Then I Had Kids

Today I went to a women's group where they were talking through a book that I'm pretty sure was titled "And Then I Had Kids" or something along those lines. The group was good and the discussion this week was on finding good role models for our kids, which is something that was of great interest to me. I should now mention that I haven't read said book, so I know nothing about what it's really about, but this evening in the calm and quiet of my home I've been thinking over that phrase-"and then I had kids..."
I remember a day, not THAT long ago when I was pencil thin and wore only nice clothes. I ate out most every day and went shopping for fun instead of for necessity. I bought things I liked, ate things I liked, wore things I liked, said things I liked, watched things I liked...you get the point. All of that to say I lived a pretty darn good life. I had a handsome guy on my side. We were singing and acting in churches and schools around the country. Life was gooooood. And thheeeeen, I had KIDS.
Being a mom to five kids is a lot of work. There are some days when before I even get out of bed I'm exhausted. Sometimes they suck all the life right out of me and I don't think I can do it even one more second. I am not super mom and my kids aren't perfect. One thing is certain though. I would NEVER want to go back to my life before my kids.
So many times the things that are special about being a stay-at-home-mom-of-five become the things that drive me crazy and make me want to run out and get a J-O-B. For instance, I can't count the number of diapers I've changed in the last seven years, the amount of times I've been spit up/pooped/peed on, or the times I've been up 24-48 hours at a time with a screaming baby(or two), but I'd never want someone else to be doing those things for me. I'd be broken hearted if someone else caught my kids first word, watched their first steps, or pulled their first tooth. I LOVE my times with my kids. There are so many times each day that I think what a blessing it is that I'm able to be the one to stay home and love on all these babies.
God has blessed me so much with this crazy life of mine. I know that he put me on this earth to be a baby-momma. I LOVE having babies. I love being a mom. I LOVE having all these babies in our home. I just LOVE it! I'm telling you, I was made for this! Now, that doesn't make life any easier, but He always gives me the grace to make it through the tough days.
Today was one of those tough days, then THIS happened.

My cup runneth over.

I'm BAAAAAAA-ahck!

So, as I promised to several of you, I'm back in the blogging world. We've had such a crazy crazy few months, but blogging and keeping a record of our life is very important to me and I love it that some of my ideas are helpful to some of you too!We have such a busy life right now. We are still homeschooling, so with Olivia in 2nd grade and the two little girls in pre-k along with two other babies under 2, I'm lucky to still be standing by the time Scotty comes home!=)
I've been trying to find a place for myself in the sea of littles around me. I know in this season of life I'm supposed to be the CEO of my home and family, but I am a social being and love having a support team to help me make it.=)It is important for each of us to have something that helps fill our cups. This week I'm planning to start attending a local ministry called mom2mom, and next week I'll start MOPS for the first time. I'm not sure why I've never been a part of MOPS before, but I'm REALLY looking forward to my time in both ministries.
We just returned from a 10 day vacation to Walt Disney World! We decided when Olivia was tiny that we'd go each time one of our kids turned 5. It was, as you can imagine, CRAZY, but fun. I was not prepared for the noise level! I mean, 5 kids in one car for 14 hours can make some serious NOISE!! It was a fun trip though and we made it through. I'll be posting some Disney tips later in the week, but for now a few sweet pictures.

Mia(our 4 month old) was wonderful. She hung out in the front pack on Scotty most of the time. She's just go to sleep when she was sleepy, then wake up and watch everything. She slept well in the pack-n-play and kept her nursing schedule while we were there. I was so glad she did OK while we were there.

Isaiah LOVED the characters SO SO much! It would totally crack us up because he'd just run up to them and kiss and hug them over and over again. He didn't like being in the stroller. He'd rather be running around, but because of all the people we had to keep him strapped in! He got LOTS of kisses from the female characters.=)

Addison was a little toot. I think she's having her terrible twos a year late. She's always been a diva, but she's really started getting disciplined a lot on her bad attitude, whining, and yucky mouth. I think she's going to be our child that likes to press the limits and see what she can and can't get away with. She LOVED anything princess and stood in line in the pouring rain for over an hour to meet her favorite, Rapunzel. She loved being in Disney. She loved getting to be a "big girl" sometimes and going to stuff with Liv and EmC.

