Excuses and All Things Food

So I think I was kind of setting myself up for failure by starting a reading challenge at the same time as I decided to start blogging again... I've been spending all of my (30 minutes) of free time a day- you guessed it- reading! I'm almost done Girl on the Train. I'll update the reading challenge list with my next book and a quick review next week.

I'd also say that I've been lousy at exercising lately, but then it snows, and shoveling the driveway totally makes up for it. Our driveway could easily fit 20 cars... We only shovel half of it- but still. That's a lot of snow! And I may be in the minority, but I'm actually loving this winter! We have consistently had several inches each week and it's gorgeous. 

If it's going to be cold it may as well snow! 

(Says the stay-at-home mom who doesn't have to drive in it...)

Prayer's picture. She's been trying to catch the Cardinal but in the mean time we've had lots of finches.

Today is our busiest day of the week. This morning started off with the kitten knocking my favourite plant off of the window sill and breaking the pot all over my bedroom floor. We flew through school without any kindergarten breakdowns. Lily did her best and wrote her neatest so she could show her dad all of her work! (I'm definitely going to use this incentive more often.) I bought new pencils for the first time since September! It's a new record for us making pencils last. They're almost like socks. Where they go?...  I have no idea! And the few we had left were too short to sharpen properly. Funny how they managed to hold on to those ones for the last two weeks. 

Grocery shopping was... grocery shopping. At least it's more fun when I take kids with me. Last week a (very large) disabled man gave (very petite) Keona a good shove in the produce section. Followed by a polite, "Excuse me!" His worker apologized and told him he should say excuse me before pushing someone. I had to laugh. Not at him- but at Keona. I'm surprised she didn't go flying. Then an old lady decided to shop from our cart and took a bag of apples while I stood there and watched. Ha! She was really old. She saw me and put them back! 

Today was pretty uneventful. I've been in denial about the fact that I now need two carts for the weekly shop. I had no choice today, as several older ladies watched me try to balance everything on top of the cart after packing it into my reusable bags. (I actually remembered to bring my bags! Hooray!) So I then had to go grab a second cart...  

The produce guy had a good laugh at the number of bananas I was buying, "You're either making banana bread or you REALLY like bananas..." 

I was tempted to tell him they were for my pet monkey. 

Instead I just said, "No, my 9 kids really like bananas..." 

To which he replied, "Wow! I wouldn't want your grocery bill!"

 Ugh... Thanks for reminding me. Though I was within 36 cents of the budget today! I think Scott's estimating abilities are rubbing off on me. ;)

Since pretty much the entire post has been devoted to food already... We went to Swiss Chalet for Family Day. This is an extremely rare occasion for us. Considering the fact that I could make 5 days worth of dinner and dessert for what ONE restaurant meal costs us... It doesn't make much sense. Other than the fact that I didn't have to cook! And we had gift cards... :) Keona and I are very similar. We both went with the tried and true 1/4 chicken dinner.

The triplets are adventurous. They all tried fancy stir fry and pasta dishes. Both Ella and Lily were most excited about the chocolate milk and all three boys ordered Shirley Temples. 

Yes, I said all THREE. The waitress got a good laugh out of that! It was a fun night out. Followed by Tim Horton's roll ups for everyone and a movie back at home. 

The last bit of light for the day.

And now... I'm going to read my book and watch Grey's. I'm really hoping it picks up because last week was kinda disappointing and really unbelievable. I mean, what else can they really do to Meredith? The poor lady needs a break. 

Night, everyone!

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Edited to add: I've gotten a few emails about homeschooling and I'm working on a post about our curriculum choices, combined courses/grades, and basically what a school day looks like for us. Stay tuned! Hopefully next week!