budgeting

The dreaded "b word".....I have never lived on a budget until about 2 years ago. My dad talked about them a lot, my mom laughed at them a lot, my husband talked about them a lot and I NEVER could make it happen....so I didn't....until 2 years ago. It was almost 2 years ago today that I found out we were going to be adding to our family. I was so excited to do this parenting thing again. I was working retail selling high end exercise equipment at a great store and had recently started my own personal training business. We were going to be doing GREAT. I was going to find a great Mother's Day Out program that I could take the girls to 3 days a week. I was going to have 3 very FULL days of training in people's homes and I was going to be making A LOT of money. Sometimes it's just not in the plan. The personal training business never took off and eventually we decided that daycare for 2 was going to be WAY more expensive than we had originally budgeted. It was time to get creative. That's when we rebudgeted. What if I didn't work? What if we took out of the budget daycare all together? What if I breastfed only, made homemade baby food and used cloth diapers? The verdict.......we would only be lacking $200 a month....and so my Pampered Chef business was born. I love my Pampered Chef business. I love the flexibility and I love setting goals and meeting them. I now live on a cash only budget and my family very seldom argues about money anymore....I love our budget! (usually)......so I recently hit a very substantial business goal and I thought I deserved a reward. The problem? It didn't fit into my budget. I have wanted some super cute UGG look alikes for quite some time....they are SO expensive - I just haven't been able to justify it. But today I took Sydney to buy boots. I had set some money aside to get her some shoes and maybe pick myself up a little something in the way of a reward.....I had $25 set aside for Sydney's boots (she had found a pink princess pair at Payless that lit up.....and so she LOVED them). At the last minute, Sydney decided she wanted to use her own money to buy her boots - I thought that was awesome!! When we tried them on she decided she didn't love them (Sydney is a picky picky shopper). On a whim we went into Stride Rite. I knew that Stride Rite wasn't going to fit into her budget, but I had the money I had originally set aside and so I decided we would go in.....she immediately spotted pink UGG look alikes...and had to have them. I, too, was in love. Seeing the love on my face the saleslady asked what size shoe I wore. Knowing this was a children's shoe store, I couldn't imagine why she was asking. She asked if I would like to try on a pair of the big girls in a size 4 - that a ladys size 6 translated to a girls size 4....WHAT???? And so - within my budget and with Sydney's help -the two of us managed to combine our money and pick up totally cute matching UGG look alikes.......I love my budget...and I love how sometimes it just seems that things were meant to be...like UGG look alikes!!!

I love a good exercise challenge

So some of you that know me know that I have been a gym rat and totally addicted to exercise for many years. I love the way it makes me feel and, I'm not gonna lie, the outward appearance isn't bad either. I've even competed in several figure and fitness competitions and, though the prep is difficult, the outcome is beautiful. Since my second child my workout world has come crashing down around me. Between swimming lessons, tumbling, preschool, my Pampered Chef business and nap schedules the gym has been a tough place to get to and get a work out in. I used to have a work out room in my house, but it was replaced by a nursery with the arrival of little Harper Today I started an at home program called P90X. Since I'll be leaving town for four days this afternoon I decided not to start the program from the beginning, but to do the yoga DVD first. It's an hour and a half and I only made it through 45 minutes....I love yoga, but it is not for the weak minded individual. It was tough, I sweated, I can barely type this message right now, but I feel awesome. Here's where I'll bring my kids in to this post. I love that I live a healthy lifestyle. I love that we eat healthy (for the most part), I love that my kids see me exercise and I love that Sydney has asked me on multiple occasions if we can go run (and she can run really far for her age...it's very impressive). My concern is and has always been to make sure and keep this healthy for them and not be so focused on the outward appearance of exercise and healthy options making them "skinny" as opposed to "fat", but making them healthy. It's amazing to me that the media has already gotten to my 4 year old. I've never uttered the words "fat" or "skinny" in front of her....I know you are thinking, "in all her 4 1/2 years of life, with your gym rat background you've never said fat or skinny????" It's true...I'm very aware of it and we don't discuss it...yet, she knows exactly what it means. She even says to me "I want to exercise so I don't weigh a lot of pounds one day".....how did we get here? How will I make my children understand that beauty is only skin deep - I guess it starts with me and being comfortable in my own skin.....something I have struggled with for years and continue to do so...but I'm working on it....for my girls.

Time to shut the door daddy

I knew I would post more than once today....it just felt like a multi-post kind of day....just a funny story about little bit. Remember I am chronicling this stuff so in 17 years when it's time to write stories about my senior in high school for the back of the yearbook...I'll be well armed with a lot to choose from.
Harper Kay bellied up to the toilet today, held the front of her diaper and said "da da"....
Daddy....it is definitely time to start shutting the door.

So I might post more than once today....although there will be several days when I don't post at all....it's just that it's still new right now so I think of my new little endeavor often...but I wanted to get this down before I forgot....because it was precious.
We say a blessing before every meal. Sydney is usually our blessing sayer and it typically goes like this:
"God is great, God is good, let us thank him for this food". This morning she was in the bathroom (a typical place she goes when I ask her to set the table, but that's a post for a different day). Harper was in her highchair. Now - here is some background on Harper...she is 16 months old and doesn't communicate well - she grunts, points and whines...a...lot! I'm about to be less than motherly and a little more real....the whining DRIVES ME CRAZY!!!! So...here she is, in her high chair....whining. Here it is...the real part of me now...."Harper STOP whining...you have your breakfast and your drink...what else could you possibly want?".......my sweet little angel then folded her hands, closed her eyes and whined, babbled and grunted a prayer.....those grunts became the sweetest sound....and oh so humbling.
Thank You Lord - my kids are amazing!

