Soccer

This month Darin participated in the city youth soccer league. They started a kindergarten program last year as previously soccer was first offered in first grade. For the kindergarten program they just meet for 4 Tuesdays for 45 minutes each. For the first half of the time they learn a few skills and during the second half they split the group in half and play a game. He had a blast! It was a great energy outlet for him and he would really get into playing. During the first game he even scored 2 goals! It was fun to watch him get so excited about the game. He even learned his teammates names and would cheer them on. It was so cute.

Here are some pics Dan took of him in action.

Our weekend getaway

We recently got back from a weekend getaway to Duluth sans kids. We started doing this every May several years ago when Dan started working in public accounting. Until this year, I've always called it my "Get reacquainted with my husband" getaway. But since Dan got a new job last November, he's been working regular hours and not traveling (which, by the way, has been wonderful!!) so we didn't really need to get reacquainted. But who is going to give up a weekend getaway with her husband? Not me!

So Wednesday after Dan was done with work we drove to Dan's parents house and spent the night there. Thursday morning after the younger two went to school with his parents (they are both teachers and Dan's mom teaches kindergarten), we gave the older two directions for what and when they should do and off we went.

We arrived in Duluth around 1pm and headed straight for Grandma's Saloon in Canal Park. That is always where we eat first. They have the best hand-battered onion rings anywhere. After that we drove up to the cabin where we normally stay. For supper we drove back into Duluth and went to Pizza Luce for supper. We had the Margherita Pizza and then stopped at Amazing Grace Bakery for dessert (a layered raspberry almond cake) and sandwiches for the next day's lunch (they have the best sandwiches!!).

Here is Dan, quite satisfied after our dessert. :-)



Normally on the Friday that we are up there we go hiking on the Superior Hiking Trail. Well, not this year. This year the temps that Friday were only in the 40s and the wind was horrible. Friday morning the sound of the waves crashing on the rocks actually woke us up!

Here is the sunrise that morning. I've got to admit--the colors in the pic are a bit more vivid than it was in real life. But it was still beautiful and I like watching the sun come up over the lake.



After taking the above pic, we went back to bed for awhile since we knew we wouldn't be going hiking. After we woke up again, we went out for breakfast at The Vanilla Bean in Two Harbors. They have really, really good omelets. Below is Dan's omelet--spinach and Gouda cheese. Mmmmmmm. And they are quite big and filling. This year he just ordered the large size omelet and I got a caramel roll. We split both things but if we'd have just split his omelet, then they charge a split plate fee about the price of the caramel roll.




After breakfast we went back to the cabin. I pulled up a chair by the fire and Dan sat a little further away on the couch. He doesn't like the heat like I do. Then we both pulled out books to read. Ahhhhhhhh (deep sigh of satisfaction). I so love to read and rarely have time to do it at home so it was really nice to be able to just sit by the fire and read a book (or two or three). Even Dan read a whole book while we were gone!!!



Here is a pic of the whitecaps on the lake. Now I know that it is nothing like the ocean, but it was really, really windy. Definitely not good hiking conditions.




Don't worry. We spent plenty of time talking too. On Saturday we read some more and then reviewed our goals from last year (which we hadn't actually looked at since we made them the year before). We actually accomplished quite a few of them despite not having looked at them quarterly which was our goal. We carried over some goals from last year and added some new goals for this year.

On Sunday it was finally not windy and slightly warmer so that I could sit outside a little bit in the sun. It was glorious!



After we packed up we stopped for brunch at Pizza Luce. We'd not eaten their breakfast before but the menu looked delicious and we were not disappointed. Dan had a portabello omelet and I had the blackberry & banana pancakes with real whipped cream and banana pecan maple syrup. It was so good. I was a bit skeptical of trying the pancakes since the last time I ordered pancakes at a restaurant they weren't that great. In fact, Darin even said to me at the time that my pancakes were better. But here I was greatly relieved when I took the first bite and let them melt in my mouth.



After brunch we head back to the Twin Cities to meet Dan's parents in order to pick up the kids. We heard all about how great their weekend was and after Natalie threw a monstrous fit (she was quite tired since she hadn't napped for the previous few days), she fell asleep. Definitely more of an angel when she's sleeping. :-)



Now we are back home and back to the stuff of life. But we've already made our reservations for next year!

Couponing

Seeing how it has been a few days since I blogged and I am at a loss for a topic, I figured I'd write a little about couponing.

