Monday Musings

I was explaining to Brittany the two most important things I needed to do the next day. "Okay, tomorrow I mainly need to catch up on laundry, and work on getting school stuff organized so I can help your aunt next week....."

Tristan says, "Oh, mom, that's gross! Ketchup on laundry?"

Book Signing with Author Kathryn Lasky

Last night we went to a book signing at the Tulsa County/City Library with author, Kathryn Lasky. She was being presented with the Anne V. Zarrow award.

This is NOT Kathry Lasky. This is a librarian holding an owl. Kathry Lasky is the author of the Guardians of Ga'hoole book series.

Awaiting Mrs. Lasky......I swapped a few kids with my sister in law. I took my nephew Devin and she kept the four youngest kids for me.



We had to wait in line for about an hour for the book signing. They had these really cute and tasty owl shortbread cookies and punch. We all wolfed them down before I got pictures.





The girls with their new iphones. (Shh! Don't tell the girls but they are really just cardboard cutouts of a library app advertisement.)




My kids aren't really into the Ga'hoole books, but one of Brittany's favorite books is one she wrote from the Royal Diaries Collection, Elizabeth I.







So, she had her sign that copy. Bethany and Brooke had her sign another of the Royal Diary Books and Devin had a Ga' hoole book to have signed.







I turned the flash off when I went to take the girls' picture and could NOT get it focused. And, we had to move on. Oh well.

Now, of course, I can't do anything without some sort of fiasco. The signing was at the library downtown. I hadn't been to the library downtown and, you know, parking is always somewhat difficult DOWNTOWN. (I have the sudden urge to break out into a chorus with Rick Moranis while a giant, man eating plant looms nearby.)

I couldn't find the parking area for the library, so we drove around for about fifteen minutes looking for it. I was following the signs, but, I couldn't find it because it was hidden down a one way street and I guess I just didn't go that way.

So, I went and parked at OSU Medical Center where I knew I could park, and not get towed. But, the only problem is that it is FOUR blocks away from the library.

We started walking and the street divided and I got turned around and called David saying, "And remind me why I though this was a good idea?"

And he said, "You KNOW that is not really a good part of town."

I said, "Hold on, I'll call you back." I saw the Double Tree Hotel (which is very nice indeed) and the lady said that we were half way there.

We huffed and puffed on the two more blocks (remember it has been the summer of Hades here in Tulsa) so I'm sure it was at least a hundred degrees, and we made it to the library. But, we needed to go around the building and downstairs to get in, which we did, and lo and behold, the correct entrance was right next to the parking area that we had been looking for.

Knowing that it probably wasn't going to be a good idea to walk all the kids back over to the van at 9:30 at night though DOWNTOWN, I called David again to see if he would just come and pick me up and drive me back to my van, then I could drive back over and park in the right area.

And, I had a blister.

So, my knight in a shiny white van came and saved me.

The end.

The Escape

Bye, Mom. Now that I can walk, I'm leaving.


Wow. It looks big out there.

Oh, well. I've got my popsicle. What more does a kid need?

Back to School the Thrifty Way!

I'm really excited at all the school supplies I've gotten, so I just had to blog about it. I've been diligently going to my office supply stores and buying their deals every week for about the last five weeks and it has really paid off. Literally.

Here's a big picture of what I have. (Keep in mind I have six kids that are in 1st thru 11th grades and two preschoolers.)


Here's what's in the picture:

30 pronged folders

10 vinyl pronged folders

3 3-ring binders

24 spiral notebooks

9 packs of notebook paper

2 packs of computer paper

25 bottles of glue

32 glue sticks

2 packs of colored pencils

11 packs of crayons

7 dry erase markers

8 highlighters

9 sharpies

72 pencils

3 pencil sharpeners

6 pencil cases

92 erasers

75 pens

1 pad sticky notes

2 packs card stock

1 sample of label stickies

1 pack paper clips

1 pack rubber bands

5 rulers

2 tote bags

and

a partridge in a pear tree

Now, you know all of that will last us at least the first week. Maybe two.

Seriously, I only need to get 3 more pencil cases and probably one more pack of computer paper, but that's about it. I had some construction paper and an primary paper pad for Tristan (first grade) left over from last year.

Now the big thrill for me is how much I actually spent. I've been going once a week for the last five weeks or so to my favorite office supply stores....

Office Depot

and

Staples......

who also both had teacher appreciation days with special breakfasts, give aways and totebags filled with goodies. They are so nice to include homeschoolers.

Well, I spent a total of about $30 for all of it. I just estimated and so I didn't figure it down to the exact penny.

I'm really excited about the cardstock. It came from Michael's and is on sale through Saturday BOGO for a penny. They also offer a 15% teacher discount, so I got both packs of paper for $3.67 or so, when one pack is normally $3.99- even at Walmart.

I'm not sure how much longer these stores will have their school supplies on sale, but I know Office Depot will still have penny deals until Saturday and Staples until Wednesday. They usually have a limit, and Staples usually has a required mininum $5 purchase, but you can easily purchase a rebated item and get most of the $5 back.

Monday Musings

Bailey is two and a half. Whenever I catch her in the act of doing something she shouldn't be doing, she says, "Nevermind, Mom!"

