McKay's, Penguins, and a God Thing!

Corey was very sweet today to *offer* to take us up to Knoxville to the McKay's location there. I was hoping that because that store was 2 stories it would have more selection for homeschool materials, but it actually didn't. The good news is I was able to find the other books I needed anyway! yay!

Look at all the books I got today for $36! Even better, it was taken from the credit I got last time when Bethany and I went! Yay! If you look at the picture, the ones with an "x" are actually from the free bin in front of the store. (If you look very closely, you can see the head of "Keenan Thompson" on the front of a Fat Albert the movie DVD. This was in the free bin so we rescued it, ha ha!) This time they had TONS of kids books in there!!!! My three little ones are in the front (the school books) and the rest are Katie and Noah's choices. We gave them each "$10" (store credit of course) to spend. I am thrilled that I was able to find the other things I was looking for to get school going.

After our trip up to Knoxville, he headed back and made a stop at the Aquarium in Chattanooga. We had talked this morning about doing something fun with the kids and they both had some birthday money available that we talked with them about using to join the Aquarium. We have been members before and loved being able to go up there anytime, but now the kids are older and we thought they would enjoy it even more. It only costs $100 even for a family of four to join. We are thinking that next time we go we will add the "plus 1" option for $35 which means one more adult could go with us anytime we go for free. It would have cost us $78 to go anyway, so the membership is really a better value for anyone in my opinion.

We arrived at the Aquarium around 5:30pm. We didn't have very much time to spend there today, but we did see the penguins. I had been excited about seeing the penguins ever since I heard they had the new exhibit, so that was fun.

Katie always posing in front of the camera!

Those penguins are FAST swimmers. Maybe I will get better photos next time.

Jellyfish are always beautiful to watch...kind of weird too though.

Inside the shark cage!!!! AGH!!!!!!

Katie took this picture of me and Corey.

Me and the kids!

Pondering the jellyfish. This one at the bottom is my favorite photo of the day.

It was a long day! We did very well though considering we didn't leave the house until noon! We got home around 9:30pm!

Oh, and here is a note of encouragement...I have to give thanks today for something amazing!

I have been buying our school curriculum off and on for the past couple of months, anything I could get used and in good shape. Out of the blue a couple of months ago as well, we found out that we were owed a refund from Comcast from when we switched carriers for our high speed internet. The refund coming is for the amount of $120.
Today, after I completed my list of all the materials I could buy used I made a list from the catalog and websites of all the neccesities we have left to pick up. This includes our consumable books (workbooks, etc) and one item I have not been able to find anywhere used for a great price (math blocks).

Just take a WILD guess at how much $ we need to buy the rest of our necessities for getting the 09 school year off to a good start?

ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY DOLLARS!!!!!

Isn't God GREAT?!