Setting up the pool

Well, we got this new pool as our old one had to be thrown away at the end of last summer. We went ahead adn got the 4 foot one instead of the 3 foot looking towards the future and hoping that it will last as long as our last one did. I don't think we really realized how big it was going to be! It's huge! It's going to take over 5000 gallons of water if we fill it all the way up! That is more than we use in a whole month at our house. We were hoping to only fill it up to about 3 feet for this year, but the hole for the pump (which cleans the pool and is necessary) it higher than we anticipated. We will have to at least fille it up high enough to cover that and it's going to be a little over 3 feet I think. The kids already love it though!

Zoo trip with Eli's class

I went to the zoo with Eli's class today - fun times! yes this is a pic of my arm feeding the lorikeets.... I knew no one else was going to take it!

new rhino exhibit at our zoo!

Petting the goats!

All 20 of the kids were there today!

Happy Mother's Day!

Tony got me a gift certificate for a pedicure! And we went out to eat lunch at Habenero's - yummy! 2 special treats!

My favorite deal of the week

I went to FoodWorld this week on triple coupon day and got lots of items for less than $.25, however, my favorite deal of the week was some Back to Nature cookies. Publix is running them for B1G1 free. And there is an online coupon here for $1.00 off! http://deliciouslivingmag.com/coupons/9KRSX063_BTN_Sampling.pdf

So I got each box of cookies for $.50! These are healthier cookies with no high fructose corn syrup and other yucky stuff! They have only 5 grams of fat for 2 cookies! They had several flavors to choose from, but I got chocolate chip, peanut butter creme and mint chocolate! Can't wait to try them!

Publix will have these on sale through Tuesday, May 12th if you want to run out and get your own!

Hershey's Track Meet

Noah participated in the district Hershey's track meet yesterday. It was a new experience for him. For one thing, he was grouped with 9-10 year olds (kids born in 1999 and 2000). Previously in our track group he competed with 7-8 year olds, so he was the oldest. He could only do 3 events and they didn't offer the 800m, which is his favorite. So he did the long jump, 400m and 200m. He has been doing long jump into a sand pit, but here they just did it on the track. So he didn't feel he did as well. However, on the 400m, he ran it in 1 minute and 26 seconds! This was a personal best for him - the time from his last meet was 1 minute 32 seconds. So while he was 4th, he beat his own best time and we are thrilled! He was disappointed that he didn't make it to state. But he is encouraged to work hard for the next year so he can be even better next year!

My first 5k

Well, I did it! I completed the Casey's Cause 5k! 34 minutes and 22 seconds. I did not make my goal of doing it in 30 minutes, but I've been struggling with my Plantar Faschitis so much and haven't even been able to jog since last Saturday, so I'm happy that I finished!

My favorite Good Deal of the Week!

My favorite deal of the week is 12" California Pizza Kitchen pizzas. Target had them on sale for $5.50 each and I had a $2 off coupon! So I got two of those yummy gourmet pizzas for only $3.50 each! Not too bad!

Another lost tooth!

Strawberry Picking

We went to a strawberry farm to pick strawberries! We ended up picking 2 full buckets as Zeke did really well! I have already made one batch of strawberry jam and gotten some of the berries into the freezer! We've been eating a bunch, too!

More Strawberries!

I have been pretty impressed with our strawberry patch this year. Wish I would have fertilizedit before the berries started growing. They are very sweet and tasty, just not very large!

Noah's Invention

I bought the kids new sunglasses last week and when we needed them, noone could find theirs. We were talking about how we should always put them away in the same place and then we would know where to find them. So Noah decided to create a sunglasses holder. The base is the base of a CD holder (like how you buy blank CDs to record on). Then he put a small shoe box over the spindle so it could turn. He punched holes on both sides so it can hold sunglasses. He will keep this on top of the shoe shelf in the garage so the kids can easily get their sunglasses. I was very proud of Noah thinking of this and implementing it!

Fun at McWane with BeeBee and Granddaddy!

Eli reading to Zeke