The Coupon Experiment - results

Well, after a much longer than I'd like grocery trip, I came home with bags of groceries and a crew of tired helpers. I then had to find time to fill in all the little blanks on my spreadsheet - deciphering the receipt was the first challenge - thankfully I'd had the foresight to take a copy of the spreadsheet w/me to write in prices - yay me!

I had cut out coupons for things we usually get (granted sometimes we got the store brand of these items, but for that day we were getting what the coupon said as far as brand goes and making a note of prices on comparable store brands when they were available).

The receipt was about a mile long after all the coupons went in and were doubled and/or tripled (mostly doubled) as well as all the "Kroger Savings" from using my Kroger card. Just a note on that...apparently if I hadn't had my card with me, my bill would've been $29.42 greater than it was...why this is necessary, I don't know. Brand loyalty is the answer I suppose - come to our store, get our card, use it, save money. Whatever. The card is free, so it's not a big deal, just seems a tad silly.

Ok, back to the groceries.

There are only a few things that felt like "really good deals". I did not get toothpaste for a penny or anything like that, so don't get too excited.

One example of a "good buy" (I think) was a coupon for any Suave product, Buy 1, get 2nd $1.00 off. So, I looked at the shampoo and the size that is not the "family size" was on sale at Kroger for $.88, so I picked up 2 and used the coupon on them which made the shampoos 2/$.76 - pretty good, I thought.

The only other one that really stood out was for Fleischmann's yeast strips (3 packages on a strip) - coupon was for $.45 off 1 strip. The price for the yeast was $1.89/strip. The coupon was doubled = $.90 so the resulting price was $.99 instead of the $1.89. Of course, this felt like a good deal until I looked at the regular price for the Kroger brand of yeast and it was regularly $.99 - not a big deal after all, eh?

So....the results.....I bought about 18 different products in varying amounts depending on the coupon and quantity of coupons for each item.

The total for all items using the coupons was $98.36
The total for all items if I had NOT used the coupons would have been $129.75
The total using coupons for all items that were name brands and buying the store brand for those that had a store brand would have been $115.90

I think that about covers it. I may have missed something here or there, but I think it's fairly accurate.

The moral of the story (for me, anyway) appears to be - if you're going to buy a name brand of something and you have a coupon - use it.

If you don't have a coupon and it's something on your list of things to get, buy it - unless there's a store brand you haven't tried that's cheaper, then you might want to give it a chance. If there isn't a store brand and you want/need the item, go for it.

If you're buying a name brand of something AND it's on sale AND you have a coupon - yay for you!


One of the only things I've really noticed a big difference in with store brand vs. name brands is canned corn. The store brand I tried had cloudy water and the corn just didn't look good and fresh - the Green Giant or whatever name brand had nice clear water and the corn looked appetizing. Just an example. This would be different for everyone, of course.

Do I plan to go crazy with coupons in the coming days, weeks, months? No. This was a lot of time for one little trip in which I didn't even get all the things we typically need in a week...like milk...anyone ever see milk coupons? :) Anyway, this trip was all about the coupons I had and this little experiment. The rest is for another trip.

Do I plan to sign up for the Grocery Game again or some such list? No.

Do I plan to visit 15 stores to get all the "best deals" and free toothpaste for life? Well....no.

Do I plan to at least flip through the coupons and cut out ones for name brand items we do typically purchase and TRY to remember them when I go to the store AND to get them out of my purse once I get there? Yes.

All things in moderation - if y'all get free toothpaste for a year - well, I'm thrilled for you and only ask that you think of me and all my kiddos whose teeth are dropping out (for natural reasons of growing up, mind you!) - then send us a tube ;)

The tooth is out!

Well, Miss A has been telling me how she's had to push her tooth back in place on occasion so I told CKB the time was probably nigh for it to come out.

Tonight during dinner she took a bite of a roll that was on the tougher side of things and exclaimed "OW!" causing us to take a good look at the tooth again. Yes, tooth extraction was to begin immediately following dinner.

Everyone crowded round in the bathroom to watch (Mr. A happily played in the bath, none the wiser that anything was going on over by the sink) as CKB pulled Miss A's first tooth! She made one little sound of surprise and it was out! No tears at all!
(except maybe the ones that welled up in my eyes...hey, I'm pregnant and it's my baby we're talking about here!).

She's one tough cookie!

Congratulations Miss A on losing your first tooth and being such a brave girl in the process!

Baby Quilt Update

Well, I washed the first group of fabrics and they're ready to go, but I just wasn't ready to start. Not enough inspiration with those, I guess.


So...after my OB appointment this morning, I had a little extra time before I had to be back to take the babysitter home and stopped in a local quilt shop. TONS of fabrics to look at in there - I could still be there, but I had to hurry. I picked up some more fat quarters to work with and I think after these are washed up, I'll be ready to go!

