ANOTHER HIT!!!!!

Boy are we trying new things since the move. New stores, new streets that don't go anywhere, new recipes, new projects, new furniture, new bikes, new neighbors that don't speak English, new to being the minority in the melting pot of Vernon Hills.

Today was grocery shopping day. I am tired of the kids fighting everywhere. So, I promised them a reward if they were good. They were pretty good (except one incident where they stepped on my shoe and my shoe went left and I went right - kind of embarrassing walking without shoes in the store - no shoes, no service).

Anyway, the shopping experience: I had checked all the sales papers and made a list of the sale items that we would use. Then I checked my coupons and took the ones that I needed and would buy only if it was a deal. Then we were off. I spent WAY too much money, but I did buy two end tables with my grocery money (for $120) so that doesn't count. Anyway, I saved about $15 and spent $77 (I even bought four meals of meat). So, I did better than last week, even though I didn't use as many coupons.

Now for the fun part. Zachary's reward was playing his new flight game on MY laptop. The desktop took over three hours to load the game and then it wouldn't work very well. It loaded on my laptop in about 20 minutes. He was able to play the game some what - he just needs to learn the rules, etc. Elyse's reward was "Chalk Paint." LACEY - your kids would love this. Instead of sidewalk chalk, you make your own chalk paint. KAREN - you might use this at VBS, Sunday School, or at PCS. Here are the directions:

Put two tablespoons cornstarch in a muffin tin (fill as many holes as you want different colors of paint).

Add two tablespoons water and 4 drops of food coloring. Stir and let the kids paint away.

Here are the results:

The kids had a blast painting the front porch (not to mention that I told them to paint the driveway where it would wash off - the front porch probably won't get hit by the rain that is coming - oh well, we know how to wash cement). The clean up of the muffin pan was a snap. Just run warm water on it and it disappears. It also rinses out of the paint brushes. It is a pretty inexpensive project - didn't cost much for an hours worth of peace. Hope Grace, Caleb and Ava like painting their driveway. Elyse wants you to come see their art work.
The silly painters:

More serious painters:

The finished product: