On An Island in the Sun...

Florida 2013... so much chaos, so much fun!

Highlights from the drive here...
*Ezra and Juliana getting into a heated debate over whether or not she could be Santa Claus (Ezra said she couldn't because she was a girl...)
*Two out of four cars taking an unintentional detour (all's well that ends well!)
*Ezra, Jack, and Juli all rode in Granpoo and Nana's car...bless their hearts!
*Ellie did pretty well, only getting really upset twice. A massage from mommy, some cuddles, and the VBS soundtrack on CD solved about 80-90% of the fussiness.

Sunday
*Lots of swimming in the pool. As soon as Ezra got his swim rings on, he jumped in the pool and started swimming and he didn't stop!
*It rained off and on all day, making the pool pretty cold, but try telling that to toddlers (Jack and Ezra anyway)...
*Cranium...enough said. I love my in-laws! Oh, and my team (women vs. guys) won! :)

Monday
*Ezra's swimming confidence even stronger!
*Went to the beach for the first time this trip...Ellie was not a fan.
*No Cranium...we were all too tired! I fell asleep on accident when El did (she had barely napped all day and I was exhausted).

Tuesday
*Huge Adventure time...Josh, Jon, Larry, and Spencer took the three amigos for a boat ride to 'pirate island.' Instead, a storm blew up and they had to take a detour, tie down the boats and run for cover with three kiddos 3 and under! Jamie and Colin drove to the rescue. I'm not going to lie, this momma was scared! So thankful for the Lord's protection and provision!!
*Ezra passed out around 6 pm and didn't wake up again until 11 pm!
*Cranium again...and my team (Josh, Colin, me) won again! ;)

Wednesday
*SUCCESSFUL Pirate Island trip...we even made a 'treasure map' for the kids and hid a 'treasure chest' (cardboard box slightly decorated and filled with coins and gummy bears) in the sand. I don't have pictures of this yet, but Spencer took some.
*Back to the beach-We were going to cook out (we go to a National Park area) but there weren't grills at the park (we all swore they had them before), so we played for a while and took walks. There were hundreds of sea slugs washed up on the shore. Very interesting...and slightly gross. One inked on Jack's hand when he was holding it, and he had a purple hand! Ezra played in the waves with Josh and Logan.
*It was our night to cook, so we made hot dogs for everyone when we returned from the beach. I hooked up a speaker to my phone and played the Disney station on Pandora while we ate outside. I took it upon myself to start a dance party with the kids. Jack wasn't very interested, but Ezra, Juli, and Ellie were!
Juliana ended up dancing until she fell asleep and Eliana wasn't far behind her.
*I fell asleep on accident again!

A few of my favorite vacation shots so far...

Ezra and Juli fishing

El and Josh...I just love them!! 

She is so full of wonder! 

Ezra and his first fish! (caught on Juli's pole, lol)

Leaving for Pirate Island (my lens fogged up)

My sweet girl and I stayed home and took some pretty pictures.

She's so precious!

...and yes, in case anyone is wondering, I am taking way more pictures of El than Ez. Why? He is WAY more busy and hard to capture on camera these days! She is much more cooperative (if I can click fast enough).

Well, it's 1 am and I'm only up because I fell asleep on accident when I put Ellie to sleep and hadn't put on pajamas or anything...I think it's time for me to (re)hit the sack!

One of those days/The little things

It's not even 9 am and already it's been "one of those days."
One of those days when...
Our bank account balance is terrifying
I was up half the night with Ezra, who had growing pains, rubbing his legs and feet
Ellie was up and ready  to go early
Both kids spent the past two hours crying or whining about 90% of the time
Ellie needed to sit on me and hit the camera as I took pictures of toys I'm trying to sell
A toy elephant scared Elle and I had to hold her for half an hour she was so terrified (side note: toy elephant for sale)
Ellie's diaper leaked and she has some bumps in her diaper area that are wigging me out
Ellie also has a rough pink patch of skin that I'm terrified is eczema on her wrist
My face is so broken out I feel hideous and it's painful (new skin care on the way, praying it gets here asap)
Update: got an email immediately after posting this that my products are on backorder. Customer service rep said it could be one day or a week before they get more to ship out, yay...
It's that time of the month (only the second since having Ellie and it's been a tough one)
I just want a shower sooooo badly
...and some money
...and everything to magically get done today
...and a full night's sleep for the first time in 4 years.
Yup, I went full selfishness on that last one! I think it expresses my current level of ickiness and frustration, though.