Here's a peek:

(can you see all 8 here?)


(and a couple more - I seem to detect a pink/brown theme.....)


And a few just for fun to keep on hand.



Stay tuned....the washing machine just needed one more thing to wash around here ;)

The Coupon Experiment - part 2

Awhile back I decided to sign up for the Grocery Game trial on their site - it cost $1 and I figured it might be worthwhile to see what all the hoopla was about. I found quickly that it wasn't for me - I barely have enough time to get to the grocery store once a week, and this was going to require me hitting about 3-4 stores to get all 'deals' and such. Cancelled!!!

So, this week I decided to try something different. I went through the coupons we had from the past couple of Sunday papers and cut out the ones for things we typically buy. Granted, a lot of things that I typically buy are the store brand and in the past I've found that even w/the coupon the store brand is still cheaper than the name brand. So...I'm going to shop at Kroger - home of the double and triple coupons and see how it goes just on those items I cut coupons for. Miss E doesn't know it yet, but she's to be my assistant and record prices on a spreadsheet I made. Yes, a spreadsheet, I like them..it's a sickness...kind of like being drawn to the office supply aisle to look at all the neat pens and such...ahem... anyway...back to coupons.

So, we'll see how it goes. I'll be sure to fill you in.
My quandry is wondering if the prices at Kroger even w/the double/triple/etc. coupons will beat the regular prices at Wal-mart. So, yes, I'll have to do a Wal-mart trip as well to compare. Fun. But, after this, I should have a good idea and in the future I'll know if it'd be worth it overall to fool with this and I can take a quick look at the fabric they have at Wal-mart while I'm there - WIN WIN :)

If this happens today after Miss E's piano lesson, it'll be some kind of miracle. I don't know why, but last night I was falling asleep sitting on the couch at 9:30 p.m.! I was in bed by 10:30 p.m. and up around 7 a.m. and still can't shake the feeling of being extremely tired. Maybe my iron level is low...that happens sometimes during pregnancy...better put spinach on the grocery list!

Back later....with the results...hopefully!

Baby Quilt - a first!

Ok, this is something I've been wanting to do since we found out we were having Miss E many years ago!

Miss Baby is due in January, so I figure I have time to try to make a quilt for her BEFORE she's born and if all goes well, I'll backtrack and make one for each of the children.

So, after getting a new cutting mat (the one I had was ruined in one of our many moves) and some inspiration from a couple of quilt blogs, as well as a trip to the fabric store to look around and pick up some fat quarters to possibly incorporate in the quilt, I think I'm ready to begin! Also, a big thanks to a new blogging friend who has answered a lot of my questions recently - thanks Jessica!

The plan is to make it a patchwork quilt...I picked up some random fat quarters - just went down the row and picked some that I liked, not necessarily planning to use them all together. As of right now, I'm leaning toward using the top two in the picture...somehow I'm drawn to pink/brown combinations these days. Only problem is the selection was not as extensive at the Jo-Ann I visited in fat quarters for these colors. I'm going to try to visit a Hancock Fabrics soon and see what they might have to go with these. We'll see. I'll try to keep y'all updated on my progress if anyone's interested and hopefully y'all knowing about this will help keep me on track!

What's been going on?

Well, we've been busy, what else is new?

Mr. E has been busy mastering tying his shoelaces and does a great job!




Miss A has a loose tooth! Her first! She's extremely excited! (picture to come when the tooth comes out).

Miss E has been helping out by wiping down the table and vacuuming under the dining room table each night - she is such a tremendous help!

Miss A and Mr. A found a new form of transportation to enjoy...



And, every year the children get to each choose one ornament to add to our collection and this year we picked them out early. We were at Hobby Lobby looking for buttons for some dresses I plan to make for the girls (incidentally their button selection is tiny and we didn't find any buttons to match the dress fabric), but we did see the aisles of Christmas decorations and took a brief look. Mr. E found one he really liked and since the selection will only diminish as the days tick away toward Christmas, we went back the following day and went ahead and got it. While there, the girls and Mr. A chose ornaments as well. I found one I liked too and while I don't always get a new one each year, it's mainly something for the children to do, I went ahead and got it for CKB and I.

I'll share theirs later on....

And tonight we decided to have dinner out at a local Italian restaurant. After tasting the mozzarella cheese sticks, Mr. E proclaimed: "Well, there are a few reasons I don't like these. First, I don't like the taste. Secondly, the cheese is stretchy. And, third, I thought it was onion."

Hmm, seems he knows how to express himself quite well...at age 4!

Stay tuned for a new project I'm about to begin.

