Blocker Boys On the Go!

     So if the previous update on kid happenings was not enough here comes the rest of the update.  Keep in mind that some of the things here happened simultaneously with the boys having their run through the illness list. I think I dealt pretty well with everything that went on while we were out and about.  The hubby did manage to get a lot of his qualifications completed while we were gone.  He is still waiting on one board, but that is not in his control.

     So at one point after the ear infections and respiratory  infections, but before the chicken pox and strep throat! The check engine light and TCS light came on in my van.  OH JOY! Not really I mean I knew it needed a tune up, but was not pleased with the warning lights.  So I took it in to get it fixed up.  All fixed up, and lots of money later the van is ready to go.  So as I am packing the van to leave for the second time I get called into the house.  K1 now has developed the chicken pox visibly.  We concluded that his chicken pox fever must have been masked by the strep throat fever so we thought he got out of them.  Glad I got the kids vaccinated for that! Oh well moving on.

     I decided to pack up my now itchy kid anyway and start my drive back home.  By this time we were already delayed by several days, and I just wanted to get home before anything else could spring up.  We hit the road later than I wanted to, but we were still on the road.  After driving until about midnight with multiple stops for K1 to pee, get gas, and walk the dogs we were not as far as I had hoped.  All in all the drive was uneventful and we made it home safe and sound.  Only down side was we arrived while hubby was on duty so we had to wait until morning to see him.

     I guess about two days after getting home we decided to go out for breakfast.  At first the gas pedal on the van was sticky.  After checking it out we blamed the extreme change in climate and temperature over a short time, and we continued on to breakfast.  On the way home the idle was not quite right, and the van kept revving up then dropping down it was odd.  After the boys took naps we decided to run over to the Navy Exchange to pick something up.  The van then proceeded to get worse as we arrived at the parking lot.  I spent the rest of the day googling the vans symptoms.  That weekend we drove it over to my brother-in-laws house he looked at it, and blamed the timing so we would have to take it in as we don't know anyone with the tools to fix that.  So another chunk of money later, and the van is running smoothly again.  Now we just have to get a slow oil leak from the oil pan drain plug fixed.  That however is waiting until I find some money after one of these pay days.

     To check out how I did on my weight loss and fitness journey visit Healthy Family Fitness .  I think that gets everyone up to date.  Now hopefully back to regular posting on both blogs.  I really think we have to be over that first of the year hill we were climbing up.  Thanks for reading, and leave me a comment to let me know you stopped by.

     I know I have been totally slacking over here.  So this post will be a run down of what is happening in our world.  We have been totally busy doing an array of different things.

     Since my last post on my birthday we have been of course tackling the normal everyday life.  We are contemplating what to do if hubby is on the ship for Christmas.  This is a huge discussion that we both sat down and talked about.  I was actually amazed by a few responses we got when people were informed of the upcoming decision.  I got several questions related to the stability of our marriage.  Really we are fine I love hubby to death, and this is just one more thing that military families have to cope with.

     With the looming holidays and no daddy/hubby we are moving all of the holidays up this year.  So this coming weekend will be busy at our house.  We will be having K2's first birthday party and Christmas all on the same day.  We will wake up as a family pretending it is Christmas morning.  Then we will roll into the first birthday festivities.  There will be tons of food and fun to be had by all.  Of course no one has RSVP'd to little man's birthday so it may just be a family event.  I think the sister-in-law and her family will be coming, but they just decided not to RSVP based on the you know we are coming rule.

     I have been following my work out schedule everyday, and I am stoked to see the results in the mirror.  Next weekend is also a measurement weekend for my fitness goals.  It will be exciting to see how much progress I have made.  I did step on the scale for my 30th birthday, and was happy with that result.  Just since I have started my Insanity program I am down 5.5 pounds.  Since I have started eating healthy, and increasing my fitness I am down a whopping 16 pounds.  The measurements will just be icing on the cake since I can already see results in the mirror.

