Karin Grotjohn is our TriangleMom2Mom mom of the week. She's busy this week gearing up for the First United Methodist Church of Cary's consignment sale. (And all I know is I want to be where ever she is in this picture).

Here's Karin ...

Mom2Mom: Tell us about yourself.

Karin: We are a family of 5: my husband Kirk, me, Jackson (age 9), Kennedy (age 7), and Laine (age 3). As with many families, we are busy with school and church activities, although we try to have enough down time at home built into each day.

I am fortunate enough to stay at home but stay busy balancing family time, volunteer work, and my Stampin' Up! home based business. Stampin' Up! has been a blessing to our family over the last 6 years, giving this Mom a good excuse to spend time with other women and providing us with six free cruises so far!!

Last year we transferred our church home to First United Methodist Church in Cary to enable our kids to become more involved in children's activities such as choir. I also wanted to find a women's circle made up of moms with young kids and who were active in service. I was impressed with the positive impact the Sarah Circle's Kids Consignment Sale has on various women's and children's charities, in addition to helping the consignors and shoppers. It was easy to quickly get involved with the bi-yearly sale, serving as Co-Coordinator this year.

Sale Day (September 19th from 8am to 12pm) is an exciting, exhausting, but rewarding day to be a part of, although the most fulfilling part of the process is our group determining which charities we will allocate the proceeds to. It makes all the work feel so worthwhile when we realize the difference we can make for some struggling families. I encourage anyone wanting to shop with us this year or to earn some extra money by consigning your kids clothes, to check out our Web site www.ConsignWithFUMC.com. We also offer the option of donating kids clothing and toys -- we tag it for you and 100 percent of the proceeds goes to charity. Our sale last Spring was so successful and we have been preparing for the upcoming Fall Sale since July.  

Mom2Mom: What's your favorite family place in the Triangle?

Karin: Hmmm, I was a little stumped with this question so I went to ask the experts....and as you might expect, there wasn't any consensus. Here's what they said:
Jackson: "Monkey Joes" (not a surprising answer since he's been asking me to take him there all day today)
Kennedy: "My home, it has everything we need" (awwww!)
Laine: "No where" (she was pouting at the time since I wouldn't give her ice cream)
Kirk: "Frankies Fun Park" (where adults get to be kids too!)
Me: Our neighborhood pool

Mom2Mom:  What's your favorite place for yourself in the Triangle?

Karin: My stamp room in my house. I can choose what music I listen to, have everything at my fingertips to create cards and gifts for my family and friends, and reminisce over happy memories while scrapbooking them.  

Mom2Mom: What's your favorite ritual with your kids?  

Karin: Every Friday the kids choose either pizza or breakfast for dinner. It makes the night super easy for us and the kids enjoy having the choice of what we eat. Usually we will eat our pizza on a blanket on the living room floor watching a movie.

Mom2Mom: What did you eat for dinner last night?

Karin: We treated ourselves to ribeyes on the grill and a couple veggie dishes, including corn on the cob, southern peas, squash, and snap beans. We have been receiving organic produce from Vollmer Farms in Dunn every week this summer which has really stretched our horizons in terms of vegetables. I've found myself being more creative with veggie recipes instead of just throwing them in the microwave as an after thought. Who knew my kids would love collard greens?!

Mom2Mom: What's your guilty pleasure?

Karin: I'd have to say reading a book. I have no willpower whatsoever when I get into a good book...it's shameful! I end up staying up until the middle of the night or ignoring my to-do list. After my first child was born, I don't think I read anything until he was 8 because of that. I've just started reading again in the last year or so and I'm doing my best to maintain a good balance!

Know a mom we should feature? E-mail me! And learn what other moms are doing by going to www.trianglemom2mom.com/meet and checking back here every Monday.