We've spent a ton of money trying to get the van fixed so we could go on our vacation this week. we were suppose to be leaving tomorrow afternoon to head to Virginia Beach for a wonderful camping trip. We only go camping twice a year, and this year we only got 1 trip in. and 0 trips to the beach. it makes me so sad, but there wasn't much we could do. My sister and her husband are coming down here to visit instead, so at least we'll get to visit with them! We're taking some time to go have some fun so I'm so excited to just have a relaxing, fun weekend!
We'll get to spend some time at the Labor day flea market that consumes the whole town next to ours this weekend. hopefully we'll find some good bargains! Lexi and Josiah need some clothes, and i have a small wish list for the house. you never know what you'll find at yard sales, especially in a town like ours, who knows, we might find some custom pins, or valuable antiques sold by someone who doesn't know what they have!
We're also going to paint the girls bedroom. that will be fun, the girls are excited to have a pink and purple room, and anything is more fun when you do it with your sister!!
Party fun!
Well, we had a blast at the girl's party! As far as I know everyone (except maybe the teenage cousins) enjoyed themselves. We even had a little "after party" the last few guests hung out until about 9:30 at night. of course we didn't mind because they were friends that we don't see too often! The girls had so many presents the were overwhelmed. Lexi does the normal kid thing, she tears through the presents and then looks through more. I love my Caylee Bean though. She takes her time enjoying each present as she opens it. I think she would have been happy with just one present!
hopefully life is going to slow down now and I'll be able to blog a little more, things have been crazy!
hopefully life is going to slow down now and I'll be able to blog a little more, things have been crazy!
Birthday Party x2
This year we decided to do a joint birthday party for the girls instead of having to go through the stress twice. Yah, we cheated. But the past two years Caylee has gotten our left over energy since we put so much into Lexi's parties. This year we decided it would make more sense and be more fair to just do it together. (plus the girls thought it was a great idea, and we figured they wouldn't like the idea for too many more years, so we might as well take advantage of it while we could!)
We went back and forth about what to get Lexi for her birthday. It's so hard to buy presents for them, Lexi says she wants everything, then forgets about it and changes her mind daily. One of the things we considered getting her was a mini Ipod or MP3 player. she carried around a sock for two weeks pretending it was her ipod. We didn't go looking for apple store coupons or anything, but we saw a use one in a pawn shop for pretty cheap. We decided she was too little for one though, and skipped that idea. Caylee is hard to buy for because she has had two loves for the past two years of her life... animals (mostly puppies) and baby dolls. but if you saw her room and the toy room you would know that she doesn't need any more of either. She's also not the type to play with much of anything. We wandered around the toy sections and clothe sections of 2 stores and had a really hard time. I could have gone crazy for Lexi, mostly because she's in a Hello Kitty phase and Hello Kitty is really popular. Plus, as I said, she really does like a lot.
I'm excited for their party tomorrow because there are so many people who are going to be here, this will probably be the biggest party either of them have had. (Another reason I'm glad we're only doing this once!) It's now 2am, and I am still awake. I have two cakes to make tomorrow (well, to decorate) and a house to clean. Maybe I should go to bed.... good night!
We went back and forth about what to get Lexi for her birthday. It's so hard to buy presents for them, Lexi says she wants everything, then forgets about it and changes her mind daily. One of the things we considered getting her was a mini Ipod or MP3 player. she carried around a sock for two weeks pretending it was her ipod. We didn't go looking for apple store coupons or anything, but we saw a use one in a pawn shop for pretty cheap. We decided she was too little for one though, and skipped that idea. Caylee is hard to buy for because she has had two loves for the past two years of her life... animals (mostly puppies) and baby dolls. but if you saw her room and the toy room you would know that she doesn't need any more of either. She's also not the type to play with much of anything. We wandered around the toy sections and clothe sections of 2 stores and had a really hard time. I could have gone crazy for Lexi, mostly because she's in a Hello Kitty phase and Hello Kitty is really popular. Plus, as I said, she really does like a lot.
I'm excited for their party tomorrow because there are so many people who are going to be here, this will probably be the biggest party either of them have had. (Another reason I'm glad we're only doing this once!) It's now 2am, and I am still awake. I have two cakes to make tomorrow (well, to decorate) and a house to clean. Maybe I should go to bed.... good night!