What an unbelievably beautiful day today!

Today was sunny and 75 degrees. It was incredible outside and the kids and I enjoyed a great day at the park with our fun neighbors Grace, Luke and Mrs. Emily. We are so grateful for a fabulous neighborhood and are blessed with the friends that we have made.
Today I found out that Sydney knows the Pledge of Allegiance....it's totally adorable to hear her say it and I'm proud that she is in a pre-school that still teaches it.
Harper had a big day as well. She is talking more and more and really learning to use sign language to communicate as well. Her words are: momma, daddy, Sadie, Sissy, up, please and paci. Her signs are: eat, swim, bath, please, milk and more. She continues to battle sleep, but we're down to 1 or 2 wake ups at night instead of 5 or 6. She had a pretty bad fall tonight. It was another one of those moments where I'm certain I will not be nominated for Mother Of The Year. She was in the bathtub and I walked out for a mere second and she dove headfirst into the tile floor. She's got a pretty big goose egg on her forehead, but I think she'll survive.

In addition to ALL of that craziness I had a talk with Sydney about self confidence. I have to say that I worry about her confidence level...yet, I have to remember that it took me a good 20 something years to become a confident person - God's not done with her yet...I just can't help but wonder what my part in helping her is. Our discussion today was about inner beauty and outer beauty; about what the difference is; and about what, at the end of the day, is truly most important. Our conversation went something like this:
Me: "Sydney do you think you are pretty?"
Syd: very sheepishly "no" (btw -this totally broke my heart....she is beautiful as we all know)
Me: "it's ok if you think you are pretty - you just can't act like you are prettier or better than other people"
Syd: "ok"
Me: "what do you think it means to be pretty?"
Syd: "to always have cute clothes on and your hair fixed" (did I teach her this?)
Me: "are you nice to the other kids in your class?"
Syd: "yes"
Me: "do you think you are a good friend?"
Syd: "yes"
Me: "are you polite and nice to those around you?"
Syd: "yes ma'am" (don't you love how she threw 'ma'am' in on this one?)
Me: "do you know what inner beauty is?"
Syd: "no ma'am"
Me: "it's all those things that I just asked you about - do you know that that, above all else, is what counts in this life?"
Syd: "I do now"

I hope so

I'm really doing this!

Wow!! I've wanted to blog for a while, but just haven't mustered up the courage....what if no one reads it? what if no one cares? what if people think it's stupid? what if, like many things in my life, I start it and never do much with it?......these were all questions that I couldn't get out of my head. But I decided to jump anyway. The title of this blog is really why I started it.....I have the most amazing and hilarious kids ever. Every time I told a story about Sydney, my oldest, someone would say to me "You really should write this stuff down".....so I am - and I only thought that it would be fitting to name my blog for the reason I started.
Let me start by telling you a little about myself. My name is Courtney. I am 32 years old and am married to a very amazing man named Aaron. He completes me. He is an introvert, I am an extrovert. He is a saver, I am a spender. He can be quick to anger, I have learned over the years to take it all in and process it before I get too angry. He is a planner, I'm somewhat more spontaneous....but there is one thing we have in common....We love our family...all of them. We each have our flaws, we all struggle in our lives, we don't always agree with everyone's decisions, but at the end of the day we are family...and there's nothing more important than that.
We have two amazing daughters. Sydney is 4 and Harper is 1. They are hilarious! I wish I could say that I love and cherish EVERY single moment with them, but like many mothers out there, I take our time on this earth for granted. I don't spend as much quality time with them as I should, I lose patience a little quicker than I should and I frequently feel like I just didn't do the job of "mothering" justice in a day. But, I am real. I'm a real mom who stays home with her kids and sometimes goes a little crazy. Yet....when I think of the alternative I run as fast as I can and hold on to them tight because frankly, I cannot imagine this life without them. There is nothing like the love from a child. It is unconditional. There are days that when it's all said and done I just want to start all over and be the better mother that I know I can be and then my little girl wraps her 4 year old arms around me and says "you are the best mommy in the whole world"... that, my friends, is what makes it all worth it. It's what gets me out of bed in the morning and makes me want to do my part to make this world a better place...my girls.
So...I hope that this blog is real and funny....and really funny to some of you. I hope that it allows me to chronicle our lives in a fashion that I should have been doing for the last 4 1/2 years. I hope that my friends and family can log on and read about what amazing and hilarious things my kids are saying these days and I hope that 5 years from now when someone says to me "You really should write this stuff down" I can say, "I have been...at least once a week...for the last 5 years." I hope that when my kids get married I can print this out, bind it and allow them to relive a little bit of their childhood. I hope when they have kids this will be a place they can look at to compare their lives with the lives of their children. I hope I stick with this for many many moons and it is rewarding for myself and the rest of my family