Quiet...

This morning I got the rare pleasure of waking up to an almost empty house. Its just Jason and I. My parents took the kids yesterday so J and I could go out to dinner at Dahlia Lounge with some friends.

We had an interesting day yesterday. After dropping off the kids, we came home and decided we were going to head into downtown Seattle early because the day was so gorgeous and we haven't explored downtown in years. We wanted to stop and buy J a few shirts and then we thought, maybe we should look at a sports jacket and slacks because its something he's really needed in his wardrobe. So we stopped at Men's Warehouse in Lynnwood because it was the only place I knew of off the type of my head. An hour and a half later we walk out rather shell-shocked (sticker shocked?) at what we'd done! He ended up with a sports coat, 2 dress pants, 2 shirts, and 2 ties. In truth we only walked out with the shirts and ties because the other things were being tailored. That was the most money we'd ever spent on clothes and then we left with this tiny bag. Wasn't very satisfying! Oh well. At least we know he'll be very well dressed for any events that come up.

We got downtown and parked right by the restaurant, then walked to Westlake Center. I used the ladies room and while I was in there, mall security busted in to get a lady who was high as a kite and leaning in a corner. That was kind of interesting. We wandered around for a bit, then headed back to the restaurant and met April and Gregg and had dinner. We were there 3 hours and had a good time. Food was ok. Not amazing, but good and a little different. My favorite was the dessert of freshly made doughnuts with marscapone and jam. YUM!

Today I have some big yard plans, thanks to the really nice weather that has inspired me. I'm pulling out a big bush in the front yard and replacing it with my blueberry which has outgrown its pot. I'm also going start hacking back the blackberry bushes that have been encroaching on my yard for the past few years. They are now officially "out of control" and I'm out of time... if they're gonna be cut back, it has to be now. How I wish I had a goat who could come in here and eat them back.

Freedom!

As of 2/13/10, we are entirely consumer debt free. No credit cards, no car payments. No monkey on our back. We are FREE! This is astounding. A little over 2 years ago we were putting $200 a month on the credit cards for essentials and totally baffled at why we couldn't live on Jason's income. My friend April told us about Dave Ramsey and his book, Total Money Makeover. I read it first, with a huge dose of skepticism. Budgeting was scary and we'd never stuck to anything we'd tried in the past. I didn't think this would work either. After I read a few pages, I knew Jason had to read it too. He started and got SO excited by it. We saw a far better future for ourselves and best of all, a very easy plan to get there. So we started and we stuck with it, like we'd never ever stuck to any other budget plan before. And suddenly, that very first month, we not only had enough money to pay for everything, we had extra left over. Why had we needed that $200 on the credit card every month? We were not shorted on anything. We could still get an espresso and eat out. We still went on vacations and celebrated birthdays. Our lives were not negatively impacted at all. And best of all, even then, we felt free. We didn't worry about having enough to pay the mortgage or groceries. We knew we had it because the cash was right there in the envelope staring at us.

So I would recommend this plan to anyone who wants to get their finances under control. How we wish we'd done this 5 years earlier. We'd be in a totally different place. Its truly changed our lives.

So... in other news, my commitment to only spend 30 minutes online did not work today. But, it wasn't pointless time killing internet stuff, but research, planning and investigation. I looked for some home organization for the kid's laundry (and found it!). I planned out my gardens and ordered some seeds and starts for delivery later this year (so excited!). I ordered a new cell phone. I am pleased at how aware I've been of my time. When I started just aimlessly browsing, killing time, I left the computer and did something else. Like plant my tulip bulbs... better late than never. Right? Right?

Convicted

I've been feeling very convicted about how much time I spend online. It never feels like I spend a lot of time at a stretch, but since I'm always popping on and off it does add up. Some days, bad days, I spend most of my day online just killing time and trying to escape reality. I end up eating my breakfast and lunch here, so I can read articles or my message board and my kids watch more TV than they should because Mommy gets caught up in something online. I don't want to be a parent who keeps brushing their kids aside because they are too distracted by the computer.

So, my new goal is to limit myself to 30 minutes a day. I suppose for some people that still probably sounds like a lot! But I will guarantee you that its way less than I spend online now. 30 minutes is plenty of time to check my boards, Facebook, email and read a few things online.

I want to fill that extra time with good, fun things. Not more housework. Nope. That's a sure way to send me back to the computer for an escape! I want to use that time to read for myself or to the kids, finally get back into sewing, work in the yard, or do one of the thousand and one projects I have in mind for this house.

So, I start tomorrow. I'm a little afraid to be honest. My computer has been an escape for years and years... even before I had kids! I'm sure there will be some withdrawal pains. But I'm not living in a way I'm proud of right now, and I know technology addiction is part of it.

A beautiful story

I discovered this through a link on a message board I visit and it was too beautiful not to share. It really touched me. I think it may touch your heart too, so I encourage you to spend the 5 minutes to read through this mothers story.

The Birth of Nella Cordelia

Funny & charming things the kids are doing

Just so I don't forget!

