I Just Passed on the Bargain Bug to of All People, My Husband!!

First of all you need to understand that I am the world's biggest bargain shopper, when I find something for one of my kiddos that I have been keeping my eye on and it is marked down to two or three dollars, it is almost guaranteed that I am going to let out a big "Wooohhhhh Hooooo" in the store! So today Michael and I went to Milan together. I needed to make a deposit for work and he needed tractor parts since he is getting ready to hay. We went to the bank first and it went as usual, walk in, drop a deposit, say the "have a good weekend" that everyone says and back out to the truck. Then we go to Braco's Farm Supply and we are after a part for Michael's tractor.......that is when the fun began!! He went in needing some kind of gasket that was $8.00 at the Case store in Gallatin and he found them at Braco's for $2.75 a piece so we ended up buying two since they were such a good deal. Then he saw the exact same cylanoid he had just asked a friend of ours to pick up in Gallatin since he was going anyways. At Gallatin it was going to cost $67.00 and at Braco's it was only $27.00 so that was a savings of $40.00!! Well needless to say that was all it took! He was thrilled and couldn't stop looking around. After all, so far we had saved $45.50 and he just couldn't wait to see what other bargains he could find. So then he goes on to find a can of some kind of spray that he wanted and it was cheaper too! By this time Michael was like a kid in a candy store and was just looking at almost everything. That's when I spotted the biggest bargain of the day!! For two years I have been looking at a tractor seat for Michael and I's Anniversary because that is something he both needs and wants. I know not romantic but when you have been together for 16 years and have four kids, you learn to buy things you need and want and that are more expensive and you can then blame it on the holiday and the fact that you had to buy something anyways so it was easy to justify the expense! I have checked on this seat on e-bay, at the Case store in Gallatin, and even looked at Amazon and found that they were somewhere between $200-$350.00. That is something that even I could not justify so I decided that if it was meant to be then it would just show up. The other day we were talking about the fact that he was getting ready to start haying and he made the comment again that he really needed to get a good tractor seat since his is now down to a few pieces of loosely laying stuffing and the metal and I said to him, "Well every year you say that and every year we pay for you to go to the chiropractor to undo the damage that you do to your back by not having one, so if you can find one for the same price as the chiropractor is going to cost even for two year's worth of treatments, then consider it yours". So today we are walking around Braco's with Michael looking at everything and now just checking things out that he doesn't even need to see if he can find anymore bargains and that's when I spot it....The full tractor seat, new pads, new metal, all brand new and in the box and you will never believe that it was on sale for $99.95. So with the $45.50 we had saved and had already budgeted for, and the $100.00 difference at least between the one there today and the cheapest one I had found elsewhere, we ended up basically buying a $200.00 or more seat for $54.50 which was approximately the cost of shipping the seat that I had found for $200.00. Michael could NOT believe that I had managed to find it and I was ecstatic! So needless to say, the day turned out great, I no longer have to worry about what big item my husband needs for our Anniversary, I got what I got him at an incredible price, and he now fully understands what I am talking about and why I am so excited when I get a good bargain!!

AWANA Family night was so much fun!

