'Tis the Season

I just read an article about keeping the stress out of Christmas gift-giving that I just HAD to share. The author purchases store (Wal-mart, Target, etc) gift cards in the amount of $20, twice each month (on payday) and saves them for gift buying at Christmas time. Brilliant! Even if that doesn't cover all of your gift-buying, it would be a great start!

Motherly advice and a tea party

My mom has given me lots of advice over the years on how to keep my home, raise the kids and stay sane. I have been following one piece of advice to the "T" recently. She suggested "doing" (cleaning) one room and closing the door, making it off-limits to the little people/room wreckers. Even in our tiny, cozy home (or maybe because it is tiny and cozy) I feel overcome by disorganization at least once in my day. Having my bedroom completely done (bed made, bathroom cleaned, clothes off the chair in the corner, etc.) gives me a BIG feeling of satisfaction. I love to peek in throughout the day at this one, only, tidy room in the house. Thanks for the advice momma!







Check out this lamp from Dollar General for $12!!! Gotta love a bargain!!!

I love the book, "The Five Love Languages of Children" (by Garry Chapman, I think). Olivia's love language is CLEARLY time. I can really tell when she hasn't had the time she needs with either Tommy or me, for one-on-one playtime. She has more fits (WHY would I EVER share with Logan? ok I added the verbage on that one, but you get the idea), irrational thinking (I will NEVER get to go swimming, summer is taking FOREVER to get here), and being sent to her room results in 30 minutes of tears. SO today I told her we would play whatever she wants during Logan's WHOLE nap. I am ashamed to say our "playtime" hasn't been as regular as either of us would like.

We started with at tea party followed by some serious craft time.


When Logan woke up from his nap she said "I wish we could play, just you and me, forever."

Oh the buttons actually MEAN something...

I spent some time at Brad's this weekend and he helped me figure out the buttons on my camera!

Using the right setting really makes a difference! It makes the lighting better, the subjects are more clear, etc.

Here are a couple of Logan moments I wanted to capture:

Making me smile...

LOVING the warm weather!

Living in Indiana in the spring can be tricky. One day the kids are completely bundled to play outside and they don't last long because of the cold. The next day it is so warm they just wear light jackets. THEN you throw in the time change! At bedtime Olivia says "But it is still light out!" :)

No matter how hard you try...

Sometimes no matter how hard you try, you JUST can't get it right!

Logan bumped his elbow and said "Ouch, my knee!"

Olivia stepped into a hot shower and said "Brrr, the water is hot!"

Logan calls chocolate pudding "chocolate poopey"


BTW - No spending Tuesday and Thursday went great this week. The only casualty was Tommy had to go out of town with some clothes that probably should have been ironed. I threw out our old ironing board the other day and I haven't replaced it yet. Last night we discovered that some of Tommy's clothes needed to be ironed... normally I would have rushed at the chance to run out to Target at 9pm, by myself, to buy ANYTHING, but I didn't! Good thing hotels have ironing boards!!!

Creator, Artist, Ballerina - girl

Olivia wears alot of "hats" during our days together...

Creator - It turns out this is a tray for daddy to use when he wants to eat in the living room.

Artist - This is Olivia's body traced onto paper (its a little distorted, she was giggling the whole time I traced her, she is so ticklish!)

And here is our ballerina girl. She got a new leotard tutu outfit last night from Grandma, and we haven't taken it off since!

No spending Thursday #3 (and Tuesday) and random other things...

No Spending Tuesday and Thursday both went great this week! I am feeling pretty liberated about the whole thing. Again, not sure we are saving THAT much money, but it makes me more aware for my spending and planning! (Tommy, lets get it together babe! - can you guess which one of us struggled this week?) :)

EVERY year at this time I get so excited about being outside. We are currently working on the garage. My philosophy is, lets throw everything that isn't currently used, or a memory and if we need it again, we can buy it! Like keeping paint cans from 3 colors ago? They need to go! I will have to post before and afters on that one, pretty excited about it (I DO need to get out more!) But I also want to add to our back patio. SO I would like some new patio furniture and Kmart has lay-away! I REFUSE to charge it so I want to try lay-away instead. Is this the new trend for consumers????

I just want to make some notes from today:

Right now I hear Tommy doing the dinner dishes, LOVE HIM!

The TV in this room (bedroom) is on ESPN (more A-Rod news) baseball is getting closer!!!

Olivia is trying on Isabel's hand-me-downs (we got out the size 5s today, it is heaven for her) I hear her saying "Daddy look at your sissy!"

Olivia is really interested in the 10 Commandments. She just came to tell me "Mom, if you love Mickey Mouse more than you love God, that is bad"

Logan is quiet, he must be watching the Koala Brothers, that is the only thing that seemed to make him happy today.

We tried to get Logan excited about riding Olivia's pink and purple tricycle, it was not happening. So this week, we are looking for a new bike.

I found my college scrapbook (while cleaning out the garage) fun times! How did I EVER think I fat? Now I am depressed. :)

I found one of Grandma Mounce's photo albums. Brad and my first 5 years. Wow how things go full circle. I saw pictures of my mom feeding us dinner, now I am doing that. I saw my dad helping me while I learned to walk, I have already done that with both kids. I saw Brad and I laughing together and playing, now my kids do that together. I saw the home I grew up in with some INTERESTING wall-paper and appliance colors. I LOVE to see pictures of that house. All of this made me realize how fast life goes. I bet my mom and dad were tired, sometimes frustrated (at Brad of course) and overwhelmed. Now I am those things sometimes. Kids are the best, and these "busy" years are really so short. This was so clear to me as I wandered through my early years today.

We signed Olivia up for preschool this week, how can this be possible? We have talked at length about sending Logan as well, I KNOW he would love it. I think we are leaning to sending him too.

Ok, enough thoughts for today, wow my mind was busy! No wonder I am exhausted!

More "no spending days"?

Now that we are home from vacation and life is getting back to normal, I am getting excited to add another "no spending day" to our week. I am thinking Tuesdays. I am finding that I am more excited and encouraged with this exercise than just trying to save money. For some reason, when I try to just "save money" I end up feeling deprived very quickly. With "no spending days" it is more like a game. So I am going to be a little crazy this week and throw Tuesday in as well as Thursday. I should probably clarify. I am not sure we are actually "saving" that much money, because we do spend on the other days. To me it is more the principle of choosing not to spend. If I didn't have a car would I go spend money every day? no. I would plan and budget alot better than I currently do.

I have alot to do to get ready for this since we have been gone. So grocery shopping tomorrow, buying a new childcare card at the workout place, and making sure the car is filled up.

Has anyone else tried a "no spending day?" I would love to hear how you did!

pics

I meant to add this to Day 4 below... :)

Cabana Beach Club

Our house

working...

our view