Coffee Table Trauma

Well, we had our first coffee table trauma, in 3 1/2 years of children in our house. You know the real risk factor!? A mattress next to the coffee table. You think jumping on a mattress that is directly on the floor isn't so bad? Well, consider what is surrounding that safe jumping mattress. ;)

We had been moving some furniture around in the girls' bedroom and the spare mattress was on the living room floor. I was in the kitchen trying to get motivated to clean some of it, Kevin was at the neighbors trying to recover some waterlogged rummage sale donations, and Kj was jumping on the mattress. I had been holed up in the girls room arranging their new drawers and getting things together in there, so hadn't noticed anything wrong with the jumping. So, I didn't think anything was wrong. I heard Kj cry out and I thought she was being dramatic as she has been lately. I go in and her hair is matted in back, not sure what to do I call out for Kevin...if you remember he is next door...Thankfully, after waiting a bit, I pick Kj up and bring her to our new window (which now opens) and call again. I often call for Kevin so he also doesn't see urgency in my calls, so I had to tell him to really hurry while keeping Kj calm, with L underfoot the whole time...thought about sending her out to get Kevin. :) Do you think it would have worked??

Anyways, we made a Skype call to Nurse Nana, and then drove around town to a couple acute cares, which of course closed at 5, and weren't easily found online to try to decipher that ahead of time. Then headed back home, remembering that we have a 24 hour nurse hotline. Kj still had occasional tears, but she had been singing along to some of the songs we sang in the car, she hadn't been constantly crying, her eyes were fine, she could remember her phone number...so, we figured that we could just use the phone instead of using our yearly deductible.

We told Kj in the car that we would get out some frozen peas to put on her head for a bit. She started crying all over again, "NO, I want to eat them." Umm...ok, we could do that too. She didn't even bring up the ice cream that Nurse Nana had suggested. :)

I remember Aunt C. saying that she had brought a child to the clinic in Sierra Leone. An American friend had gone along as well. They thought the child might like ice cream after all the doctor's poking and prodding, but instead he wanted rice. So rice, ice cream, or frozen peas...What is your comfort food??

Adoption Monies 2

Rummage Sale - 50 cents per item - $200 made. Thanks to our friends and neighbors who donated items to be sold. There were still a lot left over, but over all, it was a success!! Yeah!

Impressionable

Tippy Bike~

So, Kevin made the mistake of asking Kj if her bike was too "tippy". Of course they were, even though she had ridden perfectly happily on her "tippy" bike all day long. Ever since, she will not ride the bike, no matter how much encouragement and support. Nope, she'll ride the trike.

Sandwich~

I asked Kj if she wanted a peanut butter and jelly sandwich today or just cheese, since I didn't have any lunch meat yet. "Cheese and jelly, please." (Um, ok...try to be positive...try not to laugh) "Ok, I will put jelly on half of your sandwich, and if you want more, you just let me know." "So, Kj, how is your sandwich." "Good." (Of course!)

What I have learned~

Be positive. Especially, if it is not going to hurt her. Don't claim the bike to be tippy or the sandwich to be gross, or it will be!! She's creative, but impressionable. See how she reacts. Enjoy!!

Grant and Adoption Monies

Applied to:

National Adoption Foundation

Sold 4 DVDs for: $5.98...not much but every little bit counts!
Bank rewards: $25

Thinking about:
Anna: selling her hair
Kevin: selling his life story

Other ideas you don't find on adoption websites...click here.

Getting Ready for a Rummage

I have been going through and through our house lately trying to find anything to put on our rummage sale. I keep going through the same closets and drawers and still find more. I guess I will be doing it until the day the sale ends.

My neighbor across the street mentioned a couple months ago that she is planning to have a rummage sale this summer. I kept asking, "When? When? When?" And finally a date. A few weeks from now. I decided to go with one plain and simple price: 50 cents. Also, a cause: our adoption. :) So, unintentionally at first, but now deliberately, I have been taking other peoples' thrift store items and piling the boxes in our garage.

How much do you think I could make? Probably not that much, but hopefully a little to offset the cost of an $800 adoption class coming up next month.

I read something that inspired me to find more...something asking what could I do without now to bring home a child. It kind of makes me want to find big things and sell for more, but I am going to keep the price what it is and if there are big things, I might just be crazy and sell them for 50 cents as well. :)

Also, update from my last post...I have an itching to prime some more, but didn't have any new trim ready, so I painted our bunnies. We have a set of 3 cement bunnies in our front yard and they were a little chippy, so I took out all my supplies that were patiently waiting for me in the fridge and painted the bunnies white. Not sure if I will paint another coat or not, or if tomorrow I'll paint the swan or the "urn". I never thought I would be into this sort of lawn ornamentation, but they have really grown on me in the 2+ years we have lived in our house. Why not care for them too! Below is a picture of the lawn decor.

Head Start

I decided that instead of a solo vacation I would paint the house. We already had Curl Grandma coming for a couple days to be with the girls, she's also good with painting. Why not!? This morning Kevin decided to start scraping the trim. I followed with some priming and we are a month ahead of schedule. We know we are switching the trim to white, and now we have to pick the main house color...

Trying to find a picture of our house, but this is what I came up with Kj and Buddy W - last summer. Enjoy!
Found one...the old look of our backyard...maybe one new window included, I can't tell.

Grant

First grant applied to:

His Kids Too!

Update: We got it...if you would like to donate, please let us know... :)