I brought Jake and Michaela home on Thursday after school. Michaela left on Saturday at 12:30 to go to horses with her big sister and spend the rest of the weekend with her. Jake stayed until Sunday afternoon. Friday was a whirlwind of commotion as there was much to do, and the kids had school, which involved a lot of driving back and forth. On Saturday, Michaela went off with her sister to do horses and Rob took the other kids, while I stayed home to work on the garden.
Ja’Ana played Pooh Sticks with Jake from a bridge at a park they went to. She got several hours of work on Friday, as well.
I cashed in a large handful of Safeway Monopoly tickets, and got many free items, including aspirin, gravy mix, tomato sauce, French bread, sour cream, bagels, yogurt, and water. One reason I’m getting so many free things is because they are now handing out large handfuls of tickets every time I go there, even if all I’m getting is mostly free stuff. So, I will stop in frequently until after Tuesday, when the game is over. I want to redeem all the free item coupons I have, and they keep giving me more. Patsy and Jake spent a long time opening the tickets, and Patsy is keeping track on her game board. Rob told her that if she won the million dollars, he would take her to Disneyland, so she keeps trying. The store did some substituting when they were out of things, and I have a small handful of coupons to redeem after today’s run.
Rob took Ja’Ana’s senior pictures, and got about 200 shots for me to choose from, plus shots of the other kids as well.
He got some great shots. I haven’t chosen, yet. I can’t. He had to replace a lens on his good camera, which he did by purchasing a refurbished one on-line. That saved him a great deal of money. He also saved us a bundle by taking the pictures himself. We will get invitations done at Walgreens for her graduation party, as we did with Lovana’s graduation.
They had a lot of fun. He cheerfully drove from park to park with a van load of kids, apparently stopped at 3 fast food places to get each one of them their preferred snack, after the crew downed the entire small cooler of snacks he took with them. Of course, the kids had to play on each set of equipment, throw rocks and sticks into every creek and river, and so forth. But, through it all, he got lots of great pictures.
There is some editing that needs to go on, but there are so many great ones, it will be difficult to choose, for sure!
In the meanwhile, I worked in the garden. Rob did some tilling before he left. I worked out in the garden for several hours. It’s looking better all the time, and some things are just planted, and some are already growing well. We had a heavy thunderstorm during the night, so the things I planted yesterday got well watered in.
The week to come does not look boring. I don’t like to be bored, so I should be happy. It was nice to sit down in church this morning and re-charge my batteries. That’s a good thing:). I’ve spent time with my niece and/or nephew 6 out of past 7 days, and will again tomorrow and Tuesday. My house looks like a train wreck, and that’s after putting in 2 hours cleaning this afternoon. I’m not done at all. Just tired and sitting down and done for today. I can, however, walk across the floor, Rob has clean socks for tomorrow, and clean dishes to eat breakfast from. We have a few appointments this week, as usual, and a bunch of schoolwork to finish, as the end of school deadline is very close. Things need to be handed in so Ja’Ana can get her diploma, so the kids have to finish so I can correct it and score it. I will rest this evening, and hit it again in the morning. Tomorrow is a new day, a busy and full one, just as I like it.
Beautiful photos of the kids and garden.. Nice of hubby to let the kids play and enjoy their day.
Your garden is coming along.. We got ours planted this week, and then got a nice rain, so the seeds
should be coming up soon. Have a blessed week.
I love planting the garden. It holds so much promise and always looks so great before the weeds start creeping in:)
We have had such a busy month, that my house is in shambles too. I told my mom that as long as everyone is fed and has clean clothing, I call that success:)
Yes! Success in my book, too.
The photos came out beautiful. We had a photography student/friend take OD college graduation photos. We paid her $25 for 45 minutes and she took about 100 shots. There were so many amazing ones it was hard to pick. The company that was doing the official shoots wanted about $200 for 10 poses. No thanks.
