Elliott's reading list May 13, 2013

I just realized that it's been quite a long while since I last posted about the books that we've been enjoying at our house.  Elliott still reads a lot, and has even done several book reports about the books he likes, but his mom is a slacker. :)




One series that we have recently found and love is Stink (Judy Moody's younger brother) by Megan McDonald.  We actually started with a Judy Moody book (which we also loved) and while at the library looking for another one, Elliott found the Stink books and decided to try one of those instead.  He started reading it in the car that day while we finished up errands, and by bedtime that night, he had almost finished the book.  There are just over 100 pages in the books, so that's pretty impressive.  He's now working on reading his third one, and we just ordered two from Scholastic, and he found one for $.50 at a thrift store that he hasn't had a chance to read yet.

Elliott really like Stink and Judy both.  He likes that they are regular kids and funny.  He's really liked both the Stink books he has read, along with the only Judy Moody book we've read so far.  I haven't actually read an entire Stink book myself yet.  Like I said, he started reading them independently, and hasn't chosen them as read alouds at all.  With Judy Moody, it was one of the books that we read out loud together, taking turns.  So I don't really have a strong opinion on Stink, but I did enjoy Judy Moody, and found it a good fit our family.  There are several books that are aimed at small children that I think really have to be talked over after he's finished reading them, to discuss why we don't model certain behavior, treat our friends certain ways, etc.  I didn't feel like we really needed to do that with the Judy Moody book we read.

Scholastic says that Stink and Judy Moody are both 3-3.7 reading level.  Stink appeals to grades 2-3 and Judy Moody appeals to grades 2-4.




Elliott discovered the Victory School Superstars series at school.  The one above is the only one he's read so far, but he would really like to read the rest of the series as well.  He liked that even though Josh wasn't good at soccer, his friends helped him to become better.  He learned that it's important to concentrate on what you are doing at the time, instead of what you wish you were doing as well.

This series also has reading levels ranging from 3.0-3.6.  It appeals to readers in grades 1-3.

Circus Fun

The circus came to town last week.  I wasn't actually planning on taking Elliott this year, but he somehow talked Daddy into it.  Originally we thought Carl was going to be working second shift, but it changed, and he ended up on night shifts, so he was home in the evening.  Anyway, he told Elliott that it had been a really long time since he went to the circus so he wanted to go.  And because he had to be at work at night, that meant I had to go to the circus, too, so I could drive Elliott home after the circus.

In case I wasn't clear, I'm not a big fan of the circus.  I don't think most of the trainers treat their animals appropriately, and the tiger show actually makes me cry.  For real.  I DO like the clowns and the dog show, though.  I think that the majority of the dog trainers actually care about the dogs, and train them a little more humanely.  Which makes sense considering how much most dogs want to please the people they care about.  As an adult, I've only had one dog that had to be bribed with food repeatedly to get her to do what I want.  The others just wanted to do whatever I wanted them to do.

Elliott did have fun at the circus, though, and so did Carl.  We had to leave early, so my husband could get to work on time. The circus was supposed to start at 7, but of course didn't end up starting until more like 730.  Normally Elliott is in bed by 730 on school nights (and this was a school night), so he was ready to go by the time we had to leave to get Carl back to base on time anyway.

Elliott's favorite part was the dog dressed up as a wind up toy elephant.  It was a cute show that also happened to star his favorite clown.  He's also always impressed with acrobats, and told me at the circus that he might be an acrobat when he grows up, as long as he doesn't have to wear the tights.  Haha.

Weekly Grocery Spending April 26-May 2

We didn't buy a whole lot of groceries this week.  We went to the commissary last weekend, but it was on our way to see Jurassic Park in 3D, so we didn't buy anything that needed refrigeration or freezing.  It was almost exclusively lunchbox stuff that we ended up buying.  Things like individual applesauce and mandarin orange cups, along with juice boxes, bread, and tortillas.  We also bought a few things in the produce department that we knew would be ok in the car for a while (cucumbers, oranges, and apples).  We spent $44.21.  Yeah, we bought a lot of individual containers of fruit, because it was on sale, and for some reason I can't convince my husband to take regular oranges or apples in his lunchbox, so he takes at least 2 of the little containers of fruit everyday.

We also went to Walmart over the weekend for yogurt and more fresh food.  We went there after we watched the movie, so we could get things that we wouldn't want to leave in the car for a long time, like berries.  We also got bananas, mushrooms, and kiwi. We also ended up with some frozen food.  We spent a total of $38.92.

My husband went to the commissary for milk one day this week.  I'm not sure what else he ended up buying, but it was cheap, as our total was only $4.32.

 Our weekly total this week was $87.45.

Our weekly budget is $100 per week for our family of three adults, one child, two dogs, and a cat.

Our total spent on groceries for 2013 so far is $1483.10.  

We are 17.5 weeks into the year, and our budget is $100 per week, so we are currently  $266.90 under our budget for the year.

Weekly Grocery Spending March 22-28

Last Friday my husband went to the commissary for eggs, produce, and 2 or 3 other small things.  He ended up spending $21.21.

Then last week no one ended up going to the commissary or grocery store or anything until the weekend.  Since I was in the hospital from Monday night until Thursday evening, my guys and my sister ended up eating out Tuesday and Wednesday night, since they had to drive into Minot to see me anyway.

 So our weekly total this week was $21.21.

Our weekly budget is $100 per week for our family of three adults, one child, two dogs, and a cat.

Our total spent on groceries for 2013 so far is $11.08.87.  

We are 12.5 weeks into the year, and our budget is $100 per week, so we are currently  $141.13 under our budget for the year.

Weekly Grocery Spending March 8-14

I didn't go to the commissary again this week.  I bought $21.27 worth of produce and bread last weekend at one of the local grocery stores and Walmart.  Then Tuesday my husband went to the commissary and spent $23.23 on tortillas, eggs, cheese and even more fresh produce.


 Our weekly total this week was $44.50.

Our weekly budget is $100 per week for our family of three adults, one child, two dogs, and a cat.

Our total spent on groceries for 2013 so far is $952.94.  

We are 10.5 weeks into the year, and our budget is $100 per week, so we are currently  $97.06 under our budget for the year.

2013 Financial Goals

I've already admitted that I didn't track my spending well at all in 2012.  I have no idea how much money I ended up spending on groceries, clothes, or anything else for that matter.  I did track pretty well on Christmas, birthday and other special occasions, but I just have a fairly close grand total, not individual.  This year, I only plan on tracking groceries closely.  I figure I need to start slow so I will stick with it better. :)

What I do know about my spending last year is that it included several big, expensive expenditures.  For instance, we bought my husband a 1998 Toyota Tacoma in the fall.  We also spent about $4000 on a basement remodel (ripped out walls, put up new ones, replaced some old wiring, replaced the ceiling, etc), that we finally finished in November.  Then there was the new sleep number bed we bought in October, and paid almost $2500 for, by the time it was all said and done.  Add in a trip to Missouri, and a road trip to Washington (including stops in Spokane, Seattle, and right on the coast), and it was an expensive year.