Shoe shopping
Well, it's time for the fun search of finding my husband new sneakers. I hate this chore, not only is he picky, he has wide feet. and it's hard to find shoes for wide feet, especially shoes that he likes- that don't cost an arm and a leg. I need big neon signs that say "find coupon codes here" or "Cheap Wide shoes here" anything to make this easier. He used to find shoes he likes at payless, but they got cheap and then stopped carrying cool shoes. we've found a few styles on shoebuy.com but they only have a few in our price range.
Anyway, I love buying shoes, just not for him. :) Too bad we can't buy shoes for me!
Anyway, I love buying shoes, just not for him. :) Too bad we can't buy shoes for me!
First Grade
Well, my baby girl is going to be five in just a few weeks. We'll be starting first grade here at home using the sonlight curriculum sometime in the middle of August. FIRST GRADE. my daughter reads, she LOVES to read and she loves to color. We've been printing off a lot of color pages lately, I'm thinking of buying stock in laserjet ink cartridges. At the rate we're going through printer ink we need something! Maybe a SAM'S club membership. Anyway... my point is that my baby is in first grade. We are doing a homeschool coop that meets at our church this year. I'm excited and nervous. It meets once a week and lasts all day, Lexi will be learning all sorts of stuff, Caylee will too for that matter. I do have to teach two half an hour classes, not a big deal. I'll be teaching math and I'm excited. I love math. So our year is going to be busy, but fun.
Contentment
I think God is teaching us a little lesson on contentment through the van we bought (and through my injuries) . Our car had some issues that we knew were going to need to be fixed soon, so I know there is a chance we'd be in the same boat if we had kept it and not traded it for our van. But... we've had issue after issue come up and unfortunately we are having to pick and chose one thing at a time to take care of. Right now we have a tire that needs replaced, we've noticed wobbling for a few days, today we discovered the belt in the tire is broken, so we have metal spikes coming out of our tire right now. So that will be the next thing we take care of. We replaced the EGR valve because the check engine light said that is what was wrong, but... the check engine light is still on and saying EGR.. so that means it's a hose or another part not really the EGR valve, which we already replaced. The AC stopped working, the heat doesn't work yah... we're realizing the grass is not always greener. BUT, praise the Lord, we are still all healthy, we haven't been injured, or gotten in an accident. We made it to WV for a family reunion even with the issues, and we made it home too.
Then, God is teaching me contentment with my body, I've had knee issues, nothing like I need a torn acl brace, but it swells now and then, my elbow is now acting up, I can't put any weight on it, or pick things up, even putting in my contacts hurts. I guess I did too much at once, trying to do the 30 day shred and push ups in an attempt to tone up this body I've worked so hard to lose weight on.
I've never been good at being content, I'm trying to work on it. There are some things we can change, and there are other things that God has us in this place for a reason and I need to be content with it. That is what I am working on right now, seeing the difference and working on what I can work on.
Then, God is teaching me contentment with my body, I've had knee issues, nothing like I need a torn acl brace, but it swells now and then, my elbow is now acting up, I can't put any weight on it, or pick things up, even putting in my contacts hurts. I guess I did too much at once, trying to do the 30 day shred and push ups in an attempt to tone up this body I've worked so hard to lose weight on.
I've never been good at being content, I'm trying to work on it. There are some things we can change, and there are other things that God has us in this place for a reason and I need to be content with it. That is what I am working on right now, seeing the difference and working on what I can work on.
So close
I have hit my pre-baby weight! I am just 4.4lbs away from my "goal". My original goal was my pre-pregnancy weight. Then (before I hit it) I decided that 5 more pounds off would probably be better, however I'm going to have to see what I look like when I hit my new goal. I might still have some fat to lose, but I think at that point it is going to be more about toning and being healthy than losing weight. I'm not the type to buy weight loss pills, even though I know other people who use them. I like to do things the old fashioned way with diet and exercise.
The last 10lbs have been a struggle to lose, seems like i lose 2 and gain 1! I'm hoping that my plateau is over though, since I've been losing again now. It will really make things a lot nicer and easier to keep on going if I continue to see results!!