Why some of today's youth are overweight.

I have the answer. It's not all the tv and video games, it's the bus driver's fault!

Yep!

Today I had the unfortunate timing that landed me right behind the neighborhood school bus. This bus, I kid you not, stopped at every other house.

Why, on earth, did these children need to be let off right at their houses? I didn't notice anyone limping. Just 3 separate children being let off right in front of their houses.

When I was a kid (boy does that make me sound old!), we walked all the way around the block to the other side to get to the bus stop. If we weren't on time, TOUGH.

Anyway! Just thought y'all would want to know that it isn't junk food, it isn't tv, it isn't video games...it's the bus driver's fault! ;)

And before anyone rants at me, I will say that if my children were in public schools AND riding one of those lovely monstrosities known as a school bus, I would be thrilled if my children were dropped at my door - for their safety's sake. If they weren't, I'd be one of those moms who walks to the bus stop and waits for my children. So, I guess it's not all that bad that they're getting dropped at their doors...just made for some interesting reminiscing today as I waited....and waited...and worked the braked in the minivan repeatedly...and well, you get the point.

'nuf said

Something a little different this morning - Another Apron Giveaway

This giveaway is for the Black, Red and White apron seen above.
TO ENTER, visit The Apronista for details!
Best wishes!

Poll Results on Labeling School Supplies

Well, the poll ended finally and the results are in:

Of the 17 folks who voted (where were the rest of you?) -

Do you label ALL of your child's "school supplies"
Yes, I label everything, every last pencil 4 (23%)
I just label the box 5 (29%)
No, I don't label anything 8 (47%)


So, I'm in the minority on this one - figures :) I voted "Yes, I label everything" so I guess I'm a little Type A!

What a surprise :)

How to make your gift bag go from blah and boring to fun and fabulous! or "I've been watching too much HGTV, I think!"

The title probably says it all....some nights before bed I watch those shows on HGTV - home decorating, staging a house to sell, that sort of thing. I think it's seeping into my subconscious!

We were invited to a birthday party this past Saturday, but as you may have read, we were all still pretty sickly and noone wants a party guest with a drippy nose, and they surely don't want a whole family of them! So, we stayed home. However, the noses were better Sunday, and we did not forsake the gathering together of the saints to worship. As a result, we saw the birthday girl and were able to take her the gifts we had gotten.

Back to Saturday evening, I was tasked with the wrapping since we just didn't have a chance to do it before the children went to bed (they had wanted to help) and I was SOOO glad for the Wal-mart trip a few months ago when CKB and I had the foresight to get some extra gift bags to "keep on hand" so I wouldn't have to make a trip to the store just for gift wrapping stuff in the future! (every once in a while we're on the ball!).

So, we actually had the right size bags, colors that matched the gifts, no less, AND tissue paper. Hooray! As I was returning the tissue paper to the corner of the room where I found it...I spied some artificial flowers I had on hand from my Mother's Day project and thought hmmmm...those might look nice (I didn't have any ribbon handy)...so I spread out the stems and stuck the bunch of flowers in the top of the bag and wonder of wonder, they were the right colors as well to match everything else! I joked with my friend when the gifts had been given that the stars were aligned that day - joked - we laughed and I'm sure it'll probably never happen quite the same again, but for once, it was nice!


So...here are the gifts before......



and after....




Feel free to share any great tips you have been keeping to yourself!

Printable Map of Mesopotamia to Label

Today I needed a map of Mesopotamia for the children to label and had a time finding one that wasn't already labeled. In our studies in Tapestry of Grace, week 5, we're studying Mesopotamia and I can't for the life of me find my Map Aids CD which probably has a nice map just for this purpose readily available - so frustrating!

I finally found one that should serve our purposes. Now, to search and see if I can't find that Map CD!

If anyone else is in need of a map of Mesopotamia, you can find one here - there is a labeled and an unlabeled version - perfect for our needs!

http://www.wsu.edu/~wldciv/brians_syllabus/maps/maplabels1.html

Lakeside Collection - 18" dolls and Baby Dolls!

Last year the girls each got an 18" doll, not an American Girl doll, mind you, but the Our Generation brand from Target. They were pleased as punch and so was our pocketbook!

Today I noticed some 18" dolls available in the Lakeside Collection catalog even less expensive than the ones we purchased last year at Target (approx. $25-$29 if memory serves...which it usually doesn't, so check for yourself to be sure!). No, the girls don't need another doll this year, but I wanted to share the information in case there are others out there looking for a doll for their girls this Christmas :) The Lakeside Collection dolls run $16.95 before shipping.

Here's the link!

Lakeside Collection 18" dolls

Hope this helps someone!

