"What We've Been Up To" Wednesday

On the grocery shopping front, I've been doing great with the every-two-weeks shopping trips. I have definitely been saving money and have kept my average weekly shopping bill down to about $75-$85 or so a week, instead of $95+ as an average.  I've also really been saving money with my homemade fabric softener and laundry detergent.  I am loving both of those!  Now if I could just find a good recipe for dishwasher detergent and learn how to make my own toilet paper (just kidding on the tp, of course).

So, what have we been up to these past couple of weeks? Mostly yard projects!  Rick has mostly completed the play structure.  Since we are planning to move, he's not going to continue with it and make the swingset portion.  The kiddos will just have to be satisfied with the slide and tower for now.

I have planted a total of 28 flower pots.  They are blooming and look amazing!  The landscaping we did last spring, the shrubs and all, have really bloomed out this year and our house looks so pretty!

I am obsessed with my little container garden.  Out of my seeds I ended up with a pretty good crop of green pepper plants, basil and oregano, and about 6 tomato plants (but they are still pretty tiny).  I broke down and bought a mature cherry tomato plant and regular tomato plant. Then yesterday I just couldn't resist buying a rosemary bush and a zucchini plant.  My one good green bean plant has now shriveled up, but I have hope in one more little sprout that has now grown it's second set of leaves since being transplanted to the bigger pot and placed outside.  I thought green bean plants were foolproof!  They underestimated the size of the fool, I guess.

Rick and I have also created some garden areas around some trees in our front yard. We always thought that would be a huge project that would be hard and take us forever. It took us no time at all to do the first one! It was so irritatingly easy (we're frustrated we didn't do it last year!) that we decided to do the trees on the other side of the driveway too. They look amazing!

The other day I got motivated and decided to put the "copper" mesh in my kitchen desk cabinet. I knew that would be an easy project, but I had been putting it off for some reason. So, I measured the opening, cut the chicken wire with wire cutters, spray painted them with copper spray paint and used a staple gun to install them.  Just call me Mrs. Bob Vila. I was impressed with myself. Now I am all hyped up to paint and put a faux finish on our master bathroom floor. I'm tackling that project this weekend!

Brynne had her end-of-the-year program at preschool yesterday. She is usually quite the show-woman. But for some reason yesterday she was in a "mood".  She insisted on taking her pup on the stage with her and then buried her head in him the whole time and never sang. Oh well, that's what true good videos are made of. She'll laugh someday. When we got to the car, I put Eli in his seat and was talking to Rick. I shut the car door and shut Eli's hand into it. He was reaching out to say, "Daddy" because he wanted to tell him something. And I mean I shut it in it. He screamed and I felt so bad! Thankfully it was okay.

This week at Eli's school they are doing some fun days. Yesterday it was carnival day and later in the week they are doing track and field day. I can't believe he'll be in kindergarten next year!

Kyndal and Dawson are having semester finals this week. They are so ready for school to be out. I have mixed emotions, of course! Kyndal will be busy babysitting for our neighbors a couple of days a week, so that will help to keep her boredom down. I'm sure Dawson's summer will be filled with neighborhood friends. 

Next weekend Rick and I, and the older kids, are heading back up to Kansas City to look at some more houses and show the kids the area we are interested in.  I'm looking forward to doing that with them.

That's what we've been up to. These last weeks of school are always busy! I'm just enjoying doing work around the house and spending time in the evenings with Rick. We've settled back into our old routine of getting the kids to bed and hitting the couch together to watch some television and wind down. It's amazing how easy it is to get out of that habit, and as soon as the kids go to bed to separate into our own things. Rick's is usually computer work or hitting golf balls in the garage. Mine is usually just going to bed or watching t.v. by myself. But I didn't realize how much I had missed spending end-of-the-day time with him. It's invaluable for us to stay connected.