     I think hubby is getting on board with health and fitness improvement since the Navy is evaluating him for high blood pressure.  In his defense he does work in a high stress environment, but he also has some bad habits that are not good for his blood pressure.  Hopefully he will stick with it, and reach a goal while feeling better for doing it. 

     As for the kids K1 is in love with talking on the phone, and playing all the game apps that are on my cell phone.  K2 is coming into his own little world, and trying his best to walk.  Both of the boys are into anything they can reach.  Being a good big brother also includes giving the little man anything he can not reach on his own. 

     Let me know how your family is preparing for the holidays.  What will you be doing that is special this year?  Do you have a tradition that you share with your children each year?

     You can check out my health and fitness journey at Healthy Family Fitness.

     Today I had a very productive day!  It all started when the pesky alarm went off.  Some days I just hate the alarm.  The alarm will never be my friend! Anyway hubby got up and off to work on time so it all worked out.  I smashed snooze a few times, and then I got up to workout!

     Work out complete, I fed the boys a good breakfast, and sent out some text.  A time was confirmed for our rendezvous with sister-in-law, and the niece. Quick shower, and I got the boys dressed in their special clothes for the meet up.  <---- Loving the suspense right there I know.  I have to make sure you read to the bottom.  Load every one into the van with the needed accessories, and we hit the road.

     After driving about an hour to our secret location we had to wake up K2 since the little guy napped all the way there.  There was also a little clothing tweaking to do.  I did not fully dress K2 because I did not want to have drool all over his outfit.  So we arrived , and waited on sister-in-law and niece to join us.

     Our super secret destination?  Visiting Santa at the Yankee Candle flagship store.  To my surprise K1 walked right up, and asked to sit in his lap.  Although he does not know you ask Santa for presents he had a good time.  K2 is right in the middle of that mommy attachment phase.  He was not in love with the idea of talking to a stranger, but he got over it and we have some good pictures.  Little miss princess my niece was another story.  She decided she would have nothing to so with Santa.  So we gave up, and were picking up the boy when she decided it was her turn.  So she jumped up in Santa's lap with K1 and we got a few more pictures.  We had planned to get the 3 of them, but at least we got some good pictures.

So we rounded up the kiddos, and headed to the door to go get something to eat.  On the way out there is a large snowman with a bench.  Trying for one more photo op with out the stranger Santa we piled the kids on the bench.  K2 was not letting go of his bottle so it is in all the pictures with the snowman.  Still there were a few good shots taken.

     We had a fun lunch at Olive Garden which was full of old people.  All the grandmas in the restaurant had a good time watching the kids.  I managed to eat pretty well, and only had the salad with vegetable soup, and half of sister-in-law's grilled chicken sandwhich.

     Then we split ways, and the boys and I headed to a friend's house so she could sample Shakeology! We tried the Chocolate Shakeology with mint extract.  I love that one and think it taste like Girl Scout Thin Mints.  If you are new to my health and fitness journey check out these post.

My Coach Application is Approved and Jumping in With Both Feet

Still looking for more information?  Check out my fitness blog Healthy Family Fitness  Be sure to leave a comment with what made your day productive.  Maybe it was nothing, but think hard.  There was something important that got done today.  Even if it was just regular old house work.  It needed to get done, and you were productive. Pictures from our visit with Santa will be here soon. 

     How was your Halloween?  We started out normal routine no problem.  Hubby got out the door to work on time, and I pushed play on my workout dvd.  The kids got up and we had breakfast.

     Now would be the time that I would jump in the shower while they are eating, and we would begin our preparation for conquering the day.  Turns out the water from hubby's shower has not drained out of the tub yet.  This is odd so I begin looking for a solution.  Plunger equals no real help with the matter. In comes the trusty coat hanger.  No luck with that even though I got out a large clump of hair. {GROSS}

     The weather has gotten colder here, so I was beginning to notice that the heater was not working.  We are the proud owners of an ancient heated water baseboard heating system.  Last year some one stole all of our copper pipes, so I know it has brand new pipes under the house.  I verify the pilot light is lit, and that the water is being heated.  Everything is a go there so I start googling for an answer.  I tried a few of the suggestions, but nothing really worked.  I decided that it was not an urgent matter, and went back to working on the drain.  It is cool here, but now I know the heater is not working, and I can fix that before we get to cold outside.

