Hannah and I just got back from a fun girls weekend. We left Friday morning and met Kristina, Kinnick, Sadie, Jennifer, Grace, & Faith at the Bloomington Zoo. It wasn't a very big zoo, but it was perfect for taking 5 children under the age of 3! We managed to see almost all of the animals in about an hour. The coolest animal they had was a big tiger that you could actually see up close. Hannah liked him in the beginning, but I think she started getting scared after he roared a few times. Her favorite was probably the wallabies. It was her first zoo experience, so it was neat to see what animals she noticed. Right outside of the zoo, there is a cool spray park and playground. After our picnic lunch, the kids put on their swimsuits and ran around the park. We were lucky that the weather held out for us. A huge black cloud rolled upon us as we were eating, but it went away just about as quickly as it came. After the park, we all drove up to Streator to spend the night at Kristina's. After playing and eating yummy homemade pizza, we amazingly got all 5 children to bed without too much trouble. This was only Hannah's second experience sleeping somewhere else, so I was a little afraid of how she would do (the first experience was NOT GOOD!). She had a hard time settling down, but once she did, she slept fine, which was a blessing! On Saturday, we had a shower for JoniKay, and when she showed up to Kristina's, the house was incredibly peaceful. The toys were all picked up, the food was ready, and all 5 kids were taking a nap! I guess we had worn them out enough to sleep through the shower! It was really good to see JoniKay and hear about her upcoming wedding. We are so excited and happy for her! After the shower, we headed home. Hannah had a lot of "firsts" this weekend, as this was her longest car trip yet. She slept a lot of the way with a few crying fits in between, but I thought she did pretty well. All in all, it was a great weekend... exhausting, but great. It's always fun to see good friends.
In the midst of crazy VBS planning, we got on a roll fixing some things around our house that needed to be done. They weren't huge projects but took time nonetheless. Don't they always take longer than you think they will? First of all, I have wanted to paint our bathtub since we moved here. There were spots around the drain where the paint had chipped and the tub always looked dirty even when it was clean. We actually bought the paint three years ago, but it was one of those things that kept getting put off for one reason or another, which isn't usually like us. Since Hannah was transitioning to the tub, I figured this would be a good excuse to do that project. I ended up doing it mostly myself, and boy, was that paint strong! I felt like I had acid in my lungs and I was quite dizzy. But, at least it's done. We also have needed some of our outlets replaced but we kept putting it off because we weren't sure how to do it. However, my vaccum cleaner was coming unplugged every time I barely moved it because the outlets were so loose. The same was true for my blow dryer and curling iron. It was quite frustrating. Plus, Hannah could pull the outlet covers out quite easily and has been crawling around the house with them in her hands, which kind of defeats the purpose. So, Josh tackled this task. The first one was a piece of cake. All the others ended up being a huge pain. He ended up doing 13 of them so it took many hours! The worst one was in my bathroom. It was his last one. He dropped a screw down the vent, so he opened it up to try to get the screw. In the process, he knocked the tube that connects to the vent down into the crawl space! Our room is the only room over the crawl space-what luck! If it had been over the basement, it would have been a piece of cake to get to, but unfortunately, he had to go in the crawl space which he has never been in before! He was determined to do this at 10:30 on Saturday night when he hadn't eaten in hours and had yet to do his lesson for Sunday morning. He just can't leave a task unfinished. Luckily he was able to fix it without too much trouble. The next day, he replaced a closet light fixture that was busted, which is always frustrating. He is learning to do lots of little things around the house which is so nice. I'm proud of him and appreciate all of the work he does! These are all things that most people wouldn't notice and say "hey, nice outlets," so I wanted to give him some props for all of the work he's done. Thanks honey!
We had a nice first Father's Day with Hannah. After church, we went to my parent's house for lunch. Then Josh went golfing with his dad and brother, which has become a Father's Day tradition. After that, we went out to dinner with the whole Downing clan.
