Is it worth it?

So, Wal-mart had Heinz ketchup on sale forty oz for a buck. One night I went to stock up and to get cheap fabric that was also on sale. They were out of the ketchup, which I thought was very irresponsible on their part, since there was a huge advertisement and commercial, they totally should have stocked up!

The next day I tried again at a different Wal-mart. No buck ketchup in the ketchup isle. I found a clerk and asked if they had any in the back. They told me there was some by the doors, nope. The greeter told me that it was in seasonal, nope. The second person I asked in seasonal ( the first I asked where exactly seasonal was) I told her, I don't mean to be rude and I know it is not your fault, but you have a big advertisement for this ketchup. I have been to 3 places in the store and now two stores and I can't find any. Can you tell me if you have any in stock? She went to ask a manager. The manager said to look in seasonal. Well I will fast forward the story for you after more walking and talking to two other managers and decision was made to give me the smaller bottle (only 4 oz smaller) for 90 cents. I took 5 and was very pleased.

Yes, it is worth it to me.

Fort Loudon

We wanted to take a little trip this weekend since we had a 3 day weekend. We had been talking about going to Fort Loudon; since it is near and FREE!
First we went into the visitor center and watched a little movie about the fort and saw some artifacts. When we were walking up to the fort the kids were way excited to find any "Indiants" (as Holly said). We didn't find any Indians, but we did find really cool canons and soldiers from Her Majesty's Army. First there was the doctor in the infirmary. He told us all sorts of gory information and showed us tools and herbs they used in the trade.

Then we met a few army soldiers that answered some of our questions and showed us how to load a rifle and then shot one for us. They also showed how to attach the bayonet part. Pretty cool to a 5 yr old and 32 yr old boy.

We saw the soldiers barracks, storage house, mess hall and kitchen as well as the Blacksmiths place. Don is showing the kids the sharpening stone.

Last we say the col. barracks and the house of a Cherokee. huge difference!

All in all it was a nice little day trip and it only cost us gas.
Josh was excited to draw his version of it. Not too bad.

It is sinking in!

The other day in the car Holly and Josh were talking and I was catching little bits of the conversation. When I asked them what they were talking about they told me Adam and Eve. I asked them what about Adam and Eve and they told me the Garden of Eden story. It is nice to know that they are getting some of the things I try to teach them.

Then again when we asked Josh who Ammon was he said a man. Minutes later when Josh couldn't figure it out we yelled to Holly (Who was in the bathroom) who was Ammon and she said a man. It was only after a clue that Josh remembered Ammon cutting off arms and that was it. Oh well, bit by bit.

Garden - Week 3

My 'Roc Berry' I have 3 yeah!

Box #1 Check out my watermelons

Box #2 Corn is getting taller and lettuce is visible by camera this time!

Box #3 My cukes are getting taller and I really hope the Zinnia is a Zinnia. Look how great my sweet peas are a climbing! I tried to get a better shot of my beets.

Box #4 I was hoping that my camera would pick up my straggly green onions, but not yet. The onions look good though. If you look really hard next to the Bell Pepper sign to the right you can see a green plant starting. I planted that bell pepper from seed.

Box #5 Tomatoes looking about the same, but the stems are getting stronger.

Box #6 My dill is little but it's growing, and my potatoes are totally growing. I put these little chicken wire cages around them and put more dirt on them to see if they will grow more potatoes. This is my experiment.

Box #7 My Zucchini is trying to reach and climb, my broccoli is getting stronger, and my bush beans are getting darker!

Box #8 Corn- I'm a little worried the edge of the leaves are turning yellow. I hope they don't die!

Blueberries! Stay away birds.

Dollywood anyone?

So we went to Dollywood. Tell me if you think this is crazy. 12 children and 5 moms. We were quite the parade of double strollers. The oldest two were 6 yr olds and down to a 8 week old. But we survived, at one point one of the moms said, "Can you imagine our husbands ever doing this?" I instantly flashed on the husbands in our spots, with baby borjorn strapped to their chests and pushing a double stroller with another kid holding on to the side of the stroller. I said, "I can't even imagine my husband just taking my two kids alone."

The first ride we rode was the Carousel ride. The kids thought this was pretty cool and no one was scared.

Next we rode the elephants, which was a bit more tricky, because the only child that was tall enough to ride by himself was Josh. So we had to take turns riding on with the kids. At this point something totally new happened to me. One of the kids picked me. I have never been the cool mom, and kids never really buddy up to me. I was so honored. Benson, you rock!

Next we paused to eat our packed lunches, hey we are frugal stay-at-home moms, what do you expect? We then journeyed over to the tea cups. Where the height wasn't too high and we could pack the cup with a lot more kids. Yeah! (I'm in one of those cups with three kids, they were awesome 3 year old spinners!)