     My dear sister-in-law drove over to watch the kids, while I worked more on the drain.  After trying everything I could think of to not crawl under my house I gave in.  I donned one of my husbands old navy coveralls, got a flashlight, and a large wrench.  The good news is that our bathtub sits very close to the entrance to our crawl space.  So after I crawled under it was not long until I spotted the bathtub drain.  By following the pipes I found the location to remove the plug and drain the line.  I get my wrench all adjusted and ready to go.

     Finding a position where I could hold the wrench, and get leverage to turn it is a whole different story under the house.  Once I found a good position I set my wrench, and gave it a good tug.  To my ultimate surprise I broke the pipe in half.  Now I know the pipe was old and rusted, but it really gave me a start.  Needless to say the bath tub now drains, it just leaks under my house.  So now we get to call a plumber to work on these metal pipes.  If we had PVC I would attempt it myself, but our drain pipes are ancient.

     After my day of excitement I did not even take the kids trick-or-treating.  I know they really still do not have any idea what they missed, but I always had fun going out on Halloween.  So later this week I am going to dress them up, and take some pictures of them.  

     Have you ever worked on your own pipes?  Who clears clogged drains at your house you or your hubby? 

     We had a great weekend! Overall it was simple, but I really enjoyed it.  I hope everyone out there also had an excellent time with their families this weekend.

     Saturday we seriously spent all day hanging out at home.  We all had a great time enjoying each others company, and playing around.  Our day started with a late breakfast, and some TV watching.  Then during K2's first nap session I started a workout, and K1 and the hubby did their thing.  In the middle of my workout, all of my new workout stuff came from beachbody!! I am thrilled, and ready to start my new challenge group on 11-11-11.  Later we made dinner together. It was a greek shrimp scampi served over a bed of spaghetti squash!

     Sunday was a super slow start at our house.  Since the boys have been totally weird with their sleep schedules lately, nothing seems to fall just right.  K1 now gets out of bed, and crawls on the couch ottoman to sleep.  I can not figure out why, but that is off topic.  We got up late, and went to Waffle House for breakfast.  Hubby loves to eat there, but it is a little to greasy for me, and typically leaves me in a funk all day.  Then we  stopped and got K1's hair cut.  This is a big deal at our house since hubby does not like to get the boy's hair cut.  He mentioned it while we were out, and I made sure to stop on the way home before he changed his mind. 

     To top off our Sunday we had friend stop by  and chat for a bit.  She cam over to look at some of our baby stuff to buy since she is expecting early next year.  It was bitter sweet letting go of little baby stuff.  Then to top off my day of terrible eating we ordered pizza.  There is this awesome little family owned place down the street.  In all the times we have ordered from there, this was the first time our order was ever wrong.  In the long run it was corrected, and we now have pizza for hubby to eat for breakfast. 

     What did you and your family do over the weekend?  Did you all have nice weather?  Leave me a comment letting me know.

K2 hanging out during the week

His third haircut ever!

     So what is everyone doing for the Halloween weekend?  Both of my kids are young enough to not really care about the holiday which leaves me not really into it.  K1 will dress up as a monkey any day of the week and have a good time.  K2 is most definitely not into wearing a costume for any length of time.

     I guess what I am really wanting to know from everyone today is! When your kids were 2 and under did you take them trick-or-treating?  Maybe a fall festival is in order for more family events.  The boys really do not need to collect tons of candy to eat.  I do not need to have tons of candy in my house to tempt me into eating it.

     My big plans for Halloween are to put the boys on costumes for some pictures.  I think I will take the two small pumpkins we have here at the house, and use them in our photo shoot.  Does anyone have any cute ideas for poses the boys could do?

