Grocery Tally

Summer break is here! Now I grocery shop with five kids! Woo-hoo!
Actually, today we made our grocery shopping "adventure" a little more productive by doing a shopping tally while we traveled the Fareway aisles. I gave the older kids a piece of paper divided into four quadrants. I had them draw (or I helped draw) pictures of fruits & vegetables, grains, meat & protein, and dairy products in each square. On the back we put sugars and fats. As I put things in the grocery cart, they put a slash mark in the appropriate area. It was a good exercise in counting, tallying groups of five, identifying each food type...and (for me) not putting sugars and fats in my cart! It wasn't real accurate according to serving size or anything, but it was still fun. Fruits and vegetables "won", fortunately. I hope that means that we'll be healthy eaters this next week. And the "everyday talk" question of the day (asked in the car afterward): "Why is it important to eat healthy foods?" The biblical, God-glorifying answer: "So that we have strength and energy to love people and help them see how great God is."