I'm a little late on this, but it's been busy. We had a yummy Thanksgiving. I enjoy the food more and more each year. It's amazing that as you get older you start liking all of the stuff you thought was so gross when you were younger. We had everything you could imagine at my aunts. Everyone brings something to go with the turkey and ham and it's so good every time.
We did something different this year. My uncle had everyone go around and say what they were thankful for. I thought it was great to hear my kids say things. I mean if I made them do that at home they wouldn't take it seriously, but there they did it because everyone else did. They were thankful for family and life and that was so great to hear. We're lucky. Not a lot of families still celebrate holidays together anymore. So many get separated by distance or feuds. We still get together with my aunts, uncles, cousins and grandma; along with my sister, mom and stepdad. The kids have this familiar placed tradition every year to run around with cousins, play with new babies, play games and cards, talk and eat together.
There is NO better tradition than this. Family trumps everything in my mind and being together is important.
Saturday, November 27, 2010
I'm SO done!
My Christmas shopping is complete. I just started, literally, 2 weeks ago. Didn't have a thing until then. Now, I'm just waiting for everything to arrive. What a relief to be done. We way splurged this year. The older kids each asked for slightly more expensive items, so we decided to get this this year; within reason and watching our dollars of course. Every once in awhile it's okay and this is definitely something we NEVER do. And though our budget is $100 or less per child we went a little over on the big ones. The little ones help us average out and all the years past that we went under budget, so it's justified in my mind this year. One thing I won't do is go into debt for Christmas. Glad we save for it. The kids even decorated the tree last night, so it's up too. Here's the main picture we're using for our Christmas card this year. This is our traditional pj/Christmas tree picture.
Friday, November 26, 2010
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Thankfulness Reminder #10
Thankful that I made a very stupid mistake on a Christmas present and it worked out to my advantage. I ordered my new nephew (only niece or nephew on my side) his first Christmas presents and had them shipped to NY. Well, right after that I ordered my kids a sand and water table. I was super excited about getting this for Jaemin and Chelsi. Great fun/outdoor activity But, I failed to notice that it still had the NY shipping address on it and well, their gift was delivered to my brother's house. It was too late to change the location by the time I noticed. So, I called the store and they said I needed to go ahead and reorder without waiting for it to be returned so I could get the same discount I got last week (expired) and get it by Christmas. So I did. It ended up being on sale this week and I got the discount. So, it wasn't too bad of a deal and the other one has been returned. AND I've already got all the Christmas presents I have so far....wrapped!
Friday, November 19, 2010
Thankfulness Reminder #9
Simply, I now have some time to watch to of my gifts paint me some pretty pictures for my fridge and get to enjoy giving little man a scrub down after he, more or less, paints himself instead.
Definitely tired from today
I actually slept last night because I did have a certain nightly visitor to keep me up. But, last night was not a good night for another child in the house, so we had to have a little .... okay a lot.... of a talking to before bed. I was spent before I ever hit the bed. This morning was better, but had to get the laundry caught up because it's our anniversary today and we were planning on taking the kids to Petco to spend some of their saved money, Barnes and Nobel to use their gift cards and then take them to Colton's Restaurant because we had free kids meals. Didn't quite turn out the way we expected. Brian did get Chelsi, Kaelin and Jaemin's sun catcher's and notes mailed to Korea to their foster mothers.
First, Brian's uncle came out to look at the furnace because it had been really loud the last couple of nights and we couldn't figure out why. Ended up being the thermostat. It was doing something wacky, so he said we needed to replace it. I told him we'd get one tonight, at Menards, since I'd seen one on sale. We stopped to get that one, took the kids to Barnes and Noble and then Chase, Kaelin and Chelsi each bought a beta at the pet store. They were so proud to pay for this stuff themselves. It was the first time Chelsi's ever spent her money and I could see the pride in her eyes as she paid for what the gift card wouldn't on the books and her fish.
Next was Colton's to eat and it was already 6:30, so we were all starving. We had a 20 minute wait, which I didn't think was too bad on a Friday night. But, about 10-15 minutes in Brian went outside and sent Cole back in to tell me he wasn't feeling well. He said he's stay outside while he ate. Doesn't that sound like a great way to spend your anniversary? I went to ask the ladies how long it takes to cook the food and she said maybe 15 minutes. It was so late we needed to get the kids some food, so I ordered their food and we took it home. He's feeling fine now, but the smell was not appealing to him earlier.