     Currently we do not even have any Halloween candy to give out.  I suppose I should get some so the neighbor kids do not hate us.  I also thought that maybe the boys would like to hand out the candy.  We might sit on our steps for a bit and let the kiddos give away the candy.  I am rally not sure how K1 will feel about sharing his candy with everyone.  He got a little candy when we went to the fall festival last weekend.  He ask for it all the time so it was moved to the top of the refrigerator.

   

     I am fairly certain that duty days come around to corrupt my schedule.  For all my non military readers a duty day is when the hubby stays at the ship for 24 hours straight, and then stays there for a regular work day the next day.

     Some how my 2 young children have figured out how know it is a duty day and just go haywire.  Thank goodness we typically have left overs to eat on duty days because I am not sure we would have made it to cooking mode today.

     My day started while hubby was still home, but I knew he needed sleep so tried to be quiet.  K1 came into our room at around 2am.  I am not sure of the precise time as it was way to early.  I guess he thought it was time to get up because he requested that I get him a blow of cereal. After convincing him he should go back to bed he took a cup of water and laid down.  I shuffled off to bed to try to catch a few more winks.

     At approximately 3:30am K2 wakes up screaming.  Being the good wife I turn off the monitor so that hubby will not wake up.  I go and get the little man as fast as I can stumble there so that he does not wake up his brother.  After all the typical checks diaper, fever, teeth it is verified that he is in fact just fine.  I opted to give him a bottled and lay him back in bed hoping he will return to slumber.  It worked!! I made it back to bed hooray.

     Ta da! It is now 4:30 am and the alarm to wake hubby up for work is going off.  My dear hubby never jumps out of bed.  I think he loves to hear the alarm go off multiple times.  I do mean hear because if the alarm is near him he just turns it off and goes back to sleep.  I now control the main alarm because I will hit snooze so that it will keep alarming.  Eventually he is up and on his way to work.

     Typically I have been working out from around 5:30 am until my dvd is over.  Today however I decided that I needed more than the few hours of interrupted sleep that I had so I rolled over after hubby left and got a little more sleep.  The kids promptly woke me up at 7am.  Then we had things that were already scheduled to do today.

     As we started getting ready K1 was washing his hands in the bathroom.  I have no clue what happened, but he slipped off of the step stool.  The poor little guy landed right on his forehead, and now has a lovely goose egg.  I am sure the forth coming bruise will look lovely.  Needless to say we were late getting across the bridge and tunnel to our scheduled meet up with friends. 

     I know I have previously mentioned the bridges and tunnels in our area.  Since we were late there was no reason to head back home after we met up because the tunnel would be jammed.  So we got back home around 8pm and both boys were asleep in the car.  K2 immediately went back to sleep once he was in bed.  K1 decided however that he felt the need to run around and play with his dog.  So after catching the now rested sprinting toddler I laid down with him for some soft music, and reading on the couch.

     Now I am exhausted, and have no intention of attempting my work out.  I really hope all of you have a great day today.  I am sure once you are reading this our Friday will be going much better than our Thursday.

     Well the first thing that pops into my head is the fact that I have been stalking my email to see if my Beachbody order shipped.  It finally did hooray.  Now it is all down to the Fedex people.  Not to worry I have signed up for alerts to come to my email for every update from Fedex.  I might be just a little bit excited.

     In other news I cooked a meat less dinner that was awesome.  Hubby of course thought it needed meat, but he did not cook it so to bad.  He ate it anyway, and had to agree that it was good.  I will say that a little chicken that has been marinated would have been awesome on it.  We had a noodle dish with garlic, onion, bell pepper, broccoli, and cauliflower. K1 of course vetoed everything, but the noodles.  He has recently become extremely picking.  I think he is just trying to voice his opinion on the matter.  Eventually he does go back and eat it when he realizes that nothing else will be served.Crazy kid actually asked me to make him mac and cheese.  There are no extra meals at our house.  You eat what was served or go with out.

     Completely random thought from hubby.  Last night he was asking me to pre-order a video game so that we can play it together.  When we first got married I played WOW with him, and it was fun.  However once the kids got here I quit playing.  It was to much trouble for me to keep up with leveling a player, and keep up with the house and kids.  I tried for a bit after K1 was born, but it was no fun to rush through chores to play a game for fifteen minutes.  Long story short I ordered the game.  I guess we will go to scheduling time we will play on weekends.

