flashback friday

some more Florida trip pictures::

thrifty thursday

When you've got a crew as big as ours, stuff is expensive! Groceries, school supplies, shoes for growing feet, pediatrician bills . . . we don't seem to catch much of a break. But, on some things you get much more bang for your buck if you're a big crew. Yesterday I took the kids {well, 5 of them anyway} to the Children's Museum. Memberships to places are real bargains when you've got a crew the size of ours. "Unlimited admission for 1 year for 2 adults and all children under 18 living in the household" :: fabulous! It costs $8.95 to get in to the children's museum {Sara is still free for another couple months}. So, yesterday alone it would have been nearly $45 for me to pay for us to be there {me + 4 paying kids}. A membership for the year is $89. Plus, you get one day of free parking with your membership. {parking is $4 for 3 hours}. If the entire family were there the membership would just about pay for itself in 1 visit. As it were it will take 2 visits to break even. I promise you it will have been a wonderful deal for us! All the kids love it there, from the littlest all the way up to the biggest who still think it's a pretty fun place, plus they love seeing how excited the littles are over it.

At any given time we probably have a membership at a few places. Right now, we have memberships to the Children's Museum and also to the Minnesota Historical Society. Over the years we've also had memberships at the Minnesota Zoo, annual passes to the Eagle's Nest {a great indoor play structure -- like a McDonald's playland on steroids} and at this point, we wouldn't know what to do without our Y membership!

Even if your family isn't as big as ours, memberships can be a pretty good deal. Plus, they support the wonderful things to do in our city. A great idea is to get one membership a year and rotate where you have your membership to each year. Also, our Historical Society membership was an even better deal because I got it from one of those online coupon sites {Groupon or Crowd Cut or something} and got 2 years for the price of 1, and that particular membership gets you in to so many different sites it's already like 10 memberships in 1. Wonderful! Plus, most memberships have reciprocal benefits to other places if you are traveling. So, if you're heading away from home, don't forget to check where else your memberships are good for and you might have ready-made {and free or discounted} fun plans for part of your vacation time. We've used our reciprocal benefits a few different times when we've been out of town.

So, if you're ever up for a trip to the Children's Museum, or the History Center, or you want to take a little trip up to the Kelly Farm or you're downtown Minneapolis and want to check out the Mill City Museum . . . just give a call and we'll probably join you.

multitude monday

Did you miss me? I was pretty sick last week {getting better though, finally!} and, unless I'm mistaken, it was the first time in history that I've ever missed my Thankful/Thrifty Thursday or Flashback Friday posts since I started them {at least a couple years ago}.


Here's my continuing Multitude Monday post, which all started a while back, right here on a wonderful, amazing blog that I read each day.

"One Thousand Gifts":

1518. sunshine!
1519. friends
1520. 63 years of life for my dad . . . he is wonderful!
1521. superhero capes hanging on the clothesline
1522. a break from the oppressive heat and humidity
1523. a girl clipping clothespins in her curls -- sweet Anna!
1524. a compassionate, sincere doctor who kept saying :: "So, I keep thinking, if you were my daughter, what would I do?" . . . gotta love that!
1525. time with a friend
1526. yummy bread
1527. a room full of people singing "How Great Thou Art" by heart -- anyone who doesn't need words to sing such a wonderful hymn is a pretty good person in my book!
1528. braving the zipline with Jacob
1529. recognition of my dad and all his work {he put in so much time, skill, artistry, muscles, prayers and love to the new dining hall at Trout}::1530. an exceptionally delicious donut before church
1531. our first sunflower bloom

Alrighty, that's it's for now. Tune in next Monday for the next installment.

multitude monday

Here's my continuing Multitude Monday post, which all started a while back, right here on a wonderful, amazing blog that I read each day.

"One Thousand Gifts":

1505. power tools . . . and using them while wearing a skirt just adds to the fun
1506. seeing a favorite little girl bike up my driveway less than 24 hours after being in the ICU after a scary surgery that didn't quite happen
1507. a great night for soccer . . . and a win!
1508. mornings with a friend
1509. a couple days of picture perfect summer weather!
1510. a successful garage sale despite the insane amount of rain we had during the sale . . . garage salers are hearty people!
1511. flooding like we've NEVER seen the likes of in our 13+ years here, but thankful that we had no irreparable damage
1512. a wonderful book . . . and being kicked out of my house and told, by my husband, to go to Caribou and read
1513. delicious birthday cake with pink and orange frosting
1514. celebrating with my family
1515. hugs
1516. my kiddos playing at church yesterday (Rebekah on the piano, Lydia on the piano and Jacob playing trumpet accompanied by his great-grandma . . . a 4-generation spread praising the Lord with music. You shouldn't be surprised to know it made me cry!)
1517. 37 years of life (well, not until 7:37 tonight, officially) . . . thanks Mom!!

Alrighty, that's it's for now. Tune in next Monday for the next installment.

flashback friday

Our big Florida trip :: the trip summary in pictures ::

{part I -- actually it's more like part II since it's the 2nd half of our trip. I guess we're going to do this in reverse and you'll have to wait until next week for the other half.}

thrifty thursday

"How does she?", a blog I read, just had a fabulous post of Summer Savings Tips. It was wonderful! So, instead of reinventing the wheel, I thought I'd just share it with you. {but, you know me, to #1 I'd have to add that you should also dry those clothes washed in cold water on a clothesline}. So there you have it, happy saving!

multitude monday tuesday

Here's my continuing Multitude Monday post, which all started a while back, right here on a wonderful, amazing blog that I read each day.

"One Thousand Gifts":

1489. safe travels, once again
1490. laundry flapping on the line
1491. a new {working!} light in my laundry room {thanks, Babe!}
1492. hanging out at the pool on a hot, hot day
1493. a pool full of friends
1494. poolside chats with friends {for me!}
1495. 9 months of Sara
1496. being "home" on Sunday morning for the first time in a month
1497. modern medicine . . . SO very thankful!
1498. wise doctors and the amazing things they are able to do
1499. book club night {whoo hoo!}
1500. friends
1501. crossing things off the to-do list
1502. super hard laughter!
1503. kiddos tending their gardens and seeing their joy at its beauty
1504. the farmers market

Alrighty, that's it's for now. Tune in next Monday for the next installment.

nine

somehow 9 months has zoomed by already
here are a few facts about our 9-month-old girl::

• she can wave and clap
• she pulls up on stuff ALL THE TIME {and quite frequently tips chairs over on herself} and prefers to be standing
• she crawls REALLY fast
• she weighs about 20 pounds
• she LOVED the rides at Disney World! {as noted by the kicking of little legs and the bouncing up and down of her entire body}
• she was a fabulous little traveler on our trip
• she's had a nasty diaper rash for almost a month {I'm hopeful that being home again and putting her back in her cloth diapers will take care of it}
• she's loved like crazy by her siblings . . . and parents . . . and pretty much everyone who knows her
• Anna always calls her by both her first and middle name

plus, we think she's pretty cute!