WE ARE HAVING ANOTHER GIRL!!
We are absolutely ELATED by this prospect!
We are absolutely ELATED by this prospect!
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Busy, Productive Week and Finishing Lots of Projects....
This past week has been stuffed with projects I am happy to say have been finished!
Does this look like the face of a girl who would be content in a crib?!
For Christmas Sunshine and Bunny's cousin gave them her old dollhouse. It's taken me 5 months to get around to sanding it down and painting it. At some point I plan to detail it a bit (carpet, light fixtures, accents, etc. Come to think of it, considering I've been wanting one since before Sunshine was born, it was probably a little bit for me too. :) )
As you can see, it took no time at all for the house to be furnished. Within hours, 10 little girls were playing contentedly with the new found treasure.
On Saturday, my best-friend/sister-in-law, who will now be known as 'Wonder Woman" on this blog, and I ran the "Running With Angels 5k" in honor or Hannah Paige who was born and passed away on June 9, 2007. It was a beautiful experience. One of the most profound and beautiful features of the run was that it was held in one of the most peaceful local places I could have imagined: The Gardens at Thanksgiving Point. At the start of the race, they released doves that flew overhead as we ran.
I haven't ordered pictures yet, but here's a photo of our fabulous finish!
http://www.yourlifeimages.com/cgi-bin/store/imageFolio.cgi?action=view&link=Other_Events/2009_Running_With_Angels_5K/03_Finish_Line/36_minutes_to_45_minutes&image=4R6R3981.jpg&img=192&tt=&tfile=tn_4R6R3981.jpg
After the race, as we were walking to our car, who should we run into?! He-Man and our munchkins as well as Wonder Woman's kids who he so generously tended at our home while the girls ran! It was such a surprise and we just happened to be in the right place at the right time to run into each other! How cool is that?!
We spent the next hour roaming through the Children's Garden and the Thanksgiving Point Gardens. It was a beautiful day and we all had a great time.
Even better, the fun didn't stop there! We then went for lunch at 'The Brick Oven" (thanks for the treat, Jamie!) and hit the local Astronomy Fair.
By early afternoon, we were pooped! I love those days that start super early! That usually means you can fit a whole lot of fun into the day!
First of all, Button Nose has decided she is too old for a crib. We packed it and set up her toddler bed. She's done GREAT with this new found freedom and loves to announce her awakening from naps and nighttime sleep with great pomp and circumstance. She absolutely revels in getting out of bed as soon as she is awake enough to walk.
Does this look like the face of a girl who would be content in a crib?!
For Christmas Sunshine and Bunny's cousin gave them her old dollhouse. It's taken me 5 months to get around to sanding it down and painting it. At some point I plan to detail it a bit (carpet, light fixtures, accents, etc. Come to think of it, considering I've been wanting one since before Sunshine was born, it was probably a little bit for me too. :) )
As you can see, it took no time at all for the house to be furnished. Within hours, 10 little girls were playing contentedly with the new found treasure.
It has become quite obvious, with the pending arrival of our latest addition and the ever-maturing Sunshine, that it's time to transition from 3 girls in one room to 2 girls in 2 rooms. I've been cleaning out our reading/art room to prepare it for new tenants. Finished project pictures will follow shortly.
On Saturday, my best-friend/sister-in-law, who will now be known as 'Wonder Woman" on this blog, and I ran the "Running With Angels 5k" in honor or Hannah Paige who was born and passed away on June 9, 2007. It was a beautiful experience. One of the most profound and beautiful features of the run was that it was held in one of the most peaceful local places I could have imagined: The Gardens at Thanksgiving Point. At the start of the race, they released doves that flew overhead as we ran.
I haven't ordered pictures yet, but here's a photo of our fabulous finish!
http://www.yourlifeimages.com/cgi-bin/store/imageFolio.cgi?action=view&link=Other_Events/2009_Running_With_Angels_5K/03_Finish_Line/36_minutes_to_45_minutes&image=4R6R3981.jpg&img=192&tt=&tfile=tn_4R6R3981.jpg
After the race, as we were walking to our car, who should we run into?! He-Man and our munchkins as well as Wonder Woman's kids who he so generously tended at our home while the girls ran! It was such a surprise and we just happened to be in the right place at the right time to run into each other! How cool is that?!