The other day I found a toy and just asked out loud, "Whose is this?" Bailey said, "Actually, it's Thomas' toy.

Tyler was cooking up some left over sausage the other day. Bailey smelled it and came into the kitchen. She was standing up on her tippy toes trying to see on the stove.

She said, "I can't get it, Mom."

I said, "You can't get what?"

She said, "The hot diggy dogs!"

Just Ramblin'

Well, it's been one of those weeks.

Since I basically just started my school planning this week, I am a little behind. Normally this is my favorite part, but for some reason this year I am dreading it.

Maybe it's because I've just been so busy lately and now I'm just flat out tired.

Maybe it's because it's been the Sahara Desert here in Tulsa. I don't know.

My sister in law just found out she is able to homeschool her kids. She (and I) are so excited! So, this week I've also been helping her figure out how to get started.

Then, of course since I am running behind in my school planning and need to use all my time wisely, I picked her and the kids up and went to the park yesterday. I didn't get one single thing planned yesterday.

Then, today I cleaned out my closet. And, took the kids to the store. I didn't get one single thing planned today.

Why not waste time doing other things when you are on a time constraint, I always say. I like to make things difficult on myself.

Speaking of difficult, last night I accidently sent my sister in law a text that was CLEARLY meant for my husband.

I will apparently never live this one down.

This morning I absolutely freaked out and thought that I hadn't paid a bill yesterday. I paid the bill, and I don't know why I thought I didn't. I guess I like to freak out for no reason.

This evening I wanted to get some scrapbook paper at the craft store. I had seen in the ad it was on sale for buy-one-get-one-for-a-penny. I went to the register and she said it was the wrong brand that was on sale. So, I go back to the rack, stand in line again with the correct brand, but it is still ringing up regular price. Hmmm.

Neither one of us can figure this out.

Why is it not ringing up for a penny?

Because the sale starts tomorrow. That's why.

I think-no, I KNOW- I need a vacation.

A Baptism!

Brooke was baptized yesterday. She wanted to show that she had accepted Jesus as her personal Savior. We are so very proud of her!

Brooke is in the gray shirt. There were a LOT of kids that got baptized.

Brooke with Brittany. Do they look related or what?

Happy Birthday Timothy!

Happy 11th Birthday, Timothy!

Seriously. Where does the time go?

Women Active for Christ Banquet

Last Tuesday our church hosted the Tulsa area Women Active for Christ banquet. There was a committee of about six of us that put it all together. There were almost a hundred women attending. This was my first experience with banquet planning, but it all went off without one single hitch.

We had a VERY limited budget to work with, and I had to do decorations for the dinner and a gift basket for the giveaway at the end.

This is the basket I put together. I LOVE doing gift baskets. I found the watering can 75% off at JoAnn Fabric and lots of little goodies to go inside at Michael's.

Purple is the Women Active for Christ's official color and the theme for the banquet was "Shine! Will you be a jewel in unusual settings?"

So, I found some sparkle ribbon, tuille, jewels and sequins and we all went to town "sparkle-izing" the church cafe.

Very simple, yet elegant and, thanks to some coupons and bargain shopping we came just under our budget.

One of the committee gals, who also happens to be our pastor's wife, was able to get a ton of materials donated and we made these cute, cute bracelets for all the attendees.

We had Zio's (Italian) cater for dinner and the men's group served all the women. I meant to get pictures of this, but Brittany had taken my camera upstairs with here while she helped with childcare. The men were decked out as waiters in black pants and white shirts.

Some of them even donned foreign accents for the evening.

And, they CLEANED UP THE ENTIRE CAFE AFTERWARDS!

I KNOW!

After dinner, the Passion players (our church's drama team, that Brittany is part of) put on a hilarious skit, we had some good worship music and a message by a precious older woman from our church.

It was a LOT of work, but everything turned out wonderfully!

Happy First Birthday, Travis!

Somebody had a first birthday!

It was this little guy!

What am I supposed to do with this?

I know, I'll put my thumb in it.

Okay, Brittany. That does it. Cake Fight!

A Rant, A Rave and a Bloggy Overhaul

Well, if you had told me back in February when it was TEN DEGREES BELOW ZERO that in August it would be ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTEEN DEGREES, you could have broken off an icicle outside my window and knocked me over with it.

It is too hot to do anything right now.

I have never looked more forward to October as I do right now.

So, I have neglected braving the heat and hanging out the laundry to do a little bloggy redo. Or maybe it's an updo. With a little color and some highlights.

We just got internet hooked up at the house and since it would be considered "bad mothering" to have spent copious amounts of time leaving the children home alone to go to the library or the bookstore to use the free wifi, well, I finally am able to get my blog updated.

The two reasons I started this blog were to be able to document our lives, since I can barely remember what I did yesterday, much less last year. I don't want to forget all the things we've done and cute things the kids say.

I also started this blog to share homeschool information with others. And, as busy as I've been this summer, I can hardly wait to start school again so that things can settle down a bit. (Even though I haven't even started planning yet. I'm usually done by now.)

So......now that the blog is under control again, I can move on to other things like deciding what we'll wear to church tomorrow since I neglected the laundry.