2015 Christmas Recap

Christmas was a little different for us this year. We split up our family celebrations to the weekend before Christmas with my side and the weekend after Christmas with Lance's side. 

You can read a bit more about our decision to do this on my "When Christmas Makes you Cranky: 5 Survival Tips" post on DMMB. All in all, it was a good decision. But not without a few hiccups: namely my poor planning on trying to find a restaurant to eat at on Christmas Eve. We all had our hearts set on eating at our favorite local Chinese place only to discover they were closed. Fortunately we discovered this earlier in the day, so all was not lost. I called Granite City as we were leaving Christmas Eve service to ask them if there was a wait. Lo and behold - there was not a wait because the kitchen was closing in 10 minutes. If only the host had mentioned that important detail ... Needless to say, while mentally bah hubug-ing, I made supper at home instead of dining out. Trader Joe's Mandarin Orange Chicken and frozen potstickers to the rescue. 

But the holidays are fun and it's a wonderful and blessed thing to see Christmas through a child's eyes. I won't lie though, with Gracie's first birthday party combined with holiday shopping and baking, it's a relief to have the holidays behind us.  

This is Lucan's "Merry Christmas. I'm so happy face." Every.single.picture. I think Lu thinks it's funny to ruin all of my pictures with the same ridiculous face. I'm not impressed.

Lucan's preschool class put on the most precious Christmas program. Filled with songs, dances and a poem. It was so fun to observe all the kids and the clear differences between boys and girls and the kids with fall birthdays (reading between the lines: Lucan only did part of the dance actions. As did most of the boys. There was a part where I watched two of the boys in the back row start fighting while all of the girls were enthusiastically doing the dance moves on point)

His teacher, Miss Paula, must be a saint. Preschoolers are adorable but they're like puppies. They have no manners, will chew on whatever looks shiny and lose interest in things after 3 minutes. Moral of the story: I could never be a preschool teacher.

At one point during the program Lucan stopped in the middle and asked me if he could go sit in the back row with Lance because he was "tired of singing." 

Jingle in the (Valley) Junction. I love the way Des Moines has all sorts of fun things going on to celebrate Christmas. There were sleigh rides and Santa visits but we opted out. However a wandering snowman did catch our eye! (Do you know how hard it is to capture a 6.5 foot snowman and a 3 foot child in the same frame?)

I had one shop merchant ask if the "snow kitty" belonged to me. Cute!

Olaf. Or "Ollie" as Lucan calls him.

Little Miss Serious, opening her Christmas presents at my folks' house.

Cutest present under the tree.

Lucan would enthusiastically open my presents, your presents and your future children's presents if you'd let him. 

Again, cheesy smile. "I always wanted this!" Then he would turn to me and ask what it was. 

Great grandma Ruth and her littles.

On the day of Christmas Eve I came to the realization that we had zero pictures with Gracie and Santa. After reading one of my DMMB friend's post how she had no pictures of her second-born's first Christmas, I was feeling pretty guilty. We made the executive decision that we would brave the mall crowds and trek out to see Santa. It was a zoo. Santa's hours started at 10 and we were there around 10:15 AM. Lance and I took turns standing in line, but we probably waited an easy 35 minutes. Fortunately no one freaked out and Lance took both kids on a walk around the mall.  

So for all that standing in line, this was the best Santa picture we got. Not terrible, but not exactly magical either. I guess I should be happy that Gracelyn isn't crying! 

There might have been bribery involved in getting Lucan to behave.

Creepy *cough* "magical" reindeer.

Christmas morning. You hear about all those kids who wake up their parents in the wee morning hours? Yep, so when we were at my parents' house the weekend before we didn't let Lucan open presents until after dinner on Saturday night which was very challenging for Lucan. He kept moving his gifts around, shaking them and doing all sorts of normal little kid present snooping. Well when Christmas morning rolled around, Lucan didn't ask to open presents right away. He actually proposed we wait until after supper (like at my parents') and then quickly moved up his timeline until after lunch. Imagine his delight when we told him he could open his gifts after breakfast!

We don't make a huge deal out of Santa at our house. We didn't set out cookies for him, we don't do Elf on a Shelf and we didn't have specific "Santa" presents. When Lu asked us who gave him everything, we simply told him that we did. Basically my theory is "neither confirm or deny" anything. 

Christmas jammie picture in front of the tree. Of course Gracie isn't looking at the camera and is more interested in the Christmas ornament she swiped from the tree. I'm happy to announce that she only broke one ornament. Lucan, however, broke three? #boysversusgirls

The nativity set is a fan favorite year after year. Lucan started asking for his angel toy with the people that sing back in November and it's safe to say that Gracie liked it too.

Our Cyclone Christmas tree with red and gold lights. 

