My Girls

The other day Faith announced, "It's flower pickin' day!" So Bella followed her outside to "go pickin'" I couldn't resist following them with my camera! Aren't they beautiful girls? (I know! I'm a little biased!)

B-D-J-T a four letter word!

Budget!

Doesn't the word just make you cringe a little bit?

I know it's a strange time of the year to get around to budgeting - but we did it. We are officially on the Dave Ramsey cash budget (again). Yes, we tried it before, and it worked swimmingly - everything but having to get the cash every week. We slowly eased out of it . . . and now decided to whip ourselves back into shape.

I know it's a necessary evil . . . but wouldn't it be nicer if we could just buy what we want when we want? I'm not talking extravagant purchaces . . . just everyday stuff.

This, however, is how my Meijer grocery bill ends up closer to $200 than our budgeted $100 each week. I see a cute shirt on clearance, or a little something that would look perfect in the bathroom, or a pair of cutey shoes for the girls, or hair thingies . . . which are pretty pricey! It's also how a visit to Target ends up in me shelling out $100.

The B-D-J-T!*%$#, however will stop me from doing that. There's an allotted amount for groceries, hair/make-up, clothing, entertainment etc., and when it's gone, it's gone. Although there is some freedom within boundries, it can also feel a bit constrictive (especially at Target or Old Navy or Maurices).

Anyone else do the cash thing? Or are you all on the buy what we want when we want plan? With good ole Christian Ed now in the picture, we have to be a bit more disciplined. But why does discipline take so much work?

I'm already schemeing ways to save a bit of money in a few areas, so I can pad my clothing account a bit more . . . hmmmmm, broccoli? or a new shirt? Look for me in the clearance aisle come school shopping time!

Freaky Friday

Have you ever seen that movie, "Freaky Friday" where two people end up switching bodies . . . that totally happened at our house last Friday.

Bella woke up nasty, argumentative, defiant - just miserable, really. She had three spankings and three time-outs - and all before noon!

Faith woke up sweet, kind, willing to help and share, happy, loving, huggy, patient.

It wasn't til noon that I figured out it was Friday the 13th . . . hmmmm.

Saturday, everthing was back to normal . . .

Vacation Mode

Wow! I know it's been forever since I've blogged . . . but my brain has been a bit in vacation mode!

After the craziness of Sports Camp and Faith's birthday, we took a week away at my in-laws cottage. The first two days were spent remembering what it's like to actually spend time together as a family. It was much needed alone time! It felt great to reconnect as a family! We needed it desperately! We then spent the holiday with Mike's parents, my mom and Matt, Olivia and Levi. Then for the weekend the whole fam was there!

The week started out a bit rainy . . . but by Wednesday afternoon, the sun decided to come out to stay! We had a fabulous time soaking in the rays, riding seadoos, puttsing around on the pontoon, playing Mexican train until 1 am (a very addicting dominos game), grilling great eats, laughing, and reading magazines - what a treat!

Mike's idea of R & R while at the cottage is starting projects . . . after sitting behind a desk for work all the time, he loves to do manual labor. The major undertaking of the week was giving the beach an extreme makeover. Mike started on Tuesday with ripping out a large section of the sea-wall - and later in the week he recruited his poor brothers to finish the job by hauling 15 yards of dirt up a flight of stairs one wheel barrow at a time. Don't tell anyone, but I think despite the hard work, they had fun doing it!

Anyway, here are some pics from our week away:

Mommy and Faith enjoying our homemade smoothies!

Daddy and Bella - CHEERS!

Cousins - Levi, Faith and Bella.

Mike and his brothers on vacation. So much for R & R! They spent Friday night and much of Saturday leveling off the beach to get it ready for sod!

The brothers also "relaxed" by opening up the sea-wall so the kids can now walk into the water (instead of fall in over the sea-wall like Bella did at the beginning of the week - head first no less!). This part will be covered in beautiful, white beach sand!

Bella and McKenzie supervising the work being done!

It wasn't all work and no play! Here's Mike trying to take Bella waterskiing . . . the one-handed take off is a bugger! They ended up falling at the take off and going under . . . after that, Bella decided she didn't want to try again . . . go figure!

She did, however still want to go for a boat ride . . . Notice that Faith doesn't go anyone without her trusty friend, Rar. And aren't Bella's little buns adorable!