Dates with Me

So we had a date and not much money...

Q: Wanna know what we did?

A: We went to the mall

Q: Wanna know what made it interesting?

A: We played a game

Q: What kind of game?

A: It went like this...

Q: How many things could we get at the mall for a total of $2.00?

A: 1 sample of Mrs. Fields Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookie

1 sample of Orange Chicken from a knock off Panda Express

1 sample of Orange Chicken from a "Thai" place next door to the knock off Panda Express

1 sample of more chicken from who knows where, I think this place was Japanese

1 sample of a fantastic piece of California Chicken Sandwich from O'Charleys

Q: Can you tell we hit the food court first?

A: Yes

Q: Wanna know more? The list doesn't end there-

A: Of course you do.

1 handful of Reese's Pieces from a vending machine (25 cents)

1 crazy yellow speckled 20 sided dice (yes, I know the singular form is "die" but I thought

you might be confused) (53 cents)

1 awesome Christian sentiment card with my favorite picture on it: Two penguins looking at

each other. One with a big orange fish eating his head, with a headline that says, "Relax,

God's in charge." (15 cents- but only b/c someone gave me a penny to cover the extra cent)

1 demo of "Glo"- a new Bible software that is visually appealing and intriguing (Ryan will let

you know)

1 Lancome Face Cream sample which guarantees that I will look younger in 7 days (Ryan will

let you know)

Q: More?

A: Unbelievable, but yes...

2 stickers from Slackers- a hippy butterfly which I tried to convince Ryan we should put on

our minivan and a green alien head with a striped propeller cap which I neglected to suggest

that we put on our minivan (I mean we can't be both hippy and sci-fi geek, can we?) (70

cents - our biggest splurge yet)

1 super sours candy ball from vending machine which Ryan insisted we could split (turns out

he was wrong, I got a lick instead- you know, just to say it was "ours") (25 cents)

1 Building Rome Nightmare Teasers CD with three bestselling songs which include such

intelligent titles as "Sink Like an Anchor", "What are We Fighting For?", and my personal

favorite, "Dr. Doctor"

Q: Is that it?

A: No, one more thing-

Upon determining in my head that we had 12 cents left and then Ryan determining we had

19 cents left, we headed for the candy store. What can we get in one of those bins for 19

cents? We didn't know. So we (well, I, actually) asked the nice Indian cashier (while Ryan

walked away "discreetly" in embarrassment) what we could possibly get for 19 cents for our

little game. The very nice man gave us pick of anything in any bin in the store and said we

could have it for 19 cents.

Q: So what did we pick? A Lindt Chocolate? A chocolate orange?

A: Nothing that sophisticated...

A wax soda bottle (you know the one) -the one that you open with your teeth. We split it on

our way out of the store while chewing on the wax (such an aphrodisiac)

Q: 17 cents? That means you have 2 cents leftover?

A: No, actually it means that, as is typical in most marriages, "MISCOMMUNICATION",

(supposedly a high contributor to divorce) took place. You see Ryan thought I was talking

about adding numbers rather than subtracting so actually placed us "OVER BUDGET" at

$2.05 (with ironically, finances being the number one contributor to divorce)

Q: Was there friction?

A: No, we decided to split a cookie cake slice on a bench for $3.71.

An Apple a Day...breaks our budget

Apple Picking at Eckerts...($27 in apples later)

Ryan and my sister, Tara. The funny thing is there was almost the same photo taken about 10 years ago when Tara was three or four, with Ryan holding her up to get an apple. Give it another ten years, and it could get a little awkward.)

Tara

Our friends Andrew and Laura accompanied us also!

Our trip to the Apple Orchard ended up with a total of 8 people, in 2 hours, 4 bags of apples, for about $70. It was the girls' first long awaited trip apple picking. For months Anna has been asking when it was going to be Fall so we could go pick apples. Glad the moment could finally arrive for her! Everyone left happy. Warning: homemade applesauce is going to be attempted soon.

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First Day of Preschool

This week was our First Day of Preschool! We are doing a Preschool Co-Op once a week with a friend of ours and her son. We use the curriculum Before Five in a Row, a literature based study. We pick a book to read every week and do various activities associated with that story.

Here are some of the things we learned, along with some pics:

ABCs & London Bridges

Read Yellow Ball by Molly Bang

Played games with a yellow ball

Used watercolors for the first time to re-create the cover of Yellow Ball

Cheese and Crackers Snack in the shape of a (what else) yellow ball

Free Play

The Letter "O" and various learning games with "O"

Learning manners on how to open gifts politely, complete with a gift for everyone to practice with (what was inside? a yellow ball!)

Science lesson on Floating and Sinking. Their own yellow balls floated just like the ball in their book

watching a video about the letter "O" on our FAVORITE letters website- Starfall.com

We can't wait until next week when we study Jesse Bear, What Will You Wear?!!! This time Ms. Sara is the teacher and Preschool is at her house. What fun we are having!

Blackberry Heaven

Lots of memories are made at Grandma and Grandpa's House. Picking blackberries is one of them...

(By the way, these lovely photos were taken by a family friend named August Jennewein. Check him out at http://www.augustjennewein.com/)

Party Princesses

Party Animals threw a fabulous joint birthday party for Anna, Naomi, and Abigail. If you are looking for a stress free party, check them out. They are great! Here are some of the pics. Having three girls, of course, we picked the Princess theme!

2 boys in the Barbie jeep- I love it!

A BLUE Birthday

Naomi's favorite color is blue. All day, everyday, I have to hear about BLUE. 

So for her birthday, she wanted blue cupcakes with blue icing and blue candles. Well, she got it!

and here is a fun snapshot of these three goofy, giggly girls:

Chocolate Anyone?

Getting ready for Bible Study. It's a little too quiet. Smart moms would wonder. I did- for a second and then went back to what I was doing. Anna came out of her room. Licking her fingers. Brown goo all over her face and clothes. Look of horror. Anna is confused. How did she know? Mom's know everything. Smart moms and not so smart moms both know everything. And the messy face helps a little. I enter their room. Naomi and Abby look like Anna, or maybe a little worse. In the center of the room is a tub of dipping chocolate. Smarts mom put up chocolate. Not so smart mom left a closed container of old dipping chocolate next to the trashcan to go outside.  To make myself feel better I say to myself, 'well, it was in a closed (very jumbo sized by the way) ricotta cheese container. No remnants of chocolate. What kid would want Ricotta cheese?' Abby would. Abby did. I'm sure she was delighted to find that the ricotta cheese had turned rather brown and very sweet. Her sisters were happy too.  So happy that they ate the whole thing. This was a LOT of chocolate. The floor is brown. Their clothes and faces are brown. There rocking horse now has brown hair. Late for Bible Study. Smart moms and not so smart moms both love chocolate. And apparently so do their kids. 

These are the Days We Don't Want to Forget...

Cahokia Mounds (P.S. It was SO much bigger when we were little!)

uh oh...that's a lot of steps for such little legs!

 

V-I-C-T-O-R-Y! 

 
Grandma, Anna, and Naomi also made it to the top


Ryan and his mom and dad

Anna and her Grandpa