The last 10lbs have been a struggle to lose, seems like i lose 2 and gain 1! I'm hoping that my plateau is over though, since I've been losing again now. It will really make things a lot nicer and easier to keep on going if I continue to see results!!
Talk about last minute!
This morning around 11am we decided that we would go to my husband's family reunion this weekend. In West Virginia. Leaving tomorrow. I still haven't packed. and going on a weekend long trip with 3 kids is not a "throw some stuff in a bag and go" type of trip. Guess I know what I'll be doing tomorrow morning. Of course, I also have to drop the van off at the garage to get inspected and an oil change, and take the kids to story hour. THEN i'll pack and load the van. And eventually we'll leave. Oh yah, I have to go to another garage where the van we are selling is and pay them for looking over it. fun times.
I am hoping I can find clothes that fit Lexi, I think she's in a growth spurt, she seems to be getting taller and taller, maybe we need to get a stadiometer like they use at the dr's office to keep track of their height. It always happens overnight.
I am hoping I can find clothes that fit Lexi, I think she's in a growth spurt, she seems to be getting taller and taller, maybe we need to get a stadiometer like they use at the dr's office to keep track of their height. It always happens overnight.
practice race
Monday I'm running my first 5K. I'm excited because this is my first race that is about racing, not just about finishing. Normally I have a time goal in mind, but it's one that is easy to hit. This time it's 3.1 miles, not 13.1 so I know finishing is not going to be a good enough goal.
Tonight some of the running group met to do a practice 5K. I begged my husband to let me use his iphone so I could use runkeeper to track my speed. Only the smart person that I am messed up and accidentally paused it for awhile, so it wasn't accurate. It was paused for about .3 miles, and said it took 19 minutes 33 seconds. I'm thinking I ran it in just under 25 minutes. My goal for Monday was going to be 27 minutes. Now I'm thinking I need to do 25 minutes. I'm not 100% sure what the time really was, so I'd hate to put some crazy goal of 21 minutes in my head only to realize i'm really off in guessing my time for tonight.
I can already tell this 5K time is going to be addicting in my head. I'm going to work and work and work until I get faster and faster and faster. Especially now that I know the 5K route that is right here in town, I can run it every week if I want (only keep better track of my speed). I'm thinking I need a stop watch!
Tonight some of the running group met to do a practice 5K. I begged my husband to let me use his iphone so I could use runkeeper to track my speed. Only the smart person that I am messed up and accidentally paused it for awhile, so it wasn't accurate. It was paused for about .3 miles, and said it took 19 minutes 33 seconds. I'm thinking I ran it in just under 25 minutes. My goal for Monday was going to be 27 minutes. Now I'm thinking I need to do 25 minutes. I'm not 100% sure what the time really was, so I'd hate to put some crazy goal of 21 minutes in my head only to realize i'm really off in guessing my time for tonight.
I can already tell this 5K time is going to be addicting in my head. I'm going to work and work and work until I get faster and faster and faster. Especially now that I know the 5K route that is right here in town, I can run it every week if I want (only keep better track of my speed). I'm thinking I need a stop watch!
I lie
to our pediatrician. Almost every visit. Because I have an approach to kid raising that is different than theirs.
Every well visit they ask me if my house is baby proofed. I say yes. because to me it is. But then they go on asking specific things like "are all your medicines put up" Yes, they are. "Are your cleaners locked away?" yes, they are. "Do you have baby gates" yes- ok, actually, we don't need any here. "Do you have outlet covers in?" Yes. Ok, that's where I lie. See, I have a problem with outlet covers. First of all, they annoy me. They are hard to get out when you need to use the outlet. But the biggest reason we don't have them is because I think they are stupid. Let me just say, if we adopted a kid, or had a kid who didn't have the same reasoning ability or anything like that I would put them in. But here is our approach to baby proofing.
I tell the kids not to touch the outlets. I tell them not to touch medicine, I tell them not to touch cleaners. Yes, we still put cleaners and medicine out of their reach. But I don't put plastic covers on my outlets. My thinking is if my kids always saw outlet covers in the outlets and we went to someone's house who didn't have outlet covers, they'd be more prone to put something in them, thinking there is supposed to be something there. I guess I think we'd be lazy and not tell our kids that it's dangerous to play with outlets if we had covers in them. If they are open I know I will make sure to tell them. Like when I walk out of my room from putting Josiah to sleep and see caylee trying to put a screw driver in one. Yah, that gets a "Caylee, those will hurt you bad, you NEVER put anything in an outlet."
