Being at home CAN be fun

Zach and Kate are feeling better today. Yesterday drained my energy, so I haven't done much today. I did make it to my doctor's appointment this afternoon. Matt came home from work early so I was able to go to my appointment by myself. Everyone at the doctor's office was surprised to see me alone. It was nice. The baby sounds healthy, but my doctor wouldn't confirm that it sounded like a boy. I guess we'll have to wait for the ultrasound which is scheduled for February 6th...Kate's 1st birthday! Does it freak you out a little that Kate is turning 1 and I'll be half way through this pregnancy. Yeah, me too.

Once upon a time Friday night used to mean dinner at Pizzeria Uno for me and Matt and my Mom would watch the kids. Because of a tight budget...or no budget...Friday night has become another night at home doing nothing (in Zoe's eyes) and Emily feels the same way I guess since this morning she mentioned that Fridays used to be fun. I thought she meant being in Kindergarten since Fridays are the fun day with gym, library, art, music, and a special activity, but what she was really talking about was having my Mom come babysit or sleeping over at my parents' home. I decided we needed to do something fun tonight, so with a $2.00 contribution from Zoe and Emily and digging in my coat pocket for change and using some money I had left in my checking account and using a free rental from Movie Gallery (which I get once a month because I only go there when they give me a free rental because they haven't seen me in awhile) I was able to get a movie -"Meet the Robinsons" and I brought home food from McDonald's for dinner. I have learned that the kids eat much better when I order from the $1 menu instead of getting them Happy Meals. So, Zoe and Emily perked up about the evening when they realized they would be doing something fun. I'm glad. I am finding it interesting that Emily and Eleanor find this movie scarier than Peter Pan.

I have left out the scene of me giving the cashier at the grocery store $6.41 in change for milk, bread, and salad dressing (why don't they have thousand island dressing at McDonald's???). I thought these 3 items would come to $6.01 so I was all prepared with my change before I got to the checkout so I wouldn't take so much time counting change while others waited, but it came to $6.41, so the poor guy behind me had to wait while I dug out 40 cents from my coat pocket in pennies and nickels. Then I thought I had given the cashier 40 cents, but I had only given her 37 cents, so I had to dig some more. I only had to use 1 penny from the change container that other people had contributed to (I guess I should contribute to that in the future). I'm sure I looked pretty pathetic paying all in change, but I was pretty relieved that I had enough change to get everything I needed!