My parents town does this annual Large Item Pickup each summer where everyone is encouraged to declutter their homes and place their large items they no longer need or want on the curb. They split it up into neighborhood areas from the start of the town to the end & each section has a different weekend.

It is a day where trash-collectors like myself drive around in trucks (except today I had my Explorer & 5 kids with me) and pick up all the treasures that others are ready to let go of. Some of it is trash, a lot of it is only in need of a little TLC & creativity to be re-purposed, and then there are the real treasures that are things in totally great, like-new shape & barely even used! The impulse purchases that turned out to be a bust.

My husband tells me I have a special gift at finding treasures. It’s actually one of my most received compliments by friends & family, but I just find life to be a fun scavenger hunt. The universe just helps guide me along the way to the treasures instead of a map. 

Today our goal was new outdoor toys. I’d say we succeeded & found some pretty great new treasures for free!

We already had the kitchen to the left, but today we found the smaller kitchen to the right & set them up side by side to make one larger kitchen so the kids have more space to work without constantly bumping into each other.

This adorable little wheelbarrow was in perfect shape! It’s so perfect for the kids to play & practice yard work. They really enjoy gardening + playing with their pretend flower shop. They make their own bouquets out of fake flowers so that will be a fun tool to use for that. I love encouraging play of real life skills.

The kids have been having a *ball* 😉 playing with this giant soft soccer ball. Sasha has been really big into umbrellas lately so she was very happy to find this cute colorful one.

Sasha also found this cute little insulated cooler to keep snacks in outside so she doesn’t have to keep going in & out of the house.

Athena wanted a photo with the umbrella too, of course.

This slide was so difficult to get, but when I make up my mind about something, there is absolutely no stopping me. I was determined to get this slide- it was in perfect shape. I tried literally every way you could think of to make it fit in our vehicle safely with 5 children also inside. I finally managed to get it squished in and made it home. I was SO proud of my accomplishment. This was definitely our best find of the day.

They also found these little lunchboxes that they were really excited about.

We found a lot of fun new treasures to be thankful for. The girls had SO much fun driving around, getting in & out of the car (at times in the rain), and collecting whatever we found. It was a very nice memory to make with them. It gave us a lot of happiness & laughter, and of course so much excitement when we scored a great item. I’d take that over a shopping trip any day.

Until next time ♡ Mama Morozov