Last night we had the AWANA kick off family night event at our church and we had the BEST time! They had several games and divided us up into teams. We (our family) was on the green team along with the Sawyers, the Sauls, the Herring's and a few more it was a GREAT team! We played against the blue team and we just knew we would beat them without any problems....well we were WRONG!! They ended up beating us by several points but it was still something we all had a great time doing. The theme this year was Family Olympics and let me tell you the games were hysterical!! We started out with an oreo cookie twist, followed by a balloon popping game where each balloon held a piece of a bible verse and then you had to put the verse together, then we had a paper airplane flying contest, a make the bed as fast as you can contest, a bubble gum blowing contest, and finally my personal favorite (because I wasn't in it) a baby food feeding contest. You should have seen Mary Jo and Breanna feeding each other and eating the baby food! I laughed so hard I had tears rolling down my face before it was over! Of all foods one of the ones they chose was carrots!!! I could NOT believe that they had chosen those for the teams and neither could Mary Jo, the first thing she said was "Breanna, I get the bananas you get the carrots"!! The looks on their faces were priceless to say the least. After the games were over, we went into the fellowship hall and had supper and the food was beyond excellent! We did an ethnic theme to the food, since it was the Olympics, so we had several Mexican dishes, some Italian food, a few Chinese foods, and several great desserts. My personal favorite thing was some kind of dessert that Amy Axtell brought, everyone wanted the recipe and I plan to e-mail her in a minute and get it from her, it was awesome! I think that everyone had a great time and I hope that it really geared everyone up for the coming months of AWANA. I think that our group has really went down in size but I know that whatever God's plan for us is in AWANA will happen this year.
So overall, we got beat and had to go through the line of food last but it was worth the wait! The games were awesome and the fellowship was wonderful! It was all in all a GREAT family fun night for the Webbs.

Friends

So I was reading an old classmate of mine, Andrea (Herrold) Pullan's, blog today and I got to thinking that it is funny how at one time you could not have convinced me that we would not be the kind of friends that talk everyday about things going on in our lives. It's funny to me that at one time, the day just didn't seem complete until I had talked to each one of my high school friends and now I don't talk to them very often at all. I know that people change and your whereabouts change and just life in general changes, but I don't think that people realize until later on down the road just how much things change.
I know that while she and a lot of the rest of my class went off to college to begin their studies and trainings, I stayed behind and began a family. I don't regret that decision and I couldn't be happier for her and the classmates that went on to get their college degrees. All I am saying is that sometimes it makes me really think and cherish the friendships that I have now because I realize how quickly they could be gone. There is a part of me that wishes we were all close again it was really a fun time but of course I would want to bring the friends who have come to mean so much to me now along too. I have so many great friends now and I would love for all of them to meet and get to know all of the friends from my high school days! I think it would be hysterical to see them all together and would be a great time for everyone. I still talk to and see some of the kids from my class often and love that I get that privilege. It just surprises me when I think of how close we all once were and how now we never even exchange Christmas cards.
I don't blame this change on anyone, Lord knows I haven't tried very hard to keep in contact, I guess it just occurred to me today while reading her blog how much has changed and how different we all turned out after all. It's fun to reflect on who we used to be compared to who we are now and think about how much different our life paths were than what our planned paths were. I guess there isn't really a reason for this blog just something I was thinking about and thought I would share! Kind of makes you want to call and old friend tonight and see what's been going on in their lives doesn't it?

Football.......I hope I make it through this one!

So since it was mentioned in my last post, many of you know that Alex is playing 5th and 6th grade football in Trenton this season. This is something that we are all excited about but something that as a mom I am a little concerned about as well! Now as most of you already know, Alex is my ONLY son....he is just a little guy and he is by far my easiest child to tend to. Therefore, when these BIG boys come running after my son, I am wondering how Alex is going to feel about me standing up and screaming at the top of my lungs "You leave my baby alone and go pick on someone your own size"!! I am very concerned that I am going to be "that" parent that is watched like a hawk which no one wants to sit by and the sole reason that this year security guards are hired to stand on the sidelines and watch for parents who are ready to take down even the biggest of 5th grade boys! After thinking about this for over a week now, I have almost made peace with the fact that boys twice and even three times the size of my son will be doing their personal best to not only catch my son but thrust him to the ground in order to cause him to drop the football he is carrying! While this isn't really something I want to deal with, I am making headway in accepting the thought of it. We will see how it is in person when game day gets here!
Now let's talk about what I know about football. Well I know there is a ball, I know that there are lines on the field, and I know that you run as hard as you can once you catch the ball. I also know that when you go ten yards then you are back to a first down and you only get four tries to make it another ten yards. Pretty good right? Okay well now let's discuss what I don't know. These would things like how much is a touchdown worth, what it's called if you decide not to kick the ball after a touchdown is made but instead run it somewhere????? I also don't know how many points this fancy maneuver is worth but I am sure in time these lessons will come. My friends have found great fun in giving me sports terms that they know that I have NO clue about understanding and seeing what I can possibly come up with as an explanation for what they might mean. Two of these terms that come to mind for me are a jamboree and a chain gang.......which by the way I have now learned the definition of both and urge you to google it and see what you can find out. I can honestly say that I, along with Damon Neff plan to sign up to even be part of the "chain gang" and can't wait to be down there in the middle of the action past the security guards and only about ten yards away max from the first 5th grade giant that decides to make my baby his first target!