I know there is no way to keep all bad things away from my kids, and there is no way to warn them about every dangerous or bad thing that will cross their path in their life. I wish there was. I am trying to do the best that I can, and hope that when those things are placed in front of them they will know enough to either ask first, or just say no. Who knows if they will be offered ecigarettes or worse, or when they might find themselves alone wanting to cross the street. (yes, I know crossing the street and having outlet covers are a lot different, but you get the point)
Every well visit they ask me if my house is baby proofed. I say yes. because to me it is. But then they go on asking specific things like "are all your medicines put up" Yes, they are. "Are your cleaners locked away?" yes, they are. "Do you have baby gates" yes- ok, actually, we don't need any here. "Do you have outlet covers in?" Yes. Ok, that's where I lie. See, I have a problem with outlet covers. First of all, they annoy me. They are hard to get out when you need to use the outlet. But the biggest reason we don't have them is because I think they are stupid. Let me just say, if we adopted a kid, or had a kid who didn't have the same reasoning ability or anything like that I would put them in. But here is our approach to baby proofing.
I tell the kids not to touch the outlets. I tell them not to touch medicine, I tell them not to touch cleaners. Yes, we still put cleaners and medicine out of their reach. But I don't put plastic covers on my outlets. My thinking is if my kids always saw outlet covers in the outlets and we went to someone's house who didn't have outlet covers, they'd be more prone to put something in them, thinking there is supposed to be something there. I guess I think we'd be lazy and not tell our kids that it's dangerous to play with outlets if we had covers in them. If they are open I know I will make sure to tell them. Like when I walk out of my room from putting Josiah to sleep and see caylee trying to put a screw driver in one. Yah, that gets a "Caylee, those will hurt you bad, you NEVER put anything in an outlet."
I know there is no way to keep all bad things away from my kids, and there is no way to warn them about every dangerous or bad thing that will cross their path in their life. I wish there was. I am trying to do the best that I can, and hope that when those things are placed in front of them they will know enough to either ask first, or just say no. Who knows if they will be offered ecigarettes or worse, or when they might find themselves alone wanting to cross the street. (yes, I know crossing the street and having outlet covers are a lot different, but you get the point)
Blogging wave
I've noticed my blogging goes in waves. Some weeks I'll have something to say every day, other times I don't blog for a month. Sorry I'm not very consistent.
Today Josiah had tubes put in his ears, We've known for a month that he was going to get them done, they decided when he was 6 months old that since he had pretty much had an ear infection his whole life, he needed tubes. But they wanted to wait until he was 7 months old because of the anesthesia.
Caylee had tubes put in twice, so we knew the procedure and what to expect. When she woke up out of it the first time she was psycho. screaming, nothing could calm her down, the second time she was older and it was a little better. Josiah was just pretty calm when he woke up, which was nice. He just sat there staring at me with his mouth gaped open for at least 30 minutes. All in all it went pretty easy. He wasn't allowed to eat from midnight until after the surgery, and he ended up not eating after 10pm. Poor guy woke up at 3 starving. I could feel his belly growling, we had an hour of fussing before he fell back asleep. I'm glad it was just an hour. The only thing that really irritated me was that they told us we had to be there by 6. We registered and sat in the waiting room until 6:30. Then it was 7:05 before they even did anything. It annoyed me because to me, if you tell someone to be there by 6, you should be ready for them at 6. It really only took them about 10 minutes to do all they did before he had to go back into the OR, they took his temperature, blood pressure and the little oxygen level, had us put him in the gown then gave him some medicine to make him drowsy. At 7:15 they took him back, and brought him to us at 7:40 all dopey. :) Then of course they had to watch him for awhile, we left at 9. crazy to be there 3 hours for a 20 minute thing.
He's been extra fussy today, and has been eating a lot, not sure if he's trying to make up for what he couldn't eat last night or what! The doctor said fluid came out of both ears when they put the tubes in, so there was obvious reason for the tubes. I wonder if he is hearing better now. I imagine he would be if there was always fluid behind his ear drums! I guess we'll find out soon.
