Too proud to not share

I am always feeling just a tinge of guilt in the back of my head about not working right now. I mean I am working (at raising my kids, keeping the house, cooking the meals, driving the taxi, etc) but not "teaching" and helping bring in cash. But each time I voice this guilt to Rob he assures me that it's impossible and pointless for me to work outside of the home right now as both the kids are only in school until 12, Cora's still going through chemo and frequenting the clinic, and oh ya...we're about to have a baby in 6 days. And luckily I have a husband who is as financially conscious and smart as one can possible be. We sat down in late December and Rob proposed a budget plan that would keep us more accountable for dollars spent while allowing us a bit of personal spending money each week, pay all the bills, and still leave a little for savings. When looking at the budget on paper, I thought "no way" will this work, but agreed to give it a shot! A week or so later I was having a conversation about the guilt of feeling like I need to be doing "something" more to contribute with a friend who is also a teacher turned stay at home mom. She said something that totally stuck with me. She told me that she feels that way a lot too, but she has taken the stand that instead of contributing to the household by working, she can contribute to the household by being a better steward of the finances and saving every chance she gets. So then I considered Rob's point and hers and figured I'm doing more good here than I would be in any classroom.

I am very happy to report that after almost one month of living in our "2010" budget...it's worked beautifully!!!! I love it! I've been amazed at how much we're saving on groceries. We're buying for 1 week at a time, I'm coupon clipping and deal searching like crazy and we're spending under $100 per week on groceries. This may sound like a lot for a family of 4, but we all 4 eat 3 meals a day at home and the $100 includes all the extras like pull-ups, dog and cat food, and personal hygeine items. I literally go to the store once a week and that's all! We're spending WAY less, our kitchen is WAY more stocked, we both have spending money, and we still have left over for savings! I am amazed!!! If we can do it, anyone can! Here are the sites I'm using to help find all the grocery deals.

http://www.southernsavers.com/

http://www.coupons.com/

http://www.smartsource.com/

http://www.target.com/

(warning...it is a bit of work, but it totally pays off)

For all these years I was under the impression that grocery shopping at Wal-Mart was saving me money. I would rather walk on hot coals than shop at Wal-Mart and now...I don't have to. Publix is my favorite and they accept ALL competitor coupons. I love it! Today was a great day. I spent $96, got TONS of stuff, and saved $60! Try it!

crazy cora

This girl cracks me up!!! She's seriously one of a kind! Everyone always told us that post chemo your hair can grow back curly, but her's looked like it was pretty much coming back the same. The longer it gets, the more curl we can see. When it's humid outside it actually looks cute and has lots of curl, but when it's not it's just sorta wavy and funky. So we have no need to check the weather channel in the mornings, we just check Cora's hair.

Her newest love is gymnastics. We started this when we stopped school at the beginning of October. I was trying to find a social activity that was low on the germ scale and this seemed great because it is a class of 3 and 4 year old girls and we already knew ALL of the girls (and their moms who wouldn't send them to class sick) and it's at 9 in the morning on a Friday so they are the only ones in the gym and the germs from the day prior are cleaned and dead. Cora has fallen in LOVE with her "coach" and lives for Friday mornings. It's so good for her physically, she's learned so much, and we've learned that she's a very determined little girl who tries very hard to be successful!

Once again she never fails to pair the most unusual things from her wardrobe to create interesting outfits. Here's what she wore grocery shopping today.

FUN STUFF!

Today after I got home from picking the kids up from school, we arrived to find this stuff on our front porch....


All of it BRAND NEW WITH TAGS and no card or name at all! Look at all of this cute stuff! I mean it was TONS of stuff! We're talking diapers, wipes, stuffed toys, booties, socks, bibs, burp cloths, blankets, towels, wash cloths, sleepers, long sleeved outfits, short sleeved outfits, dresses, EVERYTHING! So whoever you are mystery person (or people)...THANK YOU SO MUCH! We are so spoiled to always be surrounded by such sweet, thoughtful, and loving people! We don't deserve you!

Things have been quite a buzz around here lately. Daddy has started baseball practices to get his team ready for the season. Cora's back in school 3 mornings a week and LOVING it! Cade's cruising right along, reading everything in sight, and constantly on the move as usual, and mommy is frantically organizing and reorganizing to get ready for baby. We've been ridding the kids rooms of old toys and clothes and revamping them to create more space. We don't have an actual "bedroom" for the baby, eventually she'll move in with Cora. But we decided that for the first year or so until regular sleep patterns are established it would be better for everybody for the baby to have her own space. We have a "nook" in our house where we before were hiding a guest bed for out of town visitors aka grandparents. It's not an official room because it has no door or closet, but after a fresh coat of paint, a hodgepodge of old things, a new $25 rug from target, a $20 picture on the wall from homegoods, and some pompom fringe....it's a nursery!
(for a total budget of about $60!)






Then we did make one big purchase this fall. We felt like we needed to have a space for our parents to sleep when they come visit and poor Cade who will be completely outnumbered by girls desperately wanted a bunkbed. So we found a local guy who builds them and we got a great deal and a custom bunk bed! If you come to stay with us, you're bunking with Cade!(Cora's the one who's really enjoyed bunking with him. She usually sleeps on top! Every night when we read stories on the bottom, she undoubtedly bumps her head so we've come up with this solution!)





So as mommy was recovering some old throw pillows the other day for the baby's room and Cade's room Cora was feeling very left out, so her room has a new organized closet (thanks Pop Pop) and a new throw pillow too!




So that's it! We have organization (for the moment) and space for everyone! That's what we've been up to!

Clinic Day

Today Cora had clinic and it went great! Possibly our best visit ever! Nothing special or crazy! The blood pressure was perfect! much lower than before! She didn't whine, cry, or even flinch when they accessed or deaccessed her port and she took her vincristine like a champ. Cora was totally cooperative and friendly to EVERYONE! Not to mention we made it out of there in like and hour and a half which is unheard of! WAY TO GO CORA!!!

I'm sure we'll make up for it our next visit which will happen on Feb. 16th and Cora can't eat anything before we go because she has a LP and chemo injection into her spinal column at 10:30 in addition to regular chemo. She HATES that, mostly because she's starving! Not to mention we'll have an 11 day old baby in tow! Should be loads of fun!

baby c

I had a doctor's appointment complete with ultrasound yesterday. This baby is growing rapidly and weighing in at around 5 pounds currently. We've got 3 weeks left and we're as ready as we'll ever be. We had to post this ultrasound because we think either she'll be born with a dislocated leg or a future in gymnastics. (yes those are her toes in front of her mouth)

AFV

My kids have a new addiction...America's Funniest Home Videos. They want to watch it every night on ABC family and they crack up at every single video, even the ones that aren't even remotely funny. It makes me laugh just to watch them watch. Well...last night Cade found out that the grand prize is $10,000. And with his new found love for money, he's decided that he needs to win that cash. So, he and Cora have been attempting to stage and create their "America's funniest video" for the past 24 hours. They wanted me to record everything they did for hours on end, but I finally convinced them that if they were wearing the same pajamas in all the videos they would look too "staged!" lol! Kids are a trip! Here are their best efforts.