     I also want to say thank you to Glo Sews for our second Liebster blog award.  I will get a post out for that some time soon Glo.

     Does your significant other have foods that they just will not eat?  What activites do you miss doing with your spouse since you had kids?  Alternately, what activities do you wish your spouse would do with you even if you do not have kids. 

     I hope you all have an excellent day.  Until next time!

     Hi everybody!! Well If you have been reading for a few days then you saw my post Jumping in With Both Feet.  Today I got the conformation email that my application was approved as an active duty military coach.  A big thanks to my husband for that one.  Yeah no fees for my new business how awesome is that.  Love you babe even though you will never read this.

     After I got the email, I had to wait not so patiently for nap time so I could go and set up all of my coach sites.   Hooray!! I love speeding around the internet setting up stuff.  GEEK I know label me if you want to.  Anyway I got them all set up.  Go HERE to see my main coach page. Do you want to learn about Shakeology check it out HERE!

     DON'T wait until the new year to set a resolution.  Most people never keep their New Years Resolution anyway.  Break the mold and start your journey to health and fitness today.  I can help you! If you have a question I can't personally answer I will find you the person that can.  Check out my new coach Facebook page.   Give me a little slack on the Facebook since I have been setting up everything else today.  You can find me on twitter too @CoachJBlocker.

     Are you an active duty military member or spouse of an active duty member?  I can help you get set up with your own business for free as long as you have a copy of the active duty members orders, and a copy of your ID if you are the spouse.  Not interested in your own business that is fine to.  By using your orders to sign up as a coach you can get a discount on beachbody products.

     I am totally pumped, and ready to get you up and moving.  Just PUSH PLAY you will feel better for it.  There is nothing like being proud of yourself for completing a work out.  The energy you gain from eating healthy and increasing your fitness level is amazing.  I also love the me time it puts into my day.  If i get up late or the kids are up early we PUSH PLAY together.  Today my two year old was dancing along with me to Yoga Booty Ballet.  He had a blast jumping around with the music.

     On my own personal journey I will be joining my coach on a Insanity Beachbody Challenge.  My coach will be there to make sure I PUSH PLAY everyday during the challenge.  I will be there to help you.  Join us on our journey to fitness and health.

     Leave me a comment letting me know why you want to get in shape.  Are you just tired of your clothes not fitting right?  Do you need more energy to keep up with your kids? 

     I want to start with a simple, but heart felt thank you to A Good Deal is Just Around the Corner.  She recently hosted a giveaway for the My Memories Suite V2.  Lucky me, I was the winner.  Well over the weekend I got to really use it, and now I am ready to share.

Here is a quick over view of the software.


There are tons of videos linked on their website. So I watched a few videos, and here is my first attempt at digital scrap booking.  

 

     First I would like to thank Jhoanna at Surviving Motherhood {and college} in Arizona for giving this award to my blog.  I was very surprised and honored to receive this award today.  In fact I was not even going to post today, and just take the day off.  This award not only made me smile, but encouraged me to post today instead of waiting.  I mean really who can wait to post about an award.

     At our house today was one of those days. Nothing seemed to fall into place, and I my head was in a funk all day.  In fact it is still funky now.  If this post makes no sense I blame the entire frumpy day.

     First off the boys got up a little late.  This would not have been a problem if we did not need to go to the commissary as soon as it opened. I hate going to the commissary when there is a huge line.  So after we got everyone up, dressed, and fed we were out the door.

     We seriously made it down two aisles when K2 starts flipping out and crying and screaming.  First attempt to solve his problem was handing him the next item on the list to play with.  That bought me two more aisles of peace.  Thankfully K1 was being really good while we were at the store.  Every two aisles or so K2 needed a new distraction.  I know it was his nap time, but he got up late so I was hoping we could make it through the store.  We made it to dairy and frozen food section and K2 loses it.  Poor little guy so we got him a bottle, and he was happy until we reached the check out. 

