Get your Tom Brady Pants On

With all the birthday hub-bub, I failed to mention anything about the Superbowl. Henry is quite the football fan. It's kind of ridiculous actually. Months ago when he started to get into watching NFL games and college games with Justin, I thought it was just he wanting to do what dad does. But then one evening when he watched the entire Army v Navy game ALL BY HIMSELF, I knew that his fandom transcended any sort of "I wanna be like you dad" sentiment. Most mornings he would ask me to check the scores of the last night's games (he has to go to bed before they are over). I've googled sports scores way more than I care to admit. He's picked out a few teams he's loyal to: Green Bay and BYU. Any other games he'll switch who he's cheering for to whichever team in winning.

He's constantly barraging Justin with questions about win/loss stats and the difference between college and NFL teams. "Is Michigan a college team? What's their name?" He keeps his own tally sheets for their scores and will run upstairs to tell Justin what just happened. He's trying so hard to put colleges/cities/mascots all in order in his 5-year-old brain. "That's a Dad question, bud. You'll have to wait for Dad to get home." He has tested my football knowledge and I've discovered I know more than I want to.

So you can imagine what a big deal the Superbowl was to this kid. His beloved Packers did not make it so he jumped on the Patriots bandwagon.

During the 4th quarter (or whenever it was) when the Patriots finally showed up and the game was getting close and exciting (do you love my detail here?) Justin said, "Better get your Tom Brady pants on" as a way to say "Don't mess up Patriots, you have a chance." Henry said, "I have pants like that!" and ran upstairs.

He came down dressed like this:

We all got a pretty good laugh. Nearly 3 weeks later, Henry still calls these his Tom Brady pants and any pants like them. "Hey Mom, you have Tom Brady pants too." I love this kid. Hate football but love this kid. And if you hear us say, "Get your Tom Brady pants on" it just means get ready to play to win.

Erica took this picture of some of her prized possessions.

James is super happy on his changing table. I haven't figured out what it is about this spot that my babies love.

For Valentines Day, in keeping with tradition, I got my kids each their own bag of candy and a new book.

Sarah got a Ramona book and was the only one who would pose for the camera. Erica got Little Critter and the New Baby, Henry got Nate the Great and James got Where is the Green Sheep?

Then it turned into a dance party like most nights do right before bedtime.

Erica put on this headband and Henry's sunglasses but declared she didn't want anyone to look at her. She was mad I was taking pictures.

So we started doing this last week. B-bye 10-year-old cheap carpet.

I can't tell you how happy it made me to see this stuff torn to pieces and hauled out of here.

This guy right here deserves all the credit. He doesn't like home renovation projects so this is all done out of love for me.

We also took out the wainscoting in the kitchen and I repainted the walls.

Oh man, no turning back now!

Justin's dad and brothers have been over to help. We borrowed saws from my dad and a friend so this is definitely a group effort. I am not as much help as I wanted to be with a cold, sick kids, and a baby for that matter.

Tuesday night the wind and rain came in so we had to move the saws to the garage. The couches are in there so that put an end to cutting. This is where my fridge has been since Tuesday night.

And my oven is in the living room.

And these pretty things lining the walls.

But it's all been worth it. I hope after this weekend I'll be able to share some finished photos.

Now I gotta go make some pancake batter for dinner. I've only had a crockpot, a toaster, and an electric griddle to cook with for a few days.

James at 3 Months

I finally did it. I got a picture of James's super adorable smile and here it is.

Go ahead, I'll wait for you to make it your desktop background. Or perhaps you prefer this one.

Hello big eyes.

My little bear cub.

James loves sucking on his fingers so much, we've wondered if maybe he'd be the first of my kids to take a binky. But then I remembered my other kids didn't want a binky because they loved their fingers.

 Here he is squawking. He squawks and coos all the time. Guess I'm 4/4 for chatty kids.

Other things about James: He is a good baby because he has to be. He's got all the entertainment he can handle with his older siblings. Sarah is a great help walking him around to look at things when he gets a little fussy. He smiles at anyone who talks to him. He loves to lay down and kick his legs. He can bring his hands to his mouth but hasn't tried to grab anything; I think that will happen in the next month, if I remember correctly.

