Thankful Tuesday

1. On Thursday afternoon I mowed the lawn. What was remarkable about this was it was about 72 degrees (in JULY) when I mowed. I had been mowing every 5 days, but I went 14 days this time around because we haven't had as much rain lately. Oliver's nap lasted just long enough for me to complete the task.

2. The grocery store in our town is having some really good deals this "week" (their week goes from Thursday through Wednesday). On Thursday morning I completely filled the shopping cart. For example, I bought FAR more cheese than I've ever bought at one time because the Kraft shredded cheese (8 oz) and Kraft slices of cheese (18 slices) were on sale for 99 cents each, and I actually used a few coupons to lower the price a bit more on some of them! One of the coupons was to get $2.00 off of produce if you buy a Kraft cheese product, so I used four of those coupons to get some free cherries and bananas. Yum! I got some great deals on Friday at another grocery store. I bought 17 pounds of grapes because they were FINALLY on sale for 99 cents a pound. I'm freezing some of them because even though Nadia and I love grapes we can't
eat that many in a week, ha ha! I went back to our town's store on Saturday to get a few more of the bargains. I spent way more money than I usually do in a week on groceries, but our pantry and freezer and refrigerator are filled to the gills. According to the receipts, I saved 68% altogether, and that's only taking into account some of the sales and coupons (it doesn't count the good deal I got on ground beef and such).

3. Nadia and Ian were able to participate in the workshop at Home Depot on Saturday with Paul's parents and spend the afternoon at their house, which was a treat for them. Home Depot made Saturday's workshop special by serving free popcorn, playing Frozen music, and a guest appearance by "Elsa"!

4. Paul took Nadia and Ian to the Joseph Priestley House on Sunday afternoon. My brother can't stand house tours, but I think he would have viewed this one as more tolerable since it involved watching someone perform chemistry experiments.

5. Oliver's naps have often been less than an hour lately (ugh!), but on Sunday afternoon he took a nap that was a little over TWO hours long. Yay!!

6. The kids and I enjoyed the juggler at the library on Friday. He was very entertaining, and we enjoyed swimming that afternoon.

7. Nadia and Ian were able to participate in an art program at Michael's on Friday morning, and after that I made a super quick trip in to JCP to use a $10 off coupon that enabled me to get myself two new tops for $8 each. I feel that most of my wardrobe is pretty blah because I often wear a solid top with a solid pair of shorts (ex. white top with blue shorts or something like that), but these tops are not solid and are rather pretty in my opinion!

8. On Sunday I wore a dress that I hadn't worn in a long time. I've had this dress for many years, but I haven't worn it much over the past six years so it felt like a new dress. I got lots of compliments on Sunday (and that

almost never happens to me), which was a great feeling. It's nice to feel pretty, eh? The person who by FAR gives me the most compliments over the course of a year is definitely Ian. He's such a sweetheart!

9. Yesterday Nadia started her second week of Theatre Camp. Last year she went for a week in the afternoon. I picked the morning session this year due to Oliver's nap. the camp is called "Storybook Adventures," and it's offered by the Community Theatre League. Her teacher's name is Jennie, and Jennie spent a year in the cast of the Noah and The Miracle of Christmas with Sight and Sound in Lancaster. Jennie is now at Wheaton College in Chicago, working on her Bachelor's degree in Theatre. Nadia told us yesterday they will be putting on a performance of the story "Caps for Sale" (50 cents a cap) on Friday. We are looking forward to seeing that!

10. While Nadia was in camp yesterday, I took the boys to Target to shop their 70% off toy clearance sale, and then I took them to the Treasure Castle Playland for two hours, which they hadn't been to in a year. They only charge $5 a child on Mondays. They have a very large indoor playland as well as a bouncer, LOTS of toys, puzzles, and books, and an eyeplay interactive game floor. The boys had a blast! It cracked me up that the seemed to gravitate toward the toys we already have at home (pirate ship and train table). Oliver brought me several books to read. Then after lunch and nap time for Oliver we headed to the swimming pool, as it was a nice warm day out! Today I'm planning to take them to an outdoor playground and then do some shopping at a consignment shop.