In with the new, and out with the old.

We spent a brief moment the following day watching the garbage man pick up the neighborhood trash. Then, it was on to more pressing things, like preparing for a

GARAGE SALE!!!

We had a multi-family garage sale with five families all trying to say good-bye to parts of their past life. For a lot of us, it was parting with the clothes, blankets, and toys our memories carry of our little ones occupying. It was sad in some ways, nostalgic in many ways, and welcomed in almost all ways.

Good bye you sweet crib booties!

Good bye you adorable swaddling blankets!

Nursing covers, I am sorry, but you are no longer needed.

Teethers, you have out stayed your welcome.

But I will miss you the most, you sweet outfits that I could not stop putting my children in day after day until they grew to big for you.

The garage sale was a success as most of us were able to get rid of almost 70 percent of our "stuff".

We did have a few moments where Jennifer and I would look at one another from across the driveway as we picked up something and hugged it to our chest.

We ended up bringing a few of those things back inside. I am sure any mother could relate to picking up something their little one wore, or used that brought back so many memories that you could almost smell the sent of "new born baby" drifting off of it.

Just as we were saying good bye to the old, I was also saying hello to something new.

My husbands new little sailor arrived in Hawaii this weekend the night before the garage sale. A good friend and myself were responsible for picking her up, and getting her settled in. After checking her in on base, she was brought back to my house to stay the weekend and put her little mind at ease before she had to go back to the barracks, surrounded by no one she knows in an environment that is completely new to her.

Being straight from boot camp and training, only 19, and never away from home she was feeling the nerves and excitement of the journey yet to come.

I enjoyed meeting her, and watching our friendship blossom in the future.

Over the weekend, I took some photos of her super fast for her to send home to her family.

Meet Amanda, my husbands new little sailor, and a rising star in the Navy (as she graduated first in her class in training).