     While we were still in the dairy section we get some unsolicited advice from a not so helpful bystander.  At this point my cart is brimming with all the things we got.  I was a major trip that I had been putting off for awhile.  As I turned into the milk section the entire top layer of my cart falls to the floor.  Our helpful bystander says "I think you need another cart."  I need a lot of things, but you standing there telling me what I need is not one of them.  No help was offered except their unsolicited advice.  I mean really loaded cart 2 kids, and no one can help me pick it up.  Anyway we got it picked up, paid and made a mad dash for home.

     When we get home K2 goes straight to bed for a nap.  The dogs had gotten into the trash can so that had to be cleaned up.  Then I made the million trips back and forth to the car to bring in the groceries.  K1 attempts to help me put them away.  He tries really hard, but was more of a hindrance than anything.  I got all of the cold things put away, and headed to the couch to sit down.  I sat down for all of five minutes it felt like, and then K1 is asking for a snack.

     Nap time was a total disaster. K2 slept late which means K1 went down late.  Then when K2 would normally go down for his second nap he was still wide awake.  This is not good because when K2 goes down for second nap it is mommy time.  It is that priceless few hours during the day when both kids area sleep. 

     Hubby got home a little early which was a plus.  It was totally awesome since cooking dinner in a haze is never a good idea.  Some how I muddle through the prep work for dinner.  It was served a little early since hubs skipped lunch at work.  It even tasted goo which was amazing since at this moment I had the forcefully make my mind think to remember what we ate 4 hours ago.

     I am trying to hold on to some excitement for tomorrows visit to the military family fall festival.  We are meeting up with the sister-in-law there, and it should be a blast.  Off to bed with my crazy self so I can be more fun tomorrow.

     Alright then where are we jumping?  Straight on to the fitness train.  When I was in the Navy I worked out on a fairly regular basis, was a healthy weight, and looked good.  I got out had 2 kiddos, and just left fitness some where back there in the dust.  

     So tonight I was talking to another Navy wife, and she is a beachbody coach.  I had no idea that one person from an active duty military household could be a coach for free.  No monthly fee, and a discount on products.  Count me in!! I sent in my application tonight, and can not wait to order my first set of supplements, and a new work out.  As soon as I get it all set up I will get you lovely readers a link to my sight on beachbody.

     I am totally psyched to start working out, and get fit and healthy.  There is this little black dress that I wore once that is calling my name.  I have not been able to get myself to toss it.  As  a family we have been eating healthy, and that has started me on a little weight loss.  I totally intend to push it into full gear and look awesome better by Christmas.

     My new coach Sara is super pumped, and energetic.  I think she has just the stuff to make sure I stay with my new work out goals.  Stay tuned for updates, on my health and fitness journey.

     Leave me a comment telling me what you do for your own health and fitness.  If you need a little motivation in that area then tell me that too, and I will try to get you rolling along on your fitness journey. Stop by my cooking and recipe blog to check out some of our family recipes.

     I know this is scary news, but the winter season is coming with all of its holidays. Holidays bring gifts.  If you have kids they will inevitably receive toys.  Now I have been informed that no self respecting grandparent would not send a toy as a gift.  Believe me we have received plenty of toys from grandparents.  We even get toys for random visits through out the year silly grandparents.  In general my kids have so many toys they will never be able to play with them all!

     So beginning this week we will start the massive toy culling at our house.  The toy collection must face a major reduction before the gifts start arriving.  Also in the realms of gift giving we will be getting ready for K2's first birthday next month.  Just one more opportunity for more toys to come in to our house.the amount of toys we keep will be based on what can fit in the allotted space in the boys room.  Currently we have toys in the living room, and the boys bedroom which is driving my crazy.

     I will admit I do have a weakness for books.  My boys love to go through their books and look at the pictures.  I hope this carries on as they grow up.  We are one of those crazy families with no cable or satellite television.  We do get Netflix, but are cutting way back on our TV watching.  My weakness here would be the Disney movies. So with those two weaknesses I think bookshelves should solve the problem.  I will just have to limit us to the number of books and movies that will fit on the shelves.

