Pool day!

Our city pool opened today and we took the kids for about an hour! Everyone is looking forward to a summer of splashing, diving and sliding! A family pass is $100 and we can go anytime that we like...a really great deal for a large family! (Anna seems to be feeling better this afternoon, too!)

Anna

has had the stomach flu for a few days and is feeling poorly. When she gets an illness of this sort, it really hits her hard. Poor thing has not been able to keep very much down. Thomas and Garrett had it, as well, but are doing better. This is her 3rd bout with it since February and it is getting mighty old. Thank you for praying for Anna!

Heat!

It feels like summer outside and I am loving it!!! 92 is the high today. My plants are all doing great, the strawberries could use some weeding. I have a new clothesline and am having fun with that. Our dryer went kaput...that is okay in the summer, but will have to get a dryer eventually. My neighbor (an elderly lady) told me that she didn't have a dryer until recently. Always hung her clothes out, even in the winter!!! Seems like things go *kaput* in groups. Colton's car needs worked on again. If the fix is too expensive, we will park the Colt and get the Olds out. The Olds isn't pretty, but it is driveable.

Only 4 more days of school work! That is exciting. I placed my order for materials through the school and will see what I receive. I can't order anything from a Christian publisher, so that is limiting. I do get Easy Grammar, Wordly Wise, Teaching Textbooks, Handwriting without Tears. Otherwise I want to make sure our history, science, literature, etc is from a Biblical perspective.

My SIL suffers from MCS and has had a rough time. She was exposed to some pesticides lately and it really set her back. We are all praying for her. She can't go inside most buildings and has to be so careful what she is around. It is hard to understand why we go through trials, setbacks at times. God is always faithful to us. We can't see what is around the bend, but He works things out constantly for our good. I feel that living with depression has helped mold me and continues to and I pray that she can look at this trial and see the good out of it.

Take your children out of government schools..

I found this very interesting post on Yankee Mom's blog


Dobson Again Calls For Parents To Pull Kids Out of Public Schools

Pictures

The first photo is a bit dark, but it is Thomas' classic funny face. Alicia & Julia next (Julia is grimacing). Anna riding on a toy. Garrett, Katie & Colton, all at the graduation party. Colton lost 35lbs on the South Beach diet!!

Sisters & cousins

The kids are blessed to have a few cousins close in age. Here are Alicia, Julia and Carlina with cousin "A".

Warehouse stores..

HERE Life with 7 talks about her experiences with Costco.

What are your thoughts about warehouse stores? Jesse and I did the bulk of our grocery shopping at BJ's when we lived in Florida. We had a big kitchen with lots of cabinets and a large pantry for storage. It was ideal, not only for food, but also for household and paper products.

This past Fall, my mom bought us a membership to Sam's Club. Prior to that we had been doing most of our grocery shopping at Super Walmart. Now Sam's is our main stop and maybe Super Walmart if we can't find something at Sam's. It is much simpler shopping. We buy very basic....chicken, ground beef, lunch meat, bread, fruit, vegetables, juice, baking products, ketchup, barbeque sauce, maple syrup, cereal, milk, butter, cheese, noodles to name the main items. Sam's is never crowded when we go (we avoid the weekends, if we can help it--although the kids love to go on the weekends to get samples) and we can also get a cheap meal while we are there--delicious large cheese pizza for around $8.