A Little More Random

Aren't the pictures amazing? These are updated pictures of the completed pool area at the club house of Mark's condo project in Costa Rica. Mark took them on his trip last month. His next trip will be in January for the broker's opening. It's going to be a huge party, and I'm hoping that I will be able to make the trip with him :)

This is a picture of my new lap top. Actually, it's the first computer that hasn't been a hand-me-down. I feel so special! Ha ha. It's cool because it's so tiny that it fits in my purse.

I recently got a job one day a week. I had forgotten how much I loved doing hygiene. It's a great, laid back office, and I am really enjoying it so far. With the economy the way it is, we have changed a lot in our approach to our finances. We have made some big goals and are working toward paying off our debt. We are hoping to pay off our car by the end of this month!

Now I just have to figure out how to keep up with all the office work for Mark...

Tea Parties and Other Things

Unfortunately, our camera broke about a month ago. I am hoping to buy another soon. I'm missing so many great moments! A couple weeks ago I remembered that I have a child sized tea set, so I got it out to see if Journey would want to have a tea party. The pictures above are from our party. I had Mark take them on his I-Phone, thus the quality.

Anyways, Journey loved it! I put milk in the tea pot, and she had a blast drinking out of the little cups with me. I see a lot of tea parties in our future...

We spent Thanksgiving with Mark's family. No pictures, but we all had a great time. This year was the first year I can remember that we didn't have any snow up there, but the boys had a great time playing outside on the Jeep power wheel 4-wheeler and just generally running around being boys. Ava and Journey also enjoyed playing with each other. There were quite a few of us getting sick or getting over being sick, so we only spent one night and did not go down to the beach like we normally do.

Journey

Here are some of the new things she is saying and doing...

"Uh oh babies" - she loves to say this all the time

She waves her hand when getting her diaper changed and says "pee yoo, what a mess!"

She is very aware of when Aspen gets to go with Mark somewhere, and does not want to be left out. She will say "ready t' go?" or "wanna go?".

Journey is still very laid back and well, easy! Of course my only reference point is Aspen, and by the time he was Journey's age, I was already in the thick of the disciplining stage. I can generally tell Journey "no" or "come here", and she will just do it. Can you say, complete opposite of Aspen? Aspen has a very sweet and kind heart, but he is defintely a challenge for us. He questions everything (like his dad), and that can really wear you out!

Home Brewin'

Mark's newest hobby is brewing his own beer, and I think we are actually saving a little money doing it! We started out making hard cider with the apple cider we pressed at my parent's house. So good! Mark has also made Hefievisen and an IPA type beer. Each brew has progressivly gotten a little better.

Straining out all the hops, oatmeal and other non-liquid ingredients.

Here it is in the "car boy" all ready to start fermenting. In about 12 hours the yeast will be working over time and we will hear the bubbling as it ferments. For the first couple days everytime we open the cupboard, we get hit with the scent of yeast.

I think this is one of the best (and most useful!) hobbies Mark has ever had. It's been a lot of fun.

"mommy, can you put me in the dirt?"

This is what Aspen asked me on Saturday night. I was confused, and asked what in the world he was talking about. "You know," he said, "put me in the dirt so I can go be with Jesus if I don't feel better tomorrow". He had been miserable and sick for a couple days by then, and I guess he was just fed up with feeling that way! Of course I was horrified that he would say or even think such a thing. So morbid for a 4 year old, it creeped me out!

When Aspen is sick, things slow down here a lot. Our normal routine when he is sick is that he gets to lay on the couch and watch tv or play video games. We have been watching a lot of the old Tom & Jerry Tails and Popeye. Journey is so used to playing and being bugged by Aspen, that she is confused when he is too sick to do those things. She misses his attention so much that she has taken to bugging the garbage out of him. She hits (gently) him, pokes him, touches keys on the computer when he is trying to play, etc. All in an attempt to get some attention out of him. I call it pay back!

Well, unfortunately, he is still sick, but luckly he hasn't asked to be put in the dirt again :)

Updating Life

Every Friday Aspen's friend, Sofia comes over for the morning. This week we also had Peyton. It was a very busy day going from two to four kids. Almost like having two sets of twins! At least we had beautiful weather and were able to take a walk.

Peyton peeling the bark off the tree on our walk.

Here's the crew on our walk. It was challenging to keep all four on the sidewalk and in view!

Aren't they adorable?

Yes, he has entered the age where it is almost impossible to get a picture of him without a weird face.

Finally, one good picture :)

Savings Blog

I have joined up with my sister-in-law, Christina on her savings blog
www.saving4myfamily.blogspot.com
For those of you that are interested, I will be posting my savings over there!

October Savings

I decided to try out the cash envelope system for budgeting in the month of October. We have never really used cash and have never put ouselves on a budget before, but with the economy the way it is, we have been searching for ways to decrease our bills.

Here are the ways we were able to save money this month:
Car insurance - I shopped our car insurance and was able to save $95 a month by switching to GIECO! Ha, Ha. But really, we did. :)

Switching our cable TV from Comcast to Direct TV. We will save about $70 a month.

And, drum roll please.............Groceries.
I put $220 in cash in our grocery envelope for the month. I only spent $205 of that!
I have $15 in cash left over to put toward November's budget, $24 in coupons off my next purchase (used like cash). And I saved 77% on my groceries for the month!

Unfortunately, we did go over our eating out budget of $100 for the month, but over all, I think we did pretty good considering we have never put ourselves on a budget :)