I am not afraid to garage sale.

I love to garage sale. It's one of my favorite activities with my BFF, Tami. Here are some of my recent finds!

I plan on cutting the front of this pillow off and framing it for my scrapbook room. I loved, loved, loved the embroidery, but even with washing it, the thought of laying on someone else's pillow creeped me out. Ok, only one of these is from a garage sale. The top middle one is what started my collection. It is one of the only items I have from my Grandma Smith and I have always cherished it. I love the design and I love how sweet it is. The one on the bottom right, I got from a garage sale for $2.50. I was so excited to find it!! The one on the left is from eBay. I think I paid $7.00 for it. Periodically, I'll get on eBay and etsy and check for them. I just think they are precious. I'd like to have a collection on my kitchen wall.

And THIS. Oh, it just makes my heart melt! It's in near perfect condition, an antique, and best of all, I found it for $12.00. I got this at the Pantagraph's garage sale. I am thrilled about this one. This will be great for newborn pictures. I'm toying with the idea of spray-painting it white, but after photographing it, I think I may leave it alone. I've got a couple baby sessions coming up, I'll just have to try it out.

And this. This was too sad not to buy. My mom and I collect recipes and always put together our own recipe books. This was a recipe book belonging to someone in Washburn and it was being sold for $1.00. All of the recipes inside were either hand-written or collected from the 1950's-1970's from newspapers or magazines. I thought of the time, thought, and care that was put into this. I thought of the mom/wife sitting and planning out meals for her family. I thought this was a treasure.
AND, we can't forget about Gabers! My most exciting finds are when I find vintage Fisher Price toys. I love the little people like I had when I was little. And, Gabe loves them too. He loves getting to "give them a bath" when we get home - which consists of him pulling a chair up to the kitchen sink and me helping him wash all the guys. Ok, so Mommy washes and Gabe splashes and makes a mess, but he loves it. I think I paid $20 for the above set, but it was worth it. It had all the pieces, plus a few extra. And, it went great with the family house we got him on eBay for Christmas last year.

And, I got this one yesterday at the Pantagraph's garage sale. It was only $4.00 and it had all the pieces (except for the side door, but that's ok!). And, Gabe loved it. He's been playing with it non-stop since I brought it home.

I thought I'd be doing better at blogging this time around, but we are so busy right now. Our last month consisted of the following:

• a minor car accident and dealing with a rental car, insurance, repairs, repairs messed up, etc...
• Greg in the hospital for 4 days with a minor surgery & MRSA
• a kitchen flood
• mid-remodel projects
• a messy house
• wedding invites & shower invites to design and prepare
• shopping and planning for a shower (I love preparing for showers!)
• a busy preschooler
• Greg travelling

I'm so excited for this coming week. We're going to St. Louis with Greg while he travels for work. We'll be going to Gabe's first Cardinals game and Gabe and I are going to head to the zoo while Greg's working. (Sorry Greg!). It'll be a well-enjoyed break and mini-vacation for the Herrman family! I'm sure I'll have a ton of pictures!

Hey Mr. Golden Sun...

Gabe's learning some songs at preschool and it is TOO cute! "Hey Mr. Sun, Sun, Hey Mr. Golden Sun, Please shine down on meeeeeeeeee!!" Also, he loves his Batman guys, his Daddy, and picking his nose. Enjoy!

Daddy's Home!

What a week it's been for the Herrmans! Greg just got home today after being in the hospital for four days. Last Thursday, he had a hair follicle inside his nose that became infected. It caused him a lot of pain, so Friday, he went to the doc in a box to get it looked at. The doctor put him on a couple of antibiotics thinking it would help calm it down. By Monday, Greg still hadn't gotten better and was feeling weaker and more achy my the minute. So, we went to see our primary physician. The doctor was going to send Greg home with a heavy dose of antibiotics, but after hearing there'd been no improvement since Friday, he ordered us to go to the hospital.

Upon arriving there, Greg was seen by another doctor who determined Greg needed to go to the hospital in Bloomington so he could see an ENT. The doctor also ordered a cat scan so it could be determined how far up into the nasal cavity the infection went. Greg went by ambulance and I stopped by home to pack a bag for Gabe. Thankfully, we already had care set up for Gabe since Greg and I were supposed to be going on vacation with Steve & Tami. We didn't get to go on vacation, but that's ok by me. I'm just glad Greg's on the road to recovery!

