We had a much more laid back week this week — which was so nice! We started the week off by having my brother, sister-in-law, and their two girls here. Our kids were so excited to get to see their cousins!
We visited some historic sites in Franklin, including the site of the Civil War Battle of Franklin.
We also visited the McGavock Confederate Cemetery.
Learning more of the history surrounding the Battle of Franklin was fascinating — and made us want to read and learn all we can about it and other historical events in this area now that we live here in TN.
Later that evening, we went to Sweet CeCe’s for an ice cream treat!
The summer activities began this week for our kids! To keep it simple, each child got to choose one sport/lessons to participate in.
Silas chose soccer, Kaitlynn chose ice skating, and Kathrynne chose swimming. It’s so fun to watch them throwing themselves wholeheartedly into something they love and to see their determination, endurance, and perseverance being built in the process.
{By the way, for those of you who asked to see a picture of my new bag from Charming Charlie, you can see it in the picture above.}
This week, I worked on making a new morning routine a habit (see the new routine here, if you missed my post on it). I’m going to keep blogging about my morning routine every day this coming week to help me (hopefully!) make it more of a habit… because I need all the accountability I can get!
Wednesday, I practically floated home after my grocery shopping trip… because I stayed under budget and found some pretty good deals (see everything I bought and the prices I paid in this post here)! Not anything downright and utterly amazing, but SOOO much better than my first TN shopping trip.
I’m making headway — huzzah!!! Next week, I might just be brave enough to try using coupons at Publix!
On Thursday, Jesse and I did a little cooking in the kitchen together. You can find the recipe links for what we made and lots more pictures here.
It was National Doughnut Day on Friday and we celebrated by getting FREE Krispy Kreme doughnuts. Because who can resist free Krispy Kreme??!
Today, our kids enjoyed another Free Kid’s Workshop at The Home Depot! These Kid’s Workshops are the first Saturday of every month and my kids LOVE them. They get to create some sort of fun project, all the supplies and tools are provided, and it’s completely free!
So that was our week in a nutshell. How was YOUR week? Anything interesting or exciting happen at your house? Tell us about it in the comments!
Meghan Bergunzi says
I love hearing about what you are finding to do down here in Tennesee. We just moved to Clarksville, TN about 8 months ago and we frequently visit Nashville. I follow your blog more than any other recently because your lifestyle fits perfectly with our families lifestyle because we are following the Dave Ramsey total money makeover. Btw I have the same bag as you but in white. I love it!!! 🙂
Leah says
Oh, how fun to do the Civil War thing! I so want to do that with our girls someday. My aunt and uncle own one of the historical homes in Franklin. They have a big holiday event every year – so maybe you will get to see their home before I do!
Susan says
Hi! Hope you are enjoying TN. We do! We live on the TN river. I am a stay at home mom with two boys. 14 & 2. I have been homeschooling but this Aug he is going off to the local HS. Big, scary & exciting step for ALL of us! Just wanted to say Hi! Welcome to TN an it would be nice to find some nice moms to hang out with 🙂
Lois says
It’s been a treat “trying” to catch up with you a bit tonight. I’ve been wayyy too immersed in swagbucks I think; but my motive is to help out our daughter who is now homeschooling… so it gets challenging to keep priorities. I needed to see that morning challenge you wrote about. Thanks.
But what prompted me to comment here was seeing you’d moved to TN! We moved down here from northern IN 2 1/2 years ago when we retired and we love it. I think Franklin is close to Nashville so we’re 4 hours east of you. And we’re supposed to get our own Aldi’s maybe by the end of the year— I hope!! You should have one there, I’d think. What hit me was the tax on food. But I’m sort of used to it now… it was an adjustment for sure.
Anyway, blessings! and thanks. I still pass on your name–which is how I learned about your blog several years ago.
Marie says
My kids love the Home Depot craft. They each got an apron to keep and they also get a pin each time. and this week they gave the kids root beer floats!
My kids finished school on Tuesday and WEd. and Thurs. were amazing days with no fighting, bickering, yelling! So we’ve started summer off right. We rounded out the week with daddy being off Friday so we did the Kid’s Bowl free in the evening and then dinner out.