Life isn't all bad. I have two beautiful children, a hot husband who I happen to like a lot, and vacation is coming up soon (praying I make tons of money at Rhea Lana to help with that)!

There have been some MAJOR blessings around here lately too. I'm just venting and being realistic for a moment. I know this day will get better, God will find ways to show me how big He is and give me grace and patience to endure, and everything will be alright. I am truly blessed and I know these little troubles are just that-little to a mighty and faithful God who cares about even the little things, thank goodness.

I got a shower, yay! Now my PayPal account won't verify so I can participate in an auction tonight, though, boo. :(
Oh well, gotta get to work instead of being glum!

Hi, My Name is Deidre, and I'm a Chronic "Lie Listener"

I am a lie listener. Chronically. But through the grace of God, I'm finally working through it. I came upon the realization that I'm a chronic lie listener through the help of two books (more like Bible studies/toe stompers/heart re-aligners), The Excellent Wife by Martha Peace and Gospel Treason by Brad Bigney. If you haven't read these books, stop now, go to Amazon.com or your local Life Way Christian bookstore, and buy them NOW (FYI, if you are male, you should probably buy The Exemplary Husband instead of The Excellent Wife-just sayin')!
{Hint: get them on your Kindle app on your phone so you always have them close by-having T.E.W. on my phone has been a lifesaver when I needed to turn my thoughts around in difficult situations!!}

Ok, so back to being a lie listener. Maybe I should say lie believer...I don't know. Either way, I had no idea I was even believing these lies until they were revealed to my heart as lies by The Excellent Wife, a book I turned to in the bleakest of times, on the recommendation of a dear friend (thank the Lord for that). I'm not sure where else to go with this post other than to tell you what lies I'm talking about, so here goes...

"You're such a great mom!"
Ok, I know, who doesn't want to believe that, right? Not that I think I'm a terrible mom, but I let others' opinion of how I mothered dictate my life at one point. I'm not even sure that anyone else but me was aware of it, but let's just say I felt like an extreme failure at some points because my child never slept (NEVER) and he cried a lot (A WHOLE LOT), no matter what I did. Other moms would lightly laugh and say, "Oh mine did that too, just do _____ and that'll fix it." A few would say, "It's normal--mine did that until they were 4 years old. Don't worry, it will work itself out!" {MAD props to those women!!!}

Even when I found things that worked, I still felt like a failure because others would act like I was making bad choices. I spent the first year of his life in the church nursery with him, gaining criticism and looks from the nursery workers for 'babying' him. The same workers who would bring him back to me EVERY WEEK because he would. NOT. stop. crying! The way I saw it, I was saving them, him, and me a big headache by skipping the middle man. FYI, he now goes to his own class. He still struggles with change, so the transition to his newest class has been difficult at times, but that's just his personality. Some kids change every other day and never miss a beat (so do some adults) and some just don't (neither do some adults).

The other side to this coin was people would genuinely compliment my mothering because they would see my children being well behaved, wearing nicely put together outfits, and doing something talented or smart. This isn't a bad thing. It IS a bad thing when I start to believe I've got it all together, that I've done any of it on my own, or that they'd be anything but wild heathens and I'd be anything other than a complete failure without the help of God. Suddenly, my value is based on how great my kids' outfits look, how many Pinterest projects we've completed together, or whether or not they have a mental breakdown when the regular teacher isn't there for Sunday School.

