my baby is 2 today.

Tonight I sat and cuddled my little chubby fingered baby, who sadly is not going to be a baby for long. I think they can sense that they are two and that independent homing beacon kicks in and all of a sudden...they think they are so grown up!
The past 2 years have been a blast. I can not imagine our family without Brodey, the joy he brings into our home is immeasurable. "He is so darn cute! You just can't help but spoil him" in the words of his big sister. Have you met this kid? It is true... the handsome little devil just melts your heart.






{2 yrs.} All things about Brodey
~ He is Diegos biggest fan, Jaguar and rescue pack are his buddy's.
( funny side note, Brodey calls the maintenance man at our appartments, who is Mexican, Diego on a daily basis. I guess it doesn't help that the maintenance man always sais to Brodey 'Hola amigo' }
~And Dora is his girlfriend !
~He has had a big boy bed for 2 months.
~Gave up the Binky 2 weeks ago and has only asked for it a couple of times. I just say it is lost, and in his husky little voice he just sais "oh"
~Brodeys favorite foods are pancakes, chicken nuggets, apples, noodles, fishy crackers. and chocolate.
~ The foods he hates are... most vegetables, bananas, regular chicken, and any other meat that is not disguised in noodles, gummy candy, fruit snack, well basically the kid is a very picky eater... He eats a lot of oatmeal and veggies disguised in sauces etc.
~LovES LOVES LOVEs to walk on the edge, the edge of the couch, the edge of the counter, the edge of the pool,the edge of the sidewalk, anything tall and narrow is his to conquer...
~ which is why he LOVES the little gym so much. Our permanent play time every Tuesday, where we balance and tumble and "ta da!" till he is ready for nap.
~ that happens at abut 10 every day!
~ Brodey Loves to draw. He sits with the magna doodle for hours and draws "Kercls" and "boons" and "monters" and "disours" for hours.
~ is a book worm and I can find him in his room reading books by himself... it is so darn cute!
~Brodey and our dog max are BFF's he loves that dog and snuggles and plays with him all day.
~Corey and Brodey like to play "my mommy".
~Is a ball fanatic. Soccer, football, baseball, he can throw! seriously good. And has the cutest little dropkick with the soccer ball. I need to get video of it.
~Brodey hates it when I sing! He always has, I know
I am a bad singer, but come on! abc's? forget it. I get the " no mom! shhh!" shut down EVERY TIME. although today I made up a song that he liked and it goes like this..
{to the tune of BINGO} " There was a boy who rescues animals and Diego was his NAME-O D. I. E. G. O. D. I. E. G. O D. I. E. G. O. and Diego was his name-o"
obsessed much?
~ He wants to be just like his big brother and sister.
~ He is a little pigeoned toed! that combined with his big head makes him fall on his face at least 20 times a day!
~ I love it when he sais " Mommy I yuv ew" "banket" "ginkit" {for drink}
"oh shanks" and so many others but what makes it the best is that he has a husky little baby voice... it is so adorable.

O.K.! that is enough gushing, we had a small party for him with family and he got some great toys.and of course had a Diego cake. enjoy the pics.

Not MY child!!!!

My child does NOT get up at 5:00 am every morning, and I do NOT just sit him in front of the T.V. and go back to bed. cause who would do that? an unsupervised 2 year old?... call CPS!

My child Does NOT throw himself on the asphalt in the parking lot! How EMBARRASSING! I am so glad that NEVER happens to me...

My Child would NEVER drink Vanilla soy milk and eat fishy crackers all day just because that is almost all he will eat. I mean seriously make that kid eat his veggies.

My child would NEVER hit me. And I would never put him in time out and smile at him while he is being so cute saying "mommy why?" with his cute little smile and adorable eyes! seriously push over moms like that need Dr. Phil!


IT OFFICIAL PEOPLE... The TERRIBLE TWOS are HERE!....

milestones

I just had to write a little snippet for tonight. This last couple of weeks has brought a lot of change. with school starting and being all moved in. The kids are loving school and making a ton of friends. They love their teachers and I love their school. Halli started violin, and still in piano, Ethan started piano, and they are doing great.
soccer has been fun and we have our first games this saturday.

Brodey is growing up, oh my gosh I can hardly beleive it. he is such a good kid. he is turning 2 this month. I will do a post later, but I just wanted to note that this week....

* we lost the binki and have not had it for 3 days!!!!
* He told dad he had to go #2 and then did it on the potty!!! serious!
* started The Little Gym and loves it!!!

oh man.. time flies!

