Couponing

Ben has recently taken up interest in couponing. It all started when he caught Mom watching "Extreme Couponing" on TLC. His rest time was over and Mom was watching some quality TV.  Mom tried to turn it off or change it to a kid show, but Ben said he wanted to keep watching.  They were in the middle of ringing up a giant sale and totaling up all of the coupons.  The register was beeping and Ben's eyes lit up.  "How do they do that?  How do they get everything for free?"  Ben was hooked.  He asked Mom to set up the DVR so he could learn the ways of couponing.  He found an episode where it was a "coupon kid" and the boy had started couponing for his family.  He KNEW that is what he was destined to do.  Mom suggested some ground rules as we are not cut out to be a strict couponing family.  Ben wanted to not buy anything unless it was practically free.  That wasn't going to work for our lifestyle and the small amount of time that Ben wanted to spend on this venture.  And Mom also said that we would never dumpster dive for newspapers/ads.  Ben had seen an episode where the mom took the family and retrieved extra papers out of a dumpster for the coupons.

It has been entertaining though.  Ben also discovered sales and now knows which day we get ads in the mail.  He is so number driven that he has really taken to the "game" of totaling up his savings.  When Mom uses a discount card on top of coupons - watch out!  Ben becomes a super nerd and will cheer at the register!

Nose Job

A couple of weeks after Ben broke his wrist - actually the exact day that he got to take his brace off after his wrist had healed he was jumping around in a friend's room and somehow face planted into the bunk beds.  Mom was sure his nose was broken as it bled pretty good and caused immediate swelling.  There wasn't really anything we could do for it other than ice and ibuprofen though as it wasn't really crooked.  It became a joke that we had a wild small group at church as Ben kept coming home banged up from it.  Mom even had to send a note to his teacher titled - Another Sunday Night Injury.... 

Basketball Goal

The boys have had a major project underway to install a basketball goal for our family.  Dad selected a fancy adjustable goal that would allow us room to grow.  The first step was to find out where the utility lines ran and find an appropriate location for the giant hole that would accommodate the goal.  Rain kept hindering plans, but finally the hole was dug and it was dry enough to pour the concrete base.  The rebar and base plate that went down into the ground was pretty impressive!  Dad got the pole installed himself, but it took a couple of friends to help install the backboard.  It was challenging, but turned out really well.  Ben is probably the biggest fan of the goal and plays any chance he gets.  Elizabeth has her fun too and mostly likes to be lifted to "slam dunk" on the goal.  We are looking forward to enjoying lots of family time on the driveway.  It has already made us popular with the tween/teen boys in the neighborhood, which Ben thinks is very cool.  They are all very respectful and have only played a few times.  Ben probably wishes they would play more so he could watch the big boys shoot.