We spent the next hour roaming through the Children's Garden and the Thanksgiving Point Gardens. It was a beautiful day and we all had a great time.
Even better, the fun didn't stop there! We then went for lunch at 'The Brick Oven" (thanks for the treat, Jamie!) and hit the local Astronomy Fair.
By early afternoon, we were pooped! I love those days that start super early! That usually means you can fit a whole lot of fun into the day!
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Happy Mother's Day and Anniversary rolled into one!!
Happy Mother's Day to all of you beautiful, wonderful women in my life. I'm convinced you are the cream of the crop! Thank you for the influence you have in my life!
Yesterday was a double treat for me since it was Mother's Day and He-Man and my 10th wedding anniversary!
He-Man managed to make it a beautiful, joyful day which certainly caused me to reflect on how grateful I am for him. He is the love of my life; and though we both had A LOT of refining to do (me, more so than him) when we met at 15 years old, it's been a blessed process to go through it all with him.
For your viewing pleasure, here are some pics of the process...it's acceptable to laugh...
Yesterday was a double treat for me since it was Mother's Day and He-Man and my 10th wedding anniversary!
He-Man managed to make it a beautiful, joyful day which certainly caused me to reflect on how grateful I am for him. He is the love of my life; and though we both had A LOT of refining to do (me, more so than him) when we met at 15 years old, it's been a blessed process to go through it all with him.
For your viewing pleasure, here are some pics of the process...it's acceptable to laugh...
Our first shared vehicle. The real one was only slightly more impressive.
For those who've seen 'Napolean Dynamite', my brilliant brother-in-law has said we look like "Kip and a white Lafonda" in our engagement pictures.
I'm so sorry about posting this honey. I only do so BECAUSE it's safe to post pictures of the bowl cut since you improved the look many years ago.
See? No bowl cut! Just two people sharing a kiss on the Eiffel Tower a year later.
The product of ten years...-half a child.
It's been a great decade, He-Man! Here's to the next ten being even better!
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Sprinting to the finish line isn't always a good thing...
I LOVED what we'll call "He-Man's Most Excellent Graduate School Adventure". It was an awesome experience; great friends, living in one of the most wonderful places on the planet and being minutes away from a bustling city, wooded area for running or hiking and an hour or two from the ocean. And while you may not think of grad school as a time of great security and financial comfort, in a way, it was for us.
Every semester, He-Man's loans would cover his tuition, books, etc., along with a nice living expense check. Combined with the income I made from home school and tutoring, I felt very comfortable. In hindsight, my comfort was a bit of an illusion.
We lived a mile away from an Outlet Mall and I gained a certain affinity for Target. So I often found myself justifying using my paycheck to purchase what I considered necessities. And while many of those things were justified, some were not. I still consider myself fairly frugal but when my pay check was gone, I felt absolutely comfortable putting any leftover expense on the family credit card. It wasn't being used for anything else. I wouldn't want the credit card to get stale and we were already going into debt for school so why not? It was only a small amount of money every time. The red sparkly garland at the 'Harry and David' store's after Christmas sale was only $1.00. At that price I could buy 10 for next year's Christmas. And those GAP fleece jackets were 50% off. We all needed jackets and now we could all have matching ones.
Don't get me wrong, my choices weren't all borderline indifferent. When we decided to go to Disneyland as a family, my ever wise husband agreed to it on the condition that we wouldn't put any vacation expenses toward the ever expanding credit card balance. So for months I scrimped a little more to fund a most awesome family road trip. Still, if I had it my way, we would have purchased a few more souvenirs at Downtown Disney and we would've gone to Sea World. We had the card, right?
5 years later, I 'get it' a little better. I've figured out that personal credit card debt is quite a bit different from school debt AND it comes due a lot sooner. Not only that, the gratification of having matching outfits, which in some cases looks borderline creepy in an Oompa Loompa sort of way, comes with some sacrifices later on. Some, I have decided, may not be worth it.
Case in point: Every Christmas our church congregation collectively gives our bishop, the leader of the church in our neighborhood, extra monetary donations to give those less fortunate a better Christmas. Every year, I have such a desire to give more. Yet, debt has limited us to the amount of service we can render. It has made me sad every year.