The upside is the rest of us really enjoyed our meals and it only cost $20 for 3 kids meals and 3 adult meals, tons of yummy roles and some peanuts. We had a VERY late supper and then I still needed to wire the thermostat.
Thermostat is wired, kids are in bed and our anniversary is, as always, just another day. That's what happens after 16 years. :)
First, Brian's uncle came out to look at the furnace because it had been really loud the last couple of nights and we couldn't figure out why. Ended up being the thermostat. It was doing something wacky, so he said we needed to replace it. I told him we'd get one tonight, at Menards, since I'd seen one on sale. We stopped to get that one, took the kids to Barnes and Noble and then Chase, Kaelin and Chelsi each bought a beta at the pet store. They were so proud to pay for this stuff themselves. It was the first time Chelsi's ever spent her money and I could see the pride in her eyes as she paid for what the gift card wouldn't on the books and her fish.
Next was Colton's to eat and it was already 6:30, so we were all starving. We had a 20 minute wait, which I didn't think was too bad on a Friday night. But, about 10-15 minutes in Brian went outside and sent Cole back in to tell me he wasn't feeling well. He said he's stay outside while he ate. Doesn't that sound like a great way to spend your anniversary? I went to ask the ladies how long it takes to cook the food and she said maybe 15 minutes. It was so late we needed to get the kids some food, so I ordered their food and we took it home. He's feeling fine now, but the smell was not appealing to him earlier.
The upside is the rest of us really enjoyed our meals and it only cost $20 for 3 kids meals and 3 adult meals, tons of yummy roles and some peanuts. We had a VERY late supper and then I still needed to wire the thermostat.
Thermostat is wired, kids are in bed and our anniversary is, as always, just another day. That's what happens after 16 years. :)
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Christmas learning experience
To a lot of people it might seem mean to make your kids put money towards their Christmas gift. I mean it's not like we can't pay for them outright without the kids' help. And it's not like we spoil them all year long so we can't spoil them on Christmas. It's kind of the opposite. We spend little on birthdays; around $20 or less and rarely buy things throughout the year. It's kind of the only way for us to have saved anything with a family of 7. Plus we try so hard not to spoil the kids so they understand a lot of things just aren't given to you and you do have to wait for them.
So, the oldest came to me about a month ago and told me he wanted an Ipod touch. I couldn't understand why he would think he needs one when he has a perfectly good MP3. Then, he let me know the stuff that the Touch does and he really does want it for the apps, video etc. In his defense, his MP3 is at least 4 years old and pretty large for an MP3...that's how old it is. I looked into them and the massive cost of the purchase and decided maybe, just maybe, for once, we'd give in and give them something they really wanted. Not that they don't ever get anything, but they rarely ask for anything over my $100 budget and it's usually so over that it's easy to say no with good reason. But, $200 falls into the category of WAY over. So, I talked to them an told both boys (since they both would like one) that if they contribute a small amount to the cost I will get one for them if Apple has any refurbished for the price they had over the weekend. Stupidly I didn't just order one like I should have. They both really want it, so they agreed.
So, if we can afford them, why am I making them contribute? Because I think if they have something invested in it they may just take really good care of them and enjoy them even more. I think that's a lifelong lesson and this is a good time to try it out. They know we don't have money to just throw out on unnecessary stuff and know that I really try hard to stick to my budget, so they're okay with it and it will stay with them. I hope.
That's my parent lesson to my kids for the week.
So, the oldest came to me about a month ago and told me he wanted an Ipod touch. I couldn't understand why he would think he needs one when he has a perfectly good MP3. Then, he let me know the stuff that the Touch does and he really does want it for the apps, video etc. In his defense, his MP3 is at least 4 years old and pretty large for an MP3...that's how old it is. I looked into them and the massive cost of the purchase and decided maybe, just maybe, for once, we'd give in and give them something they really wanted. Not that they don't ever get anything, but they rarely ask for anything over my $100 budget and it's usually so over that it's easy to say no with good reason. But, $200 falls into the category of WAY over. So, I talked to them an told both boys (since they both would like one) that if they contribute a small amount to the cost I will get one for them if Apple has any refurbished for the price they had over the weekend. Stupidly I didn't just order one like I should have. They both really want it, so they agreed.
So, if we can afford them, why am I making them contribute? Because I think if they have something invested in it they may just take really good care of them and enjoy them even more. I think that's a lifelong lesson and this is a good time to try it out. They know we don't have money to just throw out on unnecessary stuff and know that I really try hard to stick to my budget, so they're okay with it and it will stay with them. I hope.
That's my parent lesson to my kids for the week.
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