How I got am getting past it: My children are gifts from God. So they belong to Him. I can do my best to make sure they are dressed cute, that I post pictures of our projects on Facebook, and that I teach them about good manners, etc. but in the end, they are kids. So they are learning. Basing my value on what kind of mother people think I am is not only unreliable (random toddler tantrum in the middle of the grocery store, anyone?), it's unbiblical.  My value is beyond that of rubies, and NOT because of anything I've done or CAN do...because Jesus died for me and values me. Does He want me to be a godly mother? Of course! Is that something I can do on my own? Heck no! I can only achieve that through the seeking of His will, constantly.

This is just one of many lies I've been victim to. When it all comes down to it, I let what others thought of my mothering skills become an idol in my life. I'll be sharing more of my personal struggles in the days to come, in hopes that someone else who has had the same struggles can find freedom in the truth of God's word.

And, seriously, if you haven't already, look up those books. Now...and BUY them!

It's Been A While...

I haven't updated in SO long...even on Eliana and Ezra! It makes me feel like a bad mom, but then I remember why I haven't been updating and I forgive myself. :)

I have been doing some major soul-searching, Bible study, and organizational work on myself and our house. Last week I completely revamped our garage and it looks awesome! I regret not listening to my husband and getting it done earlier (sorry, Babe)!

I'm just going to do a quick run-down of recent developments to catch up and hopefully I'll be able to keep up with things better now that I'm not so bogged down by disorganization!

In the World of Ezra:
Ezra and I raised caterpillars into butterflies! It was SO much fun! I've done that twice with my school classes (three times if you count when I did my student teaching), but it was a whole new experience to see it through his eyes! There WILL be a blog post about our activities on that soon!

We've done some other cool unit-based activities that I'll hopefully get around to sharing soon!

ABCMouse.com had a one-day sale and I was able to purchase a subscription for him for just $4.97/month. He is really enjoying it. It keeps his attention pretty well and I can really see him starting to grasp onto some of the concepts we've been working on for a while, so that is very encouraging! :) I'll try to do a review of the site in the future.

We've been playing a Veggie Tales Toddler Tunes CD in the car (our radio antennae went out, so I don't really have a choice, ha) and he is cracking me up as he learns songs like "The Bear Went Over The Mountain" and "Graham Cracker, Graham Cracker, Chocolate Bar" (by far our favorite tune). My mom picked it up for him at Life Way and we have really enjoyed it...but I will warn you: Junior Asparagus singing repetitive children's songs in his high pitched, whiny tone is just as bad as you can imagine! ;)

In the World of Eliana:
Her vocabulary now consists of:
-Mama (usually repetitive "ma" sounds, not a unique 'mama' yet)
-Dada (her first sound too)
-Ezra (sounds like "Ez-uh")
-Thank You (sounds like "Teen Ku")
-Nana (she's said it just a few times)
She's also really good at parroting, as Josh calls it. She can sometimes repeat words or phrases that she doesn't normally say when you say them, but qis likely not to do it again, so you'd better hope someone else heard it so they don't think you're crazy. Ezra used to do that too!

She is almost walking. She actually took about 5 steps between one of my friends and I at church the other night. Thankfully, Josh was there too and didn't miss it! :)

She loves to give kisses and hugs. The best part of my day is when she and Ezra wake up--they typically have a cuddle fest, full of kisses, hugs, and cuddles. Nothing starts your day better than that. Even though they may not get along that well the rest of the day, I know they love each other.

Ezra and Daddy are her heroes. You can tell she thinks they hung the moon, especially her Daddy! I love how the two of them look at each other with their matching beautiful blue eyes so full of love!

In the World of Josh & I:
We have been doing some really good Bible study lately. Getting back into having daily quiet times with the Lord and doing a study on Idols of the Heart that has bloodied our toes and challenged our hearts!

We've also started weekly date nights. Weekly is pretty demanding, honestly. We may try to go to once every other week after a while, but right now we are jump starting...we hadn't been on more than 5 'real dates' since Ezra was born...and 5 may be pushing it. Obviously, that needed to change badly!

