Spooookey

Super cape...

I vant...

Our little vampire.  Creepy teeth.

Cuddlebug

Sweet boys.

Hanging out.

Oooooh...hey

 

   A day of play and food.  Tried a new recipe for lunch that I found on the Kosher Lipton Vegetable Soup Mix packet.  It was....interesting.  Marmalade, soup mix, water and chicken.  Might have turned out better if I had all the correct ingredients.  I improvised and it was ok.  Made ribs for dinner, yummmmm.  Pretty average day.  Cleaned, played, read a ton of tiny little Toy Story books and cooked.  Maybe something interesting will happen tomorrow. 

Weekenders

   We had a nice, relaxing weekend.  A big part of our relaxation came from some special people.  It came from my brother Josh and his wife Susan who gave hours of their time that they could have spent enjoying Josh's rare time off, to paint our house.  From Da's parents, Beth & Tom for giving up a day of their weekend to finish up the painting and for Tom cleaning out the remaining junk that was left in the house.  You guys are awesome!  It is so wonderful having people close to you that you can depend on to help you out when you need it.
   We also got some relaxation from our friend Kaye who generously offered to babysit the boys.  We had a breakfast picnic at Shelby Farms and then drove around for a long while attempting to find the library.  There was a sign that said Cordova Branch Library and an arrow and we went the way of the arrow and every other way and couldn't find the dang library!  We finally stopped and asked for directions and it was nowhere near the sign.  Anywho, it was a nice library, I think J is really going to like going there.  Downside is they charge you to check out movies, cd's and books on tape.  It costs $2 to check out a movie for 3 days.  I guess TN not having a state tax takes away from their budget, who knows.  They are apparently the only library system in the US that charges.  I was so looking forward to free movies again.  At least the books are still free! 
   We took the boys to Toys R Us this afternoon and J had a ball walking the aisles and playing with all the toys.  Excellent free entertainment!  Day 4 went well, no money spent though we were sorely tempted by discovering that we have a Dairy Queen and by the Hello Yellow sale at Bath & Body Works, but we resisted!  Whooooo!

A pretty island at Shelby Farms, accessible by paddle boat.

Some interesting looking paddle boats.

My drooly son

  

Coooookies

   Just some pictures from around here this morning. 
   Day two went well, tomorrow will be the test.  A friend of ours offered, well, she told us that she wanted to babysit Saturday.  We certainly don't mind!  We're going to get a library card (I can finally finish the Harry Potter series!) and go back to Shelby Farms and have a nice walk.  A walk where we won't have to worry about babies being too hot or too tired.  Should be fun!  We'll be able to talk without interruption and without distraction.  Going to pack a picnic lunch in the basket I bought a long time ago but never had a reason to use it.  It'll be a nice date for us.  :-)
   Da and J made these cookies except they used butterscotch chips instead of chocolate.  Super yum.  Nothing like the smell of cookies in the air. 
   Had a goulash for dinner, it was supposed to be curry but Da thought my baking chocolate was a box of curry so we didn't get any at the store.  It's on the list for our next grocery trip in 12 days!  I ended up using garlic teriyaki sauce instead and it was pretty tasty.  Hamburger, onion, garlic, peas & corn.  Put it over some rice and I could have kept eating and eating till I popped.  Had to save room for cookies though. 
   Going to watch a movie tonight and eat a pile of cookies.  Wonder what I should wear on my date tomorrow?  Besides the extra layer on my muffin top from all the cookies...

Father's Day

Man land

Father's Day lunch (we had friends over)

That's a lot of asparagus...

First corn on the cob

Where's my corn?

  
   Day one, no money spent.  Not a big deal, yet. 
   Spaghetti and burnt garlic toast for dinner.  We discovered that J takes after his momma and likes burnt things.  I prefer my garlic bread unburnt, but I'll take what I can get.
   I'm going to try and make some concentrate for iced coffee tomorrow.  Going to follow this recipe from The Pioneer Woman.  Looks pretty fantastic.  Might have to pare down the recipe as I don't have any big containers.  We shall see!
   Ummm, we're not very interesting here lately.  Trying not to have a panic attack about the house (me, Da is calm about it, money stress and post partum do not mix).  We have help lined up and that's a load off.  Hopefully the realtor will be able to get those open houses scheduled after this weekend.  Whooo!  I'll keep you posted.  Have a good night!   
  

The money is spent...

   We are stocked up on groceries & diapers.  The bills are paid and the van is gassed.  We indulged our Dollar Menu craving one last time.  Tomorrow starts our 2 weeks of absolutely no spending of money.  I purchased groceries that will last and that can be used in a wide variety of ways.  Maybe I'll post about the meals I cook, it'll be sure to get interesting near the end. 