And, if your little one isn't quite ready for the 18" dolls, these are too cute and made for the younger crowd! Only $8.95 for doll w/bag! Now, if only I got paid for doing endorsements! Ha ha :)



http://www.lakeside.com/details.asp?N=36&Nao=88&R=852115021BY24

Boys and Girls Jeans on Sale at Target this week - $7 a pair!

This is the sale I've been waiting for - the children wear jeans most of the time and they are regularly $9.99 a pair. They are on sale this week for $7 a pair - yay!

http://www.target.com/Girls-Circo-Denim-Jeans-Light/dp/B00182A81K/sr=1-2/qid=1222706766/ref=sr_1_2/601-6688974-6561720?ie=UTF8&index=target&rh=k%3Agirls%20jeans&page=1

Yesterday, I picked up an extra pair of the girls' current sizes for each of them as well as 2 pairs of black pants (they're also $7 and also are available in khaki and pink), and 4 pairs of the next size up for Miss E (well, actually 2 sizes up, I already had the next size up covered, but got one extra)...so, I think we picked up a total of 9 pairs for $63 instead of the $90 they would cost at regular prices. So glad to have picked up the paper yesterday and saw this sale! It's not often I see jeans on any type of clearance, so this is usually the best sale I see on them. I need to take a look at the ones Miss E is currently wearing to see if I need to get more of that size (which is the next size for Miss A) because they're starting to get to the age where they seem to wear out clothes and we can't pass everything down any more! I also need to see what Mr. E might need - I don't know why I didn't think about getting more for him in the next size as well! Looks like another trip to Target this week is on the horizon...

We stopped buying jeans at Wal-mart awhile ago because all they seemed to have were hip huggers - definitely not appropriate for young ladies.

Corduroy Inspired Quilt - as if I need any more projects!

I ran across this cute idea the other day and keep thinking about it....it's for a "Corduroy" inspired quilt - who knew - I've read that book MANY times and never thought of it myself, but this lady did.

Now, to look at the crates of fabric I have sitting around and see what kind of inspiration they give me...then to actually do it...that's the key!

Here's a link so you can see what I'm going on about!

Corduroy Inspired Quilt

What do you think? Cute or not so sure about that?

I'm also considering just a patchwork quilt...baby cometh soon!

Domino Math Game for the Whole Family!

Last night was our Friday Family Fun Night, however, CKB wasn't home. One of the local PB churches was hosting their annual meeting and he headed over for evening services after he left work. The children and I are still sick and therefore stayed home...with our germs.

So...family fun night went something like this...

I made pizza again - Miss E commented that "Every time you make pizza, it looks more like the pizza from restaurants, Mama!" - gee, really? I guess I'm doing an o.k. job then! ;)

We had one pepperoni and one cheese with NO SAUCE!

Afterward, we had Blue Bell Vanilla Bean Ice Cream in fudge coated cones - yum!

Then, it was cleanup time - the children tidied up and then we began our game time.

I decided to pull out the dominoes and we played a few games I made up. I first pulled out up to double 6 and shuffled them and we began "Domino Math!" - who said you can't learn while you're having fun?

I shot a domino across the table at each of the children, one at a time and depending on who it was, they had a different problem to answer. Mr. A (2 years old) told me what color the dots were, Mr. E and Miss A (ages 4 and 6 respectively) added the two sides of the domino (in a few weeks, Miss A will subtract instead :) ) and Miss E (age 7) multiplied the two sides of her domino. We continued around the table until all the dominoes were gone from the pile...reshuffled and did this again, two more times adding in up to double 9 at some point, which made for harder problems and everyone did a fantastic job!

Then, we played chicken foot :) except I forgot you need up to the double 9's for this game and had given the 7's through 9's to Mr. A to play with while we were playing chickenfoot....oh well, I guess we played a modified game, it was still fun and next time I'll remember to use all the dominoes :)

So, that was our fun night - everyone enjoyed it, we reviewed some math facts and the children were in bed by 10...yawn. Then, bless them, they didn't get up 'til around 8 a.m. this morning.

Then, CKB got home and shared some exciting news....read the next post to find out what it was...it sure got my heart racing!

There's a Snake in my Garage!

Yes, a snake.

I could handle the mice (yes, we have mice in there too!) - they would run off when I stomped out into the garage, but a snake!

Last night when CKB came in late from a church meeting (the children and I were still too sick to go with him unfortunately), he opened the garage to put the recycling bin in there and as he approached the garage he saw a snake slither in...from around the base of the bush next to the front door, no less! Ack! He said that from what he could tell in the light coming from the garage door opener light, he didn't think it was poisonous...but it's a SNAKE! in my GARAGE! attached to the HOUSE!

Aieeee!