He's lost all the hair he was born with except for little on the top and back center. He's rubbed a lot of it off on the back and sides but the top that fell out first is growing in nice and fluffy. It seems lighter but maybe just because it's short. It will be interesting to see what color his hair ends up being. His eyes are very blue.

He continues to be a sleeper with no rhyme or reason. It's still nearly 11 pm before he finally is down for night. I swear the harder I try to get him down earlier, the later and fussier he stays up. I've tried cutting off his naps at 6 then 7 but then he just seems out of sorts later and is harder to get down. I think I'll just go with the flow for another month or two and then try again to mess with his schedule. Some days he takes really long naps (like 2-3 hours) and others they are only 20-40 minutes.

Knock on wood but he's not afraid of people. Yet. I think my other kids had major distrust of everyone by this age but with him, so far so good. 

Erica Turns 3

Usually I start these birthday posts with something like, "I can't believe my baby is 3!" Well not today. I can believe Erica is three. She talks and talks and asks questions and understands everything we say so well that she has seemed three for quite awhile. It's so strange that she was only saying three words at 18 months. Her vocabulary took off Christmas of last year. I like to watch strangers' faces when they ask her questions; there are always a lot of words coming out of a little body.

Her birthday was Sunday so on Saturday we took her to Brick Oven. I didn't take any pictures but I wish I had a photo of her when the servers sang happy birthday. She mostly just ignored them.

Sunday morning she was up at 7 but waited patiently until 8:30 when I woke up (James stays up late so I do too).

She got a Margaret stuffed animal.

I write my kids a book every year on their birthday until they are 5. This year I recreated her favorite book Find the Teddy by taking pictures of her teddy and putting it into an album. She loved it.

She also got a puppy notebook, a flashlight, umbrella, pink plate, pink water bottle and more tracks for her train set.

She got lots of food including Sour Patch Watermelons which was the only thing she asked for.

A couple of months ago I had Erica look through my cake decorating board on Pinterest to pick out a cake for me to make for her. But for weeks she had set her mind on having pink sugar cookies instead of cake. Then on Saturday I asked her if she wanted to help me make the cookie dough and her answer, "Actually, I want cake. I want cake like Maddie" (She had gone to my nieces birthday party the night before.)I had Justin ask her a little while later if she was excited about cookies and she told him too she wanted cake. Allrighty. So after I got an idea of what Maddie's cake looked like, I made her this.

She wanted a pink cake with sprinkles and that's what she got. She even got to dump the sprinkles on.

If I had time to plan, I would have made her the owl cake I've had in mind since her 2nd birthday. Maybe next year. She took Dora fruit snacks to share with her nursery class at church. Then after church she put in the candles.

She's showing how old she is.

And then we had Justin's parents and brothers over for cake and to watch the superbowl. We had meatballs and mashed potatoes, as requested by the birthday girl. She was mostly excited for the birthday hats. They were "the best thing."

Here are a few pictures we took this morning in her new shirt from Nana.

She makes this face when she is skeptical of what you're saying.

And she was done.

And this was her complete outfit. I will give in to just about any pants request when it comes to taking their birthday picture since it won't show and I wanted to remember this lovely combination. Yes, those are socks with her sandals.

Here's another of my favorite outfits. I just hope people at the store know she dresses herself, not me. I like that she had the common sense to pull her socks up to meet her capri leggings. It is February.

And here's a little sampling of her writing. She is practicing her E's and H's and O's.

Here's her birthday interview.

The Art of Homemaking: 25 Things I Do to Save Money

About 8 years ago, Justin was laid off of work. We had a mortgage, tuition, a baby, and I wasn't working. For 3 years we were underemployed. Justin's paycheck covered the mortgage, car payment, and insurance; savings covered everything else we needed to live: food, utilities, clothes, etc. In April 2012 Justin graduated with his master's degree, began working as an engineer and we finally had room to breath again.

