Money, Money, Money MOOOOONey, MONEY!

Got to love Money, right?  WRONG!

I hate how money runs our lives.  But it's still there and we still have to make it work every month.

My husband works.  Alot.  And makes good money for us.  I'm always so thankful when he gets paid.  Not because I know our bills our paid but because I know he is supporting our family.  I make a point of saying thank you to  him every 2 weeks when we get his pay cheque. 

The government gives us money for the boys.  We have money from Q, for being under 6 years old.  We get $100.00 a month from them for child care costs and then a bit more for having kids under 18. 

I make money as well.  I provide daycare for a few children.  Currently it's one child.  I have a little boy who comes on random days.  His mom is a nurse so I don't have him 5 days a week.  For example, this week I had him 2 days. 

My family has been working on budgets for a while.  This is the year of the budgeting in our extended family.  We need to budget and make it work for our own families.

Well this month I took a hard look at our budget and I took out any income I had.  The little boy I have for daycare, his mom is having another baby in January.  I will lose my income in December, or maybe before.  I am bringing in a new little girl for after and before school care but nothing compared to what I was bringing in before.  But with my income being so random we have taken it out of the budget and will be using it for certain repayment sections.

We may not be able to save as much for things that we wanted to before but we have a very realistic view of where our money is going.  For example, we have to get our Christmas/Birthday budget back up.  After the boys birthdays in April we somehow manage to "forget" to take that money out, or spend it elsewhere.  This year we need to keep it going.  SO now our budget that would have been spread over 11 months is being crammed into 3 months.  Since our budget couldn't possibly make that work normally we will be using some of our budget money and some of my income to make it topped up.  Say hello to the mason jar with Christmas ribbon on it!  That's how we are saving this time around.

Every 2 years we have a big "vacation" in our family.  Last year, Arnold and Kyler went to Alberta for a week.  They got to visit family out there and really have a great time.  It was Kylers graduation gift from going from SK to Grade 1.  And Kyler got to remember being on an airplane.

Next summer (2013) Quinton and Arnold will be going.  You never realize how much tickets cost until you are buying them yourself!  So our budget is $2000.00 for the tickets and spending money.  This means we have to save alot and have it saved up in time to get a good deal on tickets.  Quinton is SO excited to go on an airplane and to see his family.  This time around he wants to go and see some dinosaurs.  They are his new love.

So not only do we have Christmas/Birthday budget to fill and our Trip fund to fill but we have our normal expenses.  We have to stay current on all our bill payments and make sure we have everything under control.

This is easier said than done.  I always used to joke that I would love to get all our money for the year at the beginning and let me spend it as I need but I know it would never be able to do it all like that.

So this year (as my life revolves around school years) we are going to be super careful how our budget goes and where our income is placed.  So for now we are under strict budgets.  Hopefully we can make this work :)  As always, only if God allows us to use the money He has given us in the places He wants.

Little Blessings

This week, along with our whole summer, we have learned to watch for little blessings.  They can be anything from Quinton learning to snap his fingers (yeah!!!) or my grandfather coming home from the hospital (double yeah!!)

Sometimes little blessings are hard to find.  Other times they are so easy.  If I looked hard enough I could find a little blessing every day. 

For example, today's little blessing include:

Ian being able to play on his own
Uncle Jack playing with the boys so I could get some things done
Me BBQ'ing and not burning anything (it's a first)
Arnold being able to stay home a bit longer this morning to help me out
Q learning to snap his fingers, and
K learning to whistle more (much to some of our dismays!)

I know this isn't all of them but it's just a "smattering" of them. 

God grants us with little blessings.  It's just a matter of looking for them every day.  I believe I may challenge myself to do that for a while.  Find those little blessing and be grateful for them.

So, for now God, please keep sending them my way.  And please remind me to look for them!

1 more month!

Can you believe it's only one more month until school starts?  The boys keep asking when is school coming, or if tomorrow is a school day.  Every time we try to explain how much longer we have to go but I think at 7 and 5 they don't quite understand.

We made an effort in July to be working on some school work but as things went on it didn't get done.  We did a week or so at my parents house when they both did work but after that things lagged.

I'm going to try and fix that this month.

We have started our "get ready to go back to school" routine already.  Yes I realize this may seem crazy to some people.  I mean really we have 1 whole month before we do go back to school but I need to know things are ready.

Last night we spent about 1 hour going through the boys clothes, the ones in their drawers, the ones in our "too big box" and anything we could find.  We figured out just what the boys need for school and added it to our list of shopping for the new year.  Thankfully it's not that crazy!!

In the next few days we are going to head out for our back to school shopping and get the boys ready for Grade 2 (oh my gosh!) and SK!

I'm going to be heading to the school soon to get some more gardening done there and eventually get my pass for volunteering in the school.  Hopefully we can get it done soon :)

A day off!

Our summer has been CRAZY!

