Swim Lessons 2015

Caleb had his first year of swim lessons and it was awesome!

I knew that I wanted to get Caleb introduced to a swimming pool this summer for sure as soon as he was born.  I grew up swimming and love it a lot so I wanted to make sure that my kids feel the same way.

Our best friends knew that we were looking into lessons and asked if we wanted to join them for their local aquatic center ones.  We, of course, said yes - who doesn't want to swim with friends?

The lessons were 8 week nights in a row for 30 minutes each day.  It was a good amount of time to get them introduced but not overwhelmed.  Caleb absolutely loved them!

He has never been a shy one when it comes to water.  Right after he was born and received his first bath from the nurses you could hear him cooing out of enjoyment at getting his hair washed.  **Cutest thing ever**

We did go to the 6:15PM - 6:45PM class and that was difficult.  We live about 30 minutes from the pool so by the time I would get home from work, make dinner, eat dinner and get dressed we would have to leave.  It was rushed and not our favorite thing.  It was also difficult because Caleb goes to bed at 7.  We didn't choose this for him, he has set him bedtime on his own, which meant that every night on our 30 minute drive home he would fall asleep.  It made our bedtime routine much more difficult.

The classes themselves were good, but I was a little disappointed.  I guess looking back I wasn't really prepared for what a 10-month old does at swim classes.  The teachers were really nice and Caleb got a lot of time in the water to get used to it and familiarize himself with the fact that pools don't have to be scary.

I can't wait to continue watching him learn things when it comes to swimming and hopefully next year he will understand it better.



And now, the photo dump!

You See What We Want You To See

I have been holding this in for a little while and I just can't anymore.

People have been questioning us after our budget posts come out.  I know I had one come out yesterday and since this post is scheduled, I'm sure we got more then what I am about to talk about.

My biggest thing is I let you see what I want you to see from my life.  I do not post a picture of my kitchen island that is covered is so much crap that we only use one little part of it daily and the rest just keeps getting piled on top of each other.

I let you see that my living room is adorable with baby toys neatly placed on the floor and picked up every night.  WRONG!  We had our neighbor watch Caleb two days last week - the first person other then family to watch him btw - and I didn't even think about picking up my house beforehand.  AH!  I was so embarrassed, luckily she is amazing and understands that we live in our house, not just stage it for pictures.

I let you see us going out on dates and having a great time.  I don't let you see that it takes us weeks of planning and figuring out when we can get a babysitter and if it lines up with a payday so that we have the money to do so.

I let you see that we bought a new car and got a new puppy.  You didn't see the 7 hours that it took getting the dealership to come down to a price that we were happy with.  You also didn't see us debating on whether or not it was a smart decision to pull money out to get a new puppy right now.

We work very hard for what we have and we show you what looks good.  Life isn't perfect and just like our budget posts, I post what I want you to see.  I posted our June Budget Update and in it stated that we have eliminated almost $31,000 in debt.  That is incredible and I am so proud of us, but unfortunately we just got so much flack for it.

No, we did not have $31,000 sitting in the bank.
No, we did not pay it all in cash.
No, we are not living the high life and sleeping on dollar bills. (gross btw)

It has taken hard work and dedication on both our ends to make this work.  I include selling our possessions as debt paid off.  We owed money to a bank for our boat.  That was a debt.  We sold our boat for cash, took that cash and paid it to the bank - therefore, paying off our debt.

We owed a little over five grand to a car dealership for my car.  We sold my car to another dealership and they paid off our debt.

I'll take it where I can get it people.  Since we started this journey back in February we have not gotten different jobs, salary increases or inheirited millions of dollars.  We are human, just like you, and work hard for what we have.

I just want you all to remember that you see what we want you to see. 
I'm not going to show you my excel spreadsheet with the actual numbers of our debt on it, but I will show you how we are working on it.
I'm not going to show you how we have 8 loads of laundry on our closet floor, but I will show you my accomplished folding piles.
I'm not going to show you my dirty kitchen table, but I will show you the dinner I made on a nice, clean background.

Get it?  I just ask that you think before you speak about things a little more.

Budget Update - July

Here we are.  Another month down in our journey to being debt free - or living with less debt I should say.

July was a good month for us overall, but had some sticky situations that we had to get ourselves out of.  Let's just start with the sticky, shall we?

We started the month with a commuter car that needed $800 in repairs.  We bought this car with money from our savings account knowing that it would save us anywhere from $200-$400 per month in gas!  It was so worth it!  Well after just a few weeks of actually driving it, we discovered the repairs that needed to be done.  We made the tough decision to try and sell the car and get close to what we paid for it.  After no luck for several weeks - I hate Craigslist for this reason - we finally found a used car lot sale not too far from us that allows you to set your price, stage your car and wait for someone to call asking to buy.  They have a huge success rate and within our car being there for 3 hours, it was sold!  We didn't get the amount we paid for it, but overall we were happy with what we got after trying for several weeks.

