Saturday Surprises

Saturday was the first time I went garage sale shopping this summer, can you believe that. The motivation--Conner's birthday. He's been riding the trike we got him when he turned 2. It is so small for him and his legs go so fast pedaling while he goes so slow. We didn't realize there was a problem until I saw a kid in Conner's class riding a bike with no training wheels to school all by himself. I felt so bad for Conner and decided we'd get him a bike for his birthday, even though he really wants a digital camera and cell phone. I had to get up early anyway so I was out by 7 and driving around just looking for signs. I found a couple bikes but they seemed so little. By 11 am I was almost in tears from sadness. I really didn't want to buy him a brand new one at $70-$100 bucks (we've had a lot of unexpected expenses lately) when at this age he could care less what it looks like, obviously he's riding a teeny trike. I didn't even find anything else while shopping worth buying was a good thing but come 10:30 I said a prayer to help me find a bike for my little Conner. A few minutes later I never saw a sign just a little arrow so I turned and followed the arrows to a little garage sale and low and behold there was a bike just perfect for Conner with training wheels and all. It doesn't look like much but it was only $5. I almost began to cry. I was so happy. I can't wait to see him ride it.

I love birthdays because you get so many free meals at restaurants (Tucanos, Baskin Robbins, Coldstone, Red Robin, Applebee's). We don't eat out much except for birthday months. It's nice because Conner and my birthday are a week a part so we usually have two free items which makes it cheap. Saturday we decided we'd go to Red Robin as a family and take advantage. Our neighbor Lilian came over unexpectedly about 30 minutes before we left just to offer to watch the kids so Neil and I could go out, totally out of the blue. I was flabbergasted, you're actually volunteering to watch our kids. We already had plans for that night but totally told her we'd take her up on it another time. Pretty amazing I think. Neil and I don't go out much because we can't afford to go out and pay for a babysitter so lately one of us will go get us cream slushes from Sonic (only $1 after 8pm) once the kids are in bed and sit on the patio and drink and talk. That's been our date night quite a bit lately but it's still nice too. All that matters is that we get some time alone.