The New

I first have to say that you should check out the Crafting Chicks blog because their topic for today was "Peaches and Cream pie"!  I haven't looked at it yet, but already my mouth is watering!!!

I have to tell you that we had a very productive weekend.  We finally found and bought a replacement car for the truck: a Nissan Maxima.  It was used, but had low miles and bells and whistles we are accustomed to and was in our price range.  I know we are spoiled ~ it's just that after having the van (it's a "touring" with everything the Japanese might want when Chris drives them around in it) we wanted some features in our car that just couldn't be found in a Focus :D  We also found and bought the TV for above the fireplace.  The builder makes the hole for a 52" Sony, but Chris did not like the picture on it and it got horrible reviews for it's sound, or lack of sound.  The problem ~ Sony is like the only manufacturer who makes a 52" TV.  We really like Vizio TV's and they make a 50" (seems like such a waste of space) or a 55" (too big for the cutout in the wall).  What did we go with??  Well, if you know us, we'll start looking at the 10" and will end up with a 62" ~ hehe ~ we have the 55" that doesn't fit in the hole, but the looks good anyway.  If only I knew what I wanted to put on the mantle. . . I love crocheted stuff and most of what I have is maybe 3' wide, but this mantle measures 80" across the top!  I need to do some major shopping, but am banned for awhile.  My husband has a fear that we are going to "accumulate" junk like we had before the move.  I would like to add that we donated most of our "stuff" and therefore, it was NOT junk!

We also finally made the plunge and got the boys their cell phones.  Chris was going to just pick out the free ones, but there were too many to choose from and so we all went to the Verizon store ~ only to find out they didn't have in stock the free ones that we wanted!  She sent us to the mall's Verizon store, but didn't tell us that they probably would have different prices on the phones!  The $0.88 at the one store with no stock was $49.99 at the store in the mall (who did have them in stock!).  I mentioned this to the lady so she did some checking around in back for older model of the phone (no flashy colors) because she thought they had some and they could give us those for free, but she didn't find those either.  Next thing she's talking to another guy working and she quietly tells us she can give us the phones they do have in stock for free and won't charge us the $49.99!  I didn't even know they could do that!!  We signed up for unlimited text and it is already paying for itself!  If the boys have your number, I apologize already!  They were calling and texting everyone they could think of!  That was fine cuz we have free weekends, but the free nights with Verizon don't start until 9 pm!  They would both be walking around the house talking on their phones and we'd have no idea who they were talking to.  The best was when Chris and I were looking at the computer and Taite called Chris' phone and he was in the living room. . . If you would like to be in their address books on their phones, please let me know and I'll give you their numbers because they LOVE being able to contact whomever they want!  They are doing well, though because when they went to the pool they weren't going to take their phones, but that would defeat the purpose of having them, so we put one phone in a plastic Ziploc bag and it was padded by pool towels.  They were thrilled that they could ride their bikes all by themselves to Grandma & Grandpa's house, pick up Annika and head to the pool.  They even got money for lunch because I was feeling generous, I gave them $35, but I won't make that mistake again. . . they came home with $3.

Tonight was their first night of football practice.  They have all the 3rd, 4th, 5th & 6th graders on the field, but they are divided into about 8 groups (age appropriate) and they run stations with each group.  This year the organization bought all new helmets and pants (we don't have to provide pants this year) which are black and I'm happy I don't have to try and keep them clean!  They also have many, many coaches at each station.  These aren't just dad's either.  The head coach was the coach for the semi-pro team out of Sioux Falls previously!  Some of the others are the defensive or offensive coaches from local colleges. 

Here is a picture of the boys after running all the drills at the end of practice.  I apologize for not having pictures of the boys running the drills but I had a hard time keeping track of them during practice while swatting away mosquitoes and bugs!

 This is a picture of all the coaches (well, not all of them, some were off to the side).