On the bright side, maybe it'll eat all the mice that keep coming in there, but I think I'd prefer the sticky trap method of getting rid of the mice over the snake slithering around in there any day!

Now, with alllll the boxes of stuff in there, we'll never know for sure if the snake has "left the building" or not...so, FOR NOW, the garage is OFFFFFFFF LIMITS for me and the children. Awww. It was my favorite place to hang out! ;) I'm kidding, but seriously....a snake!

You'd think we lived in the country or something! We're in a neighborhood, but not far from corn fields....hence, the mice. Now...a snake....I never thought a snake would come around....skunks maybe, but a snake....

Ok, I guess by now you can tell I'm not thrilled with this new development...at all.

Maybe it slithered back out in the night...will we ever know...for sure? Probably not until it's time to move. Guess who's NOT going to be out there touching any of those boxes?

Yep! ME!

House Hunting

Well, for now we've decided that finding land in the proximity to CKB's potential work locations isn't going to happen, at least not the type of land and quantity that we ultimately want. So...we're house hunting. We've been out twice with the realtor and looked at about 10 homes. A few weren't what they appeared to be on paper. A few were in bad locations (right by a major road, alley coming out right by the house, next to a field zoned commercial...things like that). One had a seriously sloping backyard. Anyway, there will never be a perfect house, but close would be nice :)

Of the ones we've seen, we've narrowed it down to 1 that we like pretty well. The biggest detractor is the laundry room and pantry are combined in one room. We have that situation in our rental and I don't like it at all. The humidity in there is unreal - as you may well imagine with 6 (soon to be 7) people the washer and dryer run a LOT. Boxes of crackers and similar things that have been opened tend to get mushy with a lot of humidity. So...we have two tall bookcases in our small kitchen and store most pantry things there. The laundry room isn't big enough in our rental to really even have those shelves and call itself a pantry - we have too many laundry baskets for sorting!

Anyway...the combined laundry room/pantry in the house we like better than the others we've seen is a larger room, but I still have concerns about having the food in w/the laundry/humidity, etc. I don't know what would be involved in remodeling to change this situation so I hesitate on this house.

Too bad I don't know a home remodeler to ask about options!

Anyway, please pray for us as we search for a home that will work for us! We would LIKE to get moved and settled in before baby comes in January...that would be great. We moved when Mr. A was 8 weeks last time and it was pretty hard. I'd rather get it done before this time around!

Milk in the fish tank

Yes, unfortunately you read that right. This morning in my sickly stupor, I was sitting on the couch w/some of the children watching something...I honestly don't recall what it was...then I heard it...the call of the wild! No, not really, it was the call of Miss A declaring: "MR. A JUST POURED MY CUP OF MILK IN THE FISH TANK!!!!!"

What?!?

I ran in to check, head pounding from the quick movement, and saw that this was indeed the truth. These poor fish! I immediately called CKB as he has been the one taking care of the fish tank cleaning all along and asked him what he wanted me to do...he calmly suggested adding a few gallons of clean water (it was a little low already) and then removing a few gallons. He asked if I knew how to use the siphon we have and I confessed that I did not, but would see what I could figure out. I didn't figure it out - after a few moments, I decided it'd be easier to just dip the gallon jug in and take water out that way. So, after about 1/2 hr. the fish were in their new "home" of milky water. I don't know what else to do at this point. Removing them completely into brand new water would potentially shock them and be their end. It's been many hours and they're still swimming around in there (when we can catch a glimpse of them through the murky water, that is). Will they make it through this? I don't know...I'll keep y'all updated.

I searched the internet for "Milk in fish tank" and other variations to no avail. Are we seriously the first people to have had something like this happen? I can't believe that! But then....who knows!

If you have had this experience, I'd be thrilled to hear how it worked out for you and what you did in the aftermath.

I feel bad for these poor fish - they're hearty though to still be alive - maybe they like milk? Maybe they're really "catfish"? Ha ha. Ok, no, they're comet goldfish, but anyway, I'm tired and sickly and thought that was a little funny.

I'll be going now!

**Update - CKB is home and has done another round of water changes and things are looking better - I can see the fish now without getting right up to the glass...Thanks Mr. Sea Monkey Geek for your suggestion to continue doing water changes every hour or so!

** Day 2 the fish are in nice clear water again - all those water changes did the trick - great job, CKB!

Marble (or in our case, Ball) Painting!

I ran across this fun idea over at http://www.notimeforflashcards.com/2008/03/mixed-bag-of-fun.html
and decided to give it a whirl or a shake or...well, you'll see.

I would like to say I have step by step pictures, but trying to do this with 4 children and not having 4 containers that I wanted to potentially toss because the paint didn't wash out, I will have to say I don't because I was too busy washing the plastic box we used each time to take step by step pics! But, you can see step by step over at http://www.notimeforflashcards.com/2008/03/mixed-bag-of-fun.html if you really need them!