One HOT topic!!!

{first I just wanted to say that HAVE JOY is having a great giveaway..so check it out}

O.K. now,

It seems everyone is up in arms over the presidents speach to the schools. I did not vote for Obama and I tend to disagree with a lot of his polotics, but you know what?....

well my friend Adhis said it much better than I ever could.

See her blog here: a little bit adhis and a little bit a dat

{for those of you who read this and are not L.D.S. there are a lot of quotes from the leaders of my church, they are all GREAT. just so you know before you read}

It's been a while

Hello friends,

It has been a while, I know things have been confusing!! your moving? what? why? where? hahaha! yeah it was a surprise to everyone including us because we made a decision and carried it out and it was all rather quick, I would like to explain what we did and why.

We are living in a world where the latest fashion and biggest house has defined us! where we plunge deeper into debt as a country/state as well as personally. Where spending has replaced Saving and consumption has reigned supreme. Look all around you. People are loosing their houses, their jobs, the Earth is in a critical state of deterioration. And Personally, well personally I have to be honest with you. We spent the first years of our marriage Poor, very poor and working hard to get somewhere to have something. To us having more meant we were doing well, being able to spend that hard earned money was "well deserved" living. We went from making hardly anything to making more than we ever imagined and STILL feeling poor and living to the end of our pay check each week. With no savings but a bit of debt, and no home to put down roots. Do not laugh it is no laughing matter. For those of you who are fabulously smart with your money..go ahead and scoff... but for anyone in our shoes you know how disheartening it is.

The leaders of our church have been telling us to get out of debt for years, to get our food storage blah blah blah, we have all heard it before. But look all around us. How many people do you know who could use that during layoff time? and they have turned it up lately..."get out of debt is what they are saying!" and I think it is for a reason! It all started after we had to short sell our house. After that I was determined to find a nice place to live, and instead of downsizing like we should have then, I wanted that big house still and all that I "deserve" Well we moved into that big house and even bought some more furniture for it. With a bigger house comes more responsibility, more cleaning, more stuff to take care of etc. etc. I was even to the point where I was looking at getting a housekeeper to help out once a week. Our expenses for utilities through the roof. Well you get the point. I was beginning to feel overwhelmed. I started to think, how am I ever going to save for my OWN house before the market goes up? Then I took a trip to see my family and realized that a lot of my family members are in the same boat, job losses, retirement, all things that have hit and are not prepared for.
My Mother in law gave us a book called " The millionaire next door" After reading half of it in the car on a day trip, Corey and I were convinced that we have been fools! WE have been thinking time is on our side, that not being financially responsible was O.K. cause maybe one day our "ship would come in" Well news flash everyone, lots of those people in those big houses and nice cars are not millionaires! how can they be when they are spending all that they have? When they are falling into that consumption attitude!!?? How much {stuff} do we buy and never use but once every few years or not at all.
I was standing in the kitchen looking around, looking at my kids, thinking about my life and what is really important to me. Thinking about the future. In 10 short years, my kids will start graduating, getting married, going on missions,going to college...and I want to pay cash I want to be ready. And I have only a little while to teach them to be responsible. So I said, lets downsize! Lets move!!

We started looking around. We have so much "stuff" and I will be honest. It was hard to let my beautiful baby furniture go. but the price of interest on credit cards is far more depressing then letting go. We have already paid off 1/2 of a credit card and will pay of the rest this month! I am so excited.

So yes we moved to the next town over (Rocklin) and we have squeezed all 3 kids into a 2 bedroom apartment. It is tight, but our family is close and we have realized that where our family is...so is our home. We are teaching our kids the value of money and that ~Things~ do not define our worth. I know that it is against the grain and most people would disagree.... Even I like nice things...but I want to be more careful about how much and only buying things if we can afford it. Try to be better about being frugal and "SMART" and teaching my kids that they can have that Abercombie sweatshirt, I pod, and seven jeans..if they have saved first and found the best deal on each item!!!
my goal for this year is.....

* pay off 3 credit cards
* raise our credit score
* Save 10-20% down on a house
* get a home that we can afford
and do a 15 year fixed loan
* start saving for retirement
as well as future expenses
* Learn to live on less than
we earn.

So maybe we are doing this 12 years late. But better now then NEVER! I have felt prompted to do this, and I strongly feel the spirit of our decision. And I hope to inspire others as well.