Thrift Store Bonanza

 

 

This has been a fantastic week. The first part of it we were still on vacation. We had a wonderful time away and came back feeling renewed. One thing we did while away was to sit down together as a family and write a family mission statement. This is something that describes who we are as a family and what we stand for. It gives us goals to work towards and reminds us of what we value. Every family's mission statement is unique. I highly recommend doing this with your family. I'm going to type it up and format it nicely, then print it so we hang it up where we can all see it. The process of writing it ended up being easier than I expected. Now I wish we hadn't put this off so long.

 

We've been gradually working our way back into our school schedule. It's hard to believe that by the end of next week we will have finished one-fourth of this school year. I continue to add activities for my toddler to work on while we do school. Some are better than others, but overall he is enjoying them and staying occupied (and out of trouble) while we do school.

 

Today was a 50%-off-all-clothes sale at the Salvation Army thrift store. My husband took me over but I didn't feel too hopeful. I never seem to find anything at these sales. Well, let me say I hit the jackpot today. For $35 I bought 2 winter coats and 1 spring/fall jacket, Thomas the Tank Engine slippers (which absolutely thrilled one little boy), 1 pair of Snugabye pjs, a dress and jumper and three tops for my middle daughters, five tops for my little boys, a top each for my big boys, five books and a pot for camping (not on sale).
 

 

 

Then this afternoon I made a huge floor pouf. The idea came from here and was one of my sewing goals for this fall. I made mine a little differently because I left one part open so we could take blankets in and out of it. Basically, I can store our extra blankets in here and the girls can have a seat for when they play house. This pouf is huge. I put in a big heavy queen size comforter plus seven other blankets. Now the blankets are all contained in one place so it looks tidier in the basement. Anything that helps me tidy up is a winner in my books.

 

modeling their new shirts

 

Yesterday with some hesitation and sadness I moved our baby out of our bedroom and into the room with my two other little boys. My plan is to put him in bed there. Then when he wakes up still bring him into bed with me for the night. I can't give that up yet. What we were finding though was that our bedroom sees a lot of activity at night as the older children come in and out to tell us things about their day. All of this would end up waking the baby up more than once before we went to bed. Last night he woke up at eleven (I wasn't in bed yet so okay); then he slept until 2:30 this morning. I was a happy mama though suffering a little from separation anxiety. I'll live - they do have to grow up. I was also able to do this move without making the little boys' room anymore crowded - big bonus there plus my bedroom feels bigger.

 

All in all it was a good week, and tomorrow I'm going to a scrapbooking party so the week will end on a fun note. Have you ever had a great find at a thrift store? How do you store your blankets?