Step 1 - decide you want to deal with paint that day :)
Step 2 - gather materials (Paint, marble or small ball depending on age of child and what you're comfortable with, box or bowl - with lid is a bonus if your child is young and wants to really shake shake shake the box/bowl!)
Step 3 - Cut paper to fit in bottom of box/bowl
Step 4 - Add a few globs of paint - whatever color(s) your child prefers (I had one who just wanted blue, one who wanted red and yellow, one who wanted blue and black and one who kept pointing to every single bottle of paint we had and, well, you can guess which one of the pictures was his! And probably which child it was, too!)
Step 5 - drop ball/marble into box and ROLLLLL it all around until your child is happy with the result
Step 6 - remove said ball/marble and carefully remove paper and allow to dry

VOILA! You have a beautiful marble (ball) painting! I decided to frame the children's art and put it on the wall - I finally got them into the frame yesterday and put them on the wall - what do you think?



Top left (Mr. E), Top right (Mr. A)
Bottom left (Miss A), Bottom right (Miss E)

If you have a moving box on hand and want to do this on a larger scale, I say GO FOR IT and you'll have some unique wrapping paper to use this Christmas!

I'm blessed to have children who share!

They share everything with me...their crayons, their drawings, their games, their hugs and kisses and their illnesses sometimes...I've sneezed so many times today I've lost count! Is it possible for once that I'm going to have the illness worse than they are? Usually I don't get sick when they do or it's very mild...sigh...anyone know how to buy stock in Kleenex? At least overall I feel ok, just keep having to run for the tissue box...might have to buy more lotion for my dried out hands from all the washing today!



Happy Fall Y'all! We'll try to NOT share these goodies w/y'all :)

*I wrote this yesterday afternoon and didn't post it - my throat is now nice and sore, I won't go into other details, but suffice it to say I think I have a lovely sinus infection brewing - yay me! I am a stubborn one and refuse to take anything, even Tylenol unless I'm completely miserable, while I'm pregnant. Yes, yes, I know, they have a list of "approved medicines", but why take a chance with this precious life that God has given us? Anyway, not to sound like a martyr or anything, but simply to say that that's my stance on it. Now, to go lie on the couch and rest - today might be a movie day for the kiddos - it's pretty rare that I'm the one who's sick and they're all well!

Also, the children seem to be over this and it only lasted 24 hrs. for them - yay!

Cherish Them!

A friend that I am ashamed to say I haven't kept up with as well as I should over the past few years surprised me with a wonderful showing of her love for me and my family this past week. She sent a package filled with goodies not only for our new baby, but something for each of the other children as well!

I won't embarrass her by calling her name, she knows who she is, but I will say that this was just such an incredibly thoughtful thing to do and we so appreciate it! The children were thrilled with the Legos, Drawing Pads and markers/crayons, Princess game and more. The Legos were an instant hit and were enjoyed by all, even the big kid ;)



After they were played with for awhile (the package arrived on Friday which is when we have "Family Fun Night" and play games and whatnot), the girls and I played a round of "Pretty Pretty Princess". It's a game of chance, not skill, and one they can play easily on their own, which is always nice when I can't sit down to play a game with them. The first round, I won, so I sat the next 2 rounds out in hopes that they would each win. I believe Miss E won both, but Miss A wasn't too upset since she was having fun playing dress-up all the while. The game has plastic jewelry and a crown along with a black ring. The object is to have one of each piece of jewelry and the crown, but NOT the black ring. We had a good conversation and reminder lesson about vanity during the course of the game and then they just had fun dressing up. I can see the girls putting on dress-up clothes BEFORE they get the game out next time!



So, just a reminder to everyone, cherish the friends you have! I often think "hmm, maybe I should send so and so a card or flowers "just because" or some small gift just to let them know I'm thinking about them when time and/or miles have separated us and more and more, I am thankful to say, I'm trying to take the time to do it and am so glad when I do. To all my dear friends, please know how much I cherish every one of you!

Hooray!

The highest fever found tonight before bedtime was...... 99.0! Yay!

Lord willing, there won't be any ups and downs with this and everyone is on the mend. Yay for short illnesses and SO thankful this wasn't a stomach bug after all.

Miss A still says her throat is hurting...everyone else seems ok.
Mr. E said "I believe I'm still ill" at dinner tonight (he wasn't thrilled w/my choice of dinner - oh well!).

Thank you for all your prayers - I am praying for everyone's continued healing and a solid night's sleep for all!

'night!

Choose Your Own Adventure Books - remember those?