2017 we are still in the same house but have 3 more kids. Our financial situation has changed dramatically from 2009. We buckled down our spending during those lean years and we have ramped up our saving in the last two. By saving and not spending, we now put away nearly equal the amount of our mortgage each month. Our main goals are big house (me) and retiring (Justin) so save save save is our song right now.

Here are some things I do to save money to help us reach our goals sooner. Nothing earth shattering here and mostly common sense. All of these things combined make a big difference.

1. We refinanced to a 15-year mortgage. Our payment is higher but we pay less interest which means we will net more equity when we sell which will translate to a lower payment on our next house.
2. We own used cars and paid cash (11 and 17 years old)
3. Our cell phones are 5 years old and our computers were bought used.
4. We don't own smartphones thus no data plans.
5. We have the most basic cable plan (like 10 channels).
6. I plan our meals a week at a time based on what I have on hand then buy what's on sale and make my shopping list accordingly. I make big meals for Justin to eat the leftovers for lunch.
7. I go to the store as few times a month as possible. I keep running shopping lists for Macey's, Walmart, and Costco. If I run out something, I still try to wait at least a couple more days or a week before I go. Fewer shopping trips means I spend less overall on those "oh yeah, I need that" items.
8. We make pancakes, cookies, rolls, waffles, and lots of other things by scratch. I don't buy a lot of cookies, chips, or other snack foods. I rarely buy juice and soda, and never buy meals from the freezer section.
9. We eat a ton of eggs--like 3 dozen a week. I boil 12-17 eggs at a time for lunches and snacks.
10. I keep a list of price per unit of our frequently purchased items and compare and update the list often. Sometimes Costco is cheaper for cereal, sometimes a sale at Macey's beats it.
11. We don't go out to eat very often--usually one meal per month with the kids, one dinner out just the two of us. We order waters all around unless it's your birthday or our anniversary.
12. We try to eat at places where we have coupons that come in the mail or birthday clubs.
13. Half of our kids' wardrobes come from garage sales and the other half comes from clearance sales.
14. We love garage sales. You can find anything and everything for pennies on the dollar. Saturday mornings all summer long.
15. Erica and James wear Sarah and Henry's hand-me-downs. I've got totes and diaper boxes carefully labeled with sizes so every season I grab the next box for Erica and James. (Erica gets a new Easter dress, Christmas pjs and maybe a couple of new shirts each season if Sarah's clothes didn't survive Sarah.)
16. I sew, repair and alter clothes. I've got a beloved pair of jeans that I've patched the patches on. I've made skirts for Sarah out of my old sweaters, made aprons out of garage sale fabric. If a dress on sale is too big for Sarah, no problem, I just take it in.
17. I make my own laundry soap, dishwasher detergent, and floor cleaner. You can clean anything with a combination of vinegar, Borax, washing soda, kosher salt, and Dawn.
18. We get all our entertainment from the library. I don't buy books unless for gifts and we go to a movie only once a year, especially now that the dollar theater by us closed. We don't own video games.
19. I don't buy a lot of stuff. This can be the biggest money saver. I think long and hard about everything I buy. Stuff means I have to get after someone to clean it up or dust it or repair it or keep track of it or find a place for it. Who needs stuff? I love throwing things away but it's better to not spend money on it in the first place.
20. I have a few wish-lists on Amazon where I put ideas for Christmas and birthday gifts. It evolves based on price and what I think my kids and their cousins and friends will appreciate and get the most use out of. Cuts down on impulse gift shopping.
21. I cut everyone else's hair and get my own done only a few times a year. During those lean years, I colored my hair myself and got it cut only twice a year.
22. I don't redecorate very much or very often. I just barely replaced a 15-year-old lamp because the switch broke. It was a big deal for me. My kids' rooms aren't coordinated and cutely decorated (because kids don't care).
23. Parks and the mountains are our go-to destinations. Going to the zoo, bowling, and a baseball game once a year is a big deal.
24. I take my kids pictures instead of paying for school pictures.
25. I don't buy wrapping paper for birthday gifts. I reuse and reuse giftbags and wrap things in paper bags from the grocery store. The kids love to draw on the brown paper for each other.
25. Justin does all the maintenance on our cars and we fix everything we possibly can ourselves. Youtube can teach you how to fix anything. I fixed our dishwasher and refrigerator.