     The dreaded Happy meal toys.  I have to say we do get fast food kids meals on occasion, and they come with the pesky toys.  I do keep a few of the small noise free toys in my purse for out and about play time.  I can't even count the number of times these little toys have gotten us through the check out line and into the car quietly.So our happy meal toys will be reduced down to the few toys that live in my purse.

     Stuffed animals.  We receive a few a year.  thankfully we only have one box right now.  However due to downsizing, and up coming holidays we are looking to get to half of a box.  The plan is to go to the box and remove the bottom layer.  Most of the time my boys will only play with a stuffed animal for a few second, and then it goes flying across the room.  Both boys have two or three stuffed animals that you will see them play with on a regular basis.  So we will be keeping the toys that are visibly used every few days.

     Moving on to the bigger toys.  We have two toys that basically do the same thing.  you drop balls in one spot and watch them go down a track.  At the end this triggers music to play.  My theory is to get rid of the bigger one.  This should make room for the totally awesome train set that I found on sale earlier this year for my toddler.  My fear with the train set is all the pieces of track.  I have devised a plan already.  Upon emptying one of our cubes that currently gets occupied by happy meal toys and other miscellaneous small toys the track will be stored in there.  I plan to find a smaller box to keep all of the engines and car in separately.

     After all the culling is complete my plan will enter step two.  All toys will be cleaned and move to the garage.  Then a by appointment sale will be listed on craigslist.  I really do not want to clear and entire Saturday for a yard sales that is my solution. I will schedule a few appointments from Friday evening until Sunday evening.  I can schedule the appointments around things I know we nee to get done as a family.  On Monday what ever is not sold will be taking a trip down to the local charity donation box.

     On another note I am happy to report that our clothes clean out is going well.  All of the kids clothes have been separated and stored accordingly.  All of K1's clothes that were to small are in space bags awaiting K2 to grow in to them.  All the the things that K2 out grew are in the laundry basket awaiting their division into boxes for Thred UP listing. For more about Thred UP please see our post Clearing Out the Kids Clothes.

      Well as my regular readers already know I have two little boys.  If your new here now you know.  Like all good moms planning ahead I saved all my first kids clothes so the next one could use them.  This has worked to an extent.  My boys were born in different seasons so the clothes sharing can only go so far.  I think summer sharing is easier, because you can get away with out a shirt.  There is also the summer advantage of shorts, so if the pants are to short just roll them up to shorts.

     Now that we are approaching the cooler months I am busy looking for clothes that fit just right.  Since my youngest is learning to walk he needs pants that are not to long, but we still need coverage as it does get cold here.  Several months back I stumbled across the answer to this conundrum.

     Thred UP is an online clothes trade system.  When I first started there were mostly kid clothes, but now lots of people trade adult clothes too.  Then they implemented toys and book boxes.  You can also create a wish list of things you are looking for.  This has been awesome for our family.  There is no way we would have the money for brand new winter clothes for both kids.

     They will even make sure you receive a set of boxes in the mail to get you started in trading clothes.  Make sure all of your clothes are washed, and free of stains, holes or other damage.  Now you are ready to pack a box and list it for trading.  Here is a video on how to pack a full box.




     I have had success with all of the boxes I have sent and received.  It has become popular to link a picture of the clothes in your box in the listing its self.  I am sure the people behind Thred UP are working on a way to add this in.  However for the time being make an album on facebook, photobucket, or some other photo sharing site and link to your picture.  Your box will go much faster if people can see what they are getting.

     For all of my military families out there they have a special military program out there just for you.  They now have a military newsletter.  I highly recommend this for all you military families, because like us you most likely do not get all the cool cousin/family hand me downs.

     We needed a Halloween costume for K2 to wear this year.  So after looking through the boxes I found a lion costume available.  This was excellent as K1 is going as a monkey, and now they can look cute and themed.  So I picked the box, paid, and waited anxiously for the mail man to arrive.  The costume was perfect.  Here is a picture of my little man when he tried it on.