queen of Garage Sales (hosting), so this wasn’t much different, except I didn’t have to go get change and put up signs.  I may be singing a different tune once my sales check comes in…let’s just hope I sold more than I bought.  Here's a great website to see if there are any sales in your area:  Consignment Mommies.  And here's another blogger's list of tips for buyers.  

This past weekend my cousin Angie was in town for work and was able to hang out with me for a night and a quick Saturday AM garage selling trip in GP.  We went out Friday night to a fantastic, amazing, delicious place in the Decatur square.  Brick Store Pub.  If you live in the Atlanta area (or even just visiting) and have never been, I HIGHLY recommend it.  Angie had the Fish and Chips and I opted for the Chicken Pot Pie.  Now, this should tell you something, I don’t like Chicken Pot Pie, but I love the Chicken Pot Pie from Brick Store Pub.  Amazing. 

The awesome Chicken Pot Pie 

love the brick

Saturday AM, we went to few sales in the neighborhood.  Angie scored some glass jars and a metal mesh splatter screen for frying (exciting) and I walked away with some random match books (I guess you could say I collect them..), a coin purse with ‘C’ on it for CJ, and a petite glass cake/cupcake stand.  Nothing I would say was a special treasure, just some fun stuff.

So here lately (and by lately, I mean for the past year), we have been dealing with a no-nap CJ at daycare.  She is pretty good about taking naps at home on the weekends, but at daycare she averages 1 nap per 3-4 months.  Some kids function just fine without a daily nap, but let me tell you, when CJ doesn’t have a nap, she is a little monster.  She cries at anything and everything, sulks, and just generally won’t do anything.  But when she naps, she is a different child, it’s amazing how that works.  And I’ve tried everything to get her to nap, new stuff, snacks, trips, getting to stay up late, but nothing works! If anyone has any suggestions on how to get her to nap at daycare, I will pay you one million dollars if it works (ok, I’m lying, but I will thank you profusely on my next post, that’s worth something right?).

Another area we need some help with is teaching Soph how to ride her bike.  JD works with her every other weekend (on the weekends we get her) and they go out for about 10-15 minutes just to work on her balancing skills.  JD started her off on a bike with no pedals to try and get her balancing skills up to speed, but she isn’t very confident and gives up too soon.  Even when she is doing great on the balancing, she will quit because she is scared she is going to fall or is going too fast.  I don’t remember how old I was when I learned how to ride a bike or even how my parents taught me.  But we sure could use any advice on how to get Soph to be more comfortable.  Should we let her fall on a grass area to show her it doesn’t hurt that bad?  Should we make her go out more than that amount of time?  Should just let her go at her own pace?  So many questions! 

So that’s our week in a nutshell. Here’s to taking naps and learning to ride a bike.

Red = JD's 'thoughts'

Trying Something New: Part Dos

Sundays are dedicated to my fitness {NGP} hurdles and accomplishments.  Wednesdays will be for our general family updates and doings.

And right now.  JD has the flu.  I have to admit when he first started feeling sick last Thursday, I was expecting the usual man cold (Man Cold - YouTube).  And I, as usual, would have to cater to his every need, and baby him more than I would do for CJ (Wait a second.  Did you just say that you would cater to my every need like you USUALLY do????  I will definitely remember this).

Saturday morning came and JD felt like he needed to go the doctor, CJ also has gymnastics on Saturday mornings.  But I decided that I would drive JD to the doctor since he was feeling especially ill.  I dropped him off at the doctor's office and headed to Target with CJ (partially to keep her out of a doctor's office full of sick people and partially to let her run around)(But wait, I'm sure the catering part is coming up soon....).  The next text I get from him is this:

Not ideal, but that's one way to move to the front of the line

Um, yeah, so I guess I can't make too much fun of JD and his 'man cold', which has officially been diagnosed by and official doctor as the FLU.

Other than the flu pestering our family this week, there has been much more going on since my last post.

Thanksgiving has come and gone, so has Christmas and the new year too.  And with all those, CJ turned 3, my family came to visit, Sophie is still loving karate and CJ started gymnastics.   Below are a few photos (picture overload!) to round out the end of 2015 and the beginning of 2016.  Oh, and JD and I got to go to Hawaii with some friends!  I'll do a special post on that later (and knowing me, later means a year after it actually happened).

Hawaii in October 

trying to get family photos....

Soph and CJ singing Jingle Bells by the fire

Happy Birthday CJ!

