J Cooper Photography

A girl can only take so much.  So I loaded up the littles in the swagger wagon and headed to small town Kansas for reinforcements.  I figured I could pack within the hour and be out right after lunch.  It didn’t happen in real life quite as easily as it did in my noggin but we got there no worse the wear.

I have many reasons to be thankful for where I live.  But I must say…there is something really appealing about living in a smaller town.  Or living closer to family.  Or maybe having my husband be a plumber so he didn’t have to travel overseas leaving me to this craziness

There were just a few kids in the house.  18, 15, 15, 8, 6, 6, 3, and 1.  And The Librarian and her hubby of course (he may be the biggest kid of them all!)  We grabbed some early morning donuts the first day.  You have got to love the hole in the wall donut shop downtown that serves their oj in little plastic cups with foil lids.  They didn’t take credit cards so “my treat” ended up being “on the house”.  The kids stuffed themselves full of grease and had faces full of cinnamon and sugar to prove it.

I had a cinnamon roll bigger than my head.  Danny had yogurt and flirted with the teenage girls next to us.

The Librarian and her hubby…almost a decent shot on my crummy phone Can you believe they were brave enough to put up with all of us?  After we ate…her hubby won “brother-in-law of the year” by taking the little girls back to the house.  He sat in the blow up pool in their backyard and let them repeatedly dump water on his head while we drove around town looking for garage sales.  I think he deserved an extra donut, don’t you think?

Most of the garage sales were a bust.  At the very end we drove by a warehouse behind one of the antique stores.  There were a group of people hosting a sale back there.  It was interesting to say the least.  Lots of tattoo.  No front teeth.  Questionable sobriety.  We did, however, hit the mega jackpot.  We spent less then $5.00 total for:

like new marble run (several sets combined)

like new mega blocks set

Mr. Potato heads set

Wooden circus blocks set

Animal block set

Brand new huge tinker toy set

15+ children’s books

and a vintage dish

So although we were somewhat afraid for our lives…it was definitely worth the stop.  We came home and set up big tubs of soapy water in the kitchen and washed all the toys thoroughly.  They really weren’t that dirty but after what we had just seen we thought it was best to be safe.  Heck.  I almost jumped in that sudsy water after what we had seen!

We bought the goods for smores and crafting.  But the little people wore us out so much that we ended up on the couch watching a special on Big Foot.  Good times had by all!

Now we are home.  The unpacking was easier than the packing.  Who wants us next?