So you might be thinking is she going to blog every step of the outing with every ride. Yep, because that was our last ride. Something happened that never happened in California with Great America, 6 Flags or Disneyland; they had to shut the rides down due to thunderstorms. If lighting is within 5 miles of the park they due it for safety reasons. Now I am not complaining, it is just another of one of those east coast things that I didn't know about. Well we thought okay, we will take the kids to the water part of the park. They were a bit disappointed, being the next in line to get onto the train rollercoster ride. But water solves everything. Unless you finally find the water part and that is closed down as well, for safety sake. Josh was getting a little fussy and complaining about there being no water. He didn't appreciate me tossing my water from my water bottle on him. Go figure! So what do you do when there is nothing to do and you have many disappointed children and only a few moms. Two words ICE CREAM! We went over to redeem coupons. I call this picture 'How many kids can you fit at one table?'

YUM! I would do it all again, lighting and all.

Park Play

We went to the park and my kids were introduced to freeze tag. (I just don't think of tag. I still play duck, duck goose and ring-a-round the rosy with them. My poor kids, I haven't even played baseball with them. How un-American is that?) Josh didn't get the whole freezing part. When he finally did, it took him to get the run away FAST part. Holly just wanted to be tagged and kept begging the big kids to tag her. I love this picture of Holly pushing her friend on the swing. Later on she was pushing a ten year old boy. He didn't need it, but he didn't mind either.


I love this picture of all the kids walking and balancing on the edge of the park. I am sad that it is blurry and the fact that Holly went behind the playground a moment before I shot it, but I thought that it was so cute that the youngest to the oldest were doing it. They were all in such concentration. The next picture of Holly and "thems is my ants". Towards the end of our park time all these little ants came out and were on the side walk. Holly took an interest in them and yelled at anyone that step on her ants and killed them. She sat there and watched them for a good 7 minutes. Towards the end the big kids were telling kids to "get off Holly's ants!". I love the big kids. (Thanks Pehrson's).

Cooling Off-Pics

I was sitting behind them the park was pretty pack, so I wasn't willing to get up and leave all our stuff to get a face shot.

Josh loves when Holly chases him.

A Fun First Week of SUMMER!

We had a GREAT first week of summer. We started school time, which both kids like, but I think that Holly is a little more excited about. I keep trying to make it different and fun. I also started chore time and I am really loving that. Josh emptied trashes, wiped down toilets and sinks (in between bathroom cleaning), and sorted clothes for me this week. Holly put the kids laundry away, helped making their bed (on sheet changing day) and straighten up. I could really get used to this. We also have been doing the Mommy and me time. They both love this. Holly is willing to share her time with Josh, if we are playing a game. We played Hullabaloo and Hide and go Seek. Josh usually gets his Mommy time while Holly is sleeping. We've made cookies, colored, played games and he seems to really like it, even if we are just quietly coloring. We've had some fun outings this week as well.
Monday: We went to the Roses' for dinner and Family Home Evening. The kids (and I) Loved it. They have a daughter Josh's age and a son Holly's age plus younger siblings and a huge backyard with a trampoline, does it get any better. My children did not want to leave, I had to drag Holly out, that was a bit embarrassing.
Tuesday: We went to the Splash Pad after I went walking with my friend Brenda. This was a fun surprise for my kids, it was hot and I brought along their suits.

Wednesday: There was play group in our old ward, so we crashed it. The kids had so much fun trying to play freeze tag (thank goodness for patient older children). More in another blog.

Thursday: We went to Dollywood! My friend had some passes that she got with her season pass and was nice enough to share with our family. This was a special treat. Also more in another blog.

So now we have a 3-day weekend. I think we might lay low and see what next week brings us.

Childrens Book Festival

So, yet again we had an outing this Saturday. In Knoxville they had their yearly Children's Book Festival. It was down town at the Worlds Fair Park. They had a ton of booths with art projects, different tents with musicians, and people reading stories. There were used books sales and a bounce house. The milk people were handing out milk, even chocolate milk (which mommy drank, but I made the kids drink regular). It was all next to this huge splash pad.

We all went together, it was hot and overcast. We ended up staying about an hour and half, and I could have stayed longer, but Don was ready to go. He was a good sport, but I think that next year it will just be the kids and I that attend.

The kids were happy. They came home with balloons, stickers, pencils, and other goodies. I love free events!!

This Saturday's House Projects

Now what are we looking at? Don widened the attic space and put some plywood up there, so now we can put our Rubbermaid storage stuff up there and declutter another spot, Yeah! It was super hot in the attic so kudos to Don. He also thought, hey I have the extra materials I will pull out the ugly, we-don't-use-anyways radiators, that were in our bathroom and the kids' bathroom. I know that this is still kinda ugly, but I refuse to buy a couple of tiles to fix this when we just want to gut the room anyways. Now at least it is sealing up the house and helping that insey-binsey bit more on the electric bill.