After 7 hours in the car (yes, traffic was BAD!) and seeing way too many McCain/Palin signs along the way, we made it to Greensboro, NC to visit the Johnson family. The fun story behind the Johnson family, is that Derek and I introduced Erin and Steve to each other back in the day, when we all lived in G'boro. Erin and I had met in the neighborhood and D worked with Steve. Fast forward to today and our lives are incredibly parallel...we were married within about a year of each other, had our first children within 3 weeks of each other (Emma-Claire is 3 weeks older than Andrew), both moved into our houses at the same time, and then finally, we both had our second children within 5 weeks of each other (Jacob is 5 weeks older than Nolan). This was our first visit with all 4 kids...and it was a BLAST! Within minutes of meeting, Andrew and Emma-Claire were getting along great! Mind you, it was 10pm when we arrived and they had to wake EC, who had fallen asleep on the couch waiting for "that boy" to arrive. Erin and I often commiserate with each other about our "spirited" almost 4 year olds. The stories we share are are so similar. Together, they were like an old married couple! I mean, they were actually negotiating with each other after arguing! It was honestly SO CUTE!!! Despite plans to head to a pumpkin patch and maize maze on Saturday, we ended up staying home and just hanging out. Andrew and EC played their hearts out all day. Andrew loved driving EC's Barbie Jeep, which worked out well, because she only likes to ride in it, not drive it (see...perfect couple!). At night, we made S'mores...the kids played with glow sticks and ran around the backyard (including playing in a tent!), while the adults did what we do best...chatted and drank beer :) The whole weekend was so much fun and I just wish we lived closer to the Johnson's, so we could spend more time together. Hopefully they'll visit us in the spring...and even if it takes them 7 hours to get here, at least they won't have to stare at McCain/Palin signs along the way...that is, of course, because Obama will have won the election by then! :)
Click here to see pics!
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Southern Charm
Friday, October 17, 2008
the results are in...
ok...this will have to be a short post b/c i need to pack for our trip to NC. jacob had his 4 month appointment today and here are his stats...
weight - 14 lbs. 6 oz.
height - 26 3/4 inches
he's a bit longer and slimmer than andrew was at 4 months...although i don't think he looks slimmer. at 4 months, andrew weighed 15lbs. 4 oz and was 24 1/2 inches in length.
some new milestones to note for jacob...
*rolling over from back to tummy
*talking more (mama, baba)
*smiling and laughing more - he's quite ticklish
here are a couple recent pics from our day at the park. it was jacob's first time in an outdoor swing :)
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Wake up and smell the savings
Oprah’s done it again! I just watched my TiVo’d (is that really even a verb?!?!) episode of Oprah from Wednesday 10/8 and I’m on a mission! In response to the country’s economic crisis, the episode featured “One of the thriftiest families in America” and one of my personal favorites, “The Coupon Mom” amongst other guests. After watching this show, I have decided to WAKE UP and become more conscious of our family’s spending. I have definitely said this before and tried to “budget”, but I’ve never really done it. I think mainly, because I’ve never really had a plan. Well, I’ve made a plan! Here are the first steps I’m going to take…starting TODAY!
1 – Find out where our money is going – I’m going to start keeping a journal of every penny we spend (Derek – start saving your receipts!) and I’m going to separate our spending into 2 columns; wants and needs
2 – Evaluate our spending end of the month
3 – Create a budget (for real!!!) based on this information
I’ve already realized a few things that we can change in order to save more money. Here are a few…
1 – Be more organized about clipping/using coupons (and plan meals according to those coupons)
2 – Curb my spending on things I can do myself - I actually started this morning…I’ve been wanting to get an eyebrow wax for a while now, and immediately after watching this show, realized I should just tweeze them myself and save about $20…baby steps, right! I plan on doing my toes later, which I also think will help me appreciate the occasional pedicure I’ll treat myself to (when we’ve saved for it, of course)!
3 – Make more things instead of buying them (ex…birthday cards)
4 – Cut off our home phone line – we don’t even use it and it costs $30/month!
5 - Dine out at restaurants that offer free kid's meals
I’m sure there are many more things I can add to this list, and I will…but hey, at least it’s a start! Plus, now that I’ve told this to all of you out there, I REALLY have to stick to it! I’ll keep you posted!