I became a Training Rep for Diaper Parties, meaning I now have two new reps under me to help get started with our company. I love being able to answer their questions and help them get going!

I've been incredibly challenged and changed by the Bible studies I've been doing lately, including "The Resolution For Women," "The Excellent Wife," and excerpts from "The Gospel Treason." I would recommend all of them for all women! Be prepared to be challenged in incredible ways, particularly by "The Excellent Wife" and "Gospel Treason."

Through my studies, I have been freed from some things that have plagued me for years. Maybe I'll go into that more someday, but not now. Part of that freeing has helped me to really step up and start to be the kind of Proverbs 31 woman I've always dreamed of being. Not that I am anywhere near perfect, but I am doing all I can to get to the goal!

Rhea Lana's Spring 2013--The BEST Sale Yet!

If you've followed this blog for long, you now know I am a huge fan of Rhea Lana's of Jonesboro.

Today I'd like to share some of the awesome deals I've scored through consignment shopping! I used to check deal sites daily and now, I just delete my daily reminder emails because I know I can get better deals at Rhea Lana's. I also subscribe to several name brand and boutique children's email newsletters...which also end up deleted. Even at "70% off," I can usually do better at RL! :)

Last year, I found these awesome deals:

Ezra's deals, including dress shirts, several long sleeve shirts,
'pirate' holiday pajamas, and a short sleeve tee that said "Who you callin' short?"
(of course he needed that, lol)

Most of the shirts looked new (some were)

Kidorable Pirate Raincoat!!!
I have wished for one of these for him for soooo long!!!
It was $10 instead of the $25 most stores wanted!

Part 1 of Eliana's awesome finds, including a Brand NEW
Mud Pie Christmas outfit!!!

Part 2 of Eliana's stash--that brown dress with striped sleeves
is a $70 dress!! I paid $7 and it was like new!
Note that some of these items still had tags as well.

I also got several NEW Melissa and Doug toys for a great price that I put up and gave to Ezra for Christmas! There will be even more of these items at this year's sale!

I went to drop of my items for consignment at the new location (the old Rowsey Furniture building) last night. I was very impressed with the new location. At first it looked like there was less merchandise than the last sale, but then I realized there was just tons more room! AND there is still one more day of consignor drop off (today).

I'm looking forward to shopping early (more info on how to shop early here) Saturday and looking forward to the best sale yet--it just keeps getting better each time!

Consigning and dropping off your items today? Make sure to read my "Tips & Tricks" in this post!

Here are a few of the other RL-related posts I've written:
5 Ways to Help Out Your Community at 1 Event!
Yard Sale? No sell--I've found a better way!

Are you consigning, volunteering, or shopping with Rhea Lana's of Jonesboro this sale?

What are you looking forward to most?

A Special Valentine From Rhea Lana's of Jonesboro--with tips & tricks for consignors!

Tomorrow is Valentine's Day, but Rhea Lana's is giving you an early Valentine--TWO extra days to enter your items! The original deadline of midnight Tuesday has been extended to Thursday (Valentine's Day) at midnight!

This gives you two more days to enter your items. If you hadn't gotten started or had more items that you wanted to add but didn't think you'd have time (inevitably I find a few extra items once I think I'm done), now is the time to do it! Sign up here now!

Signing up to consign is quick and easy, you make 70% off your items, and you can use the Unsold Items Guarantee (Rhea Lana's exclusive guarantee--why I only consign with them)!
Items must be tagged with labels printed by RL at check-in in order to receive the unsold item guarantee.

Still don't have time or items to consign? Consider volunteering to get into the sale early and nab some of the best deals! See the different ways you can volunteer here. Sign up for a shift here!

Don't worry, even if you don't have time to consign or volunteer, there will still be TONS of fantastic items for you to buy during the public sale!

For those of you who are already consignors or have now decided to consign, The Adventures of The Davis' Blog has a special treat for you! I'm going to share some of my personal consignment tips! The Jonesboro Rhea Lana's website also has a section for tips on merchandise prep here.