I never used to use many coupons because I figured I'd just buy generic brands and it would be cheaper. And the generic brands that I've used in the past have worked just fine. However, Dan and the kids went to my brother-in-law and sister-in-law's house late December (I stayed home cuz I was working) and she told Dan all about the coupons she uses to get things for really cheap or free. She gave Dan a crash course in couponing and he came home and told me all about it. So I did some internet research and talked to Mandy about her strategies. She had taken a free (I think) course at her local library about couponing and shared what she had learned there.

One of the tricks to making coupons work for you is to pair the manufacturer coupon with a sale. Most items have a twelve week price cycle so the best time to use the coupon is when the item is at the bottom of the price cycle. Also, sometimes stores will have their own coupons and you can pair the store coupon with the manufacturer coupon.

There are several places to get coupons--Sunday inserts, online printables, ebay, coupon clipping sites. Sometimes grocery stores will also have manufacturer coupon booklets or sheets near the items that are being promoted. Once Dan found a coupon booklet at HyVee that resulted in really cheap Yoplait yogurt and free frozen veggies. He grabbed several booklets for me. :-)

Anyway, ever since I've started couponing I've actually been able to stay within my grocery budget! Dan is obviously very excited about this. Now don't get me wrong, it's not like I was going crazy with my grocery spending, but with trying to put balanced meals on the table and not using coupons, I usually went over budget by around $25-$50. Now I have no problems staying in my budget, I'm buying name brand food items and I'm stocking up. For example, I now have lots and lots of cereal and my price point for buying cereal has dropped considerably. I used to think that paying $2 for a box was a good deal. Now I generally don't buy cereal unless I can pay less than $1. And I probably won't be buying cereal for awhile since I have quite a stockpile.

Another thing we've stocked up on recently is the Nabisco Snack packs--Teddy grahams, mini oreos, nutter butters, etc. Target had them priced for $1.52 and they had a coupon for $1 off. Well, Target finally got smart and raised the price to $2. So I guess my Snack pack buying days are over. However Target currently has a coupon out for $1 off apples so we've been buying apples quite cheaply (I usually buy 3 at a time and then they only cost around $0.35-$0.50 total).

The best deal I ever got was free and almost-free meat. Once Cub had one pound packages of ground pork on sale for $1 and there were $1 off coupons. I bought 40 coupons online for around $4 so I got 40 pounds of ground pork for $4. Also, Target at one point had $2 off coupons for their Sutton & Dodge steaks. Well, for two weeks they had either the chuck steaks or the sirloin steaks on sale for $2/pound so I bought several packages that were around a pound each, used the coupon and paid only pennies for each package. All this meat came in handy when I did a big once-a-month cooking session a few weeks ago.

Couponing has turned out to be not as much work as I initially thought it was going to be and I'm enjoying it. It is kind of like a game to see how much I can save.

Our new art curriculum

While at the homeschool conference this spring, I attended a workshop entitled "Why art is essential to your child's education." Dan and I weren't really sure which workshop we wanted to go to during that time slot as none of them we felt very strongly about, so we picked two that piqued our interest. Dan wasn't interested in the art topic so he went to one on physical education at home. I chose the art one. I knew that this workshop was sponsored by a vendor, but I still wanted to hear what she had to say. I know that art is important but often gets pushed aside, so I wanted a little encouragement. I certainly hadn't planned on buying a new curriculum. I didn't really figure I needed one since I had one at home, and I really like art. It was one of my favorite subjects in high school.

At the beginning of the workshop, the speaker gave the history of the art curriculum called Atelier Art . It was begun by an art teacher who was passionate about teaching art to kids in schools whose art programs had been cut. Kids would come either before or after school to learn art. This video-based program is now used by public schools in at least 3 states and has been reconfigured for homeschool use. The lessons are 12-20 minutes long although an art session actually takes around an hour since I usually pause the video so the kids can finish whatever step they are on before moving to the next step.

During the talk the speaker also gave personal testimony to the use of art in helping kids in other areas of their schoolwork. She has two children--one who is gifted and one who is dyslexic and has a couple of learning disabilities. Art made her gifted child actually slow down (not academically--he just is gifted and does everything quickly) and think about things a bit differently. Art helped her dyslexic child learn how to read and improved her math scores.

One of the great tactics that the speaker used was letting us try an art lesson. She gave us each a sheet of paper and a pencil and made us do a lesson. It was great! So we bought it.

Darin and Natalie learned about the use of line on their first lesson. They drew turtles. Here are their pictures--the first is Darin's picture, the second is Natalie's.





Ellie and Kara's second lesson was on color. Ellie's balloon is on the left, Kara's is on the right.