Blah. Blah. Blog?

Ok, so I realize this has become a very dull blog over the last couple months but we are in preparation mode for school so it's about to be a busy place! The summer has been pretty busy for us as we took a long trip to visit all of our family! It was so much fun to see everyone. I'll post some pictures later of our fun trip. For now here are the most recent happenings around here.

Troy and I celebrated 11 years of joy on July 10! I am undoubtedly the most blessed wife in the world to have a husband who loves me unconditionally, faults and all. While we were in Tennessee Troy's mom watched our kiddos so we could have an early anniversary lunch at our absolute favorite restaurant, Casa Vieja. We had not been there since last December and it was just as delicious as we remembered. The kids and I traveled home on the 10th from TN and Troy had to work late that night but when he came home he brought me some beautiful flowers! This picture does NO justice to how pretty they were since I took it a few days later and apparently my green thumb is lacking lately (did I ever have one?)! The gorgeous petals were sprinkled with sparkling glitter.

Yesterday and today I have been bargain shopping as I work towards starting school. I had heard of a local dollar store that was closing and had most things 50% off. The kids and I took off to find it and what a deal we found! My addiction to the three Bs (baskets, buckets, and bins) of any sort was happily satisfied as I found various sizes, shapes and colors for...you guessed it - fifty cents each! The little yellow baskets you'll see came in a 2-pack so they were only a quarter each. I had to control myself because I could have easily just grabbed up all they had left! We got craft supplies such as pipe cleaners, beads, paint trays and more! I can't wait to show how I have used them in the re-organization of our supply closet!

Today I found one of the most incredible bargains! I really wanted to have desks for the kids to use this year so that we can utilize our basement more as a school room and each child could have their own space. I've seen some on a homeschool email group here for around $20 or so off and on and some that were even more. I asked yesterday if anyone had any not really expecting I would find any we could afford but a kind lady replied. She told of a Wesleyan camp about 10 minutes from us that was closing down and having a yard sale today and that they had school desks there. She said they may be rusty but would be cheap. So off we go to find this camp and see what that had, still not knowing that I would be able to get 3. The people there were so sweet and the lady helping me said she was asking $3 a piece but would do them for $2 each. It was the exact style I was looking for with a desk and separate chair! She said I could pick out that best ones in their collection outside and then go in and pick chairs. We ended up cramming our van full with the kids, FIVE desks, and me! I got 4 of the desk and chair type and Hayden liked the style for older kids that is a chair with the desktop attached so we got one of those too! All of this for a whopping $18! They will take a good cleaning and paint but they will make excellent school desks for us! I can't wait to show before and after pictures soon!