He started waving yesterday, it's pretty cute. If I say HI and wave my hand he says something that sounds like a very breathy "hi" and twists his little hand while moving his fingers. He's getting so big, I can't believe he's 7 months old already. jeepers this year is flying by!!
Today Josiah had tubes put in his ears, We've known for a month that he was going to get them done, they decided when he was 6 months old that since he had pretty much had an ear infection his whole life, he needed tubes. But they wanted to wait until he was 7 months old because of the anesthesia.
Caylee had tubes put in twice, so we knew the procedure and what to expect. When she woke up out of it the first time she was psycho. screaming, nothing could calm her down, the second time she was older and it was a little better. Josiah was just pretty calm when he woke up, which was nice. He just sat there staring at me with his mouth gaped open for at least 30 minutes. All in all it went pretty easy. He wasn't allowed to eat from midnight until after the surgery, and he ended up not eating after 10pm. Poor guy woke up at 3 starving. I could feel his belly growling, we had an hour of fussing before he fell back asleep. I'm glad it was just an hour. The only thing that really irritated me was that they told us we had to be there by 6. We registered and sat in the waiting room until 6:30. Then it was 7:05 before they even did anything. It annoyed me because to me, if you tell someone to be there by 6, you should be ready for them at 6. It really only took them about 10 minutes to do all they did before he had to go back into the OR, they took his temperature, blood pressure and the little oxygen level, had us put him in the gown then gave him some medicine to make him drowsy. At 7:15 they took him back, and brought him to us at 7:40 all dopey. :) Then of course they had to watch him for awhile, we left at 9. crazy to be there 3 hours for a 20 minute thing.
He's been extra fussy today, and has been eating a lot, not sure if he's trying to make up for what he couldn't eat last night or what! The doctor said fluid came out of both ears when they put the tubes in, so there was obvious reason for the tubes. I wonder if he is hearing better now. I imagine he would be if there was always fluid behind his ear drums! I guess we'll find out soon.
He started waving yesterday, it's pretty cute. If I say HI and wave my hand he says something that sounds like a very breathy "hi" and twists his little hand while moving his fingers. He's getting so big, I can't believe he's 7 months old already. jeepers this year is flying by!!
Josiah's first camping trip
We went camping this past weekend with my family in Pennsylvania. It was tons of fun, the girls love hanging out with their cousin's, and Josiah got to meet my mom. It was Josiah's first camping trip and I think he loved it. While we were camping he fell asleep with no problems, he loved being outside, the only thing he didn't love was having to be held all the time, it was really muddy so there was no place to lay him down. Every once and a while I'd sneak off to my sister's pop up and lay him on one of the beds, he enjoyed rolling around.
Watching the girls in the lake reminded me so much of me when I was little. I used to stay in the water as long as possible, no matter how cold I was. Lexi was the same way, at one point her lips were blue and she was shivering but she kept insisting she wasn't cold. I just smiled and said ok. :) Caylee liked playing in the sand more than the water, but she had fun too.
Watching the girls in the lake reminded me so much of me when I was little. I used to stay in the water as long as possible, no matter how cold I was. Lexi was the same way, at one point her lips were blue and she was shivering but she kept insisting she wasn't cold. I just smiled and said ok. :) Caylee liked playing in the sand more than the water, but she had fun too.
Weight and running
Have I ever mentioned that I love running for weight loss? Every time I run I lose about a pound. (if I run more than a mile or so). I know it's just my body, and I know it stops coming off at that rate eventually, but it's nice for now! I started trying to lose weight the week before Easter, so 5.5 weeks ago. As of right now I'm down 15lbs. Guess I don't need to look up hydroxycut reviews after all. I'd be a lot better off, but for about 3 weeks, I keep losing weight during the week and gaining it back during the weekend. I've lost the same 3lbs about 4 times now. :) Yah, weekends are bad for me! I have a feeling this weekend might be even worse, we're going camping with some of my family... and camping is always my excuse to eat junk! I am bringing my running stuff though, and I've told my sister I want to run 5 miles on Saturday. We'll see how well I do! Hopefully I'll at least run off the extra food I eat! (like the s'mores!)