Also, our tax return for the past couple of years has been needed to pay down that nasty credit card balance instead of it going towards something more satisfying; such as Lasik eye surgery for He-Man so all the world could see those beautiful baby blues without a layer of spectacles....and so he could play a mean game of soccer without contacts (he doesn't wear them enough for them not cause irritation).
BUT
I'm happy to report that within 3 days of our 10th!!! wedding anniversary, we are thisclose to paying the whole thing off! I'm so excited I can hardly stand it! We certainly can't claim to have done it on our own merits alone because we've had A LOT of support from loved ones who have done so much to encourage us in this goal.
This is where the 'sprinting to the finish line' comes in. I so desperately want to take that last payment out of this month's income-even though we just made a substantial one a week ago. But I know that this is probably one of the only cases where it's more prudent not to. While a lack of prudence didn't necessarily get us into the mess, it certainly agitated it a great deal. And so, I'm resisting the urge to run so hard that I puke at the end and instead I'm determined to trot across the finish line to that nice big, red bow at the end (that won't need to be wiped down and disinfected when we get there.)
With a little divine protection from major financial catastrophe and a better understanding of how to budget and penny pinch, our next ten may be a little more debt free. And that is a very good feeling.
Every semester, He-Man's loans would cover his tuition, books, etc., along with a nice living expense check. Combined with the income I made from home school and tutoring, I felt very comfortable. In hindsight, my comfort was a bit of an illusion.
We lived a mile away from an Outlet Mall and I gained a certain affinity for Target. So I often found myself justifying using my paycheck to purchase what I considered necessities. And while many of those things were justified, some were not. I still consider myself fairly frugal but when my pay check was gone, I felt absolutely comfortable putting any leftover expense on the family credit card. It wasn't being used for anything else. I wouldn't want the credit card to get stale and we were already going into debt for school so why not? It was only a small amount of money every time. The red sparkly garland at the 'Harry and David' store's after Christmas sale was only $1.00. At that price I could buy 10 for next year's Christmas. And those GAP fleece jackets were 50% off. We all needed jackets and now we could all have matching ones.
Don't get me wrong, my choices weren't all borderline indifferent. When we decided to go to Disneyland as a family, my ever wise husband agreed to it on the condition that we wouldn't put any vacation expenses toward the ever expanding credit card balance. So for months I scrimped a little more to fund a most awesome family road trip. Still, if I had it my way, we would have purchased a few more souvenirs at Downtown Disney and we would've gone to Sea World. We had the card, right?
5 years later, I 'get it' a little better. I've figured out that personal credit card debt is quite a bit different from school debt AND it comes due a lot sooner. Not only that, the gratification of having matching outfits, which in some cases looks borderline creepy in an Oompa Loompa sort of way, comes with some sacrifices later on. Some, I have decided, may not be worth it.
Case in point: Every Christmas our church congregation collectively gives our bishop, the leader of the church in our neighborhood, extra monetary donations to give those less fortunate a better Christmas. Every year, I have such a desire to give more. Yet, debt has limited us to the amount of service we can render. It has made me sad every year.
Also, our tax return for the past couple of years has been needed to pay down that nasty credit card balance instead of it going towards something more satisfying; such as Lasik eye surgery for He-Man so all the world could see those beautiful baby blues without a layer of spectacles....and so he could play a mean game of soccer without contacts (he doesn't wear them enough for them not cause irritation).
BUT
I'm happy to report that within 3 days of our 10th!!! wedding anniversary, we are thisclose to paying the whole thing off! I'm so excited I can hardly stand it! We certainly can't claim to have done it on our own merits alone because we've had A LOT of support from loved ones who have done so much to encourage us in this goal.
This is where the 'sprinting to the finish line' comes in. I so desperately want to take that last payment out of this month's income-even though we just made a substantial one a week ago. But I know that this is probably one of the only cases where it's more prudent not to. While a lack of prudence didn't necessarily get us into the mess, it certainly agitated it a great deal. And so, I'm resisting the urge to run so hard that I puke at the end and instead I'm determined to trot across the finish line to that nice big, red bow at the end (that won't need to be wiped down and disinfected when we get there.)
With a little divine protection from major financial catastrophe and a better understanding of how to budget and penny pinch, our next ten may be a little more debt free. And that is a very good feeling.
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