Compact and Goals!

Well the Compact is status quo! I took a pair of shoes in to get repaired today which by the way is very compacty! I had gotten a pair of Clarks last year when I started my new job and I loved them. They were super comfortable. Unfortunately about 3 months in, they started coming unstitched. And so there they have sat. So finally remembered and decided to bring them in!

Other than that, a few more things on our wish list, car cellphone charger broke, I need new white sneakers for work, etc. but nothing too urgent that can't wait a bit.

When we went to Target to get pics taken I did have a Huge CRAVING to shop there! I do miss it there. Not that I need to spend a crap ton when I go but I miss roaming the isles and finding good deals. So needless to say, I avoided going into the rest of the store!

My goal for April/May is to get two raised vegetable gardens built. I've always wanted my own little plot of land where I could grow veggies. Our last house had too much shade so I only could do a couple pots on the deck but our new house has a whole side yard that is sunny. So two raised beds it will be! If anyone wants to volunteer to help let me know!

Updates on our other goals for the year...

Family time: going pretty good although disc golf season is starting so we'll have to see how that affects things. For those of you who aren't aware, Jared is a bit obsessed with disc golf and by a bit, I mean a lot!

Eating healthy: going great....when I cook! But we have been eating out a little too much so we need to work on that piece as well.

And so we continue with 22 days of the Compact and a few other random goals!

Compact STATS:

Compact initial new purchase fund: 75$

Current status: $58.90

Purchased items: rub on tattoos (3.19), Team Saul T-shirt (8), L-brackets & washers (4.91)

Compact successes: Fisher Price Animals

Wish list: I Love My Hair T-Shirt, Dress shoes for AJ, Cell phone charger, white sneakers

Tiny Dancers!

Is there anything cuter than a clump of tiny dancers! It was picture day at dance class!AJ and Keely were making funny fake smiles!
We also took a trip to Target and got a few quick pics there too!

Is it really spring?

Ummm, it was almost 70 today! Does that mean that spring is really here? Is it safe to get out the deck furniture and outside toys? Today we had a quiet day. Had some family time this morning, went and played at the mall then to lunch together, cleaned, organized, PLAYED!

FABULOUS Aunt Cathy sent these home with Meena after Meena went and visited. The kids think they are hysterical! If you push the nose it makes the animal noise, it's pretty funny! Thank you FABulous!
Went to the park with Nora and a couple of her friends. The girls played nice and loved the swings the best! I unfortunately became the b****y playground mom! There was a 15ish year old boy who decided it would be a good idea to ride his unicycle (yes, unicycle) up the playground ramps (its a small playground piece so that basically is the whole 30 foot long piece). Now there is at least five 3-5 year olds and a 1-2 year old. So the first pass up and down, the three of us moms were a little annoyed, he seemed annoyed that the kids were in his way. The second time he did it the kids were all clumped at one end, and both Jenny and I were going to say something but he went off. Then he decided he would ride backwards up the ramp and well little 2 year old Miriam ran toward him so both Jenny and I hopped up and yelled at him to stop, and then I nicely told him that he needed to stop since there were little kids... ok maybe kind of strongly told him, but really, he almost ran over the two year old! He seemed shocked that someone would say something but he eventually did go away! So beware old kids who are putting little kids safety at risk, I will have you removed! Not that I enjoy being "that mom" but I would hope that if my kid was going to get run over that someone would do the same for them! Other than that it was a beautiful night and a lovely time at the park:)
AJ is so fun lately! She still LOVES arts and crafts and colors anytime she gets a chance. Its really fun now that she is drawing real things! Here is her "funny face with weirdo eyeballs"!

So cute, so fun!

Today Jared had a basketball tournament so the kids and I had a fun day hanging out together! They played nice and we had a super fun day! They even helped me clean the whole first floor of the house (minus the dishes/counter)!

