Funny Story

Last night around 10:30 p.m., Kyle, the kids and I were driving around putting up our signs for the garage sale. We managed to make contact with the cops twice during that short period of time. Sigh.

*First contact - I jump out of the car with sign in one hand and staple gun in the other hand. The car behind us beeped their horn and lucky I didn't say anything because I soon realized it was a cop.

Cop: What are you doing?

Me: {As Kyle drives off} Putting up a sign for our garage sale.

Cop: I hope you aren't going to be hanging it on the street sign.

Me: {Trying to gracefully hide the staple gun} Oh no, the sign has a stake so I'll put it in the ground. {It really did have a stake, but the stake was useless and I wanted to staple it to the post}.

Cop: Okay ... do me a favor and take down that other sign that is on the street sign. {There was another garage sale sign hanging there pointing in the opposite direction}.

Me: Will do, have a good night!

*Second contact {different cop} - I was getting another sign out of the back of the car while Kyle was pulled over in a turn lane on a fairly busy road with his flashers on. Next thing I see is police lights pulling up behind us. I get the sign and walk over to the grass, minding my business and proceeding to put up the sign. LOL I figured Kyle could deal with the cop ... and then I remembered that our inspection hadn't been renewed yet. Crap. So I figure I better not put the sign up since the cop is now talking to my husband, so I return to the car and get in. By this time the cop had Kyle's license back in his cruiser to do some checking. Kyle tells me this is what was said ...

Cop: What are you doing?

Kyle: Waiting for my crazy wife to put up a yard sale sign.

Cop: Are you sure you are not having a domestic dispute?

Kyle: Yes, I'm sure. {Kyle claims he wanted to say, "Not yet, but if she doesn't get back in the car soon, we may have a domestic dispute soon."}

Cop: {Flashes his flashlight at our inspection sticker} What's up with that?

Kyle: Well, as you can see we have new tires and we had to get new tires before they would pass us for inspection, so I'm taking it to get inspected tomorrow.

By now I'm back in the car and the cop comes back with Kyle's license. He confirms with me that we are not having a domestic dispute and that we are just putting up garage sale signs {which never did get put up at that particular spot}. He again tells us to get the car inspected tomorrow and to have a great night.

Note to self: Next time this happens, don't ignore the cop as he approaches. I think me ignoring him and walking down the sidewalk to where I wanted to put up my sign gave him the idea that I was fleeing the vehicle. Oops.

Whirlwind

This weekend was such a whirlwind for me. I was pretty stressed out about the garage sale ... feeling a lot of pressure in light of the press that we received last week. Good pressure though I guess, if there is such a thing. Now that the weekend is over and our garage sale has come to a close, the emotion is rising to the surface. My aunt sent me some more pictures of our fabulous day yesterday that brought me to tears and I wanted to share ...

L-R: Uncle Tom, Aunt Sherry, Dorothy and Melinda ... thank you to Tom and Sherry for all your help setting up, organizing, helping customers and spreading awareness ... thank you to Dorothy and Melinda for doing the bake sale, helping customers and spreading awareness as well {now I just have to share with everyone that I had never even met Dorothy or Melinda prior to this weekend ... they both work with my aunt and had planned the bake sale to help support us ... isn't that awesome?!}

L-R: My mom and my cousin, Debby ... thank you so much to my mom, who has helped me so much with everything for this garage sale, from pricing to set up to the keeper of the money to promoting awareness to clean up ... you have been a tremendous help and a stress reliever! And to Debby, thank you so much for organizing the lemonade stand(s) and for helping with everything from making tees to pricing to helping customers to spreading awareness to folding and organizing clothes ... your support means more to me than you could possibly know!

L-R: My mom, my sister Kristie and Mason ... to Kristie {and Casey} - thank you so much also for everything you have done ... making tees, making those dang signs, pricing, organizing, helping customers, spreading awareness, clean up ... all of it - thank you so much for all your help!
L-R: Me {lovely picture, eh?} and Jodi ... Jo {and Shea}, thank you so much for all your help as well this weekend ... pricing, helping customers, helping me try to figure out how to fold a dang tent, hanging signs and getting yelled at by the cops and most importantly, promoting awareness ... we love you guys!L-R: Uncle Tom, Ella, Maddy, Kyle and Payton ... to Maddy and Ella - thank you for having such a successful lemonade stand! We appreciate it SO much ... you have got to be the best lemonade girls ever! {I have to tell everyone that the girls were sort of being run out of town by the bake sale on the other side of the driveway, so they started delivering the lemonade to shoppers ... Maddy delivered the lemonade while Ella walked next to her with a sign around her neck that said something to the effect of "Lemonade - We Deliver". It was so stinkin cute and it was even better after their mom figured out why the lemonade tasted like coffee and they were able to dump that batch. Who mixed the lemonade in the pitcher that had stored coffee beans?} L-R: Ella, Maddy and Mason - aren't they cute?!

And last, but not least, my sister-in-law and brother-in-law, Shay and Jeremy. Somehow I have zero pictures of you, but I appreciate your help with everything on Saturday and Sunday ... pricing, organizing, hosting the donut/juice/hot dog stand on Sunday, clean up, helping customers, promoting awareness and for buying a lot of baby clothes ... we appreciate it tremendously!

I hope everyone had as good a weekend as I did. All of our hard work paid off and I can't wait until Addison is here to prove it. Thank you also to everyone in the community who supported our garage sale ... we appreciate it so much!

Garage sale {day two}

We had day two of our garage sale today and even though it was a lot slower than yesterday, we still made around $500. We are so happy and feeling so blessed! It is amazing how many people have been touched by adoption in their lives. Thank you again to everyone who supported us this weekend!

Our garage sale {day one}

Well, day one of our garage sale is over and it was a huge success! We were open from 7am - 3pm and we only had one person who came a bit early. It didn't take long for the crowd to gather ...


My aunt and two lovely ladies from her work had a bake sale with baked goodies, drinks and snacks. People loved it! Maddie and Ella also had a lemonade stand ... both were a huge success! My sister, Kristie, and my cousin, Debby, made tshirts that said "Help us bring baby Addison home from Russia" for everyone working the garage sale ... it was such a great idea because people knew exactly where to go with questions ...

Thank you SO much to my mom, Kristie and Casey {thank you for making the signs, too!}, Shay and Jeremy, Jodi and Shea, Sherry and Tom, Melinda, Dorothy and Debby and the girls for all your help today and in setting up for our garage sale ... there is no way I could have done this without you!

Oh, one other thing ... I'm sure you are wondering just how successful our garage sale was? Well, we made about $2,000 ... isn't that awesome?!

Our friends and family

We put a plea out to our friends and family asking for donations for our garage sale. I wasn't sure that we would even get anything ... boy was I wrong! We have gotten so much stuff, some even from people we don't even know. That is just awesome. I pretty much think we have the best friends and family ever. Yesterday, we spent the entire day with my mom, sister and brother-in-law going through all the stuff we have gotten ... and we still are not done.

I do have to give a shout out to our friends, the Corcorans. A couple years ago, they moved over an hour away, so we don't get to see them as often as we like. Nonetheless, they have always been present for anything that we have ever had for the kids {i.e. Payton's buddy walk, birthday parties, etc}. This weekend, they make the trek to our house to drop off their donations for our garage sale. They pulled up and this is what I saw ...


Note that this picture was taken after much of the stuff had already been unloaded. They brought us SO much stuff and we are so thankful to them. We are so thankful to everyone. When we figure out how to thank you, we will let you know!