Swagbucks
Have you heard of Swagbucks? it's a great easy way to earn $5 amazon giftcards. I get about one every month and a half, just for searching things!! Seriously, I have the swagbucks toolbar and every time I need to look something up I just type it in there instead of google. Every few searches you win points, and when you get 450 points you can cash it in for a $5 amazon giftcard. Yes, there are other prizes or things you can win, but that's just what I choose, it's easiest for me.
If you're really researching something you might have to use google to find what you're looking for, but always try swagbucks first! They have a decent selection of results, so if you're looking for something simple like body acne treatment, you should find something. It's just the rare items that you have to research on google. The funniest thing about swagbucks, is I tend to win more when I misspell something I am searching for!
If you're really researching something you might have to use google to find what you're looking for, but always try swagbucks first! They have a decent selection of results, so if you're looking for something simple like body acne treatment, you should find something. It's just the rare items that you have to research on google. The funniest thing about swagbucks, is I tend to win more when I misspell something I am searching for!
A late Easter post
We went to Tennessee for Easter Sunday, but when we returned home we celebrated a late Easter with my husband's family at his sister/mom's house. It was tons of fun, We hung out and ate yummy food, prepared by all. Together there were 26 of us all together and finding a place to sit to eat was interesting! They have a lot of chairs, but there were still people sitting on lawn chairs, coolers and even metal step stools! Having big families is fun, even if you end up sitting on something uncomfortable for Easter dinner. You can't replace the enjoyment of getting together, playing quelf, watching the kids all play and being silly.
We both have decent sized immediate families, The 26 that were there for Easter included my husband's family and 6 friends of his one sister. My family is a big bigger, there are 36 of us- that's just my mom, step dad, siblings and their families. I wont even go into the size of our families if you include cousins, aunts and uncles!!
We both have decent sized immediate families, The 26 that were there for Easter included my husband's family and 6 friends of his one sister. My family is a big bigger, there are 36 of us- that's just my mom, step dad, siblings and their families. I wont even go into the size of our families if you include cousins, aunts and uncles!!
The Battleground
The Battleground had it's first show on Saturday. Unfortunately I was unable to go, between being sick and not having anyone to watch the girls we just decided it would be best if I stayed home. I missed not being there, but I know it was an awesome time, it's great to see how God is putting it all together. We need to start thinking about things like business cards printing and insurance and stuff like that. All the little details that weren't important before, but will be as time goes on and as we have more and more shows. (not that insurance isn't important, we had event insurance, but we need to get some permanent insurance so we don't have to pay per show).
I am just excited to see how God moves and creates this venue, this safe place for the youth to hang out!
I am just excited to see how God moves and creates this venue, this safe place for the youth to hang out!
sleeping animals
Yesterday I went to the North Carolina zoo with my 3 kiddos, my niece and a bunch of people from a homeschool group. We had fun, Wet, chilly fun. It rained almost the entire time, one moment it would be pouring, the next minute it would be ok, then it would drizzle and drizzle and drizzle. We bought 3 ponchos, one for me and Josiah (since he was in the sling), one for Gabbie and one to throw over the two girls in the jogging stroller. I like our jogger, but a new baby jogger city select would be nice. Actually a few of my friends have a newer version of my stroller and it is nicer too. Not that there is anything wrong with the one I have, the best part about the one I have is that it was free!! you have to love free!
I think a lot of the animals must have been sleeping or hiding from the rain because we didn't see a bunch that we were supposed to see. The giraffes weren't allowed outside in the rain I guess, there was a sign saying that. But I don't know what happened to the Elk and other animals! The Chimpanzees and Gorilla gave us a nice show, as well as the sea lion. My favorite was the polar bear, although he did nothing but lay there... they are still one of my favorite animals!
There was one chimp that really liked Lexi, it came right over to the glass and was sitting about a foot from her, it even told her hi. It was really fun to watch, they also had a baby chimp that was born on her birthday last year, it was really cute too! The gorilla scared a group of people, it was walking back and forth in front of the glass then just turned around and jumped up and with all four legs it pounded on the glass. It was humorous to hear everyone scream from a few exhibits down!