Being a visual person, I have included plenty of pictures to go along with my tips! The clothing guidelines are very well illustrated on the Rhea Lana's site, so I will pay attention to accessories, such as toys, diaper bags, and nursing pillows.

Toys and Accessories: Tips & Tricks!

1. Make sure they are CLEAN. No one wants to buy a toy that is dirty or has yellowed with age. These will not sell--especially since there are often multiples of the same toys or baby gear products at the sale. When you think of the cleanliness of your item, consider the fact that it could be placed right next to an item just like it that is in pristine condition. (Also consider this point when you are pricing your items.)

2. Your main goal once your toys and accessories are clean and ready to sell is to keep the tag on! It is disappointing for the shopper who wants to purchase your item but can't and it is disappointing for you, the consignor, when your items don't sell because the tag is lost and there is no way to know who the item belonged to, so the sale can't be credited to the correct person!

The following tips will help you keep your tags stay ON so you can sell your items!

Basic Supplies

Ziploc Big Bags (I used the XL size), Zip Ties (I used medium),
Hang Tags (the same you use for your clothing items),
and Safety Pins (the large ones tend to work better for toys and
accessories), not pictured: clear packing tape and a Sharpie marker 

Toys
If you have warranties or any other papers that go along with your toys, use a standard sandwich or quart size Ziploc bag to contain them and then attach them to your items using tape or zip ties. I also use the smaller bags to contain accessories to the toys (small cars, etc.) so that they don't get lost during the sale. If I do this, I also make sure to put the hang tag inside the small bag and loop it through the zip tie!
Another tip I use is to add an extra piece of clear packing tape somewhere else on the item with my consignor number, the item number from my inventory sheet, and the price. This way if the hang tag does get removed, the item can still be sold because they can find the information in the computer system!

Fur Real Tiger with warranty and bottle accessories attached with
zip ties. Since it has a soft ear, I attached the hang tag with a safety pin,
but then I added clear packing tape to keep the hanging tag close to the
tiger so that it would be less likely to be removed.

Note the extra piece of packing tape with the information listed above.
I also added a zip tie to the warranty and looped it around the center wheel.
It is also taped down, and I taped down the hang tag on the top and wrote
the above information there as well.

Using zip ties and small plastic bags to contain warranties and accessories,
and I wrote the info mentioned above onto each bag.
I also put the hang tags inside the bags, making sure to loop them
through the zip ties--those tags aren't going anywhere!

Consignor info & price on the tape holding down the hang tag.
Notice how I always try to put the top of the hang tag under the tape
so it won't be pulled from the string easily.

Sometimes toy sets work better if they are all bagged together. My Fisher Price farm set would have likely lost some accessories if I hadn't used an XL bag...

I used the writing section to put my consignor info and the price,
then used clear packing tape to tape the hang tag to the bag.

It's a little difficult to see, but I wrapped the top of the bag around to fit
the toy set, then sealed it with clear packing tape to keep it from being
opened and losing accessories!

You can still see all the accessories just fine and now they will all
stay together and nothing will be lost!

Diaper Bags
You will want to hang these on a hanger, but I didn't worry so much about attaching them to the hanger since I wanted shoppers to be able to get a good look at them. I looped the straps around the strap sections of the hangers (the hangers with the little loops for straps work better than those that are just straight along the top).
I didn't want to put a pin through my bags because of the material, so I put the pin through the loops on the side straps and then taped down the string and top section of the hang tag onto the right side of the bag (right side, since that's how people will browse through them, just like clothes).
Like my toys, I also put an extra piece of packing tape with my consignor info, item number, and the price on each bag, just in case the hang tag was accidentally pulled off.
If your bag has long straps, like a messenger style bag, be sure to shorten the straps enough so that your bag isn't dragging the floor or getting lost beneath a row of other bags.

