Week in Review #25: Mundane is never a bad thing!

Aside from our adventure on Monday, the rest of the week was unexciting yet productive.  We did the normal things--church, library, school.  We officially started subtraction and it has gone wonderfully! Counting money is still bit of a sore spot, so we're just going slow with that.  Autumn loves working her ABC and number puzzles during school.  I try to make them specifically for school time, and I feel bad when she asks to play them ony other time. We need to get a few more of those things.  I wish Melissa and Doug stuff was a bit cheaper. We were just lucky to find these on clearance!

Early in the week we officially finished our bear unit and made a book of all the species of bears Hannah learned about. She was soooooo proud of it! :) The last section in her geography book is about animals of different continents, so I thought we could make similar books for each continent.

I love routine!

The older I get the more I'm realizing that almost nothing can be planned no matter how hard we try.  Even something as small as a daily routine is better off to just fall together by itself. Here is a look at a normal day of our lives.  This schedule is just what would most likely happen if we didn't have anywhere to go that day (which might happen 2 days out of 7!).

7AM - Kids get up (and in turn wake us) and have breakfast (the kids have been known to pick cereal over pancakes).  Coffee is started immediately!

8:30 - By this time the Today show gets boring so the kids watch Nick Jr. for an hour.

9 - snack

9:30 - play doh or craft

11 - lunch

12PM - quiet time...sometimes I get a sweet surprise and one (usually Autumn) takes a nap. :)

1:30 - Ryan leaves for work

2-3 - School! We usually do at least three subjects--reading, math, and whatever Hannah choose unless there is something in particular we have not done for a while.  Autumn now has her special school time puzzles and what not, so that works out very well.

3-4 - play outside depending on the weather

4-5 - a little more Nick Jr. while I figure out what to serve for dinner

5 - dinner

5:30 - baths after which the girls will play in their room while I watch some news.

7:30-8 - We have a Bible devotional, stories, and bed. The girls go to bed within a half-hour  of each other usually.

8-11 -  I enjoy time by my lonesome, whether it's surfing the net, some housework, watching TV, or preparing something for school.

11 - Ryan gets home from work and we chat about the happenings of our evening while getting ready to go to sleep.

12-12:30 - we go to sleep only to get up the next morning to do it all over again! :-D 

Stretching on a Road Trip

Stretching your legs every so often on a road trip is very important, but sometimes we need a little extra help. :) The following pictures should be very helpful in ways you can extend the limbs of your children before their time. 

Let's start with arms, shall we?

Please keep in mind that dislocated shoulders and elbows are a no-no, so maintain control!

Moving on to legs...

Disclaimer: The kids thought this was all hilarious and we had a great time. Although this may not have been safest thing considering Hannah is lanky enough and Autumn is well on her way! ;)

Stores are catching on :P

Word around the couponing community is that Kroger is changing its coupon policy to where you can't "stack" coupons such as using both an ecoupon with a paper coupon. Boo! How do you think I have six boxes of cereal stacked in the cupboard plus all the mac and cheese and instant potatoes? It is in fact the truth since I was not able to use some of my coupons this morning when I went grocery shopping ($7.60 lost to be exact!), but some of them went through along with the ecoupon. Quite a little conundrum we have here. Moving on...

Despite recent changes, I think I did pretty good this morning when I did our "big" grocery shopping for the week.

6-Healthy Choice Cafe Steamers (Ryan had already taken one to work when I took the picture :-p)
2-Fleischmann's olive oil spead, 2-pack
1-dozen eggs, Kroger brand
1-Egg Beaters
1-Oscar Mayer Deli Select combo
2-Oscar Mayer Carving Board lunch meat
1-Formula 409 multi-purpose cleaner
1-Lysol bathroom cleaner
1-Fantastik multi-purpose cleaner

Retail: $52.70 +tax
Paid: $21.89 +tax

Caught in the Rain

Seems that going to the zoo on Mondays is becoming a tradition.  The weather looked a bit iffy this morning, but we decided to take a chance anyway.  We saw the sea lions do some tricks and even balance a ball on their nose! Very cool! There was an announcement over the PA system that there was a severe thunderstorm warning in the area, so we took that as a signal for us to leave. :) Our intention then was to head to Cici's for lunch, but we heard the tornado sirens going off.  Yeeeaaah...we thought home would probably be the best place for us.  Driving toward the interstate the wind and rain were so bad we could barely see 10 feet in front of us! Ryan quickly into Arby's, and we all ran as fast as we could to the door (looking a bunch of lunatics I imagine).  We all still got soaked.  The kids seemed to get the worst of it.  Since their hair is so fine they looked more wet than they really were. :-p By the time we finished lunch the rain calmed down quite a bit, and we were able to make it home unscathed. We are definitely homebound the rest of the day which is awesome. No better place to be in this type of weather!