I think a lot of the animals must have been sleeping or hiding from the rain because we didn't see a bunch that we were supposed to see. The giraffes weren't allowed outside in the rain I guess, there was a sign saying that. But I don't know what happened to the Elk and other animals! The Chimpanzees and Gorilla gave us a nice show, as well as the sea lion. My favorite was the polar bear, although he did nothing but lay there... they are still one of my favorite animals!
There was one chimp that really liked Lexi, it came right over to the glass and was sitting about a foot from her, it even told her hi. It was really fun to watch, they also had a baby chimp that was born on her birthday last year, it was really cute too! The gorilla scared a group of people, it was walking back and forth in front of the glass then just turned around and jumped up and with all four legs it pounded on the glass. It was humorous to hear everyone scream from a few exhibits down!
Old Time Market
Today I went to a little grocery store just a few blocks away. I think it's 5 blocks... over one, up 4. anyway... it's this little small town grocery store that reminds me a lot of the IGA that was a few miles from my home when I grew up.
You know what I'm talking about. The one where everyone knows everyone, they carry a lot, but not a lot of brands of it, if they need a price check they can just yell "how much are the bags of vidalia onions?" and someone yells back "2.99".(That actually happened while I was there.) There isn't a barcode scanner in the middle of the store to tell you the price, you have to ask an actual person. Who is more than friendly, and more than willing to help. It was cute, and so close, I'll most definitely be using this store for the "whoops I forgot to get x,y,z" trips!
You know what I'm talking about. The one where everyone knows everyone, they carry a lot, but not a lot of brands of it, if they need a price check they can just yell "how much are the bags of vidalia onions?" and someone yells back "2.99".(That actually happened while I was there.) There isn't a barcode scanner in the middle of the store to tell you the price, you have to ask an actual person. Who is more than friendly, and more than willing to help. It was cute, and so close, I'll most definitely be using this store for the "whoops I forgot to get x,y,z" trips!
My Mother's Day
I was so excited about Mother's day. I had made a triple batch of ham and potato soup, cheese cake and my yummy mint melt away brownies. We woke up, got ready for church, and walked the two blocks to church. Half way through the music I started feeling not so swell, I was freezing and shaking as well as my whole body was aching. I decided to leave, walk home and get some rest while the kids and Eugene stayed at church. I'm glad I did, I barely made it home, and curled up in bed trying to stay warm. After a few tylenol and a rest I started to feel a little better.
We had plans to bring all that yummy food to my mother in law's house and enjoy mother's day with her. After checking with them we decided to just go over anyway. I enjoyed some of the yummy food, despite feeling like crud.
At the end of the day I went to bed early and slept very well. I can't say it was the best mother's day full of flowers and fruit baskets, but it was still good. Any day full of homemade soup, bread, salad and cheesecake is good!
We had plans to bring all that yummy food to my mother in law's house and enjoy mother's day with her. After checking with them we decided to just go over anyway. I enjoyed some of the yummy food, despite feeling like crud.
At the end of the day I went to bed early and slept very well. I can't say it was the best mother's day full of flowers and fruit baskets, but it was still good. Any day full of homemade soup, bread, salad and cheesecake is good!
Mother's Day!
Tomorrow is Mother's day. Normally it's not that big of a deal for us here, I might get a small present, and it's the one day of the year I normally get away without cooking or washing dishes. I made it easy on my husband this year, instead of him trying to think of Mother Day ideas, i told him I wanted a new pair of flip flops. :) I even ordered them myself. Made it extra easy on him.
This year is a little different, I'm not getting out of cooking and probably wont get out of cleaning, instead I am cooking for his entire family. This is the first time in years his mother has been close enough to celebrate with her. You don't realize how much you rely on your mother until she is half way across the country... I miss you mommy! Anyway... I made up a triple batch of cheesey ham and potato soup, I'm also making mint melt away brownies and cheese cake. Yah, not making it easy this time! That's ok. it will be worth the cheese cake.
This year is a little different, I'm not getting out of cooking and probably wont get out of cleaning, instead I am cooking for his entire family. This is the first time in years his mother has been close enough to celebrate with her. You don't realize how much you rely on your mother until she is half way across the country... I miss you mommy! Anyway... I made up a triple batch of cheesey ham and potato soup, I'm also making mint melt away brownies and cheese cake. Yah, not making it easy this time! That's ok. it will be worth the cheese cake.
