Week in Review

I can't really call this our weekly report for school since we didn't get much school done this week. We did what we had planned on Monday and part of Tuesday, but Wednesday morning we left for Rock Valley, IA for Dan's grandma's funeral. We came home Thursday afternoon in time for small group. It seems like such a long time ago that it was Monday. Since I don't have the schedule in front of me, I can't even remember what we did for school.

We had a good trip to NW IA. Dan's sister Sara had flown into Minneapolis so Dan picked her up and she rode along with us. Evan and Mandy also came out from Chicago. While we were in Rock Valley, I went to a great consignment shop there. I didn't know it existed but Mom told me about it so I went shortly after we arrived. They will have been open 2 years already this coming January, but we aren't in NW IA very often. I found some great deals while I was there. I was in desperate need of some new winter clothes since I am 2 sizes smaller than last winter. So I found a pair of brown corduroy pants, a denim skirt, a pair of Nike running pants, a sweater and a long-sleeve T. I also picked up a set of 7 fiction books for Ellie and Kara that were published by Focus on the Family. And I only paid $47 for the whole lot!! I was quite happy. Later I went back with Kara and got her a pair of jeans.

After the burial on Thursday morning, we all went to Pumpkinland over by Orange City. The couple that owns it is Gar's cousin. They have a corn maze and a petting zoo. The kids had a blast and Grandpa bought them each a prize. I'll post pictures later. While we were there I saw an old friend from high school/college (Carrie (Ver Heuven) Borchers for those of you who are wondering). We were in the barn where they have the gifts, etc that they sell and I looked over at her and she waved. I said, "Carrie?" She said, "Yep." Couldn't believe it. I never expected to see someone I knew while we were there. She also has 4 kids--ages 1, 4, 6, and 9. She stays and home and runs an in-home daycare part time. They just got back 6 weeks ago from China (they adopted their youngest from there).

After that, we headed to Sioux Center to eat lunch at Pizza Ranch and then headed home. Dan brought Sara back to the airport and we went to small group.

Yesterday we did our monthly grocery shopping and running errands. I menu planned last week so I had everything ready to go. We stopped at the Indian market cuz I am finally going to make some of the things that I learned in the Indian cooking class Emily and I took together in January. We also made runs to Target, Aldi and HyVee. Ugh. I wish groceries would get cheaper, not more expensive!! I do, however, like having my menu planned for the whole month and only having to do grocery shopping once a month (except for milk).

Today we are on our way to the cities for the marathon. This is the one I was planning on running in; however, my body had other ideas. I've been plagued with knee problems (interestingly only on one side) and I can't run more than 5 miles so a marathon was pretty much out of the question since there are a whole lot more than 5 miles. :-) Before we check into our motel today, we are making a quick run to the Albertville outlet mall and Cabela's in Rogers. The Albertville mall has a Children's Place outlet (our favorite kid clothing store) and Cabela's has zip-up fleece sweatshirts on sale for $9.99. And the kids love to go to Cabela's anyway. They have lots of cool animals on display and a shooting range (not a real one) that Darin loves.

Well, that's about it for this week. Have a great week!