Monthly Financial Checkup

It's a new month and a new year, and if you remember from this post each month we are going to report on how well we did on paying off my school loans. I am happy to report that in December we put 2% of our income towards our debt snowball! Now, before you gawk at 2% thinking that just sounds measly, to put in in perspective it is more than a date night out would cost us. Plus, 2% is better than nothing! I doubled checked my school loans (I have 2 of them) and we believe we can pay the one off by June, so we are working towards that! And of course, we know that nothing is too difficult for God, and we trust He is going to help us along the way get to that goal!

Our Christmas Fun

We had a fabulous time in Iowa for Christmas. Ever since my mom moved there, she thought camp would be a great place to celebrate Christ's birth, and she was right! No one was around, she doesn't have a TV with an antennae or cable (so we were able to watch movies) and the gravel roads to and from camp were pretty icy, so we stayed put in Heckmann House. It was a great time of chilling and relaxing, playing outside and just being together as a family!

Our first project was decorating Heckmann House. My mom had a little tree, with some of my childhood ornaments, plus we made a lovely paper chain!


Charlotte making the nativity.

One of our little snow bunnies!


Greg went sledding everyday, and often took one of the kids with him, although I don't think they had as much fun as he did. One highlight was sledding on Christmas night with everyone, minus me and Foster baby, although we did join everyone outside!


There were plenty of baking projects! Here, Elijah is chopping nuts for my mom's famous truffles. Below the kids make our birthday cake for Jesus! Another baking project included sugar cookie Christmas tress the kids decorated.



We made a snowman on Christmas Eve!


Our Christmas Eve dinner! We had lasagna (my favorite), homemade bread, and salad, plus truffles for dessert!


The cousins on Christmas Eve.

Merry Christmas!

Today, thanks to CBS, Elijah came home with a very precious handmade Baby Jesus doll. As soon as I heard this I knew Charlotte would love it. And love it she does! She saw it right away and hugged it tight, even neglecting the craft she made with goodies in it!

And as she played with baby Jesus, being Mary and setting him up in his manger and singing to him I couldn't help but remember that that is the way it should be! God sent Jesus so that we can hold on tight to Him and yes, put aside everything, so that we can LOVE Him, hold on to his truths, and follow Him, and of course, know that He is right here loving us!





Oh, and this was not staged at all! Everything was Charlotte's natural doing!

Do you want a chance to pee in your pants too?

My favorite mommy blog, (which really isn't just for moms, but she happens to be a mom who blogs), is giving away a HP TouchSmart computer! I know! A computer! For free! And yes, if I win, I WOULD pee in my pants, which would totally be worth it! Well, I guess if I was home alone and no one had to witness it, or I didn't have to tell anyone about it!

And guess what! If you go here, you get the chance to pee in your pants too! Umm, I mean, win!

Early Start on New Year's Resolution

As of December 1, 2009 we decided to start one of our New Year's resolutions early! It is SO important that is why we decided to. And I'm sharing it on the blog because it IS that important and frankly, I need the accountability!

So, you ask, what could be THAT important that we need to start early and post about it? Well, money of course! Specifically, the budgeting of it! We always start out the month so good, often keeping track of money coming in and going out, but then unfortunately we slack! (I always had the same problem with tracking when I was doing Weight Watchers!) And although we are frugal, we still seem to run out of money before the end of the month.

So, what's our plan?

I have been following Money Saving Mom for quite awhile and she and her husband are saving money to buy a HOUSE with cash-insane, right?!? Anyway, they are 75% of the way there, which I know because she does a monthly financial check up at the end of the month. They are following Dave Ramsey's plan in order to do it (someone else we've looked into recently.)

So, our resolution is to do a debt snowball. Which means that money not spent at the end of the month goes towards bills to pay down interest. I'm very proud to say the ONLY debt we have is my school loans, but still, debt IS debt, so we want to pay that off and soon! (Considering I had a goal when I graduated from undergrad to pay off my loans from 5 years of graduating-2006, and instead I went to grad school, thus accumulating more debt!) So, each month, I will be checking in, sharing how much extra (percentage wise only) is going towards reducing my school loans. And since I will be posting how we are doing, I KNOW that we need to do really well in tracking our spending. So, thank you blog readers for being our accountability partners!

So far, 4 days into it, it's going fabulously! We are underspending for ALL of our budgeting categories. 27 more days to go!

Charlotteisms

I don't want to forget some of the funny things my three-and-a half year old says!

As she spins around and around, "I'm getting busy!" (as opposed to dizzy)

If something is too spicy, like her toothpaste or tacos, she says, "It's too tasty!"

Today as I was setting up our Christmas tree she asked, "Mom, can we put the instruments on the tree yet?"

And if she doesn't eat all of her meal, her next snack needs to be healthy, like a piece of fruit or cheese and crackers, to which she usually replies, "I don't want anything healthy, I want something from the pantry." (I guess she thinks our pantry is filled with unhealthy stuff!)

Happy Birthday Nana!

Today is Greg's Mom's birthday.

Here's a little video to put a smile on your face today, until the gift arrives. Enjoy!