I'm pretty sure CJ photobombed this one...

Ice Skating at Atlantic Station

Making Christmas cookies with Maemae

First broken board!

Virginia Beach wedding

Me, JD and his siblings

Prepping for her first Father/Daughter Dance

Happy {LATE} New Year!

P.S. For those you just joining in, JD likes to proof my posts and make his 'corrections/additions' in red.

A Little Beach Time

I keep telling myself that I have to get this done.  Kind of like getting your taxes done but with this the IRS isn’t going to garnish my paycheck!

So much has happened in the past couple of months.  We just got back from our family vacation in Destin, Florida.  JD and I are making it a goal to own a beach house someday.  We really want that family tradition of being able to have a spot that everyone can go to and just have fun and make lots of memories.   We have been going to the gulf for the past four years.  It all started with JD and I going there for our wedding/elopement (not sure if that is a word…(umm...no) and we’ve been going back every summer.  Every year we have rented a condo in a different location to see where we want to put down our summer roots. 

I could stare at this forever 

someone's excited!

This year we rented a small 2 bed/2 bath condo in the heart of Destin.  It was a requirement for this condo to have easy access to the pool.  Last year it was the saving grace for JD and me.  We were able to let the girls nap and use the baby monitor to keep tabs on them while were at the pool.  

CJ wasn't too sure about it at first

The beach was a super short walk even though our unit wasn’t beach front. 

took her a bit to warm up to the ocean

yay!! She likes it!

My parents joined us the 2^nd day and thank goodness for that.  They were a huge help with the kiddos.  We enjoyed the beach, the pool, and of course all the fresh seafood. 

 Maemae and the girls

After this trip we can say we have narrowed our prime (would love to live here) location down to about three beach towns.

Harborwalk on Memorial Day

Sophie trying out the hamster balls

A few weeks back, I had the opportunity to be a house greeter at our semiannual Tour of Homes.  For those of you that aren’t familiar with our neighborhood, I’ll give you some insight.  When JD and I were first looking to purchase a home in the Atlanta area he never brought me to Grant Park.  One day we just happened to be driving through, and I was amazed.  Huge old homes on wide streets, tons of trees, the oldest parks in the city and just oozing with all kinds of character you can’t find in the suburbs or even in other areas the city.  I wanted to smack him (ok, I’m really not a violent person, I swear), so instead I just shrieked “WHY HAVEN’T YOU EVER BROUGHT ME HERE BEFORE???!!!”  His response was that this neighborhood had not always been this nice and the last he remembered, it was in a really rough state.  Well thank goodness someone decided to fix that.  Grant Park is easily the most amazing neighborhood I’ve ever lived in. 

Historic Grant Park

Ok, so back to the Tour of Homes.  Every year the neighborhood association has two Tour of Homes.  One in the spring and one in the winter.  Usually they have about 10-13 homes in the neighborhood that are open to visitors.  These homes are usually of the historic nature although some are quite modern.  It is an opportunity to show off your house and for others to see the variety of homes.  The neighborhood association always asks for volunteers to help show the homes and for people to volunteer their homes to be on the tour.  This year I volunteered to be a house greeter.  I had such a fun time and I can’t wait till the time when we can put our own home on the tour (hahahaha that’s gonna be a while!)

This past weekend we had a visitor, and I love having visitors.  So take note all of my out of town friends, I LOVE HAVING VISITORS!!!  We have two spare bedrooms, a large sofa perfect for sleeping and even some air up mattresses if needed, so no excuses!

Back to our visitor, my cousin Angie needed a place to crash after a 12 hour shoot for tv show.  And even though she came into town Friday afternoon we didn't actually get to hang out until Saturday afternoon.  She wanted Mexican food for dinner and was also in search of a few local craft beers for her craft beer club.  So we took her to downtown Decatur.  A little Raging Burrito for a few tacos and The Cooks Warehouse for the craft beers.  If we didn't live in Grant Park, we would probably live in Decatur, such a cute little downtown square with tons of restaurants and shops.

Sunday morning we woke up and took Angie on a short walk to our neighborhood farmers market.  Angie has recently started her own little rooftop garden and couldn't contain herself when talking to all of the vendors and trying to get as many tips as possible.

Grant Park Farmers Market

caught her in mid fall!

Cousin Angie and CJ 

Super busy weekend and, as always waiting for the next one....and our next visitor too (will it be you??)!