You have been very busy. Don’t you hate when you spend all of your time outside doing garden work and then you go inside and that needs your attention too. I wish there really were house elves. We were also outside lots. Hubby replaced some rotting would in my large garden with treated cedar that we took when we took down my sister’s old swing set. I got London broils on sale for $1.99 and I want to get back and get some more. There was a limit of 2 packs. I have gotten 4 already. I went a 3rd time and they were out. The sale is through Thursday so I should be fine. The rest of my week is here: https://mcoia.blogspot.com/2018/05/my-frugal-list-week-of-april-30-2018.html
This was a great weekend around here to do yard work. Sounds like it was where you live, too. I wonder if you are as sore as I am:)
Right now, the floor is littered with the bits you tear off from the Monopoly game, dirt, and other debris. The sink has dishes in it, although I’ve done a couple of sink-fulls already. The bathroom needs help. I agree. I need a house elf:). I’m just doing little jobs in-between things today. I will get a bunch more of it done before I go to work.
I like the second picture with the dark top. Ja’Ana has a great smile and that picture really shows it off.
Thank you. I agree!
I love the pictures! Beautiful young lady, nice job with the photography!
Thank you. That is only the tip of the iceberg, he took so many. I love so many of them, it will be hard to choose a few, but I will:)
Did you get any coupons for Shutterfly books in your Safeway coupons? I got two, I need to redeem them. I have a senior, we had family pictures made (25th anniversary for us), and my older daughter got engaged. I think I can make some books we will love and maybe gift the grandparents. But you could us one all for these!
I did get some Shutterfly coupons. Frankly, I’m not sure I will spend them. I’m not really sure what I would get, either. Let me know if you come up with good ideas! I also need to check out if I need to pay postage or not.
We will get some cards printed up at Walgreen’s, with several of the senior pictures, as invitations to the party we will have for my daughter.
You should look at them. What I got was specifically an 8×8 hard cover book. See their example here: https://www.shutterfly.com/pbpip/start.sfly?styleId=4001&productSku=PB_8X8_BASE&coverSku=PB_8X8_01&bindingSku=PB_8X8_STD&skuCode=4001-8×8-PB_8X8_01-PB_8X8_STD&CID=SEGSH.PBOOK.629_142866_6965548_2084078&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIjqSj0an22gIVlsVkCh1rJglEEAYYBCABEgIkpvD_BwE
The books are really neat (and I’m no scrapbooker or anything like that). You could make one of Ja’Ana’s senior pictures, maybe one of your trip to DC, etc. What I don’t know (yet) is what the shipping fee is, and that is definitely where they get you. But it would be worth even $12 to me I think.
I’ll look into it:). Thanks.
Personally I love the close-up picture where the light is in her hair. Your dh did a great job and picking your favorites is going to be hard. My son-in-law did graduation pictures for both of my kids and your right about saving money. Cheryl
Thank you. There are so many more that are equally as nice! Good thing is: I can keep all I want for the same low price:). I will get a few printed off, and make the invites with several. I love that shot, too.
What a beautiful young lady, Becky! I can see why you are having a difficult time choosing a few favorite photos. The few here all look lovely!
Your garden looks so inviting – ours is just now starting to be dry enough to plant cooler weather crops. Soon! At least that is what I tell myself!
Thanks for sharing,
Lea
Thank you. It’s like one day, the garden was too wet, then the next day, it was super dry! Crazy. I think it may be time passing quickly for me, in reality:)
Lovely pictures!
Thank you so much!
I would have a hard time choosing too. All the pictures are wonderful! Your garden is looking good. I still need to get my seeds planted.
I have so much more to do out there! Entire days go by with not even a single minute to slip out there, but I try to do a little something as often as I can. I do love gardening, so that helps with my motivation. It often boils down to whether or not I have time to clean up from how dirty I get or not! I’m a messy gardener:)
What beautiful photos! Definitely a busy time around your place!
I am feeling a bit crazy with how busy it’s going to get in the next month, but we should get through it:)
Ja’ana is such a beautiful young woman!
Thank you very much.
This is great your hubby doing the senior photos. I did a sweet sixteen similar to this for my daughter. I asked each girl to bring her prom dress to the party as prom was just a week earlier. I made tea sandwiches and set out china . DId chocolate covered starwberries and made it like a tea room with the desserts on tiered tray stands. The girls had great fun getting ready and my son put on a suit and served them he was 14 at the time. I gave each girl a white rose and took them to parks for photos. Everyone said best party ever cost me next to nothing!
That sound so fun! I’m sure the girls will treasure those memories, and the pictures, for years to come:)