Valentine's Crafts - Day 2

We did another little activity on Friday. We made tissue-paper flowers. Amy loved this. Even though I had to do most of the work for her, since scissors are hard and she's a little rough with separating the tissue paper, she has been carrying around the flowers every day since!

Financial Goals for 2011

The past year and a half have been crazy, to say the least. We have moved 4 times (including a short stint at my in-law's house) and have changed jobs 3 times. After all the craziness of life and this economy, we are determined not to be thrown into panic-mode anymore.

Our solution? We are going to put aside, what we consider, a year's supply of money. This is not the amount we would spend if we were employed, but should the economy freak-out, should Mike's company suddenly close, or some other devastating event, we don't want to have to immediately move or worry how long we can survive with the amount of money we have saved. So we decided to buckle down for a year and put away a large amount into our savings each month.

So January has come. And we did it! We were able to put away the full amount we wanted to, plus a little extra! We did go over on some of our budget items, but we stayed under on the others. So we are pretty darn proud of ourselves! In fact, with the money we had saved from our previous savings, plus January, plus February and our tax refund (woo hoo!), we will possibly be halfway there already! Although we plan to save for the entire 12 months, putting aside more for a down-payment for a future house and a celebratory trip to Europe hopefully planned for Summer 2013!

Valentine's Crafts - Day 1

Sometimes I strive to be a good mom. I feel like I'm succeeding this week. I've decided that, during Matthew's naptimes, Amy and I are going to do a Valentine's craft / activity / something together. Yesterday was the first day, and we made Valentine's placemats for the table. Cardstock, stickers, glue, sequins, and doilies, along with some contact paper, makes a fun little placemat for the family. And she had a lot of fun doing it ("Mom, I want to do the glue myself.").

Great job Amy!

Funny Amy

Well, it's a new year, so it's time for the Biggest Lewis-er again... yes, we put all our weight back on... dang it. The goood news? I'm winning (bring it everyone!)... so far! I bought some special K, and by bought I mean got for .15 a box with a coupon the other day. Amy asked for some, but knowing she probably wouldn't like this non-sugared cereal and not wanting to waste my healthy food, I told her it was for mommies who wanted to get skinny.

Well, the next week she was at my in-law's house while Mike and I were out. My MIL, whom I had sent an extra of my super duper cheap boxes of Special K to, asked Amy if she wanted a bite of her cereal. To which Amy responded, "No, it's for mommies to get skinny." My confused in-laws got a good laugh out of that one!

This is what my kids look like each morning when they have their morning snack of cereal and Toy Story.