the neighborhood hero

While the three littlest ones were napping today, us three oldest ones were jumping on the trampoline. We had been enjoying ourselves for awhile when Maggie stops and tells us, "Hey, I think I see smoke over there!" Matt got off and went to our fence to investigate. Sure enough, there was a fire a blazing three houses down.

Matt called the fire department while using a garden hose to try and keep it from spreading.

Here is Maggie calling her grandma, nana, and Mandy to tell them that she saved the day!

blogging

One of my new year's resolutions was to blog more. Not because I think you all care what I have to say, I'm not that disillusioned. I would like to eventually make a hard copy of this blog for each of my children. I may stink at scrapbooks but I can blog! So, yesterday I thought I'd do a "day in our life" post. You know, to document what we do around here. Everyone was dressed and done with chores before 9. We had school done by noon. My mom stopped by, Sky ate lunch here, it was shaping up to be a great day at the Burch house. It all started falling apart when the Parents as Teachers lady stayed too long. Daisy's nap was way too short. The 2 year old, who always takes wonderful 3 hour long naps, refused to nap at all. The final straw came when I found a soiled Oliver diaperless in my closet. When I heard myself repeatedly asking him "Where did you put your poop*?", I knew that I was just not ready to share what really goes on around here. So, back to my trusty picture collage format.......here we have Lucy turning 4.


*down the laundry shoot

Finally, some "official" word

Read this.

So there seems to be a lot of confusion about this new law. I am now hearing that garage sales and consignment sales (like moms of twins sales) will be allowed. Other than that, I haven't heard much reliable information. I know of 3 people who have called Children's Orchard in the last few days. All 3 of them received different information. Scroll down on this blog to read the latest. Or google the consumer protection act.

A call to action

So Jen did some crackerjack investigating and discovered that we are not completely helpless in this situation. Call Roy Blunt's office at 889-1800 and let them know that the Consumer Products and Safety Act is going too far. I called and they said that there are some stipulations on it that could make it far less blanketing than the press has led us to believe. I hope this is true but I still think it is important that we call and let our voice be heard.

stunned

I had just returned with an adorable vintage dress from the D.A.V. yesterday when I read this. I'm sure I'm the last one to hear, like usual. It honestly brought tears to my eyes. The Consumer Products and Safety Act goes into effect Feb. 10th. To save our children from lead and such they are barring any reselling of childrens' items. While it is a noble cause, the law takes it WAY too far. Think about what this means. Resale shops, such as Children's Orchard will be forced out of business. No more buying cute baby clothes on Etsy. No more donating used clothing and toys to the thrift store because they would just have to throw it away. No more reselling on Ebay or in garage sales. How will this affect our family? No more justifying the cost of Gymboree clothes by knowing I can recoup some of it on Ebay after the girls have worn it. No more cleaning out the toy closets before Christmas and selling the items to Children's Orchard. No more scouring thrift stores for vintage dresses and books. Now what to do with all of my childrens' out grown clothing? I give a lot of it away to friends but what about the not so nice stuff I normally just donate? Well it looks like the only option will now be throwing it away. But, when all is said and done, we'll be ok. I'm not so sure about the moms who depend on half price day at the thrift store to cloth their families. There are a lot of moms out there who can't afford retail, even on sale. What will they do now?