Costco Deals and Taco Tuesday

Sigh..... I love Costco. Organic peanut butter and quinoa for cheap, cute kids clothes, gargantuan boxes of Cheerios, Foster Farms all white meat chicken nuggets (surely you didn't think I would eat those!), extra large samples 'cause my aunt's a demo lady, and the books! I could go on and on about the books....

No joke - here is how Justin and I do Costco. It's totally a family outing - I rarely go alone unless it's in a case like today where we forgot to get peanut butter the other day while we were there. We're usually getting out of the house a little later than we'd hoped so it's surely lunch time. We head right in and the kids and Justin get hotdogs (I've been good lately and have been eating before we go).

Now, let me tell you a little something else about me. My family has lived in the same county for six generations now. Both Justin and I were involved in a couple of pretty large churches in town. Justin and I both went to college here. I used to work at Costco doing the flowers. I used to own my own Jazzercise business. Between the two of us, we know a fair number of people - many of whom will walk by while we're in the food court as Costco. And we love it! It's our social outlet.

So after about an hour of eating and socializing we head on in to shop. I almost always look at the clothes. Steele for sure likes to go down the vacuum isle, Justin - the tools, a usual silly laughing trip through the brrrzzy (the cooler) and chatting it up with the demo ladies who want to get a look at the kids since my aunt (my mom's sister) tells everybody all about them. And like I mentioned, I always take a quick cart-less detour through the books. Which brings me to the whole point of this post. (I know, finally! Good for you if you've made it this far.) I found a couple great things at Costco the other day that I wanted to share with you.

As I think ahead toward home schooling there are a couple of subjects that stick out in my mind. Namely, geography and literature. I don't know... it might be because I somehow made it through a grade 2-8 gifted learning program, honors english and like 5 years of college without EVER reading one classic novel. Or maybe because when I find myself in the middle of current events conversations (which is rarely lately) I have no freakin' idea where anything is that we're talking about? Afghanistan? That's in South America right??

These are the reasons I get so excited when I find stuff like this! The box is the Kids Guide to the United States. It includes a large laminated map of the U.S., a cool atlas sticker book and a U.S. floor puzzle. It was $9.99. While it was cool enough and Steele and I have already put the floor puzzle together - my super duper cool find were these large maps that I found. They are HUGE and get this - they were only $6.50!! Justin and I decided to only get the world map since a U.S. map was included in the kit but I'm going to get the U.S. one while I'm there today. They also had the same U.S., World, Animals of the World and Solar System maps that were illustrated with little pictures and facts. They were cool but looked a little busy for me. And they were all $6.50! As Steele would say.... Sweet!!



I also picked up a great resource book that I've been enjoying so far. It's called What Your Kindergartener Needs to Know. While it certainly is not the end all for what your child really "needs to know" and while the authors very obviously have some sort of political agenda (although I haven't quite figured out what it is yet - one minute I think it's anti-public school, the next minute they're recommending goverment funded pre-school for everyone) it definitely has some great information in it, including further resource information for every subject and a general outline of what kindergarten age children can be learning. It gives project and activity ideas for subjects and lists book recommendations at the beginning of every chapter. Also, I didn't buy them or even look at them - but Costco is also carrying the books up through higher grade levels. Since I'm pretty much obsessed with resource books in general, I couldn't pass it up.

And just for fun - a little glimpse of Taco Tuesday at our house.

*In case you're concerned, it is absolutely politically correct (no matter what the American government may tell you) to call Baby So a "Mexican"... even though it may not be accurate. (She is technically an American of Mexican descent) If you ask anyone from Mexico what they want to be called they will probably tell you "Mexican." They are, after all, from Mexico and tend to be very proud of their country and heritage. In fact, many of my Mexican friends might balk at being called "Hispanic." And for heavens sake! Don't ever, ever call them "South American" or even worse, "Spanish." They speak Spanish, they are Mexican. You know, just in case you were concerned on my behalf... ;-)