Another rough situation was that Ronin went to the vet for his next round of shots and we ended up finding out that he has a double ear infection!  Seriously??  Caleb hasn't even gotten an ear infection yet, and 3 weeks after having Ronin he has one in both ears!?  UGH!  As soon as I heard that I could only think of dollar signs.  We, of course, would spend whatever it takes to make sure our babies, fur or human, are taken care of, but it is pricey and not what we would choose to spend our money on.  So now this prim prince has to have ear drops in both ears once a day for 10 days - and hopefully stops dunking his head in the water bucket!

So after those two bumps, we definitely had some highs this month.

We had a garage sale!  The first one we have ever had together and over a year after we moved into our home.  To say we have plenty to sell is an understatement!  We had my mom and her husband come up and help us out - doing it for the first time without my mom just wasn't an option :)  We staged everything, got the signs hung and waited for the buyers to come.  They came, did they ever!  We had people showing up before our signs even said we were starting and it was awesome.  Such a high bringing in the cash and seeing our things that we no longer need go.  We had planned on only having our sale for about 4-5 hours and one day only.  We dropped prices and were practically giving things away for a steal in order to not have to move it all back in our house.  After 4.5 hours of selling we called it a day and it was a bummer for me.  We still had a bunch of stuff left over, but I had to keep reminding myself that we did great.  We managed to sell about half of our stuff and made $140!  That is $140 more then we had when we started that Saturday morning and it means that we can have another garage sale in the future - especially considering that all of the stuff is still on tables in my garage, AH!

We sold the commuter car, as mentioned above, and decided to put that money back into our accounts rather then spending it.  We put a little chunk into our savings and put the rest into additional debt payments.

In total for our 6th month of debt eliminating we paid off $2,829.43!  I can also say, with such excitement, that we only used our credit card once and that was to buy gas the last week of July!  This is such an accomplishment for us.  It has been our goal to not use our credit card unless absolutely necessary, and this month, we absolutely accomplished that!

We have set a $20/week allowance for each of us which is working so well.  We also went through our freezers and made a list of everything we have for dinners and came up with 31 meals - that is over a month worth of dinners at home that we have already paid for that won't cost us a dime!  We are trying really hard to make our money stretch and we are slowly, but surely, getting there.

And since it has now been 6 months, let's do a big recap.

February: $5,108.00
March: $2,829.00
April: $8,672.93
May: $13,879.59
June: $3,140.00
July: $2,829.43
Total: $36,459.26

I couldn't be more proud of us.  We are making big changes in our lives and it will only benefit us in the end.  We can't wait to see what these next 6 months bring and hopefully in the end we will be so close to our ultimate goal of just having the house and two car payments.

End of July

Linking up with Karli and Amy

::ONE::  We booked a vacation and will be leaving in 10 days!  We are going to CO to see our family including our newest nephew LOGAN! :)

::TWO::  I have written and scheduled 6 posts!  6!  That has been unheard of since I've had Caleb I'm pretty sure!

::THREE::  We are at the last day of the Move Your Booty Challenge and I can say that I have completed it!!! I am so proud of myself!  Now let's hope that I'm the lucky gal who wins the moolah!!

::FOUR::  I got Caleb's party invitations in the mail last night.  I am so excited and sad all at the same time.  But like it or not he will be 1 in a little over a month and it is time to get in gear and make this party happen!  Friends, family - check your mailboxes next week for your invite!

::FIVE::  I am starting my 31 different outfits in August challenge tomorrow and I can't wait.  I am excited about these challenges.  It is a good way to keep my mind focused and it gives me an ultimate goal to go after.  Are you joining me?

31 Different Outfits Challenge

My entire life I have been guilty of having a large closet.  Large, not in the sense of having 1000 square feet of closet space, but large in the amount of clothing items I own.

Ever since I can remember, my mom and I always had two wardrobes, one for Spring/Summer and one for Fall/Winter.  Every six months it would take me way toooo long to change out my clothes and get the opposite seasons packed away.

When we bought our house I realized that our closet really was large enough that I wouldn't need to pack away clothes anymore, rather just change location in the closet.  SCORE.

So with that being said, I am going to challenge myself.  For the entire month of August, 31 days, I am going to not wear the same outfit twice, including weekends.  I have done this once before, it was actually the first month I went back to work after having Caleb.  I only stuck to different outfits during the work week and found that I was wearing the same 3 t-shirts on the weekends, so this time I am challenging myself to every day in August.

