First Trip to the Grocery Store

• On Thursday (Bonnie Day) Bonnie wanted to go to the grocery store to get some soda. It was supposed to be a quick trip because I made out my list the night before and everything was ready to go. On some Thursdays at our Shop N Save they have No Coupon Thursday where you get $10.00 off any purchase over $50.00. This is very nice to take advantage of if you can. I can only get there sometimes. So we get to the store and all of the spots are full so I have to drive around the parking lot a couple of times and then I find someone backing out. We get in the store and the first item on my list is sold out. Let me back up a little bit. Shop N Save was also having a deal where if you bought 10 items from a group of certain items then you would get $10.00 off your next visit. They also had another one where if you bought $25.00 worth of items from another list then you could get another $10.00 off your next visit. I was trying to get both of these coupons so I had picked out everthing I needed to qualify for them. So, when the first thing on my list was not available I had to recalculate everything. It turns out that three things on my list we sold out so I really had to recalculate my list. While I am in the midst of this the boys are bickering so I remove Cameron from the cart and make him walk. In aisle three he decides that he has to go to the bathroom so I leave the two others with Bonnie and take off for the bathroom. We continued shopping and about halfway through Keira decides to start crying. Bonnie had to carry her the rest of the way through the store while Cameron pushed the cart with Keira's stuff in it. That gave him something to do which kept him out of trouble. We finally made it to the checkout and we were packing the groceries when I realized that I did not get my coupons for which I worked so hard. By this time all of the kids are ready to go home, but I had to get those coupons. I asked the cashier if they printed out and one had but one had not. I was sent to customer service with Cameron to get the other coupon while Bonnie watched Garrett and Keira again. They were able to get me the other coupon and while I was waiting I realized that I didn't get my gas coupon which gives me a certain amount off per gallon depending on how much I spent. She told me that she couldn't print that off but she had a leftover receipt for $.03 per gallon. I was eligible for $.09 off per gallon so I was not impressed with only $.03. Finally the manager came by and showed her how to print off a $.09 per gallon coupon. Yeah, we were finally ready to leave the store after our 2 hour ordeal. Bonnie and I are not so sure that we will be going to the grocery store with all 3 kids again. Although most of the problem was not with them it was with the store selling out of the items that I needed to get my coupons. I know that I must sound crazy but in this day and age I have to save every penny that I can. Next time I go to the store, if it is on a No Coupon Thursday than I will be able to save $35.00. That is worth it for me.
  

We are starting to get into a three hour routine around here. I usually spend most of my day feeding some person or some animal. I can't complain too much though because Keira sleeps 7 to 8 hours at night already at just 3 weeks old. That is really a blessing. The boys adore their new sister and life for them hasn't changed too much because they still have each other with which to play and argue. In fact, they are playing now. I think that the real challenge will come when Cameron starts school in August. Last night we went to the Open House at the Maryville Christian School which is located at our church. It went well. We filled out all of the paperwork needed to apply. Next, we will have an interview with the princepal and Cameron will be evaluated. I know that he is very smart I just hope that he will be able to sit still all day long in a school environment. He has never been to a preschool and that might be a little bit of a disadvantage for him, but we will see. After the interview they will let us know whether or not he is accepted into the school. The challenge will come when I have to have all three kids ready and out the door by 8:00 am every morning so Cameron can be at school by 8:15. Once we get into a routine it will be okay, but getting to that point will be a challenge. As it is now I can barely get up and get going by 10 am. Of course, I can just cut out checking my e-mails in the morning and then wake up at 6am. Yuck. That is so early. I guess that I will get used to it again. We'll just have to cross that bridge when we get there.

The Weekend News

This weekend was full of highs and lows. The high was that we spent Saturday with Memaw and Pop over at the St. Louis Mills. The kids were able to play on the indoor playground for a few hours and get all of their energy for the day out. We took Memaw to Chevy's for her birthday lunch and that was really good. Then we each got to do a little shopping. Memaw bought clothes for Keira and some toys for the boys. All in all we spent about 6 or 7 hours there. It was great fun but we were all worn out. We came home gave the boys their shower and watched Crusoe together. Then we put the boys to bed and gave Keira her bath. She liked it a little better this time. It was a great day.

Then came the low, Garrett woke up at 3 am with the croup. He sounded just awful and it was hard for him to breath. I didn't want him upset so I tried to calm him while Mike called the hospital. They said to take him out in the cold for a while so I did that and Mike set up the vaporizer. Cameron was also awake during all of this too. The only one sleeping was Keira. By the way, she has been sleeping 6 and 7 hours at night. This is a blessing. I ended up waking her up at 5 to feed her after both the boys were back in bed. Then I went back to bed and Mike stayed up. At six Garrett woke up again and we went through the whole routine again. Needless to say we didn't make it to church which is the first time in a long time except for when we are gone on vacation. We did end up going to Mike's parents to watch the Superbowl. Mike just likes to watch the commercials. Then we came home, put the boys and Keira to bed and crashed. Garrett slept a little better last night, but I think that it was in little spurts. He did not have the croupy cough, but he was still all congested. Today he has been pretty lethargic.