Poor Emma Claire spent the first half of the trip pretty miserable. We found out pretty quickly that she didn't like the hustle and bustle of Disney. She'd much rather be playing in the hotel room with her new toys she bought with her spending money. She did, however, find her Disney sweet spot on day 5 when we made it to adventure land and she met Cptn. Jack Sparrow. Wow. She was so happy she was speechless. We were SO so happy she found her happy since it was her special trip to celebrate her 5th birthday. She got to ride her first real roller coaster. She LOVED it!

Olivia, as always, was our easy going peacemaker. She loves Disney and on several occasions asked if we could move to Florida so we could go more often. She'd go nuts at parades because I'd told her if she did the characters were likely to come shake her hand(and they did.).=) She loved the pools at the hotel. She figured out that some of the Disney magic is actually pretend, which was both hard to watch and fun to include her in "adult" conversation. Love that sweet girl.

I look forward to sneaking back into the blog world. Later.

Rhea Lana's 101

What's Rhea Lana's? Click here for all the information and to see if there is one near you!
So, among my friends I'm the Rhea Lana Momma. I've had several friends ask me about doing a RL post to share some ideas on doing consignment well. Sorry it's taken me so long to get this on here, but I've been  a little busy with all these Little Smittle's!
Below you'll find my tips on selling at Rhea Lana's. If you have more questions that aren't covered here leave me a comment or message on facebook and I'll answer your questions or turn you in the right direction of someone who can.

• Getting my stuff ready for Rhea Lana's is actually is a year-round activity for me. About once a month or so I go through the kids clothes and purge their closets of anything that they can't wear or aren't wearing. I keep them on the hanger, pin on a tag, and lay them flat inside a GIANT Rubbermaid tub marked with the season(spring and summer/fall and winter). Once it's sale time I've already got all of my things ready to be organized and entered into the RL database.
• When getting my things ready to put into the system I first separate the clothes by gender and size. This is so so helpful when you are in the store putting your things out on drop-off day.
• I always start with my smallest size and go up. That's how the store is set up, so entering your things in this way makes it easier to drop them off on the right rack when you are there.  For instance I'll do newborn/preemie girl stuff first then up the size chart to 6. Once all my girl stuff is entered I'll do the same with the boy stuff.
• While entering your items into the computer be sure to number the tag with the item number. This is simply the number of the item in the list on the computer. The tags will be numbered the same way, so it will help you go quickly with tagging your items in the store.
• Be sure that you pin any loose items together. This will ensure a good sale for you.
• When you get to shoes be sure to label each shoe with your consigner number(a three digit "number" with letters or numbers. Be sure not to confuse your consigner number with your batch number. Your consigner number is the one you enter when you log onto the system.) and the price. I generally use masking tape for this. You can also use your leftover labels, but it's best to have this part done before you get to the store. I always add my shoes on after all my clothing is entered.
• Once I get all my clothing entered I add in my "stuff." These are the items that REALLY sell at RL, so really be strict on purging out those playrooms! Games, toys, and sports equipment are usually the first things to sell! Riding toys, and furniture are always top sellers too.
• Be sure to label EVERYTHING clearly with your consigner number and price. If something(like a pack-n-play) has several parts be sure to label them all with your number. Each item will also need a string tag, so be sure to find a noticeable place to put your tag.
• Price things really reasonably. Look at ebay and amazon to see what other people are pricing your things at and go a little under that. You can usually price things about 30% of what you bought them for. For instance if you paid $75 for an exersaucer, you can probably price it at about $22.50.
• Make sure EVERYTHING you bring in has been laundered and is CLEAN. Dirty stained stuff does not sale and will likely not make it past the check-in process.
• Put batteries that work in all of your electronic toys. They have to be in working condition to be accepted into the sale.
• Buy string tags early. During sale season they are often sold out at local stores. I bought a GIANT box of 1000 a long time ago and I'm still working on those.=) I also get safety pins in bulk.
• Always ask to keep store hangers so that you can use them for your things for the sale. You MUST use plastic hangers.
• After the sale, if you aren't pleased with your sales consider lowering prices. Usually if something isn't selling it's because it's either out of season, out of style, or priced too high.
• Always consign your kids"fad" clothes. Anything that's really in style will sell. It's best to sell it instead of keeping it for your smaller/future children, because it's unlikely that these things will still be in style by the time they are ready to wear them. This is a lesson that took some time for me to learn, but I've realized that keeping staple items for my smaller/future children and cycling out the stylish stuff is the best way to go as far as consignment goes.

Good luck! I hope that you enjoy consignment season and the MOO-LAH you can make!