All 4 kids have started school.......Now What?

Okay so all four of my kids have now started school. This was not an easy task for me to let happen and I can't say that I am still all that excited about my baby leaving the nest but we all knew it was bound to happen someday. The youngest, Abby Jo, really seems to love it and I can't believe how much easier it has been for her to transform from a preschooler to a kindergarten student than I thought it would be. The other kids have been doing it for a few years but I was also excited to see what they thought of the first day. So after sitting at my office (which many of you know is right next door to the school) all day waiting on them to come bursting through the door, it finally happens and this is what I hear......Mommy hey Mommy hi Mommy you know what Mommy hey Mommy guess what......no kidding.....you know in the movie What Women Want when he can hear all of the women's thoughts around him and it sounds like a beehive? That is exactly what I was hearing only instead of the buzzing sound, it was a Mommmmmmmmmmmy sound...it was crazy! So I finally line them all up and tell them that they each get to tell me one great and one not so great thing about their days. Avery first (Alex was at a friend's house waiting to get taxied to football practice so I didn't get his info until later that night) then Alissa, and finally Abby Jo. Avery who is a year younger than her brother in school, says it was so great mom, remember how last year Alex had to read for an hour every night? Well I only have to read for 30 minutes a night and no weekends and no holidays!!! She was thrilled to say the least and I am pretty sure it was more because she was going to get to share this with Alex (who isn't the most excited about reading) than because she caught a break!! So then comes Alissa who for some odd reason and I really have no idea where she even got it now refers to everyone as her peeps??????? So after reminding her that my name is Mommy as it has been for the last seven years of her life and not peep then she goes on to say that her favorite part of the day was that she loved her teacher and Morgan was there. Morgan is her best friend and Alissa just thinks she is IT!! No matter what you have or have not done or have or have not owned it is just understood in our house that you will NEVER be as nice and kind and beautiful as Morgan is in Alissa's eyes so I was truly not surprised by this statement. Her only bad thing was that the boys had gotten faster over the summer so now when they play chase (which to us 30 somethings is also referred to as tag) the boys actually can catch the girls sometimes and Alissa is not as happy now that she can't beat them all the time. Then comes Abby Jo and for those of you who do not know her, she is a bit, okay a huge serving, of a drama queen. She is funny when she doesn't' mean to be and has the ability to exaggerate immensely if it helps plead her case. So here she comes excited that it is her turn. She shows me her pictures that she made, tells me she can now write her name perfectly (the amazing abilities of a teacher I guess because I have yet to see it perfectly but to her it looks exactly like Mrs. May's so we will just continue to discretely work on that at home), and that her favorite part of the day is nap time. I just kind of sat there looking at her with what must have been one confused look on my face! "Nap time, honey do you mean circle time?" She just looks at me as if to say, I don't think I stuttered and says "no mommy nap time.....it's my favorite, everyday it's going to be my favorite". So I decide to push further knowing that she is not expecting me to not understand why nap time is not automatically her favorite part of the day even though she fights nap time at home as though you were asking her to take a knife and cut off her own hand! So I say "Abby Jo, why is nap time your favorite part of the day"? That's when she looks at me even more confused than I was looking at her and says, "well Mommy, nap time is my favorite time of the day because I am sweepy". Guess that says it all. School is back in session, our schedules are back in turmoil, the kids and I are exhausted and Michael is still trying to figure out which events we are in and where and what comes next!