My mom was. . .

I surrender! I give up, well, I gave in! I will openly admit, for all of blog land to see, that my mom was. . .RIGHT! I know, I know, this is a toughy! Come on, lets be honest. How many of us EVER want to admit that our mom is right about something. I have a tendency to disagree with my mom, just for the sake of arguing with her. This admission isn't that big in the context of a life changing decision, just one that I've been fighting for, oh, six years. Anyone that knows my mom, knows that she is a bargain shopper. She was once seriously addicted to Goodwill, where many of our wedding decorations and her Christmas ornaments came from. She has limited her time there in the last couple of years. She is the one who taught me to go straight to the back of a store to the clearance racks first. I can remember going to Sams Club with her as a kid and heading to the back corner of the store first thing to find the reduced items. She no longer shops at Sams Club, but always calls me with a "great deal" at the store, ANY store! One of her all time best finds was Aldi Stores. You all know and love them too right? Well, I'd been in them many times while visiting NJ, and was not all that impressed with the selection (it's not a one-stop-shop), and the cleanliness of the store. So, no matter where I've lived, I have never once stepped foot in an Aldi store. Not only for the reasons stated above, but mostly because my mom kept telling me I should shop there, and to spite her, I wouldn't. This has not deterred her from calling me with deals at Aldi, and now I am grateful. We have been pricing pools for the last couple of weeks, trying to decide if we are going to buy a bigger pool that Josh and I can swim with the kids in, or go for the typical pool, that's great for the kids, but not so great for mom and dad. Mom called me the other day and said that Aldi had a really great pool on sale for 20 dollars and I should check it out. "OK mom, thanks for thinking about us." Well, this week has been hot and beautiful, just right for a pool. So, today after VBS I drove to Jenison, and stepped foot in the Aldi there. I was impressed from the time I walked in. "Clean, check!" "Good selection, check!" "Pools for 20, no 18.99!, check!!!!" I was really happy with the size and especially the price of the pool. Most other pools that size run for 29.99-39.99, depending on where you look. So, mom, you were right. I might even start shopping at Aldi!
Garrett and Esther enjoying their new pool.
A good view of the pool and of Garrett chillin' on the side.
Olivia posing again, are you surprised? She's not wet in this shot, but swam for 2 hours before this! I know you like Esthers wedgie!
Josh getting a shot of me this way, "Hey Jess. . ." and I, like and idiot, look over! But I'm not ashamed to put those pictures on the blog, unlike some people I know!
Josh hiding from the camera, look familiar?? This time Olivia was trying to help get the shot, and Garrett took the picture. I'm happy to report that no one got hurt in the scuffle. (The camera was given to us from our pastor and his wife who got a new one recently, thanks David and Becky!)