A Warm Weekend.....Finally!

I planted my flowers on Friday. Carson wanted to help me. This was his idea of "helping."

They look good except the boys thought it would be cute to WALK all over the ones in my flower bed. I'm not sure they'll recover from that. Sigh

We spent most of the weekend outside.

That darn plug. How are we ever going to get rid of it?

Charlie made his usual evening visit.

Here are some pictures of our trip to Falls Park today.

Life does not get any better then these 3 boys. I love them to pieces!

Spring Time!

Its supposed to be 77 today. In fact, its supposed to be in the 70s through next Thursday. Fabulous!! Now, if only we didn't have to work all weekend. Sigh.

Carson is becoming a trike riding fool! He makes at least 50 laps every time we are outside.

I repainted a shelf in our kitchen. Carson thought it would come in handy as a toy shelf.

Declan ate an entire half of a PB&J the other day. So I treated him to a pudding cup. I'm not sure if more got on his clothes, face and fingers or in his mouth.

My mom captured this picture last weekend. Yes, that's Declan' hair or as I like to refer to it, the rat's nest. So it was time for a haircut today. Brace yourself......

One last picture before we cut it off.

Look at those little curls.

He wasn't up for much of an after shot.

He looks so old now. :-(

Financial Peace

In January Trevor and I began a 13 week course called Financial Peace University. Financial Peace University is a Biblically based, life-changing program that teaches you how to make the right decisions with your money. It was created by Dave Ramsey who has made it his vocation to help people with their money situation. I've been meaning to write about our experience in this class but I'm not sure I could do it justice. Plus, alot of this is personal and some of its hard to admit.

First off, its changed our lives. Completely!

Before we took this class things were tight, very tight. We lived paycheck to paycheck and seemed to be growing out credit card debt instead of our savings. I think both of us were in denial about our situation. We knew we had debt and I think we just assumed that some day it would get paid off. I was completely stressed out about money and nothing Trevor said or did made me feel any better. But then we enrolled in Financial Peace.

One of the most comforting things about this class was being in a room with people, both young and old, who were in the same place as us. In a crazy way it was comforting to know that our situation was far better then alot of people there. But it was nice to share stories, sorrows, hardships and excitement for the future. In our 13 weeks we learned about saving, paying off debt, insurance, investing and giving.

We are now on a budget which we do together every other week. We have cut up ALL of our credit cards and have not swiped a credit card (or debit card) in 5 months. We pay cash for EVERYTHING. We have a small savings set aside for emergencies, we have new and better insurance and most of all we have confidence. It is so invigorating. It is so refreshing. It is the best thing we have done for our family, marriage and life. We have a long road ahead of us but its a road that we are looking forward too.

I want everyone I know to take this class. Trevor and I regret that we did not take it sooner. So regardless of your age or your financial situation I highly recommend this class. It will change your life.

Wii'd Out

My entire upper body is sore. It hurts to laugh, cough and pretty much move. My right arm and side happen to be the worst. What may you ask was I doing? I'd love to say I was doing some great physical activity like hiking or swimming or running. But I wasn't.

I'm sore from playing Wii. Yes, you read that right, a video game system has left me pretty useless today. Oh, but it was fun and I'd do it again in a minute.

I'd like to thank Mother Nature for the extent of my injuries since it was raining and snowing all day Saturday. Yes, snowing on May 10th.

Mother's day was great. My present from Trevor and the boys is a trip to Your Secret Kitchen tomorrow night. I can't wait to go and try all the meals. I also got a new dress for our Vegas trip, some clothes and a gift certificate to get my hair cut. Yay!!

Here are some pictures of our weekend at Grandma and Grandpa Cameron's

Trying to teach a 3 yr old how to play Wii.

Checking out the golfers with grandpa.


I thought it was a great idea to try and snap a picture of me and the boys for Mother's Day. We had gone to the golf course for brunch so I thought the settings would be perfect. Even after many attempts of bribery the boys had other ideas then cooperating. So here are some outtakes of our picture attempts.

Declan was far more entertained by the waterfall behind us.

Grandma's attempt wasn't too bad.

Family picture try. Failed.

How about no kids in the picture. That seems to work MUCH better.

Proof he does eat!

Clearly this messy fess means that he ate something. Don't tell anyone but he ate carrots too.

Feeding the goats.

Dying to go outside but we need shoes first.

Another messy face.

In other news......

Guess where we're going?

Made our reservations last night! We'll be staying at.

Paris!
We can't wait to go.

A fishing tale

Trevor took the boys fishing the other day while I was at work. I'll let Carson tell the story.

A whole-lotta Friday randomness

A few (or maybe more) random thoughts.

* I have hit more garage sales in the last 2 weekends then I think I have in my whole life. This morning the boys and I went to a few and Carson about lost his mind when he saw a big Thomas carrying case in front of a house. He was ecstatic about it and for $2 I couldn't pass it up. Shhh, don't tell him that the trains he has are too big for it. He is happier then a clam and him and Big Thomas are settled in for a nap now. We also got a Mickey puzzle for $1 which has 100 pieces and he did pretty good helping me get it together.

* I killed at least a million ants yesterday. And I am not exaggerating. I used an entire bottle of ant killer on them. It was so gross and I've been itching ever since.

* We got our stimulus check today. Yahoo! We're planning a trip for this fall with it.

* My Schwan man was nice enough to drop off some Push-Ems today that he was out of earlier this week. When I was younger that was all we got from the Schwan man and they were so good. I don't think I've had one since. Can't wait to dig into those!

* Declan is still having some major pooping problems. Per my doctors advice he has been drinking LOTS of juice but its not making much of a difference for him. So looks like I need to call the doctor and get him on an infant laxative.

* I need some new pants for work so on Monday I took the boys shopping with me. I thought it would be a fabulous idea to scrunch us all into a dressing room so I could try on a pair. As I took off my own pants Carson yelled (to a packed dressing room) "Mom your half naked!" Thanks honey!

* Lately Carson believes that anything that happened in the past happened "wast night." I've been trying to teach him days of the week but he isn't grasping it. So in his mind not only did we go to a Twins game with Papa Cameron but we also moved into our new house, ate pancakes, tacos and ice cream, went to the river and played chalk. Not a dull moment around here.



* Declan is a book fanatic. It's non-stop all day long he wants to "wead it." It looks like he is reading some great novel to his students, not a book with every single type of "twuck" pictured.








* Carson has taken a liking to his swimming lessons. He loves the noodle train she does with them. I can sign him up for some shorter lessons this summer so I think I may do it just because he loves it so much. Check out this video...he's getting brave.

* Declan keeps getting called a girl wherever we go. I know its the hair since I'm pretty sure I do a good job of dressing him like a boy. So I'm debating cutting his hair off. Not sure what to do with it though. Look at those curls.