Cashing in our coupons

The kids signed up for the summer reading program at our library this summer.  With that, they were given coupons for roller skating and bowling.  They expire tomorrow, so we had to use them!  Bucko had a birthday party at the roller rink on Saturday, so I took all the kids and we had a blast!  Minnie was the only one who had ever been skating before.  We used to have a pair that fit over their shoes. They would wear them around the backyard, but I don't think that counts.  Anyway, they fell down....a lot.  I knew they were going to have bruises, but they kept getting up and kept at it.  Goofy was the one who surprised me the most.  I didn't expect a 2-year-old to be better than his older siblings.  However, this 2-year-old is an observer.  He watched everyone and copied them. It was the cutest thing!  I love that at this skating rink they allow parents to walk around the rink with their little ones, so I didn't have to wear skates and try to catch them and keep myself upright at the same time.

 Then tonight we decided we better cash in our bowling coupon.  Here's Goofy getting ready to bowl.  He's sporting his new sweater and jeans that came in the mail yesterday. 



Minnie with the attitude "That's right I got a strike! You better believe it!"



Bucko all calm after his first strike! And he wasn't even using the ramp!

I didn't bowl, as my wrist can't handle that. Besides, I have to be with Goofy at all times or he will bowl for everyone.  Goofy has been a wonderful 2 year old, but he did push my limits at the end of round 9.  He had lost his patience in waiting his turn and would not sit and wait.  After he bowled his turn, I took off his bowling shoes and he threw the biggest fit of his life.  I have never had this reaction from him.  I hope it is not a precursor to something coming.  I had to have Tink put on his shoes, while I held both his arms down. He kept trying to put his bowling shoes back on because he wanted to stay and bowl more.  He eventually calmed down, but oh my.  Needless to say, I will not take them bowling again if I am the only adult going. But we did have fun until then!

Gloria and Hallelujah!

All our packages made it back to England today!!!  In our mailboxes, they place these lovely bright yellow slips of paper to tell you that you have a package. Then you take your ID up to the window and they go and get it for you.  We always get excited when we have a yellow slip in our box. Can you imagine how giddy I felt when I saw I had 21 yellow slips!!!  It must have been a record!  They loaded all of the boxes on this huge cart and Minnie and Goofy helped me push it out to the van. They filled the entire trunk and backseat!  I had to do about 10 trips from the van to the house when we got home. Luckily, it wasn't raining today. 

Minnie just waiting to open something up!

We tried to wait until Tink and Bucko made it home from school, but we had a rough time of it. So we ended up opening the things that we knew were for us and not them.  Minnie has been waiting for so long for the rest of the fabric for her Belle costume for Halloween to come in.  Now she has to wait on me to finish making it!  She was glad to see that.
When they finally made it home from school, we tore into the rest.  Well, almost all of the rest, there were several boxes that actually were Christmas presents that I kept to the side.  (I know I am crazy for ordering Christmas presents so early, but since I order everything online, I like to do it early. And now I am really grateful I did!)  But it did feel (and look, minus colorful wrapping paper) a bit like Christmas.  This was the damage after we opened it all.

Thank goodness it is recycling week as my recycle bins are completely full of empty boxes and paper now!  One other thing, some of the boxes were held together only by the tape they had to keep applying to them.  I guess that's what happens when they get sent across the ocean three times!!!

SO much!

Moving, bronchitis, single parent, all my mail being sent to Arizona--it has been a long few weeks.  I finally feel like we are settling in to our new house, but still have SO much more to do.  I am, thankfully, getting over the bronchitis that I've been fighting for what feels like forever.  My mail situation has been fixed and all my mail should be here next week. It will be like Christmas as they had about 20 packages there for me.  Bucko learned to ride a bike last week. We were so happy for him and he still likes to show everyone how good he is.  He just needed a smaller bike, and our new neighbors helped out with that.