First Day of School 2017-2018

First Day of School

2017-2018

What I want to be when I grow up:   

2016

 I've been taking this same picture since Daniel was in kindergarten.

I can't believe how these kids have grown.

2015

2014

2013

2012

                            

    2011

2010

2009

 2007

#43

Michael's reaction to my gift:  Finding Dory

We celebrated my birthday yesterday, so we could go on an adventure today.  JP and I have always loved quaint little tours of places. Usually the places we pick are not "exciting" according to other people, but you really can have a good time as long as you are together.   For my birthday, I picked to go tour Mayfield Dairy.   Who doesn't love ice cream?

Milking a cow is not easy...

 

I realized I don't look great in a hairnet!  

Included in your tour admission is a free scoop of ice cream and we upgraded to a double scoop for a buck more.  

As soon as the tour guide announced the Lemon Icebox flavor, I knew what I was getting.   Lemon Icebox Dessert and Peach.  The cones were HUGE!!!

While we were in the area, we swung by a prospective college Tera has been wanting to visit. The admissions office was in a meeting, so we walked around on our own for a bit.  After leaving, we realized it didn't feel like a good fit for Tera.  She agreed!  But we've got plenty of time!  

Lunch at our favorite Mexican restaurant, tons of Facebook birthday messages, leftover ice cream cake and watching Moana (another present...I love that movie!)  It's been a good day to turn 43!  

Summer Reading

I have been a reading machine this summer.  Mainly because I made it a goal to read along with my high school students and their American Literature selections.  I knew I needed a head start.  

American Lit selections read:

Of Plymouth Plantation by William Bradford

Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson  by Mary Rowlandson

The Life and Diary of Rev. David Brainerd by David Brainerd with notes by Jonathan Edwards

The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin by Benjamin Franklin

A Narrative of the Life of David Crockett by David Crockett

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

In His Steps by Charles Sheldon

The Scarlet Letter by Nathanial Hawthorne

I read the earlier selections on purpose to give myself extra time during the school year to finish longer books like:  Uncle Tom's Cabin and Ben Hur.  

My own pleasure reading:

Sean Dietrich books:

Lyla (not my favorite)

Sean of the South V. 1

Sean of the South V. 2

Whistling Dixie

Sharon Creech books: I should say that I LOVE these books! 

Ruby Holler

The Great Unexpected

Walk Two Moons

The Boy on the Porch

Granny Torrelli Makes Soup

Books my kids told me were awesome and they were:

The Man Who Was Thursday by G.K. Chesterton

Ruth Fielding of the Old Mill Or, Jasper Parloe's Secret

Other children's literature that I thoroughly enjoyed:

Love, Ruby Lavender by Deborah Wiles

Flora and Ulysses by Kate DiCamillo

Young Fredle by Cynthia Voigt

 

United Grocery Outlet

I do the majority of my grocery shopping between two stores:  Aldi and United Grocery Outlet (UGO).  Most people I know have never heard of UGO, but it can be a great place to get name brand groceries at a great discount.  Sometimes it's a hit or miss experience, but today I scored some great deals.  

United Grocery Outlet is a discount grocery store.  On perishable items, you should check dates to make sure you will consume the product before it expires.  We rarely have to worry about that in this house! 

Their website explains a bit more about UGO:

"We are a highly reputable closeout grocery merchant buying and selling almost anything found in a supermarket.

We specialize in handling inventory imbalances, closeouts, packaging changes, close-dated product, factory seconds, and trial run products. From our distribution center in Athens, Tennessee, we operate retail outlets in Tennessee, Georgia, North Carolina, Kentucky and Alabama."

Our local Aldi store is under construction and I'm avoiding going there until the remodeling process is finished.  I've been driving to another Aldi store, but it's a bit out of the way.  Today, I started at UGO hoping to find everything on my list.  It was a phenomenal day for me and deals!  

The above full cart cost......$57.93!!!

Here's the majority of what I bought to give you an idea:

Milk $2.59
Eggs  $0.79 x 2
32 pack of Gogurt  $2.99
All Natural turkey lunch meat $1.49
Nature's Own Whole Wheat Bread $1.29 x 2
Cheddar cheese and Mexican blend cheese--$1.79 each
Joseph's Flatbread--$1.00 x 2
Pita flatbread-- 3 for $1.00

Meat:
Butterball 1 lb. Ground Turkey--$1.50 x 3
Country Style Pork Ribs-- $2.99
 

Cascadian Farm Organic Wild Blueberry Soft Breakfast Biscuits $1.00
Cascadian Farm Organic Peanut Butter Granola Bars $1.00 x 2

Fiber One Oats and Chocolate Granola Bars  $1.99

6 boxes for Breton crackers-- 3 for $1 (Michael loves these!)

Whole wheat tortillas 8 pack--3 for $1

Tropicana Trop 50 juice-- $1 each

Toll House Peanut Butter and Milk Chocolate Morsels-- $0.79

Produce:
5 lbs. potatoes--$2.99
5 lbs. onions-- $2.49
tomatoes --$1.00 a lb.
bananas-- $0.49 a lb.
mangoes-- 3 for $1
celery--$1.99
2 lbs. carrots $1.89

UGO sells a lot of convenience foods, ice cream (usually $1.99 a carton), fruit juices, bread ($1.29-$1.49 a loaf for Sara Lee, Arnold, Pepperidge Farm, etc. including specialty breads), produce, meat, dairy and more.  What you find there just depends upon what they have, although they always have staple items--perishable and non-perishable.    I have found high end items (organic, expensive cheeses, expensive snack foods) for a lot less, but I can't plan on doing all my shopping there.  It can be hit or miss, but if you stock up on the things you like while they have them, you can save a lot of money!  

 

Fourth of July Weekend

We were up at the crack of dawn on Saturday to go blueberry picking.  It was nice and cloudy!  

20 lbs. of blueberries

Blueberry picking day tradition:  cobbler for lunch.  And I just happened to have a little bit of ice cream this year.  You can find my Easy Blueberry Cobbler recipe by clicking on the link. 

Our friends came into town for a couple of days and we were fortunate enough to meet up for swimming on Sunday afternoon! 

Yesterday, I had a doctor's appointment.  Afterwards, I met up with a dear friend for ice cream and conversation.  We both had had a trying day and it was exactly what we needed!    Later in the evening, JP did some firecrackers and other minor fireworks with the kids.  I usually stay inside when amateur fireworks are involved.  Vivid memories from childhood when our woods caught on fire from fireworks and the charred mop that someone tried to extinguish it with remain to this day. 

4th of July was a bit different this year.  Usually I try to push us to do what everyone else is doing, but this year we went with the flow.  JP made homemade Haitian chicken and rice with fried plantains for lunch/dinner.  Then, the kids and I went into town to see Despicable Me 3 along with everyone else in our town.  (In that respect, I guess we did follow the crowd.)

If you noticed, JP is missing from most of our fun this weekend.  He is sick with the sinus stuff I am just getting over.  Hoping and praying he gets well soon and the kids stay well since we start school next week.