Elsa has moppish hair, so I often put it up in a spout on top of her head. Its a very tall spout. The girls have come up with a game where Gwen holds the spout and leads Elly around the kitchen-living room-office circuit. Around and around they go, Elsa giggling and Gwen gently guiding her by the hair.

Elsa really gets that Gwen is her sister now and "Gennie" is usually the first person she asks about when she gets up in the morning. I've noticed the last few times we've been out and about, Elsa has run up to Gwen unexpectedly, hugged her legs and said, "Gennie sis! Gennie sis!" meaning, of course, Gwennie is her sister. Its so cute!

Every night I pray with the kids before bed. Gwen always likes to follow up with her own prayer. Its so sweet because she always praises my dinners, even if she didn't like them, and thanks Jesus for her "bestest" Mommy.

Ethan has been  coming back with little statements that crack us up. The other day we were in the car and he was cranky. I asked him why he was so sour and he says, "Because I got up at 1 in the morning and ate a lemon". Too funny! When I was trying on my red lipstick for my sisters 40's themed party, he looked at me, wide-eyed, and said, "Mom, those are kissing lips, like in a cartoon!"

Ethan also has good reasoning skills. I have to be very careful to not let him reason his way out of assigned tasks or punishments because he will somehow always talk me out of them. Jason tells me that he did this as a kid too, so I guess E comes by it naturally. On one hand, I admire his ability, but sheesh, this will be a challenge the older he gets. Perhaps I will need to get him in a debate club!

One of the most charming things the older two do is snuggle on the couch and fall asleep in ridiculous positions or fall asleep on their own in ridiculous spots. Here are a few of my favorites.

Ok, they aren’t asleep in this one, but who can sit comfortably like this!

Ethan has special snuggling powers. His sisters can’t stay awake around him!

Times of our life

Things have been so crazy lately. Seems every week or weekend has some event that takes up every ounce of available brain and body energy!

Last weekend we traveled to my Aunt Daralyn's house in Northeast Washington. Our journey was for two reasons. 1. A housewarming for my cousin Lindy who lives in that area, and 2. hooky-bobbing, which is basically sledding and then being pulled back up the hill (in this case, driveway) by a car.

Our trip out took about 7 hours and went fairly smooth, all things considered. My kids are not strangers to long car rides and they do pretty well. The DVD player helps a lot! As we got closer, we were skeptical that we'd have much snow to sled on as the roads and most of the countryside was snow free. However, my aunt lives on a mountain basically and there was plenty of snow for us! We navigated the somewhat treacherous driveway with ease (what a big relief) and settled in with the scads of other people there. I think at the fullest point there were 31 people in her house, and for 2 nights there were 27 people sleeping there! There were 11 kids under 9, and 5 of them were under 2 years. Oh it was a full house, but it wasn't all that crowded feeling and everyone was able to find a little space to move and breathe.

The next few days were filled with lots of visiting and playing. It was my first time hooky-bobbing and I had a BLAST! I so want to do this next year :) I have an album of pictures that ya'll can see here.

The drive home took about 7 hours too, but was more difficult because my cranky little sis, Jenni, was riding with us (sorry Jen, its true!) and the DVD player was broken. But we all survived and the journey was well worth the memories and enjoyment we had at Aunt Daralyns, even though we had to go to the bathroom in garbage bags the last day ;) Our poor hosts, the sewer pipe under their house was crushed (unbeknown to them) and the influx of all the people using the faciilites clogged it completely. Its freezing with deep snow outside and we are on a mountain. Not many options. So we did what we had to and lined to the toilets with garbage bags and tied them up and put them in the bathtub when they were full. It wasn't so bad. I DO feel bad that my Aunt had to empty all those bags when the sewer problem was fixed though. I have to say that I think it speaks highly of my family that everyone dealt with the issue with good humor. What else CAN you do in that situation?

In other happenings, tonight my sister Becki is celebrating her 30th birthday (technically her birthday was back in January, but we're celebrating tonight). She's having a swing dancing 30-40's style party at a gym. Its gonna be SO fun! My friend April is a whiz with hair and makeup and I asked her to do me up. We did a trial run on Thursday and she turned me from my everyday plain Jane into this. I was SHOCKED. It didn't even look like me! I've never worn so much makeup, but it was fun to do something totally different from the regular. I can't remember the last time I wore lipstick or got all dolled up. It'll be cool to see what it looks like when I'm in my outfit. Thanks April!



My goal is that it won't be 3 weeks until my next blog post. Lets see how that works out ;)

Morning, noon, and night sickness

That sums up the few short weeks of pregnancy that have passed. I don't recall feeling this sick, this often, this early!

I'm also incredibly tired.

Now this is all "normal", but it seems to me I wasn't weighted down by these things in the past until I was like 8-10 weeks along!

Nonetheless, I'm pushing through each day and doing what I can. Homeschooling is going well, and I've started Gwen doing some early reading prep as well. I hope to have both of them reading at about the same level by late spring.

Both the kids had to go in for fillings and did just great. Our dentist is wonderful. Unfortunately, Gwen has to go in 3 more times and Ethan 1 more time to get them all finished up. I cannot believe my little Gwen had 5 cavities! Both of them will have their teeth sealed when they're old enough as they inherited grooves in their teeth from me.

