Things here are chugging along well.  I was down and out with a cold last week (like the rest of the midwest seemed to be!)  Now that I’m more able to think and not be a big lump of gray mush I thought I’d start the posting off with a picture from Halloween.  We had a fun night and the kiddos is loving all these nice treats in our house.  The Daddio and I are trying to eat them all after she goes to bed to avoid repetitive nights of sugar highs :)

Notice in shot two of this little froggy the ridiculously full bag of candy.  She insisted on carrying it all by herself and at the end of the long up and down walk of our street it was plumb full and she was struggling to carry it!

Note that her lips are blue.  Although it was cold outside the lips are candy stained M&M lips.  The candy eating started early that night!

Hi all, thanks for your encouragement with the wild two year old I’m trying to raise!  It helped a lot and reminded me of the “big picture.”   I also discovered mid-way through last week that she was getting her two year molars in.  Ouch. 

We’ve been filling our days here with tower building, dress up, tea parties, coloring and her new boggle jr. game.  Here a few videos I’ve been wanting to share with you (and yes, I’m including a bit more of some Mighty cat torture for those who’ve been asking for more!)  Enjoy seeing what life is like in our neck of the woods…er….suburbs of Chicagoland!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKOiTDybYpQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZZfbiK6no8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sldulsirxic

Just got this letter (see below) via email from my Alma Mater, Luther College.  What do you think?  Should I respond and offer to have a student come for J-Term (month of January) to do an internship? 

I could really show them the ins ands outs of potty training, tantrums and time outs, the how-tos of budgeting their money and living on one income, bath time fun, laundry with some stain fighting secrets, and last but of course not least, the art of trying to cook and not burn dinner for your family while your child runs around naked because she had a bit of a potty accident in her carseat and instead of bathing her you decide to save that task for the Daddio who seems to be running late so I just let her run around like a wild and free hippie child in her birthday suit. 

I think it’d be in top demand as an internship, no?  If not a learning experience, I’d at least get some extra help, maybe a nice friend out of the deal and I’m sure that whoever took me up would realize by the end that although he/she’s exhausted, smells bad, and hasn’t combed their hair for a month, they’d most likely discover the best career in the world!!

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The war is with this little two year old stinker   To be fair, she’s got her great moments that make this all worth it and make me extremely happy to be her mommy.  But….BUT.   She’s such a little stubborn one these days.  It’s really truly become the terrible two time of life for us here.

Let’s start with the good things of course.  She’s growing, learning and changing a lot.  The pacifier isn’t even talked about any longer and at night she goes to bed quietly about 85% of the time.  She really likes to help and enjoys getting the table set and filling up the dishwasher after dinner with plates,etc.  

The main thing making me pull my hair out is when she refuses to follow any of my directions/requests, hates playing alone or by herself, and constantly throws her food and dumps out her milk.  *Insert frustrated sighs, args and general noises of discontent here*

I don’t mean to complain and really we have some great days around here that I wouldn’t give up for anything.  It’s just hard sometimes when you combine her stubborness and my hormones some days–Hence the WAR!! 

I’m trying some things out and think some of them are helping.  I guess the hardest thing right now is trying to get her to STOP throwing her food or spilling her milk at meals and snacks.  We usually put her in time out immediately after she does it.  When Daddy removes her from the table she cries cries cries.  When I do it, she laughs, scoots herself all over the room or even gets up and laughs and then runs away. 

The other issue is her lack of entertaining herself.  At 18 months this kiddo would wander our Madison backyard checking out every bug that went by, playing in the sandbox and even going down the slide alone (with me watching from the window of course).  Now, she can’t stand to not be entertained by one of us.  She has un-learned (is that a word) how to play alone and engage by herself.   Not that I mind building lego towers and playing tea party, it’s just that after 8 hours of playing legos, picking up toys and constantly repeating “please don’t eat the playdoh” I sometimes regret not addicting her to television at an early age so I could have more quiet and the chance to pee alone once in a while. 

So, wise readers I have but one request.  HELP!!  I know you all are brilliant and have great ideas that will make me go, “Well, huh, why didn’t I think of that!!!”  

Please leave me a comment with your nobel award winning ideas and if you can’t leave me a great idea, leave me an “I know exactly how you feel sister!” 
That would be great

I went to Luther College and while there was accaintences with a woman named Hoa.   She’s in trouble now and could use some help.  Please read her story, contact your representatives (even in you’re not from Minnesota) and most of all pray for her and her husband, Dan.