While at the local Half Price Books store recently we found 1 Choose Your Own Adventure book on the shelves. I asked a girl working there and was told they have a bunch sometimes and other times there aren't any to be found. I remember reading these when I was younger and thought the girls might enjoy them. So, we brought home the one we found and commenced reading it together at bedtime. (Of course, Miss E had already read through it about 5 times by then on her own!). My goal was to try to start getting Miss A more interested in chapter books and I think it's working! She has been asking for me to read it with them each night lately to see what'll happen in each of the different scenarios. Yay! Now, to get her to read a similar size book on her own - I'll have to look for more of these!

Miss E reads anything we let her read and her favorite books are the "Little House" series. Another favorite with the 3 older children is the "I Spy" series. Mr. E and Miss A were sitting on the couch a few days ago looking through one of those and trying to find all the hidden objects.

We found a treasury of "Curious George" stories at Half Price Books that same day and the boys and I have been reading a story out of it each night lately. It's interesting because the stories are different from the PBS shows. Professor Wiseman is a man in the stories, but a woman on the PBS shows. Why did they change that? A lot of things that happen to George in the books are in the PBS shows, but the circumstances surrounding the incidences are changed for the PBS shows. Again, the stories in the book seem fine and engaging - so why change them? Regardless, thus far we have enjoyed the stories and the children also enjoy the PBS show.
Mr. E also enjoys train stories, of course.

So, what are your little ones reading these days? It's always fun to discover a new book that we haven't been exposed to yet!

One new series I just found out about is mentioned at this blog:

http://www.unplugyourkids.com/2008/09/11/chapter-books-suitable-for-extra-young-readers-book-review-part-1/


I plan to look into these for Miss A!

and possibly these:

Something's Going On

The whole crew seems to have come down with some sort of sinus infection/viral bug/something. Sore throats abound and restless sleep thus far tonight. Sigh. I don't like to be sick myself and I sure don't like to see any of them sick. I guess I should've known it was coming when Miss A came in and woke me up last night to tell me her throat was hurting. Ugh. I thought Mr. E was going to get sick tonight, but he didn't....as of right now anyway. I pray it's not a stomach bug - those are the worst.

Please pray for my little ones to be better soon. Miss A has the worst of it w/fever at the moment, and Miss E seems to be feeling the best. The boys are having trouble sleeping. They're all different, in every way!

Good night. Hope everyone gets some sleep...and that I do too which would mean the children are sleeping well.

UPDATE: After midnight, there weren't any more wakings...at least if there were, I didn't hear them! No, seriously, I'm very thankful to say that everyone was able to sleep through the night after that. Yay! I'm a wee bit tired this morning, but Lord willing will get to lay down this afternoon during naptime/quiet time. Mr. A and Mr. E are "sniffly" this morning, but no temps...right now. Miss E is acting quite normal and doesn't seem to be sniffling at all, she may not have gotten this bug like the others even though she had a low grade temp. last night. Miss A is still in bed and I plan to let her sleep as late as she can today so her body can rest and heal from this sickness. I think she's been hit the hardest with it.

Math U See Milestone!

Miss A has her addition facts memorized AND is reading the clock like a pro!

Yay, Miss A!

She has moved on in Alpha and is now beginning work on subtraction. Now, to work on making sure she's memorizing these as we go!

Punch some paper!

Yes, paper!

Here's the whole story....


Our favorite babysitter was here last week and brought with her a "punch" that makes little envelope templates. And, when I say "little", I mean little.



The girls were enchanted with this and had a little pile of envelopes on their desks when I returned home. I asked our sitter where she'd found the nifty little punch and she said "Big Lots" and that she'd just gotten it recently. Hmmmmm.

So, yes, you guessed it, we headed to Big Lots to see if we could find a punch for the girls. A new hobby, yay! We left Big Lots without the envelope punch as none were to be found, but instead with some even smaller punches in a variety of shapes. The girls have been punchin' ever since. I sat down w/each of them and gave them a few ideas on how they could make cards using the punches and that was all they needed - every day I hear "may I use the punches?" from each of them, Mr. E too (we found some cool boy punches with a train, car, helicopter and airplane).