Addy is SUCH a good big sister! She helps JT all the time, shows him how to do things, and is helping him learn more words!
JT is really into wearing his little hat lately!
This morning we headed to gigantor toy store! And spent most of our time at the train table!
JT loved the little chimney you could climb in... He looks like a little gnome peeking out of his house!
OF course, AJ's favorite thing was the Merry-Go-Round! First time she rode a loon and JT rode a goldfish (Addy picked it for him!), second round she rode the bunny, and JT rode a buffalo!
This past week, JT decided to wear heels! He is such a shoe guy! Its super funny, he's obsessed with trying on everyones shoes and loves to wear Jared and my shoes around too!
Addy had her last swim class and passed her class! This was her first time in a class where she was alone (not mommy and me) and she did great! She was a super good listener for her teacher and followed every direction he gave her! I'm so proud of my little fishy! We'll be signing her up for swimming again in the future!
Swim train time!

Compact: We did it!

Well, we made it all the way through our first month without many issues. I guess what this tells me is we have way too much stuff and don't really need anything at the moment. Most things can wait, can be found used, or can be dismissed. We'll be participating in a garage sale this spring (if I can convince Meena to come down and watch the kids for that morning:), so I'll be going through the pile of baby stuff in the basement and getting rid of the baby clothes, toys, and equipment! It will feel good to get rid of some of that stuff!

As we venture into our second (final) month of the compact, we'll have a few more challenges with a holiday thrown in there and the change of seasons so we'll be checking out the kids spring clothes, shoes, etc. I've got some things that I need to attempt to get fixed. We've still got most of our new purchase fund left so we'll see if we make it through the month. I'm hoping to hold Jared off as long as possible to start buying discs and such but he may be opting out of the compact here soon.

Stay tuned for more details of our real life! I've got some pics to post but they just aren't going to get on here tonight.

Compact: Day 26...spent more money!

Well just 5 days left of our first compact month and we are doing great! Last night AJ and I went to a benefit for our little friend who is back on the Berlin Heart. Besides donating money (donations are compact approved), I also bought AJ a T-shirt from the benefit which I'll post a pic of after we get it! They ran out so they are ordering more. Obviously the t-shirt is new and is not compact approved and under any other circumstances wouldn't have bought it but it was for a good cause. So 8$ out of the compact fund to support little Saul.

Today Meena came down to visit and of course we usually do some type of project when she is here so today we decided during naptime to hang up some of the art and stuff that we haven't hung up yet. We pretty much hadn't hung anything up on the first floor since we moved because I hadn't painted. Well now since I painted at least the family room, we figured we should hang everything up and then when I paint the rest I'll know where everything will go!

Meena brought this AMAZINGLY fun sign! Its fantastic and huge and wonderful! And compact approved! They are old sign letters from something!
We also a while ago had gotten some old 1930's film reels (also compact approved) so got those hung up as well. The picture doesnt do them justice, they look great in real life!

We also hung up some of my paintings and other art that I had in our last house. Our house is becoming more homey each day!

We did make a Menards run to get stuff to hang JT's super cool shelf but didn't get a chance to hang that so we'll do that next time Meena and Papa come down! So at Menards I also spent $4.91 on two L brackets and a pack of washers.

STATS:

Compact initial new purchase fund: 75$

Current status: $58.90

Purchased items: rub on tattoos (3.19), Team Saul T-shirt (8), L-brackets & washers (4.91)

Compact successes: Fisher Price Animals

Wish list: I Love My Hair T-Shirt, Dress shoes for AJ

Busy weekend of firsts!

JT is making leaps and bounds in his development all of the sudden. He's repeating back almost everything, picking up more single independent words, and started saying his first real phrase... "no, mine"... The best thing is that he said love you for the first time! He repeats it back when you ask and isn't saying it independently but it is the sweetest thing ever! Especially since he blows you a kiss after!

