This and that

My completely random post for the week :)

Our grocery bill has been growing the last few months.  A combination of the kids eating more and eating 95% whole foods has equaled a painful swipe of the card at the check out line.  We've had meals that every single morsel of food I cook is gone.  1 whole chicken used to last us 3 meals, now it only lasts us 1.  I know it will only get worse and I know it's worth it to feed our family healthy food, but it's still painful.  I went to BJ's last week; this giant carton of raspberries was gone in 24 hours, as well as a large bundle of bananas.  It did make me smile that this is what Eli asked for as a snack while he played Minecraft on his birthday.

School has been going well.  I feel like I should blog about that more, but know that we are doing school and the kids are learning.  Easter week, we did some Easter learning activities.  We mixed some fun in with the serious, but the week really showed the kids true colors of learning.  One day, I poured some jellybeans in a divided plate and some in plastic eggs.  I told Alison and Eli to sort, count and graph the colors of jelly beans in their eggs and I told Colin to just sort the colors into the different compartments of the plate.  Alison finished her graph in 2 minutes, Eli quietly focused on learning the new skill of graphing and Colin just started shoving jellybeans in his mouth as fast as he could.  He is a stubborn little boy when it comes to learning.  I totally respect that putting a plate full of sugar in front of a toddler is a strong temptation, but even when I tried to get him to repeat the colors after me before he could eat one, he would just say "green" and sneak one in.

Last week we took "spring break" along with the public schools.  Really, it was just a week of catching up on chores and planning out the remainder of school until SUMMER!  Alison got to spend the day with some fellow homeschool friends and they went to see Cinderella at the theater.  She loved having a day full of girly stuff.

 She has also made a sweet friend at swim lessons.  Charissa is only 6 but they click really well and have a great time playing together on Wednesdays.

We've had such a great experience at the pool that I signed Eli up to begin lessons in a few weeks.  He's been practicing in the bathtub:

No morning is complete without hearing this:

Colin says, "I NEED coffee!" He wants coffee in the Curious George coffee mug.

Eli decided he was big enough to ride his bike.


I love how just moving toys around makes them completely new to kids. I moved our kitchen down the wall and suddenly it was irresistible. Eli spent a lot of time today setting up the kitchen and cooking for us. I love how his blankie became the fire to cook over. It seems loud in the video...that would be our house when the dishwasher is running and the kids are playing.