I found the large punch for the tiny envelope a few days later when I ran to Michael's to take care of a promise I'd made Mr. E (he'd noticed my Bible has a ribbon in it to mark my place...but his Bible didn't. I told him we could make one for his Bible...that was about 3 weeks ago...I kept forgetting to get some black ribbon! So, when I remembered it last Sat. evening, right at bedtime, mind you, CKB said "GO" and he put everyone to bed so I could fulfill my promise to our little guy who wanted his Bible to be like Mama and Daddy's :) Thanks for putting everyone to bed that night CKB! It meant so much to Mr. E when he saw the ribbon bookmark in his Bible Sunday morning!). So...while at Michael's getting black ribbon, I looked at their scrapbooking supplies and found a punch for envelopes - yay - there was only one left though and it was a bit pricey so I left it there. The next day there was a coupon for 50% off one item in the Sunday ad....yes, you guessed it, we stopped by Michael's on the way home that afternoon and thankfully the one envelope punch was still there! :)

Here are a few examples of their handiwork thus far. (the one in the middle was an "example" I made for them just to get them started on making cards)



Mom note: The vacuum DOES pick up all these little gems off the carpet easily. You need to know this because they WILL get everywhere! (the pieces they punch out, not the envelopes!)





Below is what the envelope looks like when first punched - the punch is great for the girls because it crimps the folds for them - makes lining things up much easier for them!

Mr. A learns the alphabet and has fun doing it!

With school time for the older children comes a need to have something to occupy Mr. A, resident 2 year old. Going to play in his room or the den with the toys in either place only keeps him occupied for so long, not to mention being the youngest of 4, he's used to having someone to play with!

Therefore, Mr. A's official studies began recently with a "formal" introduction to the alphabet. By that, I mean that he already knows quite a few letters by sight, but we are now methodically going through each letter and making sure he knows it before moving on to a new letter. He has his own "desk" and gets to use all the fun school stuff that everyone else is using. Mr. A is a happy little man!

He knows "A" cold, so we proceeded to "B" the other day. He originally said "O" when I showed it to him :) I think he was seeing the "holes" in the capital "B" at first. By the end of the day after some reinforcement and a few activities he has "B" down pat as well. We will review and then move on to a new letter as he shows mastery of each and by the end of the "school year" he should know them all....or by Christmas...who knows!

Here is his letter wall where we display each letter that he colors, paints, etc.


Here is a recent project for the letter "B" - Brown Beans! He really enjoyed gluing on the beans and later I found one stuck to the BACK of his shirttail when we were at Miss E's piano lesson! Eeek! Not sure how I missed that or how that happened in the first place! Ah well....



Today we decorated butterflies to reinforce "B" one more time before moving on to "C" and the whole crew got in on the fun - here are their Beady Butterflies! Aren't they BeeeeUTeeFull? ;)


Miss A's


Miss E's


Mr. A's


and Mr. E's

Macaroni Grill bread knockoff recipe - yum

(pictured above - all that was left of the 2 loaves I made!)

This past Sunday we had a wonderful day - we talked with the children about creation and they asked some questions and CKB answered while we drove. It was a gorgeous day with a breeze and cooler temperatures. We headed off to Macaroni Grill for lunch - it's been a LONG time since we have enjoyed a meal there and we thought we'd give them a try. The Sunday afternoon crowd wasn't too bad and we only had to wait about 10-15 mn. before being seated. The children enjoyed drawing on the paper tablecloth while we waited for our lunch to be delivered.

I'd forgotten how good their bread is! Mr. A liked it so much that he practically ate a whole loaf on his own! A few days ago I ran a few searches online and found a knockoff recipe for Macaroni Grill's yummy bread and yesterday seemed like a good day to try it out. So I did.

Here's the recipe link:
http://www.recipezaar.com/64446

I have to say, it turned out very well! I don't know that it's exactly the same, without a side by side comparison, but it was pretty close! The children, all except Mr. A (go figure) asked for more after their first piece and there wasn't much left of the two loaves the recipe made.

I encourage you to try the recipe at your earliest convenience! The only "oddball" ingredient that I had to pick up at the store was rosemary (I didn't get fresh, but just a small container from the spice aisle and it worked just fine).

Let me know what you think!

Pink! October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and....

In the Target ad, I noticed a lot of pink items and wondered what it was all about...isn't October Breast Cancer Awareness Month? Yes. Apparently they are starting early with their advertising of "pink items" they have available for sale.
As a side note, I personally would recommend if you want to donate to research, you do just that, that way all the money goes to the research and not just a tiny percentage. Just my 2 cents.

So, it seems everything starts early these days, they even have Christmas decorations out already - ugh! Too soon for that, but it seems to happen every year lately.

I thought I'd turn the blog pink for awhile not only for Breast Cancer Awareness Month (coming up in October), but because....

Well, I'll let you guess....

And, while you're guessing, here's a link to the National Breast Cancer Awareness Month website.

http://nbcam.org/index.cfm

Hurricane Ike Evacuees

Since I don't have everyone's email addresses, I'll post here and on another list or two - If any of our church friends from the Houston area or other areas down South need a place to evacuate to - you are welcome to come and stay with us (if you can stand a crazy house full of little ones!). Just get in touch.

CAB and CKB