New Toys and A Trip to Grandma & Pappy's

So, what's the next best thing to a thrift store?  A huge multi-family yard sale setting up just down the hall from your office, that's what!  And that's exactly what happened to me last week.  It was glorious.  Every day after work I would walk up to the Fellowship Hall (I work at a church) and stroll through the dozens of tables, scoping out all the new goodies that were put out that day.  Most people say 'junk', but I say 'goodies.'  Granted, a lot of it IS junk.  But when you have a chance to go through it before anyone else, you get to cherry-pick the items that are worth something to you.  So that's what I did.  And Ellie made out like a bandit!

First, we did buy something brand new last week that has revolutionized our life.  And I'm not over-selling it.  It's called a Super Yard.  Basically, it's these panels that snap together and then flex at the joints so you can put it into [pretty much] any shape you want.  They're tall enough that babies can't get out, but short enough that grown ups can easily step over.  We set it up in the dining room (since we don't have a table in there right now) so that she can hang out near us while Andy works on banking in the kitchen or while I'm cooking dinner.

 It works like a charm.  Ellie loves it because there's enough room for her to crawl around, but we're not always chasing after her and telling her what she CAN'T play with.  We love it because it keeps her contained!  And Maggie loves it because she can finally relax because the bald monster can't chase her.

My father-in-law refers to it as a baby prison, but I prefer to think of it as a zoo.  You know, it's for the preservation of her species.  Just don't feed the wildlife...

So, back to the yard sale... The first thing I found was this cute crib toy.

We decided to use it out in the dining room pen.  It has a cute mirror on it that spins when you pull the cord and it plays music and the lights go and it's basically a baby-hypnotizing tool.

Plus, it's an elephant, and we love those around here.

Then, I found this.

Ellie's first camera.  I'm so proud.  Right now she just likes to chew on the strap, but someday soon I hope to see her running around the house, taking imaginary pictures of things.  The flash even flashes and the lens 'zooms' in and out.  It's freaking adorable.

I also found some [unopened] puzzles for when she's older.  One of them is Veggie Tales' Pirates Who Don't Do Anything and it's in a bottle.  You know, like a message in a bottle style?  Well, she was pretty excited about it...

And I got her a few coats for next winter and some nice shirts for myself.  All in all, we made out really well and Ellie is enjoying her new treasures.

On Saturday, we went up to visit my parents and attend a Spaghetti Dinner benefiting the Missions group that my dad will be traveling to Haiti with in February.  My mom made this new little gem for her to take to church and other places...

Isn't it cute?  The buttons are sewn on nice and tight, plus they're really big, so no worries there.  The zipper is just sewn on top, so it doesn't open to anything in particular.  The beads are really fun to spin and slide and, well, Ellie likes to suck on them.  And, the best part, the shoelaces!  Ellie loves to play with our shoelaces, but they're so dirty that I hate to let her.  It's great fine motor skills practice though, so this is the perfect compromise.  Right now she just unties them and then fidgets with them before deciding to suck on them, but that's ok.  Basically that's what the whole blanket is good for: fidgeting.

Hey, whatever keeps her happy.

My mom's cousin and his wife were at the Dinner as well.  They make these puppets and brought this one along to show my mom and see if she would like to have the pattern.  Well, bring a puppet into a basket auction full of antsy kids and you're bound to attract some attention.  Ellie was entranced, too.

One thing about "new" toys are the comments they've been bringing from various people (mostly older people from church).  I just don't know how to take them.  People will comment about how they never had a car seat or a high chair or their kids didn't really have toys.  And that's it.  That's all they say.  I really can't tell if they're just making an observation or trying to share and connect with me on a 'mom' level or if it's a quiet kind of criticism that perhaps my child is 'spoiled'.  Any thoughts?  And if you're someone who has actually said that to me in the past, please don't think I'm upset - I just honestly don't know how to react!

So anyway, what do you do with all these new toys?  Well, you carry them around in the diaper bag, of course!  Now I'm lucky enough that I received TWO great diaper bags as baby shower gifts.  My mom made one (that I linked to previously) and Andy's cousin and his wife gave us this one...

Yep, it's a 31 tote.  Now, I'm going to be perfectly honest with you here.  I resisted the 31 draw for a long, long time.  I have a natural distaste for anything super trendy, so since it was so popular, I wanted nothing to do with it.  But I was grateful for the gift and it just happened to be my favorite color.  When it came time to start taking Ellie to a babysitter every day, we started using the bag as a 'babysitter' bag.  Basically it stayed permanently packed with the supplies the babysitter would need and the other bag stayed packed with the stuff I wanted to have around when I was taking her out somewhere.  And I found that I actually did like the 31 bag.  We use it frequently now, since it is the ONLY bag that fits in the bottom of my stroller without falling over or being squished up.  And it just seems to hold a bit more than the one that my mom made me.  Don't get me wrong - I still use that one because I picked it all out and I love it.  It's just nice to have two very different ones so that I have ALL situations covered.

I tell you all that to get to this:  I'm hosting an online 31 catalog party from now (October 1) through October 27th!  It's really easy.  You just click here and you'll go straight to my party page.  Then click on 'shop now' and you're ready to go!  You can scroll through and see all the different products and pattern options and place your order right there.  Super duper easy.  If you know me in person and you'd prefer to look through a physical catalog, I have one of those I can let you see.  And Sarah, my awesome consultant (and cousin-in-law-in-law) set up some pretty sweet promotions, too!  Every customer who spends $50 or more before taxes and shipping will earn a chance to win a $20 Thirty-One gift certificate.  AND if my party total is over $300 before taxes and shipping, I will earn a $20 gift card to Target, which is pretty much my second favorite retail store of all time.  

So yeah, I'm pretty stoked.  And you should be, too!  Because these things make great gifts - for someone else or for yourself.  And did you know that Christmas is less than 90 days away??  Yup, it's true.  So get shoppin'!

And ps- if you're shopping for me, my favorite color is purple *wink*