I bought some Christmas fabric on Black Friday and sewed Gracie a headband and a matching Christmas onesie. She wore the onesie once and I'm not sure where it went after one washing.

Meringue cookies cause me much angst. I think I'll do a recipe post on these in the coming days, so look for that. 

We celebrated Christmas the weekend after with Lance's side. Our Saturday morning drive was filled with fog, icy trees and coldness. Fortunately the road conditions weren't too bad and I was thankful that we were traveling during daylight and not at night like many times.

I snapped this photo in the car and wanted to stop and do a quick shoot with some of the frozen fog but because of our delayed start, Lance vetoed my creative requests. 

My brother-in-law, Vernon, had complained to me earlier in the day that Gracelyn has never warmed up to him. Well, she happily sat on his lap the entire evening while we opened presents at my in-laws.

Two out of four looking at the camera isn't bad (for me). 

Again, Lucan would happily open everyone's presents if you'd let him. He's looking on as my father-in-law is opening up his new toolbox. I'm not sure why Lu looks so concerned.

Lance's family's church was beautifully decorated. Again, Lucan's "Merry Christmas" grimace face.

I knew it was my last chance at getting a family photo with everyone it. It wasn't ideal as Lance had forgotten his church clothes back in DSM, but we made it work. 

Looking back, our Christmas was a blessing. It was quiet and more low-key. Maybe part of that was due to the fact that I'm not working full-time so weekend travel isn't as big of a setback but it was nice to actually feel like we could do a couple of traditions as a family. Next year I vow to bake less and have more of the presents wrapped ahead of time! And miracles beyond all miracles, I didn't go massively over-budget this year. Yes, you can all be amazed with me. 

Merry Christmas friends! Thanks for sticking with me to the end!

mo money, mo problems. Part 2 of our debt story

Last time I told you how we had a small mountain of debt accumulated. I tell you this to be encouraged that it CAN be done. I used to read stories on Dave Ramsey’s website about how all of these people paid off their small-ish mountain of debt. Those people annoyed me because their debt was NOTHING in comparison to ours. We did it in three years. Here’s how:

1. We started a cash budget. And started tracking where our money went. You know how you get your tax returns and it tells you how much money you’ve made that year and you wonder where it all went (mine was in my closet). Yeah, start figuring out where that money goes.
2. Canceled direct tv. It broke my heart. I’ve read where people cut the cord and it was fine and they didn’t miss it one bit. I’m not one of those people. I miss it. We both miss it.
3. Got rid of our landline.
4. We tried to sell the Traverse. We really did. But the moment you drive a car off the lot, it instantly depreciates. So we kept it. And dealt with it.
5. We cut out vacations. Not that we ever went on a lot of trips beforehand, but we really don't go places unless they have been saved for.
6. I started working at a place that did tuition reimbursement. Got good grades so I could get reimbursed.
7. Stopped the home improvements bus. Yes, I still have the same original ugly hunter green countertops that we’ve had since we moved in almost nine years ago. On the flip side, they’re really good at hiding dirt!
8. Limited how often we eat out. This is hard for us. We both love eating out, but truthfully, after having Lucan we had less of a desire to eat out. No one ever thought “let’s go to a nice restaurant and see if our toddler can behave” was a good plan. I remember one harrowing meal at Granite City and thinking in my mind, “this is SO NOT WORTH IT.”
9. Meal planning, which goes hand in hand with #8. We both make bad food choices when we have no game plan and are hungry to boot. And by bad food choices, I mean, takeout from Hy-Vee Chinese.
10. Did not get smart phones until the fall of 2014. Wow. But oh how I love my iphone now. It makes me so very happy.
11. I stayed out of the mall. I realized that I have less discontent when I have no idea what I’m missing out on.
12. Started unsubscribing to some of the former shopping blogs I used to live for.
13. Also unsubscribed from store emails. No, I don’t need to know that Loft and Gap are having a 40% off sale again.
14. I don’t buy Lucan a lot of presents. For example up until this year, he didn’t get all of those small one-off holidays presents, like Easter, Valentine’s, Halloween, etc. This was the first time I got him more than a single Christmas present. I leave it to family and they are more than generous. If you come and visit our house, you’ll see that no one is lacking in toys. I’ve tried hiding Lu’s Christmas or birthday presents and then bringing them back out at a later date, but I need a better hiding spot. I continually catch Lucan downstairs standing in front of the shelves with all the toys on it and hear him asking “you can get just one thing down for me, right?”
15. I think I’ve only bought Lucan one thing at Gap Kids. Ever. I’m sure this will probably change with little Miss, but for now, all of our kids’ clothes come from generous gifts, sales, consignment, garage sales, hand me downs and FB swap sites. Guess what – they don’t care. Side note: we do buy most of Lu’s shoes new now that he’s so active. But he only gets like two pairs a year. He’s a boy; he doesn’t know he needs more.
16. We did in-home daycare as a cost savings thing. Granted, it was a complete mess of a nightmare, but it did save us some money. Headaches? Yes. Insensible rage? Yes. Fear of getting fired due to the number of missed days because your provider is flaky? Yes. If you can find a good in-home, go for it. It works for several of our friends, so it could work for you too!
17. We garden. Or try to garden. We mostly do it because we love the fresh produce and not as this huge cost savings endeavor. Last summer I tried to use up all of our tomatoes and Lucan got really tired of finding tomatoes in everything or having five tomato based meals a week.
18. We do canning. I really can’t tell you if we’re saving money by canning. I can certainly tell you that it’s hard to can with two adults who work full-time and have a very active child. Every year I tell myself that something's gotta give when we're up till midnight multiple nights canning. Obviously that something is my sanity.
19. I have a group of church friends who are really gracious about organizing meals for new babies. It’s really wonderful and I have felt the blessings of those ladies. But sometimes I just can’t manage a whole meal so I make a loaf of homemade bread. People like homemade bread. I have to repeat to myself that I’m not a bad person for bringing a person a loaf of homemade bread.
20. Harnessing the power of social media. I’ve seasonally borrowed items for my kiddos that I knew we would only need for a little while. Several friends let me have mint out of their garden when I asked on Facebook.
21. For a while I made homemade laundry detergent. I didn’t like it so I stopped. But you might like it!
22. I cut the boys’ hair. And I hate it.
23. We only make coffee at the house on the weekends. Otherwise we suffer through work coffee.
24. Use the library! Our library has an awesome selection of magazines and online magazines (check out zinio). I also reserve new releases on books and movies. Now if I could just stay on top of getting things back on time.
25. Become a DIYer. Lance gets the credit for this one – he (and our families) painted the exterior of our house, fixed our water heater, garbage disposal, sink (multiple times), rewired lamps, fixed our dishwasher, rewired the stand-alone freezer, installed our hardwood floors, changes the oil on all of our cars, ignores the check engine lights (seriously, ours have been on for years), fixes things like water heaters, spark plugs, broken tire rods and axels, fixed bed frames, grills. Lance is my DIY hero.