He's starting to play with the baby dolls too! He loves to feed the baby!
And carry the baby in the baby carrier on his back!
Addy had a first this weekend too! She peeled an orange all by herself! She was very proud of herself and ate the whole thing! I never had really thought about letting her do things like peel her own orange but she asked if she could so I gave it to her and she did it without any help!
We went to a joint birthday party for Emme and Miles who both turned three! Fourteen kiddos sat nice for the picture! JT missed out on the picture since he left early to go to bed!
This weekend we took a trip to the zoo (even got in free!) with Alden and Logan. Addy asked a few weeks ago if we could go to the place with the animals with Alden. However the day of the zoo, she thought we were going to the Mall to see the animals instead...

Addy and Alden had a who can make the biggest smile contest! Both look pretty cheesy to me!

Ji'Robert took a little nappy!
And this was our attempt at a picture of all 4 of them!

Jared and I even got to have date night on Friday night! We went out to a movie and to dinner! Because of basketball, we hadn't had a date in over 6 months so it was nice to have a couple hours of just us time!

Compact: Day 18...mission accomplished!

I did it! I finally won an item on ebay! I grabbed this set of 9 little animals for 7.95 FREE SHIPPING! Apparently these little buggers are hard to get! Most sets similar to this are going for 15-20 plus shipping. So after scouring craigslist, local second hand stores, and my work classifieds, ebay came through. And the best news is that since they are second hand, they don't count toward my new purchase fund. Part of the compact is about being greener and reusing things.

What I find odd is that I do buy a lot second hand... toys, kids clothes, I love a good garage sale. And I never seem to have any issues finding things... until I am looking for something specific! Plus its not garage sale season yet so that makes it a little harder.

Prior to the compact, I would have just sucked it up, ran to Walmart or Toys R Us and grabbed a set of little animals. I would have called my friend Jenny to see if she knew of any good deals (she's the queen of clearance) and I would have checked craigslist once quickly and then gone and bought them new. So now, even though it took me a week and a half to find, they will be here in just a couple days!

On another note....I shared with Jared my plan to extend the compact through April... He agreed but we still may need that Frisbee clause! Apparently there are Frisbee emergencies of which you cannot wait an extra month to buy them... really? So we'll see how long I can stall him!

Compact: Day 16!

Yes I realize this is my fourth post today but I haven't posted in a while and my posts didn't go together real well so 4 posts it is!

Well as far as the Compact goes we are pretty much status quo... Still haven't spent any more money... yay! I've found that avoiding the stores that I have "problems" with, really decreases my impulse shopping... good to know! I even ran to Walmart the other day to grab some stuff and stuck to the list. Granted it takes a lot for me not even to wander through the kids clothes and clearance sections but I did it! (I know, baby steps right!)

I am still on a mission for Fisher Price Farm Animals... have a couple leads. The second hand stores in town have none, although thier stock turns over quite a bit so I should keep checking. I'm not sure how people have the patience or the time to find things online or in second hand stores. It's just so easy to run to the store and grab it. This is teaching me to be patient! Farm animals are not an emergency need it now item so I'll wait a little longer before having my mom mail me the ones we have at her house!

I haven't even added anything to my "think I want it" list.

So doing this just for one month is a little hard since pretty much anything can be delayed for a month. If there was something I want or need, I could just postpone it for the month but I oddly enough haven't really had anything....Seriously weird!

So my new plan??? Extend the compact through April! I'm not so sure that Jared will be on board with the plan as frisbee season is starting and I'm sure he'll need some new ones. So there may have to be a frisbees don't count clause or he'll blow our stash pretty easily! We'll have to see. Plus this will give me a little more time to figure things out. And it will include a holiday as well!

First Day of School.... kind of

My baby is going to school! Addy had her preschool orientation today... OK well not real preschool but this summer we are sending her to full day preschool camp! Its just for the summer and she is SUPER excited! Then in September she'll start real preschool a couple days a week.

So here is my little baby all ready for her open house!

Such a proud mama!
Amd Daddy!
She had a good evening. Her little friend Keely was even there and they had bouncy houses... I'm hoping she understood that the bouncy houses were only for the party and not for camp school!

It made me feel so proud of her and so happy to see her excitement about going to school! And a little sad to know this is one tiny step to growing up!