Grocery store, treasure hunt, and swimming, Oh my!

Lesson learned: I can really do this!

This morning Josh helped me load up the boys in the van on his way to work. So after emailing back and forth with Margret (a friend from school) who is a stay at home super mom with four kids. She gave me a ton of advice some of it I was doing but the biggest thing she recommended was to take a bag of toys. She said to make sure they are large enough that if it drops you can easily see it. I also made sure their tummies were full and they were well rested before we went. They did really well for most of the time at the store. At one point they decided that they wanted to throw all of the toys out of the cart. I have a rule that if toy touches the ground three times the third time it is mine. Since so many toys were being tossed at the same time I just took all of them and put them away. Then the boys wanted to fight. The carts at the store has a car on the front that hold two kids and then the cart part can hold two as well. So the boys had both been in the car part so I move Preston to be close to me. So that meant that I had to hold all of my list and coupons so I gave up trying to play the grocery game and just got what I really needed. I figure baby steps. I was pretty excited that the trip went so great. For those who are curious about my budget this week I spent $48.77. I saved 17.19.

I had asked my mom on Sunday to help me finish the treasure hunt that we had started on Saturday. I do have to say that I love that Frisco did this because it really is helping me figure out where things are and what activities there are for us to do. My mom came over a little after Preston fell asleep. Ethan wanted to show his baseball skills. So we let Ethan show off so that Preston could get a little bit of a nap. The it was time to head out. Our first stop was at the central fire station. Then we walked over to the Frisco Fire Safety Town for another stamp. The receptionist was kind enough to have a fire fighter show us around. Words can not describe how awesome the safety town is. They have several class rooms dedicated to teach different aspects of fire safety. The first room we saw looked like a traditional class room. The second room was a living room that had been on fire. The firefighter explained about when a fire is behind a wall how they test areas of the wall to make sure the fire is out. What caused the different damage in the room. Then we moved to the clown firefighters house. They use the kitchen area is used to teach about weather safety. Then we moved on to the clowns bedroom and they use this room to teach kids how to escape from a fire. They have the room fill with smoke and the bedroom door actually gets warm to the touch so the kids know that it isn't save to use the door but to escape from the window. There was another room where Ethan learned to dial 911 when he needs a police officer or the fire department. Then we went outside and saw where they teach kids about road, bike, and street crossing safety. All of the crosswalk lights work and talk to the kids. There is even a mini Wal-Mart. Then we went to the main room where they have all of the equipment that is on a fire truck displayed and they have a kids sized fire truck that has everything including flashing lights. So the boys took turns "driving" the fire truck. Then it was time to move on to the next stop. We decided to go to Municipal Center next. Ethan was excited when we pulled up because the building also has the library in it. So we had to explain to him that we weren't going to the library today because it is still closed. I can't wait till the library reopens on Friday. We are still several weeks away from story time starting again. Sorry I just got really distracted about the library. Apparently City hall is on the fifth floor of the building. I wasn't aware that the building was that tall. We got our stamp then decided it was lunch time. After lunch we headed down to Dr. Pepper Arena/ ballpark there are five stamps to collect there. I found the visitor bureau without a problem. I found the arena but I wasn't sure where I need to go for the three stamps that were there. So I ended up by the ballpark. Can I take a second to mention how beautiful it is. I've only seen it from the Ikea side actually I've used the ballpark parking lot so I could shop at Ikea before. I just haven't been on the side where I could see the grand stands before. There is a play ground for the kids. So I found the administrative offices and had to parallel park, that was entertainment, just to find out that I was at the wrong place. So I found where I needed to go and discovered that this is there is only a week of games left. I'm hoping that we are going to be able to go this week. Then it was back to finding the final three stamps. I stopped at the Stars gift shop and the directed me to the actual ice rink. So I was about to walk off and the lady asked if I wanted my free stuff. You don't have to ask me twice if I want something FREE!! The first thing she handed me was a coupon for a free ice skating. Then she handed me a Dallas Stars Ticket Voucher!!! Two free tickets to the Dallas Stars!! I'm so excited because I've never been to a hockey game. I had enough stamps to turn in my sheet so I gave up trying to find the other two places at the area, but I did pick up a open skate schedule and the skating lessons flier they had out.

The boys fell asleep while I was in the arena. My mom and I had discussed going to Stonebriar Mall since we were right next to it but decided to head home instead. Preston go transferred from the van to his bed without a problem. Ethan was a completely different story, once he realized that my mom was taking him to his bed, Ethan woke himself up. Then he was being so loud that he woke Preston up. So much for nap time. I let the boys watch TV and have a snack while I was getting the swim bag together. I was a little nervous because today we were starting at the Frisco location of Emler. I have passed it a million times but really wasn't sure where it was. Turns out it was a whole lot closer then what I thought it was. So we got there really early but at least now I know. Ethan seemed to really be testing his new teacher. His old one didn't put up with any messing around so he had to see how nice his new teacher is. Preston wasn't happy with his class. He was doing fine until I realized that he had Ethan's goggles. Once he let go of the goggles the melt down started and lasted until he got them back while the boys were getting changed out of their swim suits.

After dinner we let the boys run around outside while I was working on one of the flower beds. Then we but the boys to bed. Shockingly they didn't put up much of a fight. It was like they were completely worn out. I can't understand why? It isn't like we did anything today.

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