So I don’t think any of my tips are earth shattering. The main things we’ve done: start a budget, stick to it. Learn how to do some small things yourself. If credit cards are hard for you, tuck them away. If shopping is a weakness, know your triggers and eliminate them (store sale emails, shopping blogs, malls). If you were an alcoholic, you wouldn’t hang out in a bar, right? 

Aside from the budget, I don’t think any one thing is going to make you a millionaire. But a combination of all these little things will add up and result in money saved. We both started bringing in higher paychecks and that was probably the tipping point in being able to pay off large chunks of debt. As Becky Bloomwood would say “I’m more of a make more money than a spend less type of person” (Confessions of a Shopaholic anyone?)

You can do this. Believe me when I say, been there, spent that, saved and lived to tell the tale.    

And completely unrelated, a video of me making Lucan cry by threatening to ship him off in a box. I thought he would think it was funny. I was wrong. 

mo money, mo problems (Part 1 of our Debt Story)

We paid off the last of our student loans on Friday, March 13, a day that will forever go down in infamy (ha, not really. We’re not Pearl Harbor here). 

Let’s backtrack a few paces and discuss our debt.

• We bought a new (new to us) Traverse two months after Lucan was born. While I’m super thankful that we have the Traverse and one vehicle that is bigger, it was still an expense.
• I attended two private schools for my undergrad and graduate studies and did a study abroad semester in the most expensive city in the world (London, coming in at #1 according to a recent Daily Telegraph story).
• We bought a house on our first anniversary. I was working in non-profit and am actually shocked by how little I was making at that time. At the same time, I had no idea how little that amount actually was and thought I was rich! Foolish 23 year-old. 
• Approximately nine months into our marriage Lance underwent a fairly substantial jaw surgery at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester. Cue: out of network hospital bill. While we were able to pay off his bill without too many tears, it was certainly pricey and an unplanned expense.
• We were using our credit cards to pay for everything. We always paid off our bill at the end of each month, but I can recognize that we typically spent more than we should have by using our credit cards to make our purchases. (Side: we still use our credit cards and we have a Target debit card that we get 5% off with. But I will say, from a cash budget perspective it certainly complicates things. Lance is constantly having to ask me if I’ve moved money and I never can remember. He's typically annoyed with me)
• Between the two of us, we’ve had three bouts of unemployment and have lived to tell the tale. And to pay off debt during that time! 

I hope that paints a pretty good picture of our finances. It’s not a pretty one, but I’m guessing it’s one that many of you can identify with. Student loans, credit cards, new cars and a baby! We are the "typical” Americans!