I have been thinking about starting our own new family traditions, and so I decided to start a scrapbook that we could add to each Father's Day. Ever year, I want to have each of our kids record a favorite memory with Josh, as well as a picture of them together. Of course this year, I had to help Hannah with her page, but I'm sure that in a few years, she will be eager to do it herself. I am excited to see how this book will fill up over the years. What will our family look like? What kinds of things will Josh do with our kids? What memories will our kids choose as their favorites? Josh thought this was a great idea and said I should get one for he and the kids to do on Mother's Day. He said the kids would want to do one for me too. I think that's a good idea :)
Hannah & I finally got over to Indianapolis to visit Amy & Micah (oh,... and Neil :). We have been talking about it forever and finally did it! Our original plan was to go swimming in their neighborhood pool, but it ended up being bad weather so we changed plans. We went to Paradise Cafe for lunch which was really yummy, and then we went shopping at Castleton. I've been wanting to go to Crazy 8 because I've heard that it is a much more affordable version of Janie & Jack (where Josh's mom gets most of Hannah's clothes). I found a super cute pink sunhat and some hairbows (big surprise there). The kids were really good and patient at the mall while we shopped. Then we went back to Amy's to hang out. We were talking about children and injuries, and a few minutes later, Hannah was standing up against the wall and slipped and fell. Then blood starting coming out of her mouth! I had not dealt with blood yet as a mother... We couldn't find where it was coming from at first but it kept bleeding all afternoon and evening! I think maybe she bit the gap between her top teeth with her bottom teeth. I don't think that it helped constantly having things in her mouth (her fingers, toys, etc.), but good luck stopping that! Thanks goodness after sleeping all night, it was fine the next day. Oh, and Amy made a really good dinner that I hope she posts on her blog :)
I had to share a few bargain ideas for the week-there are a ton all over the place. In my opinion, these are the best. First of all, K-Mart is doubling coupons again. Go here for lots of deal ideas:
http://hip2save.blogspot.com/2009/06/kmart-double-coupon-deals-67-613.html
I just went and got TONS of stuff for cheap or FREE!!! (Free 40 ct. Huggies Wipes, $.49 Greased Lightening Cleaner, Free Cheerios, Free A-1 Sauce, $1.49 Cover Girl lip gloss, etc.)
In addition, here is a diaper deal idea for K-Mart (Huggies for $3.25/jumbo pack):
http://www.commonsensewithmoney.com/2009/06/huggies-diaper-deal-at-kmart/
I actually did better than the deal posted above. After coupons, I paid $28.92 for five jumbo packs of diapers and one pack of wipes. Plus, I got $14 back for my next transaction. Plus, if I submit my receipt to The Caregivers Marketplace, I'll get another $3.75 back. That's $11.17 instead of $55-not bad!
Also, here is a diaper deal for CVS (Pampers for $2.99/jumbo pack):
http://www.commonsensewithmoney.com/2009/06/pampers-deal-at-cvs-67-613/
There are also some fabulous Target deals this week. I just did a big Target deal two weeks ago so I don't know that I'll go again, but it's tempting. Here it is if you're interested:
http://www.moneysavingmom.com/money_saving_mom/2009/06/target-free-softsoap-ensembles-special-k-cereal-and-crackers-for-083-each-and-more.html
Hannah and I just got back from a fun girls weekend. We left Friday morning and met Kristina, Kinnick, Sadie, Jennifer, Grace, & Faith at the Bloomington Zoo. It wasn't a very big zoo, but it was perfect for taking 5 children under the age of 3! We managed to see almost all of the animals in about an hour. The coolest animal they had was a big tiger that you could actually see up close. Hannah liked him in the beginning, but I think she started getting scared after he roared a few times. Her favorite was probably the wallabies. It was her first zoo experience, so it was neat to see what animals she noticed. Right outside of the zoo, there is a cool spray park and playground. After our picnic lunch, the kids put on their swimsuits and ran around the park. We were lucky that the weather held out for us. A huge black cloud rolled upon us as we were eating, but it went away just about as quickly as it came. After the park, we all drove up to Streator to spend the night at Kristina's. After playing and eating yummy homemade pizza, we amazingly got all 5 children to bed without too much trouble. This was only Hannah's second experience sleeping somewhere else, so I was a little afraid of how she would do (the first experience was NOT GOOD!). She had a hard time settling down, but once she did, she slept fine, which was a blessing! On Saturday, we had a shower for JoniKay, and when she showed up to Kristina's, the house was incredibly peaceful. The toys were all picked up, the food was ready, and all 5 kids were taking a nap! I guess we had worn them out enough to sleep through the shower! It was really good to see JoniKay and hear about her upcoming wedding. We are so excited and happy for her! After the shower, we headed home. Hannah had a lot of "firsts" this weekend, as this was her longest car trip yet. She slept a lot of the way with a few crying fits in between, but I thought she did pretty well. All in all, it was a great weekend... exhausting, but great. It's always fun to see good friends.