We’re adjusting well to our new life and I’d say getting more and more settled here each day.  It’s hard to believe it’s been over two months since we moved.  I still have a pang or two each time I think about an old neighbor (hi Katy–thanks for reading!!), our church, and friends and I wonder how long it’ll make me choke up to keep driving past Madison rather than take the freeway exit. 

With a new job and a new income Erik and I had a good ‘ol budgeting chat a few weeks ago.  We hadn’t been doing a great job of deciding where our money was going to go.  We knew where it was going and how much,etc. but we weren’t really in control of each dime like we wanted to be and weren’t being accountable to our goals when it came to money.  And…if we end up staying here in Chicagoland after these two years we’ll need to have a good downpayment to be able to afford a house (they’re ridiculous around here–just crazy!!)

So, now that we’ve got a fixed income and know what to expect as far as expenses go (please oh please don’t curse me with a unexpected major appliance death now that I just said this on Mr. Internet!!) we’ve started a new plan. 

Here it is.

I’m sure you’re all puzzled about the stack of monopoly money and bad artwork.  What we’ve decided to do is something called the envelope system.  BUT.  I’ve changed it up a bit.  I like our credit card that earns us points and we pay it off every month, so we like using it and getting free stuff.  The envelope system usually tells you to put cash into labeled envelopes with certain categories on them (bills/home, car, groceries, clothing, entertainment, etc.)  So, instead of using cash in these I came up with the idea of using monopoly money.  Fun, huh!

We start with a certain amount of money in each category for the month and a set amount for savings and our tithe.  Throughout the month Erik records all we spend in specific budget notebook so we can have another way to keep track and somewhere to look back throughout the month or year if needed. 

During the first two weeks I blew our grocery money big time.  My parents came into town to visit and we went camping for a weekend.  What can I say, but I went a bit crazy on the food and I wasn’t prepared for this at all!

That left us with a whopping $39 from September 14th until the end of the month.  Oops.  Fortunately, I finally found a good but cheap grocery store nearby and I also discovered the art of using more out of our pantry!  I went to the store earlier this week, got everything I needed for five meals, plus some other needed things and I still have $12.  Wahoo.  I was pretty excited to meet this goal of mine and feel a lot more organized in our life. 

Erik’s been excited to finally be on the same page as far as spending/money goes and now we’ll be able to save more for a house downpayment.

I’m curious, do you readers budget your money?  Do you have goals for your money?  Are you trying to be good stewards of the gifts God has given you?  Do you know where all your money’s going or do you have a fun system you use? 

If you don’t I triple dog dare you to try writing down everything you spend in a month.  It might shock you how much you spend on your lattes, chocolate addicion, or lunches/dinners out.  (It certainly shocked me!!)

p.s.  I’m really curious about your system or how you do it–please share

Here’s what our weekend looked like. 

We went a bit crazy with the hair.

Gave a lot of smootches.

Girlie discovered a new trick in which to terrify and keep her mother awake in terror that she’s escaping the house.  See this video for details.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZcGjFFER5k

I then thwarted said new trick.  (insert evil Mama laugh here.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6V5TuBZ3ZTc

And we ended all that by celebrating our little girl’s FIRST DAY OF SUNDAY SCHOOL!!  I can’t believe she’s old enough to have teachers, a classroom and little craft projects.  She was very pleased to show us her art and talk about her time with her friends.  Erik and I enjoyed some time to learn in the adult teaching time.  We’ve found a great gift in this church!  I can’t get over how big she looks in this picture–she’s growing up too fast!

Looks like Girlie’s starting off her future music career by practicing in the shower.  It’s one of her new favorite things to do these days.  She had just finished swimming outside, got a bit cold, and then decided she should warm up in the shower

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnS2EUApzGc

What do ya’ll think about this article.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/09/16/spanking.children.parenting/index.html

I just found it on CNN and was a bit miffed by this study.  Leave me a comment about how you feel about spanking.  I’d really like to hear everyone’s thoughts/advice.  I’ve had a few spank moments in Girlie’s life and it’s a very RARE thing in our house.  So….tell me what you think.  Ever spanked your child?  Will you never spank?  Would love to hear your thoughts….and that includes parents and non-parent readers

We’re lucky enough to have some ever-bearing raspberries here at the new house.  Girlie’s favorite thing to do each day is pick and eat them.  I swear she could eat them all day and never get tired of them.  Here’s a shot of our recent pick of the afternoon.

And here’s the kiddo enjoying her favorite treat.