Stay tuned for more about our debt saga. It's a doozie. 

 

And just for giggles, a photo of the first time I met Lance. We were 15!

Ode to Lance and Nursery Reveal

Lance. My husband. He’s a character. He’s a great dad. He’s intense about supporting his losing sport teams (ie: the Twins, the Vikings and ISU). He’s probably the most honest person I know. Lance is kind and patient (especially with strangers - he has a tendency to think his massively pregnant wife and needy three year-old son are a bit needy). He’ll stop by the side of the road and help push a car off to the side, offer to try and diagnose a problem or simply ask if they need a ride somewhere. Sometimes in the evenings he’ll get home late and I’ll ask him if work was busy or if traffic was bad and he’ll tell me that there was a car off to the side of the road with its emergency flashers on and he stopped to see if they needed help. Lance is that Good Samaritan that Jesus talks about in the Bible. 

Above all, Lance is hardworking. He cares about doing a good job. To the point of anal retentiveness. BUT this does ensure that things are done right (rather than the slipshod way I have a tendency to do things). Case in point: both of the baby nurseries. With Lucan’s nursery, Lance begrudgingly put up wainscoting. It turned out fantastic and is a great addition to the room. Except for the one part where Lucan, as an 18 month old, repeatedly tore off the wall during nap time. Lance meticulously cut out all of the pieces and trim work and made a great baby nursery. This time around I requested a wall of stripes. Lance happily complied (I think he was relieved that I didn’t ask for more wainscoting). True to Lance’s nature, he meticulously taped and re-taped and used his level to mark off the stripes. 6 hours, 4 stripes and 1 wall later, he was done. And it was fab. He’s vowed that he will never do stripes again. Ever. Even when I asked really nicely if he thought it would look to cool to do stripes on the opposite wall. Sometimes you have to know when to stop asking for favors :)

 

 

The theme of Gracelyn's nursery is repurposing. Or gray and pink. We repainted the walls gray and did a gray and white stripe accent wall with pink accents.

 

I really tried to repurpose stuff we already had and spend minimal on things that would make the biggest bang. We reused Lucan's crib, the rocking chair and cushion, the end table, the floral shelf, the dried flower window arrangement and the changing table pad.

 I recovered the pillow you see in the rocking chair with a remment I found at Hancock Fabrics. It cost something like $3.50 and took me 15 minutes to sew. The gray knit blanket was a baby shower gift from my small group friends.

 



The dresser/changing table is actually the dresser that goes with Lucan's bedroom set. But because this dresser is bigger and Gracelyn's closet is filled with my clothes (yes, I know) we decided to use this dresser in Gracie's room. The changing table pad is from Target. The pink polka dot curtains are supposed to be blackout curtains. They aren't really. They're from JcPenny. I had fallen in love with some from Pottery Barn Kids (go figure everything from PB kids is fab) but they were more than double than what I spent at JCP. I think I spent a total of like $60 on curtains, which was one of the bigger expenses for Grace's nursery.

 

 

The laundry hamper is from 3 Sprouts, purchased off of Citrus Lane. I guess a partial theme is pink polka dots :) Lance thought it was ridiculous that Grace needed her own laundry basket because Lu already has one and so do we. Am I the only person where everyone had their own dirty clothes hamper? I just imagine everyone's clothes in a heap in the corner without one.

My favorite thing in the nursery, hands down, is her crystal raindrop mobile. It's so pretty and girlie.  For the longest time I was just going to make a simple mobile because I was too cheap to order this one. But my mom really wanted to buy something "fun" for Gracelyn and we both decided this fit the bill. I ordered it from the etsy shop, the Mobile Maven. We ordered it on Black Friday and got a killer discount from being a FB follower. Love, love, love.

Oh this pink elephant. I purchased this elephant probably eight years ago in hopes that someday we would have a daughter. God heard my wish. The shelf was an impulse purchase made at the Container Store pre-budget. This is the first time we've actually used it. The vase is repurposed from IKEA.

I purchased new pink and gray sheets from Target on sale. The crib skirt, which is hard to see, is just a plain white, three tiered skirt also from Target. The sleep sheep is from Lucan's days and was a dollar at a garage sale.

Aren't Lance's stripes pretty and very well done? Yay Lance!
The circle garland I made from pink and gray paint chip samples and a circle punch I borrowed from my boss. I sewed all the circles together with just a long stitch on my sewing machine. Easy- peasy because all I can sew are straight lines.

 

And lastly this is a dried floral arrangement I made back in my 4-H days. Really, all I can take credit for is arranging the flowers as my dad sanded and did the crackle painting of the window. But that's neither here nor there. If you ask most 4-H parents, they would admit to "helping" their kids with their projects.

 

This concludes the grand tour of Gracelyn's nursery. Consider yourself toured :)