My 33rd Birthday and Favorite Hangouts

Michele helping change the tire

Yesterday was my 33rd birthday!  It started out with a really, really late breakfast at Denny's (since I slept in) and then I went out with my friend for the night.  Well, on the way to the mall I got a flat.  We were on the freeway and it was just Juliet, Michele, and I.  It was extremely hot and I had the baby in the car.  I didn't even know if we had a spare but thankfully we did.  Phew!  This is the second time Michele was with me when I got a flat and we had to figure out how to change a tire together.  LOL.  It's probably a good experience for us so I'm not stuck when I'm alone.  We finally headed off with black hands and nothing to clean them with till we got to the mall.  Now I know why mechanics use special soap because we couldn't completely get the black off. Michele and I were super embarrassed when we had to hand a card to the cashier and our hands were dirty looking.  Ha ha.  We tried scrubbing and scrubbing.

By the wayyyy!  Check out this awesome site I found where you can get free treats on your birthday!  http://www.freebirthdaytreats.com/

Juliet

Yesterday when we were out for breakfast with the kids, I was soooo proud of them.  It's not easy to have 7 kids and have peace and quiet all the time.  However, they were super respectful to the server and talked quietly and stayed in their seats.  All the hard work of training becomes more noticeable when we go out like that in public.  That's not to say it's always perfect of course.  It's just when Charles and I weren't taking our family out very much, there was not a lot of training moments.  Now that we are getting out more, it gives us more opportunities to train them on behavior in public.  I've had my share of embarrassing moments!

Charles, Chaz, and Ryan at IKEA

We love living nearby an IKEA and it's even cooler that they started doing Kids Eat Free every Tuesday!  It's a HUGE store that is two story and you get TONS of exercise just walking half of it.  You can get lost really easy but since we've been there so many times we can find our way out. We still haven't learned all the shortcuts though.  They have a restaurant on the second floor and it's so cheap to eat there.  Well, Tuesday we took our family there and all the kids ate free and Charles and I each got dinner for only $3.99 each.  Our favorite is the meatball plate with the sides.  Seriously, that is so cheap.  Every time I go I get a coffee there but I found out that since I signed up for their card (those cards you take to the store and it gets you money off) I get a free coffee every time I go.  SWEET!  I get coffee every time I go anyway!  Seriously, it cost us $10 to eat there for our family of 9.  You can't beat that.  I have a feeling we'll be eating there for dinner at least twice a month now.  They also have a kid check in area and our kids love it.  The kids that are too young or two old to go in the fun kid watch get an ice cream cone.  IKEA is one of our favorite hangouts.