When school got out we packed up the boys and headed to Sarnia.  The boys and I were going for a full week to chill, hang out, and relax by the poolside.  The first day we got there Nana tripped.  Not a fall down trip more like a side-step trip.  It turns out that she pulled her ACL and her meniscus.  Nana was on "crunches" for the 2 weeks we were there.

No really 2 weeks!  We stayed for an extra week and helped Nana out.  The boys went to daycamp at Temple Baptist Day Camp.  It was so much fun.  Nana and I went through the basement and cleaned out their storage unit.  It was a great reason for a garage sale!  So that's what we did.  We had a garage sale on Friday and Saturday.

Arnold came down this past weekend and picked us up.  We all headed back on Sunday and had a great storm to drive through.  Hail, rain, thunder, lightening, the works!  It was crazy for us.

We got home and had supper (pizza) and headed to bed shortly after.  Ian came on Monday and Tuesday.  It's good to be home.  It was right from one "job" to another.  I don't mind working but today was a day off!

Can you believe it?  A day off?  I even got 2 hours without the boys in the afternoon (they went to the neighbours house for a few hours).  I LOVED it.  My mini vacation!

Now tomorrow we have Ian again and the girls across the road.  And Friday just Ian but it's going to be a long fun week.  Saturday will be great.  We prep up again for more day camps (this time the Zoo) and then back to work around the house.

We have a few "projects" on the go.  The LL is working on the garage and we are planning to get some painting done if the weather allows.  Please pray for under 25C weather.  I could use it to paint next week!

Well that's about it in our house.  We are enjoying the summer and can't wait for zoo camp next week!  I'll try to update more but things are insane sometimes :)  Have a great July!

1 Extra Second

Today I was informed that you get one extra second in your day.  What can you do in 1 second?

-kiss your child
-hug your parents
-reply to a text message
-nod off for a nap
-jump in the pool
and so much more.

So today.. Enjoy your extra second :)

YES I know I'm SO behind on blogging.  The shortform is this:
June was fun!

Friends across the road sold their home and bought a new one (1.5 hours away)
Fathers Day!
Play Days at school
Volunteering at school
Working on gardens
Cleaned house
Went to a baby shower
Grad banquet for youth
Grandma (my grandma) came home from the hospital
Kyler graduated to grade 2!!!
Quinton became a SK :-)
Began our vacation in Sarnia
Mom broke leg

What a fun month!

Happy May!!

I realize I am a day late but Happy May Day! It's such a busy month for us!

Today I had my final blood test and thankfully my levels are back to normal!
Tonight we are taking the boys to the zoo to see the white Tigers, new to the zoo this year!
Tomorrow Arnold and the boys are going to a musical after school. They are going to see "In the woods" that is being put on by the school.

Friday, Arnold is taking the van to work and then picking up his parents at the airport!   We are SUPER excited to have them visit us on their fly-over to Holland.  One of the bonus points of living in Toronto is that they can stop by to see us before they fly over.  We are excited to have them staying with us until Monday.  Our big plans, so far, are going to St. Jacobs (don't worry I'll take pictures) and then maybe on Sunday do the Africian Lion Safari!  Arnold and I haven't been there since we got married 8 years ago and Q and K have never been there!

The weekend after Kyler has a birthday party to go to (still need to stop at Toys'R'Us and pick something up) and while he is at the party I"m going to be at a bridal shower for one of the ladies at our church.
Sunday is MOTHERS DAY!  (please take a moment to remind my husband if you see him)

The weekend after we are heading to Sarnia to help my parents open up their pool.  We are also going to snag Amber and Lisa on the way down so we can have someone else for the kiddos to play with!  That and I"m sure they miss their Nana and Papa too!

The weekend after is the last weekend in May and Arnold and I have some plans, nothing big but plans none-the-less. 

Also this month Arnold and I will have been married for 8 years!  I can't believe it's been that long :)  I have a babysitter for our anniversary and I think we are going to celebrate at The Keg for dinner!  Can't wait!

I'll be back with pictures soon I promise.  For now enjoy the nice weather!

Baby Casey ~ Pictures

When we found out we were expecting Casey I did the "normal" thing.  Freek out and then take pictures of the pregnancy test.  I finally emptied my camera and have those pictures as well as pictures of the flowers we have in honour of Casey.

A family from church brought us a meal and some tulips.  Also as soon as Arnold found out what was going on he called the church and asked if we could get an Easter Lily in Casey's honour.  And we did.  When Arnold went to pick it up he was told to take more since some people didn't get theirs.  We took 2 home with us and they are now in our Baby Casey Garden out front.  I just couldn't pick one or 2 pictures so you have been forwared there are ALOT of photos.

Today I was told that my Beta levels are down to 13.  I'm finally getting back to a "normal" state.  I do plan on blogging at least one more post on Baby Casey and my miscarriage.  I want others out there to know what it was like to go through and that there is hope, even if I"m in tears when someone asks how I am doing.

Thank you for all your love and support.

Here are the flowers:























































And Baby Casey's Garden: We are hoping to get a stone for the garden. I haven't found anything "perfect" but I"m still looking.