I have purposely planed no scheduled sports this summer to try and be more intentional with our time and just letting the kids be kids and not running from thing to thing. I have my moments where I question especially when other moms are mentioning all the activities their kids will be a part of. But I know in my “knower” that this is the right decision for us right now. We also felt VBS is important and unfortunately it isn’t free so we had to count that as an activity.
I am actually sitting down now to plan our week.
I’m so glad your family has settled so quickly and the joy you have is evident. My pastor’s wife just preached a second part to her Mother’s Day message about Joy. The definition of Joy is the pervasive sense of well being. She also said, “Don’t think of Joy as an on/off switch. Like you have it or you don’t. Think of it as a dimmer switch. If it’s low Turn it Up. God wants us to Thrive not survive. Also if your struggling with joy then just do the next right thing. If someone hurts us, don’t rely on them to do the next step. We can.
Sorry, guess I was excited about Joy and seeing how happy your family is to the adjustment! Blessings
Teresa B says
We too have relocated to a new town for 3 – 6 months to assist my mother. I grew up here, but it has been over 20 years and things have changed dramatically. DH is still back in our house while we try to adjust to apartment living here.
We spent at least half the day each day of the week working around Mom’s house. Weeding, cleaning, purging in the yard/outside the house. We used the other half of the day to get to know our city a little better. They offered a free clay pot making booth downtown on Friday, block party on Thursday. Saturday was the farmers’ market and air show. Today was church (which we loved!).
Tomorrow starts camp for DS. This will be his first experience with an all day camp….and since he is homeschooled – first all day anything on a consistent basis. Should be interesting! But my mom has let the house go on the inside and it is not someplace I want him while I clean.
Michelle says
I did not know that you moved to Tennessee. I have been following your blog forever and missed you this year at the Convention in Cinncinati. You stay so busy I don’t see how you managed a move in the middle of it all! lol. Your summer looks like it is off to a great start!
robbie at going green mama says
We all played at girl scout camp this week!
Sarah says
Tennessee doesn’t seem to have as good of deals as I’ve seen you post in the past. I will be interested to see ways you find to save on groceries here. I have a had a horrible time saving on groceries the past few weeks.
Leslie says
Krystal! We live a mile from downtown Franklin! When I saw your pictures I had to do a double take. Sweet Cece’s is our ‘home’ these hot days. Hope you are enjoying living here as much as we do!!
Leslie says
*Crystal, sorry about the misspelling!
Molnda Goforth says
Connected on your post by reading your guest post on Michael Hyatt’s blog! It’s inspiring to me that I found you! Franklin has been in my heart for a long time, I am in the process of downsizing and introducing a little house. Ms. Cheap post an incredible amount of money saving information in the Nashville Paper. Best of Luck, I will be following you!
Beth says
Lowe’s has a similar kids workshop. My 4.5 year old loves going. It too is free. I think they do it every two weeks.
Jen says
It is free. And, if your girls are in a Girl Scout troop (or when Silas is a little older, a Boy Scout), they will give you a patch for your vest/sash.
Oh, and when we took our Daisy troop a few months ago, they gave the parents a 10% off coupon for that day only.
Jen says
I should say they gave all the parents who attended (not just our Daisy troop), a coupon!
Rhoda says
Before you go to Publix, check out the blog titled I Heart Publix. She links coupons to many of the products listed in the ad. If you buy BOGO’s and use coupons, shopping at Publix can be economical.
Crystal Paine says
Thanks so much for the recommendation!
Koree says
Crystal something must be wrong with the link to read about your grocery trip….tried to access thru FB and my browser!
Crystal Paine says
Try this link: https://moneysavingmom.com/2014/06/tonights-aldi-kroger-shopping-trip-im-happy-got-deals.html
Does that work for you?
Martha Artyomenko says
Wow! Looks like fun! You let them all choose their own activity? I did that more when mine were younger, but then we chose to consolidate and do them in seasons….we all did soccer in soccer season, swimming in swimming season and basketball in basketball season. It kept them busy year round and helped us to learn about supporting siblings in what they loved, and mom didn’t go crazy racing around!
Crystal Paine says
In the past years, we’ve chosen one activity and they all did it: swimming one season, ice skating another season, etc. But this summer, we decided to let them each choose one activity and see how that went. So far, so good. Not sure if it’s what we’ll do long-term, but it’s been a fun experiment! 🙂
Martha Artyomenko says
All I can say, is power on!!! =) And I hope it continues to go smooth!