not a garge sale part deux

you may recall that last year we cleaned out our garage. it was a comical event that we refer to as "not a garage sale". well, that was all good and fine until we had to up and move AGAIN. as you can imagine, moving with three kiddos (one who is in the pull everything out of every drawer, bin, closet etc. stage) is a little chaotic. as a result, our garage has been a wee bit of a disaster. and so, yet again, we hauled it all onto the front lawn and got down to the business of putting things into place.

e was delighted when a few people drove up to see if we were having a garage sale. while we didn't have a steady flow of traffic like last year (and didn't need to make a sign), e loved telling people that we were just cleaning the garage.

we discovered that it is inevitable. very soon, we are in fact going to be having a garage sale. with three growing babes we have a lot of stuff to unload. but in spite of the tight quarters, i was able to pull my big 'ole gas guzzler into the garage and close the door. it was a good feeling.

i would also like to report there was some suspicious activities going on while this momma and daddy-o were cleaning. i went to investigate. e was standing over a closed box with a roll of tape in hand. poppy was watching intently from the sidelines with a very perplexed look on her face. once the box was taped shut, e went on her merry way.

suddenly the box began moving a little bit and the tape was starting to loosen. look closely.

any guesses on what was inside? i'm pretty sure you can do the math.

a family of 5 becomes a family of...

it has been a busy week around here. we went from a family of 5 to a family of 7. that's right... we finally caved and bought the girls a pet. well, two pets, because their momma is a little bit of a sucker. i spent the better part of last week tracking down breeders and visiting pet shops. i must say, i rather enjoyed it.

without further ado, here is stardust (e's baby mini-lop):

and d's bunny named lucy (named after my mom's mom... when i told my mother i believe she was slightly offended that we named a bunny after her mother. d thought it was a grand name as it was the second runner up to be her own moniker):

since i sort of had to twist my husband's arm to agree to the new family members, i thought it would be best if i kept expenses down. i posted a want add on freecycle and was able to get everything i needed for free except the bunnies, water bottle and food bin. pause for a moment on that... the hutch you see is a pretty penny at various sites on the web. the toys, the timothy hay, a few bags of pellets... all free! i was over the moon. which might explain why we came home with two bunnies instead of one... you just can't have a hutch that big with just one girl. it beckoned for a sister.

on the way to pick up our bunnies e said, "my life is going to be amazing. today it is going to change forever." she was beaming from ear to ear.

d loves her bunny, too. lucy is a sweet girl who is very tolerant of her pint sized momma.

and the biggest fan of all... well that's p, of course. the bunnies might not like her as much as she likes them though. it's a work in progress.

and just to keep things over the top insane... we bought a leash and have been walking the girls around the back yard.

it sure is a rodeo over here.... but a very fun one, that's for sure. if you see me on the street with a bunny attached to my leash, promise not to laugh. it's for the girls.

happy birthday to you!

when i get behind on blogging, i always run into this mental dilemma... do i back track and post about the things that have happened over the weeks or months where i was negligent or do i pick up right where i am and go from there with a clean slate?

since the purpose of my writing is for my children in future years, i thought that today called for a back track.

you see, in february, we had a very special visit from some very special people: my girlies auntie merritt and uncle jon! scott's sister and brother-in-law made the journey from michigan to visit us for about a week. and with them, they brought the most special gift of all... cousin stella. it was such a treat to meet this precious little muffin.

we had a delightful week together. i have such fond memories of special times with my cousins and auties as a child, that these days mean ever so much to me. even though we live so far away, i just know that they are going to be near and dear to one another. i imagine sweet stella coming to visit in her teenage years or sweet e tagging along on a vacation with auntie merritt as resident babysitter. it will unfold and i know that it will be beautiful.

we took a trip into the city and rode a boat under the golden gate bridge, hung on pier 39 and some of us rode a cable car. we took in china town and i'm sure a few other things that i am probably forgetting.

auntie merritt also did a nail salon party for the girls and we had family game night (with jiffy pop).

sweet stella took in her first ride on the swings. it was fun to part of this milestone. she was somewhat indifferent, but it was sweet to see.

and then to keep things fun, we made them pose for a masked girlie photo. poppy was a little less than cooperative as she wanted to play peek-a-boo, but stella obliged her auntie and sat like a good girl (might have something to do with her lack of mobility at 7 months of age).

and now... when i finally have gotten around to posting these, sweet stella is celebrating her first birthday. happy birthday, pretty girlie. your auntie, uncle and cousins love you very much!