But most importantly, we do it together. Justin and I sit down and make a budget at the beginning of every month and give every dollar a purpose. And then we sit down again mid-month to talk about how things are going (Did the car repair cost more than we were expecting? Diapers were less than I thought, we can move the extra to that., etc) I look at it every week or so to see where I'm at. (I think Justin looks at it even more often than that.) We are both very aware of where our money is going at all times. It's just too big of a burden to put on one person. I could probably write an entire post about how we manage our money.

So there you have it. There are definitely more creative and extreme penny-pinching people out there but this works for us now in our lives. There are things we pay good money for like sheets, cookware, and winter coats. Those things matter to us and we scrimp in other places to make up for it. It's all about priorities and planning.

Di Gets Existential and Sarah Gets Up-side-down

I have three thoughts reflecting on my life right now. I get a little existential and wordy so if you're here for the pictures, scroll down.

1. Every day is similar to the next except for that one thing that happens each day that you cannot possibly foresee. (Example: Running Erica's laundry through the washer again because I found a turd in the bottom of the washer as I was putting them into the dryer. There's just no way you can wake up and put that on your to-do list.)

2. I have no deadlines, no semester breaks, no finals, no promotions, no pay periods, no exams. No clear beginnings nor ends. Is my future this road with no landmarks, no mile markers? The world pays little mind to what I accomplish and when. There's no one handing out 1,000th load of laundry stickers or "Your Child Made it to School On Time All Year" certificates. Not that I want the world's accolades, but it's just weird that I am just running my own show here. What am I working towards? What does today, full of wiping off counters, sweeping up crumbs, braiding hair, buying 6 gallons of milk, possibly mean? That brings me to number 3.

3. I've suddenly realized I've done everything I wanted to do and pretty much when I wanted to do it. College? Check. Married? Check. Have cute kids? Check, check, check and check. Own a home? Check. By the grace and mercy of God and with some careful planning and hard work, my life is exactly the way I want it--in the big ways, I mean. That's huge. If God never answers any more of my prayers or if no other good thing comes along, I should still be content. Should. And yet those check marks make me feel unsettled and directionless (see number 2). Now what? I didn't plan beyond this!

I am probably just trying to get my bearings handling 4 kids. Speaking of my kids.....

Erica's hair is crazy most of the time because she doesn't leave it done and because it's so uneven. The top is growing in much slower than the back. I've trimmed it a few times since she was 6 months or so to give the top and sides a chance to catch up. Sunday I decided it was time to trim it up again. Here's the before.

She was really excited to use the cape just like Dad. Do your kids like to drink out of squirt bottles?

And here's the best shot of after. Nothing too dramatic since she'll throw a fit if it's too short to put into two little Anna braids. It looks thicker but it's still crazy because she's crazy.

I bought this dustpan several months ago while pregnant because I hated stooping down to use my old dustpan. It came with a small broom that the kids love to use. They're not great at sweeping but I'm not going to tell them that.

I'm trying really hard to get a good picture of James smiling but it's not going so well. He's still cute though.

He loves to munch on those fingers.

This is Henry in that shirt at 5 months.

Oh brothers.

Surprise! We got more snow! Is there anything more perfect for a 5-year-old boy to do than pushing a big snowball in the backyard?

8-year-old girls and grown men like it too.

Nearly-3-year-old girls like to make snowballs and ask to have her gloves put back on 27 times.

All done with the snow deer. Or antler man?

Here's how the snowman looked after a sunny day.

Trying again for James's smile. No such luck. He is laughing though.

And then....not so much.

Sarah's been trying her hand (head?) at head stands. She's getting pretty good.

So that's that. January is almost over and it goes by faster if you don't hate it. February is looking good. Justin's parents move back to Mapleton, Erica turns 3, I Sarah gets to make a Valentine box for her class party, football ends, and maybe Justin and I will go on a date for the first time since October.