The Start of My Week

I realized that I had gotten away from posting weekly updates on what we've done & accomplished so I thought today would be a good time to do an update of at least the last two days.

My hubby, his dad, his brother, & his BIL (his sister's brother) as well as our oldest son were all going to go shopping at Kittery Trading Post. My hubby has been saving for a while & slowly gathering supplies so he can begin reloading bullets & he wanted to buy a musket-loader rifle. Well, plans were changed last minute. My hubby & son still ended up going out together which was some good father-son time. They went out to eat at B's favorite place - "Old McDonald's" as he still calls it & then off to see the movie Happy Feet. B loved it. Hubby said it was more my speed than his.

That left me home with the other two so we headed off to church. We started attending a new one which we're really liking. It's actually the same church that our boys go to for Awana so we know some of the parents & kids already. Then on the first day there my hubby ran in to (well, not literally...) some old friends from high school so that was neat too. J loves playing in the nursery & I like that they have a 2 & 3 year old nursery for him. N endures sitting with me until he can go down for Children's Church - which he likes. I think he liked the 7Up he got this week more since we don't allow soda for kids in the house. :-)

When I left I decided to get some take-out for myself so I wouldn't have to cook. I ended up with a pizza. We came home & had lunch. J went down for his nap & I played on the computer while N watched a new Little Einstein video we got through NetFlix. He was thrilled as one episode had a train in it.

So the background....Just a small bit but I guess I'm feeling long winded tonight. :-)

I was reading the Sunday paper when I saw an article about a thrift store in a nearby town. They just built a new 6,000 square foot one that opened today. All of the merchandise left in their old store was 75% off so they wouldn't have to move it.

A bit more background as to why this peaked my interest.... About four or five years ago I began thinking about wearing dresses/skirts more often - moving towards exclusively. I tried it for a bit but did it in the winter with just nylons & tights. I was so cold I gave up. However, over the years I keep coming back to this.

I live in a house with all boys/men. There is a LOT of testosterone floating around here. Anytime I wore a dress/skirt, N would always tell me how pretty/beautiful I was. I also now have some leggings to wear underneath so that is helping with the cold issue. I seem to always decide to try this in the WINTER!

About two weeks ago I was visiting with another homeschool Mom & she told me that her two daughters just asked to go to just wearing skirts/dresses & she had been thinking the same thing. So in talking about we decided to go shopping.

Phew - long story - sorry. ;-)

So that was why I was excited about the sale & the new opening of the thrift store. We had originally planned to go to a Goodwill in a city 45 minutes away, but those planned fell through. So I called her last night & suggested we try this store today.

I had posted a while about about some changes we wanted to make in our family & this morning we implemented some more. I got up at 5:45. Now this is huge. I am SO not a morning person. Given the opportunity I would stay up until about 2am, sleep until about 9am & go happily about my day. However, I have three children who ARE morning people & a hubby who is one by necessity due to his job. My hubby mentioned a few weeks ago that if I were to get up & make breakfast for everyone in the morning, he would stay to eat with us. Normally I toss either granola bars/cereal bars or Pop-Tarts at the kids & call it good. :-) Hey, I never claimed to be "Mother of the Year!" This morning I got up early & made Cinnamon Toast Breakfast Cake. All the kids tried it (a new food!!!) and they all gave it "2 thumbs up!" This is huge for here. Daddy, unfortunately, did not leave enough time to join us so he had to eat his during his commute but also gave it a "make again" nod.

I then did a one mile walking tape (yeah for me!) & hit the shower. We headed out to meet our friends at 9am. Our first stop was the old thrift store. It been pretty well picked over & I didn't find much for myself. I did get two fleece vests for my two oldest, two books, a video, & a ABC bingo game - all for less than $5 - my kind of sale! I know that my friend & her girls had a much bigger armload! :-) Over at the new store I was able to find two skirts & one jumper. I'm happy to announce they are ALL denim. LOL In fact, the jumper has a teacher theme stitched on the front!

horribly. It was already around 11am when we did this & he normally goes down around noon. We were 45 minutes from home so I knew he'd sleep that & be good to go for the From there I headed to Wal-Mart to do our grocery shopping. This was pushing J's nap timeafternoon. We managed to get through the store relatively well. I even treated them to lunch at "Old McDonald's" (two days in a room for B I just realized!!). Sure enough, before we even left the town, J was sound asleep & zonked for the whole ride home. B even fell asleep! N was the only one to stay awake the whole way.

The "trying new food" thing didn't last the day though. We had chicken, couscous, & corn for dinner. N & B ended up in bed at 7pm since they wouldn't eat it. We did manage to get them to try one bite of each food. They even said they LIKED the chicken & N liked the corn - but they refused to eat more than the one bit. Oh well! I think they will be pretty hungry coming breakfast though. Not sure what I'll make tomorrow. I'm thinking dough boys.

We took the afternoon off. Tomorrow I head to my sister's for a few days (my BIL is having radiation surgery on a brain tumor that has recurred so please be in prayer for him on Thursday). I'm thinking of taking the whole week off & just either "unschooling" or taking the time to plan next year's curriculum. I guess we'll have to see what I decide to do tomorrow morning.