I work a desk job Monday through Friday that is business casual - less casual though.  I wear dress pants and a nice blouse/top or dress 4 days a week and on Fridays we get to wear jeans.  Some Fridays I am guilty of just wearing a boring t-shirt but I am hoping that this challenge will also help me step up my casual game as well.

I will attempt to document my outfits better so that I don't forget what I've already worn - that mommy brain is still alive and kickin y'all!  I am hoping that by the end of the first month of this challenge it will give me a better idea of what articles of clothing I definitely need to pass on to someone else.

Wish me luck in this challenge, and if you want, JOIN ME!  We can be each other's motivation and encouragement.  I am no fashionista so this shall be interesting!

4th of July 2015!

Is it officially too late to post about our 4th of July?

Well if it is, then skip over this post.

This year's Independance Day was unlike any other. It was the first year that we were parents to a human baby and it was awesome.

We started our holiday weekend off by going on Friday morning to pick up our newest family member Ronin. After that adventure I scoured Pinterest, where else, for some fun patriotic desserts that didn't require me turning on my oven. I found this one and this one.

Saturday morning we woke up and cleaned our house. We decided that instead of going to my Aunt's house, per usual, we would stay home and start our own little tradition with our little family. We bought a house in a court for a reason. Growing up I lived in a court and holidays were the best with all of the neighbors, I wanted that for my kids. We had discussed with our neighbors and agreed that we would BBQ in the driveways and enjoy fireworks together. We invited a few friends over as well and we got the party started.

I made the above forementioned desserts and one was a fantastic win and the other an epic fail.  Can you guess which one?  Well that jello flag, although seems super easy, can not be done ahead of time, which is why I failed.  I made it ahead of time and by the time that we ate dessert all of the whipped cream had "melted" and made an entire white layer on top of the red jello and those little blueberries spread out all across the pan.  The flag was no longer a flag.  Now the no bake chocolate chip dessert!  AHMAZING!  Tastes just as good as the real stuff and it doesn't have raw egg which makes it the right way you should eat cookie dough :)

We ended up having a great night with all the kids and neighbors.  I'm so glad that we chose this court that we live in.  We are so lucky that we have great neighbors that we get along with.  I can't wait to see how our future holidays go.  :)

Now a photo dump of this year and year's past.

It's Friday? Thank Goodness!

It's Friday and I couldn't tell you the last time I linked up with my favorite farming gals, Karli and Amy.

ONE: CALEB'S FIRST BIRTHDAY
I know I'm a little early, but my baby will be ONE in just a little over a month!  How is that possible?!?  **queue all of my mommy heartstrings and tears**  We will be throwing him a little shindig at our house Labor Day weekend and I have already ordered the invitations.  I am so happy that Karli decided to open her newest adventure Party Paper and will be helping us out with matching paper items for his big day.  Nothing more exciting then matching items at a birthday party!

TWO: LOGAN BRADLEY WISSINGER
We are so thrilled that our newest nephew has joined the world.  My sister-in-law and brother welcomed their newest bundle of love to the world on Tuesday morning and we are all in love.  They live in Colorado and we are hoping that we will be able to make it out there next month to meet him.  Auntie and Uncle can't wait to give him baby snuggles!

THREE: MOVE YOUR BOOTY CHALLENGE
I joined my gals Karli and Amy for the Move Your Booty Challenge which has a goal of taking 200k steps in the month of July.  I knew that my work would make that hard but that is why it is called a challenge, right?  Well I am happy to announce that with 7 days left I only have 46k left - completely doable!  Although I am not kicking ass in the step department, I will complete this challenge and it has been holding me accountable.  I have lost 1 pound since July 1st, which is awesome considering that I am doing no other exercise besides these steps.  LOL.  Thanks gals!

FOUR: GARAGE SALE
Last weekend we held our first garage sale.  I was super excited to earn some money and get rid of stuff that we never use.  The morning started out great and we were making money.  I was on a high.  As the morning continued and the sun made it warmer outside things slowed down and I lost my motivation.  Overall, it was successful and we made money that we didn't have before.  We plan on putting everything out again tomorrow and trying to get rid of the rest of it.  Whatever doesn't sell tomorrow we will try to consign on base and after that it will get donated.

FIVE:  FUTURE PLANS
Is it weird that I am excited for our family pictures in October already?  Is it odd that I am already thinking about what our Christmas cards will look like this year?  I can't help it, but I am so excited for this year of holidays.  Caleb will be old enough to really enjoy things and it just makes us so excited!

I hope you all have a great weekend.  Maybe next week I will be able to finally blog about fourth of July and what we have been up to lately. :)