Grandparenting in the 21st Century

Distance...what distance? We may live 1000 miles away from MiMi but now she hangs out with us almost daily.

I love Skype. It has a been a great babysitting service. Brylee played Polly Pockets with her MiMi while I folded a load of laundry and finished dishes. Then my Mom watched the boys play Wii.
Fun stuff!

SEE you tomorrow Mom :)

Church Mouse

All the kids in Jake's preschool class take turns taking Church Mouse home for the weekend. He was so excited when I picked him up from school and he got to take the prized mouse home.

below is the letter he took back to his class to share his time with mouse.



I have been waiting all year for my turn to bring Church Mouse to my house. On the way home from school I made sure I put on his seatbelt. When we got home I ran inside so my Dad could meet Church Mouse and then I showed him how to play my Wii.

At Dinner time I found out that Mouse likes cheese and grapes. I always made sure that he was never hungry. He ate a lot of cheese at my house.

On Friday I took Mouse to a Great Big Gym and played all morning. Mouse likes jumping in the foam pit and playing on the bars. One of my friends jumped on the trampoline with Mouse. He had fun at the gym! Then we went to Long John Silvers for lunch. Mouse also likes Fish and French Fries. We were really hungry from playing at the gym!

Saturday I brought mouse to my Basketball game. He liked watching me play. After my basketball game the YMCA all day because my sister had a dance class and then my brother had a basketball game.

When it was dark and we had our pajamas on mouse and I watched the Olympics. Sometimes mouse slept in my lego bucket but on the last night I wanted him to sleep with me. Thank you for coming to my house Mouse! I will miss you.

My 365 Day Journey

From my Debt Free Blog:

3 years 7 months ago we took the next exit to Financial Freedom. Was it easy? Heck no! $48,000 of debt seemed an impossible mountain to climb. But we knew we had to do it. 3 years 7 months ago we were at the point that we were charging all of our groceries and gas and there was NO BIG BONUS that year coming to bail us out. Tough decisions had to be made. Cancel Cable, Sell Husbands Prize Truck, No Fancy Phones, No Eating Out, Very Small Grocery Budget, Lots of Coupons, No Clothing Budget and on and on.
18 long, exciting, grueling, rewarding months we climbed the mountain. WE WERE DEBT FREE in April 2008. Relieved, excited but we knew we had more work to do. On to saving. In 10 short months because we were debt free, our tax refund and by the GRACE of GOD we had a fully funded EMERGENCY FUND....6 months of living....$20,000 cash. Wow! We had climbed that impossible mountain.
Feburary 2009 it happened. The economy was struggling and my husband was laid off. We started our journey to honor God with our finances and I know He blessed our journey and emergency fund. We were going to be okay... well at least for 6 months!
3 months later and 1/2 of our emergency fund gone my husband was employed again. Note to you readers: Don't forget to save so you can pay for your own health insurance. COBRA insurance cost our family over $1000 a month while my husband was unemployed.
May 2009 my husband was employed again but for a lovely pay decrease of 39%
Our budget is tight and it is not as easy to save money with a 39% pay cut but we are slowly building everything back up.
Here is what our finances look like today:
Emergency Fund: $1013.17
6 Months Living Emergency Fund: $16987.38
Christmas Fund $200.52
Car Savings $86.92....I know we need to work on that one
Medical: $379.28
Daughter Preschool $215
401K: 5%.. we will save 10% once our 6 month emergency fund is in place....just a side note/ that is the only thing we have always done right from the beginning :) We have always put away for retirement and never touched it.
Savings Goal $3012.62...that will fully fund our 6 months Emergency Fund
Goal: To have it saved by the end of summer!
That is where we sit today. Was it worth the sacrifice? Yes, Yes, Yes!!!!! We will continue to live frugally. We have changed our family tree and will leave an inheritance to our children. Thank you God for opening our eyes.
As for this lovely blog, it has been an amazing 365 days. Thank you for all the emails. Just yesterday someone emailed me and told me that they paid off their last debt and are now Debt Free. Yea! Amen!
I am not going away. I will giveaway a Dave Ramsey book on 2-22-10 and will be back to contine sharing great deals and hope.
Thanks for coming on the journey with me.

Once in awhile

Once in awhile but not often enough... Grandma and Grandpa grace us with their presense and we all love it.

The Naughty Side

Look at the sweet angelic face.

Oh how he trys to be naughty with his sweet mouth.

Jake's favorite naughty saying:

I am going to quit preschool.

I am going to run away.

I am going to walk to MiMi's.

next time he got smart and decided he would fly to MiMi's.

I am going to the blackhole.

I am going to space.

but no worry....the furthest he has ran away is 5 houses down but it did involve his Dad running after him and he is still trying to figure out how to get to the blackhole....

but the next minute he is back to angelic self.

I love my 5 year old :)

The Snow Angel

The snow angel is about to be ambushed by two brothers.