Keepin busy

 I learned a big lesson this past week:

 If someone asks you if you want hand-me-downs, ask them how many bags they are giving you.

14 bags of hand-me-downs ended up in our garage.  14!

Thankful? Yes.

Overwhelmed? BIG yes.

Second lesson learned: don't switch kids' closets right before Christmas.  

Alison was in heaven.  One evening, I let her go crazy and look through all the clothes and put crazy outfits together.

A friend came over a few days later and helped me finish sorting and took a giant bag of clothes for her 4 girls.  This was our living room for several days.

It took me all week to get all of the kids clothes set and our attic now is completely stocked for upcoming sizes.  All the work was worth it, but it was definitely overwhelming.  

We were also busy keeping our cookie jar stocked.  Sorting clothes is way more fun when you can eat cookies while you work.

I helped chaperone Alison's Girl Scout troop to a "Think like a scientist" event at the Living Museum.  This is her troop:

The girl in the pink shirt next to Alison is her best friend Jensen.  They've been in the same class since Kindergarten (both transferring schools in 1st grade).

One night at dinner, Alison decided that we need to have a "last day of school" party on Friday.  She got out a piece of paper and started writing out all the details of the event.  In my head I was thinking "No way are we adding to our list of activities and to-do lists this week!" but I let her dream up a plan.

We went to the Smithfield Christmas parade last weekend.  It was a monumental day for our family...a) we did it and b)no one cried!

 

Ben and I went for a run and then walked the kids to Main Street from the Y.

We ended up getting a pretty good spot, right next to some friends.

Family selfie:

As soon as the kids realized that candy was being thrown, they went out on the street to wave to all the floats.  Ben and I were in shock.  These are the kids who a few years ago were too scared to even be by the parade because it was too loud.

 

Hanging out with our friends Wesley and Bailey

Colin is always good at keeping us busy.  Every morning he hunts Ben down at breakfast to eat his cereal.  It's his favorite thing to finish his bowl.