My Foray Into Trader Joe's

Today while the kids and I were out doing our Old Navy returns, we stopped by the new Trader Joe's that just opened up in our city. I love Trader Joe's, and it has been a long time since I've been to one. I have a few favorites from the store, so I was happy to purchase those again. I say foray because my shopping trip really was like a quick foray into enemy territory. It was so incredibly busy that there were no available carts, and I was forced to use a basket. That turned out to be a plus though, as I didn't have to navigate between the throngs of shoppers and their bright red carts.

I got all of the following for about $26.



I did get a few doubles of some things (i.e the Chinese crackers, the milk chocolate candy bars, and I also got a pack of Chicken Jerky snacks for the dog). You'll notice the lemonade is opened, I opened it as soon as we got home! haha

The yogurt is for the No Pudge Brownies. I will be doing a review of those over the next couple days, so be sure to look out for it! I have heard of Dr Bronner's before, but have never used it before, so I am excited to try it. The Tea Tree oil soap I am going to use for my face I think, or at least try it. Tea Tree oil always works for me when I break out, so I'll see how this stuff fares. I will do a review of that too! (that round container hiding behind the Chinese crackers is a tub of cinnamon ginger cat cookies that I got for the kids. A huge tub for only $2.49!!)

I'm off to enjoy the sunny weather with the kids. We're counting down till the cold starts, so we may as well enjoy the summer while it lasts.

It's That Time Of Year Again

June is in full swing already. School will be out on the 18th, and we're all looking forward to a summer of no schedules. I like not being tied down for a couple months, but I bet once the end of august comes around, I will be impatiently waiting for September 9th for school to start!

On the last day of school, I always pick the kids up from school because it is a half day. Then we go out for a special lunch, as a treat. Last year it was Taco Bell! Ok, not so special, but the kids enjoyed it. I usually let them pick. I think this year we might go to Pizza Hut for their lunch buffet.

Since my husband and I made the decision to put our YMCA membership on hold this summer, we've been trying to think of fun things for me to do with the kids. Some of our ideas are:

* The park. It runs alongside a river that might have some swimming areas
* Library reading program
* Swimming in our pool
* Beaches (I think there are some in the area, I just have to hunt for them)
* Lots of crafts
* Go to the Zoo
* Go on Vacation to BC


I bought a Zoo membership the other day. It is good for a year, and we got the deluxe family membership which allows us a bunch of extra benefits, plus we can take 3 free guests with us each time. The Zoo is about 40 minutes away, so it is a bit of a drive, but not too bad to do a couple times a month.

On the 18th, the last day of school, there is a special event for Zoo members in the evening. The kids are really excited to go, so I will have to re-arrange our schedule that day. The encounter starts at 6:30, so I'm not quite sure if we'll do Pizza Hut for lunch, or go for dinner. We'll probably go to the Zoo after school, and then leave for dinner, and then come back for the event. I'm sure I can find somewhere to eat around there. I'm looking forward to going though!

What do you have planned for your Summer?

So I'm A Single Mom Again

Well, technically not, but I will be for the next 10 weeks or so. My husband left Thursday morning for work again, so I am all by myself with the kids till mid July. I think he'll be home July 14th, two days before our trip to Canada.

I always hate this stretch because it is so long. I HATE that he has to be gone for so long. But we chose this, because it is one of our biggest money making times. He'll be home for two weeks in July anyway, right before my birthday.

When I think of the next 10 weeks, it seems like it will take forever to pass, and go slow as molasses, but in the end, it seems that it just flew by. I have no idea what we're going to do though. The kids have school till June 18th, so I have a month to "entertain" them before he comes home.

Unfortunately, we have decided not to put up our pool till after we come back from Vacation. We don't want to leave the pump going all the time while we're gone (6 days), so we'll just wait to set it up. I think I might purchase a small wading pool to pass the time though, and maybe a badminton set. We have a few good parks close by as well, so that will help pass the time.

What have you planned for the Summer? I need some good ideas to help keep the kids entertained from mid June to mid July.

I Had To Yoke The Kids

We had so many strawberries, I had to yoke them so we could carry them all!

Just kidding. But they were grunting, and whining and sweating buckets by the time we were done!

We went to the strawberry farm today, which is right down the road from our house. I figured we'd head out early in the morning to beat the heat, so we left around 10:30 and it was still cool outside. Less than a half hour in, we took off our coats because we were already sweating!

Picking strawberries is hard work to say the least; all that bending over, and squatting. And dirty work too! My fingernails are stained red from all the juice.
But we had a lot of fun, despite the crankiness of a few children. I got two boxes full, like you see up top. I wanted to get enough to do a couple batches of jam. I figured we would have a lot, but not as much as we did. I was actually worried I wouldn't have enough when I got home, so that is why picked so many, as I did not want to have to come back later in the week.

We came home with 30lbs of strawberries! 30 freakin' pounds! I had the boy carry a box of them to the van, and he was just a grunting away, until he was finally able to let them down, and let out a big, relieved sigh. I also had a very upset toddler, as she was under the impression she got to keep the strawberries in her basket. She didn't' care to dump them out into the box to be weighed.

Today I froze some, to save for later this winter. And tomorrow I am going to make jam! I actually do not have enough canning jars, so I have to get some more tomorrow.

I really didn't think it was possible to get 30lbs of strawberries, but I was proved wrong!

Does anyone have any good recipes? we've been eating them like there is no tomorrow, but after awhile, even fresh picked strawberries can taste like garbage.