Just the four of us

Well, we showed up late to playgroup and there was no one in sight (except for ducks in the pond). I thought about turning right around and heading home since Monday mornings are not ideal for outings, but we stopped anyway. Turns out it's pretty fun to play with just your kids sometimes.

Erik's day out

The Mariners migrate south for their spring training to none other than our current stomping grounds. Kyle and some friends got tickets to enjoy a little show time and Erik was more than happy to accompany them.

I think he'll go just about anywhere for a hot dog.

However, baseball turned out to be less-than-fascinating to Erik. Rather, he passed the time with his hand at the camera.








(Wow, those are some third-trimester-looking feet, Erik.)

Erik is the best kid to take absolutely anywhere. He'll just sit and entertain himself for hours without a word of complaint. Awesome on road trips. Perfect at the store. Snuggly and true to the end.

Bookworms

So, I'd been feeling the absence of a shopping spree in my life quite keenly. I don't shop often, really, but when I do, it tends to be in the face of an astronomical clearance event so... it becomes a spree.

Even when things are cheap, though, I'm finally starting to cut down on some uneccessary purchases, like clothes, toys, rockin decor items, etc. I have a weak spot for literature, though. I seem to always always always be able to justify purchasing books. They're always dirt cheap books, mind you, but still, our shelves are full and yet... I could not resist our library's recent book sale.

The kids and I whittled our enormous round one stack of books down to the following. At a buck a piece, we had to be judicial.


(Oh, funny store about "The Boo Boo Book." I was so excited to see it there because Kyle's parents gifted it to us for Christmas and the kids absolutely love it. I bought it anyway, thinking I wouldn't have a problem finding someone who'd take it.

Well, at home, I searched and searched and could NOT find our Boo Boo copy. Then I realized that this was the only book we bought at the sale that didn't have a library bar code on it. Also, pretty much all of the board books for sale were hashed to pieces at the brutal hands of toddler legions. This copy was in quite good condition, as if only three kids had been handling it for only three months...

Yup, finally we concluded that this was indeed OUR copy of The Boo Boo Book that we must have inadvertently left at the library. How serendipitously wonderful that we were the ones who managed to swipe it at the sale, and before we even noticed it was lost!)

Well, that was a good time and all, but the next day, in the sale's final hour...

Ellie and I stuffed eight plastic bags full of books (for a buck a bag this time!)-- that's right, EIGHT. A staff member had to give us our own book cart and help us roll it to our car.


While we shopped, I felt a tad sheepish continuously returning to that employee for yet another bag to fill, while families around me exited contently with a single bag. Each time I approached her, I had this nagging fear that she would turn me down for exceeding the greed limit, but no. For the record, I DID leave a few of the (particularly mangled and unattractive) books there for others patrons.

Yeah, talk about judging a book by its cover... I'd only ever heard of a handful of the titles that I brought home. These are the library rejects, after all. No matter. If they're terrible literature, we won't feel bad about throwing them out. Otherwise, we've still managed to bulk up the Larsen family library for a negligible fee.


Ever since second grade, I've dreamed of having a library room like in Beauty and the Beast. I think we're finally on our way...

This is glee, sheer glee. Even without the love of books, this bargain gave me chills the rest of the day. Yipeeeee!

Kyle has forbidden me to purchase any more books for a year. It's been seven days, and excluding Goodwill's half-off sale and my community garage sale finds, I have kept good on his wish...