Ordinary Day #2

Isn't this the most beautiful thing.........

Dishes that were done the night before :)  All I have to do is put them away and I'm on with the rest of my day.  I really do not like waking up to dirty dishes!

Well...today we're headed to the ZOO, ZOO, ZOO!

Carter's Zoo class is on Tuesdays!  Today we learned about the Elephant Shrew....not the most exciting day at class....but fun nonetheless.

After Zoo Class, we went to Albertsons on our way home to do some "couponing".

NOW...I am NOT a crazy couponer.  I dabble in it....enough to know what I'm doing and to get some good deals on some of the food we eat.  My backyard neighbor and I have a hoot trading coupons and

helping each other out...we have gotten into some pretty funny situations at Albertsons and we just laugh and laugh at ourselves.

Today I got:

10 bottles of 40 oz. ketchups (Heinz...I'm a ketchup snob....only Heinz)

2 bottles of Wishbone salad dressing

8 jars of picante sauce

10 boxes of Cheerios

3 lbs. of Fugi apples

All for......$28.97.  Not too shabby....Irene would be proud :)

My kids ride the bus home from school but today I needed to pick them up early so we could go pick up some ground beef I had ordered from Zaycon (https://secure.zayconfoods.com/)  I love their meat, especially their chicken. 

I had to get to the other side of town between 3:00 and 4:00 and so we had to boogie!

There are some awesome stores waaaaaay on the other side of town.  I rarely make it over there, so I thought I would stop in and enjoy some of them today.  Is there a better place to stop for an after school snack?  No. There. Is. Not.

They gave us free samples of bread and I bought some

"Idaho Potato Dill Bread" for later on in the week.

Yuuuuummmmm.

Which reminds me....*ASHLEY*....I need your Artisan Bread Recipe :)

 Across from Great Harvest is this store....I know...I can hear some of you laughing.

I store dedicated to feeding the birds out my kitchen window....go ahead and laugh...I love this store.  You have never seen a bird feeder until you step inside of here....seriously....huge and gorgeous.

 This one was hanging in a tree outside.....That would be so fun for winter!

 She gave me a "sample" of some of their new bird seed...I know...I didn't expect that much when she asked me if I'd like to take a sample home.....AWESOME!

 This is also in the area...love this place...just good fruit and vegetables!

Enough shopping...we've got to get home before Eagle Road becomes a parking lot.

The beef comes in a 40 lb. box.

So...since we had some nice meat.....we had Sloppy Joes and Corn for dinner.

Carter has to be the one to get everyones water

Homework Time.

Play Time.

BEDTIME

I don't remember when we started doing our bedtime routine which tells me we've been doing it for a very long time...lol!  It is my favorite part of the day.  We sit in the same spot at the top of stairs every night.  My spot is where Carter is sitting and he usually sits on my lap.  We talk about our day, tease and joke around, sometimes argue, read scriptures, family prayer, talk about tomorrow, goodnight hugs and kisses. 

I imagine boats coming in from their day at sea and docking for the night. 

My children went out into the world today and now they are docking back at home,

hearing and doing the things that will hopefully guide us and protect us the next day.

 Emmy's turn to read tonight.

 Then we brush our teeth....these days it is a race for Carter to be the first....he always wins because the other two aren't worried about winning that race.  However, I remember when Alec and Emily were around his age and HOLY COW...they would race like CRAZY...everything was a race!

I've found this is also the perfect time to go over Math Facts.

Alec has his learned.

Now, Miss Emmy has some work to do.........

 Then we read.....

Here's one of my soap boxes....

Children need to read every day just like they need to brush their teeth and eat their vegetables.  READ, READ, READ to your children!

Aaron ALWAYS reads to Carter because I've been reading to him off and on

all day and it's a special time for them :)

Of course, Alec and Emily read on their own now :(

However, sometimes they hang back to hear one of their old favorites.....

 Alec has read the entire RedWall series...I can hardly get him to read anything else.

After Aaron is done reading to Carter...it is my turn to sing songs with Carter.

He will not go to sleep until we've sung our songs.  Just before Christmas, he wanted to start singing them on his own and I get to listen.  I don't know why these two are his favorite, but every night I get to hear "ABC" and "The Fox Song". 

I've learned to go with it and just enjoy it because one night....he won't cry for me to come in and listen and our little routine will be done.

Here it is.........

So, once the kids are in bed.  Aaron and I go to bed, too. 

YEAH RIGHT! 

It's our time to do things we would like to do or need to get done.

Tonight.....

Aaron rotated his tires

and I browned 10 lbs. of hambuarger.....lol!  I like to brown some of it with onion/garlic and freeze it.

Then, I can just pull it out and put it in spaghetti sauce, tacos....whatever...it's fast and easy.

Ready to go in the freezer overnight.

I'll deal with the other 30 lbs tomorrow ;) 

Good Night :)