Elsa has had a cold for a few days now and its a constant struggle to keep that nose clean! She's started freaking out any time it starts to drip, so I have to always have something on hand to get her cleaned up or she starts losing her marbles a bit. Something about a runny nose really gets her worked up!

Jason is liking Costco and the people he works for. The drive, as you might assume, has gotten VERY old. He's spent a lot of time re-working our finances and budget to see if we could move earlier than planned, or maybe even rent, but it looks like we're still here for a few more years (unless we win the lottery... which we don't play). There just isn't any way you can make a grueling 1.5 hour commute home not miserable. Luckily the drive in isn't bad (because he leaves so early), but the drive home just wears him out. I remember those days of commuting and how grateful I am that I no longer have to do it! I can't wait until J either finds a job close to home or our home moves closer to his job and he doesn't have to end his work day drained and frustrated at how little time he gets with the family and leisure before having to go to bed to get up early and fight the drive again.

Short

Just a few lines while I'm here, trying to rest my weary bones for a few seconds. Tonight I'm watching my cousin Ben and this house is full and noisy with 4 kids all wound up. Guess I should get used to that, huh?

Here's a link to our pictures from Christmas. I took shockingly few pictures for some reason.

Gwen had her first filling on Thursday and did great. I just love our dentist. We'll be back next week for Ethan's, then the week after for Gwen, then Ethan , then Gwen once again. I can't believe Gwen had 5 cavities and Ethan 2! I need to remember to talk about having their teeth sealed to prevent further cavities since they both have deep grooves in their teeth like I do.

Elsa has reached her "terrible twos". During our weekend in Spokane we REALLY saw it emerge. I know how to weather this... I've done it twice already. But that does not make it fun and this little one has a will and determination that I don't recall in the others. As exhausting as it is, this is the groundwork for the future years and we must be consistent and firm in guiding her. So far her favorite thing to do is shriek "MINE!" over everything or "NO!" at the gentlest suggestion or to hit me when she's angry.

Well, Ben was just picked up and I must get the kids into jammies and into bed as they are VERY tired.

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and all that jazz.

What a whirlwind 2.5 weeks! Life is just starting to return to normal. We had a wonderful Christmas weekend (after spending Christmas all by ourselves) and over New Years, we visited our Spokane family and enjoyed ourselves there as well.

I always feel a great relief after the holidays are over. I enjoy them a lot, but its also a lot of work, a lot of stress, and a lot of money! I enjoy routine so its nice to get back to that.

There is some news... I'm pregnant! I found out the Monday after Christmas but I didn't tell anyone... I wanted to see if Jason would guess on his own. He did, during our dreadfully long drive to Spokane (thanks snow and ice!) and the next day I told family. I'm very early, like only 6 weeks or so, due in early September. The kids are so excited!

We're off to our weekly visit with family, so that's all for now.

Children’s Museum

Yesterday my friend April, with her three boys, and I, with my three kidlets, headed out to the Imagine Children’s Museum in Everett.  It was pretty crowded and crazy and both adults felt exhausted at the end, but the kids had a blast and that’s what it was all for :)

Elsa had so much fun. It was her first time being old enough to do anything and she kept me running all day.

They had a cool room with black lights and glowing things. This was by far Elly’s favorite room. If she escaped from my view, this was where I’d always find her!

 

Elsa, Grady and Gibson in the water room. Always a huge hit and even I have to admit its pretty darn cool.

 

April (Garrison on the back) and Grady working the water wheel

 

Ethan and Elsa… She tried to climb in a few times!

Little (or not so little any more!) Garrison.

There is a small padded play area for kids 5 and under. Elsa was by far the youngest in there but she held her ground very well. When this little girl gave her a push, Elly yelled, “Hey!” and the little girl said sorry. Being the youngest, Elsa is no stranger to being pushed around or standing up for herself!

Ethan’s meal for me, from the kitchen area.

Gwen was too shy to come out to the stage in the theatre area, so Elly just came out and stood there in front of everyone. Then she tried to copy a big kid and walk off the edge. That ended with a face plant, but she wasn’t hurt :)

Grady, Gibson and Elsa watching the coins go down

Gwen was running around everywhere but I managed to catch a picture of her!

On the bus

Being goofy on the train

How can you not love this little face? Gwen is going to marry him one day, or so she says :)

 

April may not appreciate me posting a picture of her boys fighting over a block, but I did because I saw Ethan all finger-wagging about how they should share! The irony here is that not 5 minutes later I had to pull Ethan away from the blocks because he got mad at Elly for knocking his stuff down and pushed her over. Practice what you preach Ethan! :)

Gwen was proud of how tall she built this tower. Elly-zilla took care of it pretty fast after this picture was snapped.

Once we got home, all the kids took outrageously long naps which was nice and allowed me to catch up on a bunch of stuff.

Today I’m taking the kids over to my parents house to spend the night! J and I will be going out to dinner and then tomorrow wrapping up all the presents that have been stashed in the hiding place and getting things ready for Christmas. Good times.