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If your name is _________, make some noise!

I had the BEST day today.

I think it was that-- for once, it was absent of noise. One of our kids was away for the day. And because of that, there was no whining and no fighting. (When you take away one, the other doesn't want to whine on their own.)

I'd like to try to find some ways to cut the noise down. We have an "if-then" chart (which states what behavior will have which consequence).

  • If, Unattentiveness (Specifically to parents): Then, Loses a Media Ticket
  • If, Unloving (Like Fighting): Then, Loses a Possesion
  • If, Rude (Like Yelling in the House): Then, Time Alone

But the consequences alone don't seem to prevent any of these noisy things. Oh. I want a peaceful home.  One with helping, listening, loving attitudes and no whining or complaining. Is that just a pipe dream or can it happen? I'm game to try to see how we can have less noise. I'll be searching Amazon for books on the topic (but recommend 'em if know a good one), and seeking out others to see what has worked in their home (has anything worked in yours?).

Now, make some noisssssssssssssssse!

Maddie is 7 months



She is such a joy! I love her smiles. She is at that age now where she rolls over every time she is laying down. She can't get enough :) She is almost sitting. And she is just over all a very sweet and precious little girl!
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Budget Meeting

I finally readjusted our budget.

It is good to have a mini budget meeting every month just to evaluate how you've been doing. We haven't had one in a long, time... maybe a year.

We've been practicing budgets for almost 2 years. What an awesome life change it has been. We've never been bad with money, but in the past we would intuitively feel out that we've spent too much. Now having a budget brings so much comfort as we know what is going where.

We have some new expenses this fall which means some things also had to be reduced or dropped. One of those things that was dropped was babysitters. DRAT! We will need to get creative this year so have that time to connect. I dream of a weekly time! A few other things got dropped, but mostly our budget makes more sense going into this new season.

I love proactive thinking & readjusting. It's GOOD!!

How are you ready for this new season?

10th Anniversary Celebration

Ten year ago this happened...




This morning, I overheard Sophia recounting this last weekend. "First we go to the castle, then we eat supper..."

Our girls were princesses this weekend! We rented out Eagle Castle in Paso Robles, CA to celebrate our 10-year anniversary.

We feel SO blessed by it all. We planned and saved, and everything came together SO sweetly.

The pasta bar by PM Custom Catering was amazing, our bike theme turned out super fun including epic cookies from The Cookie Jar, our throwback video was sweet, the concert by our all-time favorite artist Manchild made the night rock.



For those that celebrated with us that night, it means more than you will ever know. Your presence was a great gift to us. Thanks! WE had a wheelie good time!