Straps looped through the strap slots on the hanger.
You could still add large safety pins to keep the bag on the
 hanger. I would suggest further down on the straps so that
shoppers can still open and see inside the bag.

Hang tag pinned to loop on side strap and then taped by the string
and top of the hang tag.

Nursing Pillows

I tagged these so many different ways. I wanted to be sure that people could look at them without my information being lost.
First, I used a safety pin to pin a hang tag with my consignor info, item number to the pillow itself.

Then, I used clear packing tape with the same information on the tag of the pillow.

I placed the pillow into an XL Ziploc bag and wrote all that info on the writing section with a Sharpie.

Finally, I taped the hang tag onto the front of the bag by the writing section.
Overkill? Probably...but there is NO way my info will be lost now! :)

These guidelines could also be applied to other large items that need to be bagged.

Hang tag pinned to pillow w/ info.

Info on clear packing tape on tag of pillow

Pillow placed into an XL Ziploc bag;
hang tag taped to the front, by the writing section,
which contains all the info listed above

I hope these tips and tricks help you with your consigning! If you have any questions about the items in this post or prepping other items, please leave a comment here or on my Facebook page. The Rhea Lana's Facebook page is always there to help too!
Happy consigning and shopping!!

So far...

So far today, I have been snotted on, peed on, pooped on, and thrown up on. Ellie is teething and though she doesn't seem to be in pain, it's causing lots of mucus. Lots of mucus = lots of fun lots of grossness.

Ezra and I have learned about the month of December and the season of winter and changed out our classroom decor accordingly (a few days late, but oh well). We dug out all the Christmas books and have read 3 or 4 out of 30 something so far (can you tell I'm addicted to children's books, particularly Christmas ones?).

He loves to put the window clings on all by himself
(hence the upside down snowman, ha)!

We also made (Melissa and Doug) cookies in his kitchen and made a 'mailbox' out of an old cereal box and some tissue paper (the only wrapping paper I had had Santa all over it, and that was a bit much for a mailbox). He's been writing 'cards' and putting them in some old envelopes I had left over from last year's Christmas cards, adding 'stamps' (stickers), and 'sending' them to everyone he can think of. :) We mailed some things at the post office the other day and a very friendly mailman gave Ezra a USPS coloring book, so we looked through it and did the activities that were on his level together.

So the back had a spot where the tissue paper didn't cover...
thankfully, my 3 year old isn't a big art critic. ;)

Telling me how to send the mail...

I just cut some construction paper to size and he used those as his 'notes.'
The square stickers worked great for stamps, but any stickers will do!
We also used some stars for some of our letters.

Ellie has been playing in her seat, nursing plenty, and sleeping the day away (slightly jealous of her there, it's a great rainy-weather, sleep-in-all-day kind of day). She's been sure to get lots of cuddles too.

A small selection of Christmas books on our coffee table--
I like to keep the recordable books and pop-up books within sight
since Ezra can get a bit crazy sometimes and I don't want them to get damaged.

Christmas book explosion! (I left the room and he knocked down the stack.)
I thought about wrapping them and opening one each day, but we have more
than 25, and that would be a lot of paper...plus, I have to keep him occupied
long enough to get them all wrapped.

I've also managed to shower and get Ezra halfway dressed (this is a major achievement for a SAHM, especially on a day when I know no one will see him so it doesn't matter if he gets dressed, ha).

Oh yeah, sent out the Preschool Christmas party invites for church this morning (running late due to very sick baby girl, but at least it's been in the bulletin for a while). That's what got us on that impromptu mailbox and letters kick this morning. Thankfully, Ellie seems to be on the upward swing now and should hopefully be her usual happy-go-lucky self by the party Friday.

Well, Ezra just skipped into the living room singing, "You're my friennnnnd, You're my friennnnnd," and I have no willpower against that kind of awesomeness, so I'll get going. :)

Hope everyone else is having a great rainy day. Before kids, I might have spent it reading all day, and I'd like to get around to reading again someday, but this is pretty good for the interim. ;)

~Deidre