Another Awesome Giveaway!

There is another awesome giveaway from Confessions of a Homeschooler!  This time it's Expedition Earth: A Journey Through God's World.  This geography curriculum is designed primarily for grades K-3, and they will journey through 31 different countries with different activities, crafts, recipes, and more! Again, even if you don't win the giveaway the price is just right: $15 for instant download and $20 for a CD. 

Hop on over to the blog for your chance to win! :-D

Since my opinion is so valuable...

I have conducted (between myself and my brain) some reviews of various places where we slept/ate/wandered around looking at stuff while we were in Gatlinburg.  We drove through Pigeon Forge before getting to Gatlinburg, and all I could think was "Holy Cheesy Attraction, Batman!"  With some things you can only pray you are getting your money's worth since everything is so expensive being a tourist city and all.  I am happy to report that there was nothing we saw that was horrific and made us feel cheated out of our money.

One star is terrible, five stars is awesome

All images are from a Google search and are not personally mine.

Sidney James Mountain Lodge ****

It took us forever to find the place but once we did we realize it was in pretty good walking distance from the main strip.  Perfect!  Due to a reservation mix up they offered to upgrade our room which was great! The only thing I would not recommend is the breakfast.  The free continental breakfast was kinda pathetic.  I just say skip that and go out to one of the many, many pancake houses they have! We never ran into a bad one, and prices were not bad!

Ripley's Aquarium ***

Very kid-friendly and pretty cool going through the tunnel where the sharks were, but fish can only be so interesting.  That's just my opinion.  There are some who just loooove aquariums, but I would not put this is one of the top "must sees" of Gatlinburg.



If you guess where this is from you get
a cookie!

 Hollywood Star Cars Museum ****

Admission is $10 each, and this is actually a pretty interesting attraction.  All the automobiles were actually used in the specified movies and TV shows such Bumblebee, General Lee, and Kitt.  I found the 1961 police car from Andy Griffith pretty interesting myself. :) This is definitely worth checking out! I'd give 5 stars if we were allowed to sit in the cars for pictures. :-p

Bubba Gump Shrimp ***

Great food and loved all the oldies music playing! The tables were a bit overdecorated with odds and ends w

hich didn't leave very much room to eat.  Prices were a bit extreme for the amount of food they give you, but the service was great.  The servers will do Forrest Gump trivia with you, which was fun. 
Hard Rock Cafe ****

Obviously everyone who does not live with their head in the sand knows what the Hard Rock is. This was the first time I had ever been to one! Definitely a place for those who are into all aspects of music and rock history (they had a handwritten letter from Paul McCartney!)  If you are looking for a nice quiet meal this would not be the place. :-p We had awesome service and the food was great.  The bartender messed up on Ryan's drink, and they were totally cool about it.  We don't like making a fuss and being "those" types of customers, but you have to figure this is your money you're giving them.

Sky Lift ***

The view was awesome, and I really wanted one of those pictures they take of you when you get to the top.  Unfortunately, it was so foggy that's all you couldn't see the view behind us. :( You can't help but be a tad nervous as you're traveling over a river and busy street several feet in the air.  If you have any problem with heights this is not recommended.  I'm hoping to someday get a picture with pretty fall colors behind us. :) 

Guiness Book of World Records *

Admission was only $10 a person (we got 50%! Military discount!), but I would say take that money and invest in the book.  Look at it with your friends and it will be a better time than this museum.  Don't know why you would refer to it as a museum since there were no actual artifacts.  Just a bunch of pictures and exhibits looking like they were put together by a bunch of middle school students. I just wasn't impressed, but I guess it's something to do if you have to kill some time.

Titanic Museum *****

Go! Now! This was the most we paid for any attraction, but it was soooooo worth it! You know most people have some sort of fascination with the Titanic, and this is a great way to learn more about it! The recreation of different parts of the ship (3rd class rooms, The Grand Staircase!) were amazing! You were also able to go out onto the "deck" and feel the 28 degree water, which was how cold is was when the ship went down. Wow, and that was cold! I can't even begin to describe how amazing this was! Makes me want to go back just writing about it! The only complaint is that they don't allow photos or video inside due to copyright. :( Bum deal.  

WonderWorks ***

Just the sight of this building was pretty cool! I was unsure of what it actually was, but it's pretty much interactive museum.  Very kid-friendly.  I think one of the few times I wished the kids were with us. ;) Since we went during the weekend it was very crowded and we stood in line more than actually checking out the exhibits.  This is worth going to definitely, but more so during the week.

Tony Roma's ****

It's in walking distance from WonderWorks, so it was perfect for lunch! The food, atmosphere, and service was great!  Another chain restaurant I had never been to! :-p Prices were a bit high, but I suppose that's not a huge surprise.

If there's one thing I learned while in Gatlinburg it was always ask if they have military discount! We got some awesome deals!!