Greg was diagnosed with MRSA at the hospital and an ENT performed a surgery to drain the infection and get the area cleaned out. In surgery preparation, they couldn't get a tube down his throat, so to relax the throat muscles, they gave him some medicine. That medicine caused his potassium levels to drop and when he woke up from surgery, his entire body was cramping. He was in so much pain! They were able to kind of get the cramping to stop, but his head and neck remained in pain - severe pain. I'd never seen it that bad before.

So, Greg was referred to a neurologist. The neurologist (who was awesome!) ordered an MRI and discovered Greg had 3 ruptured discs in his neck, one of which was very severe. The neurologist seemed to think that's been the reason for his chronic neck pain. It must have flared up because of the muscle cramping after surgery. He advised that surgery could be done to fix this. I felt nothing but hope after hearing this! Greg's suffered with neck pain for so long! So, we waited until he was safe to be off of the IV antibiotics and now he's home! We'll be following up with the neurologist in a couple of weeks to talk about treatment for the ruptured discs.

Craziness, isn't it? I couldn't believe that he had MRSA from an infected hair follicle and that we were finally able to find out about his neck problems! He's doing pretty well today. We both got a nap, I went and picked up Gabe, and we just did pizza delivery for supper. I'm so thankful that Greg is ok. I'm also thankful for all of our friends and family that stopped by, prayed for us, and helped with the Gabers. We love you all and are so thankful for you.

And... the results are in!

I am going to be the aunt to a lovely little girl at the end of July! Jenny and Rene found out yesterday that they are having a little girl. I already went shopping and bought her something for Easter! I'm thrilled about becoming an aunt again.

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes...

This will be a year of changes for the Smith family. Tomorrow, we find out whether my sister, Jenny, is having a baby boy or girl. This June, Lindsey and her fiance, Matt, are getting married. And, in August, my brother and his fiancee, Sonya, are getting married.

I couldn't be more blessed - My siblings have all chosen wonderful people as their spouses. When our entire family is together, we have the best time. I find it awesome that my brother in law, Rene, and I can email back and forth and tease each other. I love that when I see Matt, he comes up and gives me a hug. And, I'm thrilled that Sonya wants me to design their wedding invitations... and Lindsey too! I'm honored that I'll be taking pictures for both weddings and I'll have as many newborn photo sessions as I want with Baby Hernandez!

So many changes. So many blessings!! Our family has had it's share of heartaches and tough times (like everyone's) and it feels so good to be in a time full of blessings and new beginnings!

just like me

He likes crackers in his ice cream. Just like me.

We have a birthmark of nearly the same size and color. In exactly the same spot.

He has a little temper, and MAY tend to over-react... just a little. Just like me.

He has the love of a generous, intelligent, kind man. Just like me.

Do you know how many people I've introduced crackers and ice cream to? A lot. Because, no one can believe me that it is amazing. When I was a kid, my Grandma Smith would always serve us saltine crackers with our ice cream. Schwan's ice cream, Hershey's chocolate syrup, and saltine crackers. We LOVED it. We always mixed our ice cream so that it was smooth and we sat around the kitchen table as a family and enjoyed our creation.

When I asked Gabe to try it, he tried it right away, which really surprised me since he never wants to try stuff. He loved it.

Just like me.

A Comedian, and he doesn't even know it.

Ok, this kid cracks me up on a daily basis. Lately, we've been talking about Aunt Lindsey's wedding that's coming up in June and about how he's going to get to swim in the ocean for the first time. He's very concerned about sharks. I've tried explaining the beach and that we won't go out deep enough for sharks. You can just tell that he rolls it all around in his mind and really thinks about all of his concerns with it. So, we talk it out. Here's the conversation that made me laugh out loud:

Gabe: Mommy, we're going to swim in the ocean, right?
Me: Yes, buddy. It'll be a lot of fun! We'll go when Aunt Lindsey and Uncle Mac get married.
Gabe: (thinking)
Gabe: Well, we have to wear some swim trunks, so the sharks won't get my wiener.

He said this serious as can be.

And I cracked up. And then he cracked up.

This kid is hilarious.