  In other, more stressful news, relating to why we are doing this money thing, we have a new realtor.  We had communication issues with our last one and felt that we were not a priority.  Come to discover that she cuts hair for a living and real estate is just a side job.  This was after we terminated our contract.  Seems like that would have been helpful to know before we wasted 6 months with our house on the market with nothing being done with it. 
   We like our new realtor.  He's the owner of a major real estate company in the area and he's straight forward and we like that.  He  has let us know what needs done to the house to make it marketable and as soon as it's all accomplished he's going to start scheduling open houses every other week.  Our other realtor had one open house in 6.5 months.  Our new realtor has told us that he believes that houses need to be sold, not just advertised and then wait for a buyer, he plans to aggressively market our home and get it sold.  I like this guy.  If it were to not sell or if it doesn't look like it will sell for the price we need to get in the time we need to get it, his company can handle leasing our home out.  Whooo!  Win win in our book. 
   Now we are just working on rounding up family and friends to help us get what needs done, done.  Painting, cleaning etc.  It is really tough not being able to go and take care of it ourselves.  We feel so bad and helpless asking people for help.  There's no room for pride when selling a house...  We'd appreciate your prayers with this, it would take a load off of our shoulders if we can sell that house.  I have faith that things are going to turn out. 
   I'll keep y'all updated on the money and house things.  Good night!

Money experiment

   We have decided to try an experiment financially.  We are going to attempt going from paycheck to paycheck without spending ANY money.  14 days, no money.  We will pay all the bills, grocery shop & fill the car with gas tomorrow and then starting Thursday we will not touch our account.  I read about this in an article a week or so ago, thought it was a neat idea. 
   One, I want to see if we are capable of having self control.  Two, if we are able to follow through, even if it's just one week, it's going to do wonders to prove to us that we can make do with what we have in the house.  Now, we aren't frivolous people, we can't be at the moment, but we do tend to give in to dollar menu cravings and little things here and there.  The problem is, these little things add up and turn into something big.  Sneaking up on you and surprising you. 
   We currently have a house in VA that we are still trying to sell, we are also paying rent here in TN.  Money is tight but we are blessed with health and happiness.  We don't need no stinkin' money to be happy!  We have the beautiful Shelby Farms Park right down the road that is free and full of things to do.  We live in an area that is a short drive from Arkansas, Missouri and Mississippi.  Three states we really haven't spent a lot of time in.  Most importantly, we have a ton of bubble solution, that will keep the whole family entertained for days and days!  Anywho, I'll keep youse guys posted on our progress.

Shelby Farms

This is J's new kite.  This was a surprise in the mail this week from J's great aunt June.  He was pretty excited.

We decided to go to Shelby Farms.  It's a big (4,500 acres) public park with picnic areas, fishing lakes and miles upon miles of trails.  We went out first thing this morning and got a special breakfast to have for a picnic.  

Yours looks better Mama.

"What are they doing over there?"  There had been a race not too long before we got there.  They were handing out the medals while we were eating. 

Baby C's pretty happy!  Wonder what's making him laugh?

Why the wind in the trees, that's what!  It was such a gorgeous morning.  Low humidity, breezy and cool, well, cool for TN.  I put the camera right in front of C's face and took the picture, so it really is what he was seeing. 

Such a handsome lad.

"Whatcha got there Dada?"

  

Wheeeee!  (This one's my favorite)

If you look real close you can see where Da made a little tail for him to hold on to just in case J were to drop the handle.  It worked well!

Hi guys!

Kinda looks like a butterfly, dontcha think?

A footbridge over a little crik.  :-)

The information center.  Air conditioned and clean toilets, what more could you want?

One of the lakes.

See the paddle boats?  I can't wait to try them!

Some horsies.  Not sure if you can rent them or what, but we did see people riding them around the trails.

A big ol' light covered dinosaur by one of the lakes.

Buffalo! 

   We really enjoyed the park.  It's clean and big enough that even when there are a ton of cars you don't feel crowded.  Unfortunately, looks like their funding will either be reduced or cut entirely.  I hope that doesn't happen.  Check out their website, it's an interesting place for sure.  We're going to check out the Woodland Discovery playground next time, J was a bit too tired this trip.  You know I'll take pictures then too. 

Sign in a store parking lot.  Really makes me wanna shop there.  I immediately think that lots of bad things have happened here.  Whatever happened to the "Please keep you valuables out of site" type signs?  At least they were nicer.

Ummm, who the heck buys a Lexus and does THIS to it???