A Big Leap

Yesterday was a big day in our family's history.  I took a big leap and quit my job.  I was scheduled to return from maternity leave in a few days but I just couldn't do it.  Once I figured out child care expenses for all three kids, add in my commuting and gas costs and it just wasn't worth it. 

I was also having a really hard time committing to putting the baby in daycare.  My other two were older when they started and I had no problems sending them.  In fact, I absolutely adore the daycare they went to and remain friends with most of their teachers.  I'm starting to wonder if it's because this is our last baby.  I'm feeling more sentimental over the little things. 

While I'm really nervous about not working - I've never not worked, I've had a job of some sort since I was 16 years old and babysat regularly before that since I was 13.  I'm super excited to be able to stay home with the baby and be there for the bigger kids after school.  I'm really letting go and putting my faith in the fact that this will all work out.

Has anyone else made this transition?  How did it work out for you?

SO Much to Do, So Little Time!

I feel like I am so behind on my Christmas shopping this year.  I still have quite a few things I need to get.  I won't be able to get away without the kids until at least the weekend.  I don't like waiting until the last minute because I really dislike crowds and parking lots around the holidays.  What a mess.

I was lucky enough to score the thing LaLa most wanted this year.  Actually, it was pretty much the only thing she wanted.  When pressed for more things, she filled the list with things like apples, apples for my doll, food for my doll... You get the point.  I'm not sure how pleasant Christmas would have been if she didn't get it.

Noodle on the other hand, changes her mind every other day on what she wants.  Luckily, the top few pretty much stay the same.  She is basically set.  I just need to pick up a few odds and ends for her.

Noodle's list was also significantly more expensive.  Please note, she did not get everything on it, not even close.  I thought we were a few years away from super expensive Christmas lists.  Boy, was I wrong!

What is on your kids' lists this year?

Wordless Wednesday: Things I Find on My Phone

Get a Melissa & Doug 25% Off Coupon When You Take the North "Poll"

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ThreeJars

I was given an opportunity to use the site ThreeJars for a while and review it.  I thought it would be a great opportunity to teach my six year old daughter, Noodle, about money.  She currently doesn’t get an allowance and probably doesn’t know a thing about money.  She knows it exists, she knows we go to work to earn it, but it really doesn’t mean anything to her.  She doesn’t even really ever see money change hands.  We usually use our debit cards to pay for everything.  I rarely carry cash.

So we sat down together one night and talked about money.  I told her that she could earn money by doing chores around the house.  I told her it’s called an allowance.  We then talked about a website we could use that would help us keep track of it.  She’s into computer games right now, so I thought that might help motivate her.

We went to www.ThreeJars.com and set up an account.  It was so easy.  I quickly set up my account, then reviewed some of the information they provide.  There are many helpful tips including what amounts may be appropriate for different ages, allocation tips, chore suggestions.  We breezed through setting up how much money she would get and which chores she would do.  Noodle seemed very excited to get started.  She even went and marked Friday as Pay Day on her calendar.

We then set up Noodle’s part of the account.  She gets her own login ID and password.  She can view how much money she has in each of her three jars – Save, Spend and Share.  She can send me messages asking to make more money by doing special projects.  I really like the fact that anytime she changes anything or makes a request I get an email either letting me know or asking me to approve it.

All in all, I think ThreeJars is a great website and a great resource for parents.  We will continue to use it.  I do think at this stage, Noodle is a little too young and we aren’t fully utilizing all the aspects and benefits of the site.  She still needs me to help her navigate the site, read a lot of the site to her and help her send messages, so I’m not sure she needs her own login at this point.  It would probably be much better for kids about 2-3 years older than Noodle.  It is nice to be able to have the conversation and lessons on money flowing when we log on together.  For that reason, I consider it a very valuable tool.

**Disclaimer:  I was provided an opportunity to use and review ThreeJars thanks to CecilyK at www.CecilyKellogg.com

Good Caramels

The kids are at an age where they just say some pretty funny things.  They give me quite a chuckle.  I love that they are trying to absorb everything and they are expanding their vocabularies.  Half the time I'm not even sure where they come up with these things.

The other night the girls were playing in one of  their bedrooms while I was folding laundry in mine.  Noodle comes into my room and says, "Hey Mommy, what do you call those candies?  You know the brown ones?"  I paused to think about it and she goes, "Oh yeah! Caramels"  (I know people pronounce that differently so I will say she said it CAR - MULS).  And then we had the following conversation:

Me:  Okay, what about them?

Noodle: I just gave some to LaLa.

Me: We don't have any candy.  What are you talking about?

Noodle: No Mommy, not candy.  You know, like when you do something nice for someone?  Then something good happens to you.  It's called caramels.  I was just sharing really nicely with LaLa.  I gave her good caramels."

I tried my hardest not to laugh as I said, "Well I hope you get lots of good caramels then.  Maybe some good karma too."

Mr. Sandman, Send Me a Dream

My daughter really needs one.  LaLa is 3 years old.  Someone please tell me why I can't get the kid to bed before 10pm.  Regardless of what time we start getting ready for bed, she doesn't fall asleep a second before 10 pm.  Often it's much later than that.  Her 5 year old sister, Noodle, goes to sleep without much problem most times before 9pm.

Last night LaLa fell asleep at 11:45PM.  This was after spending all day at school, then heading to the swim club after I finished work.  Silly me, I even put her PJs on for the ride home thinking maybe she would be so tuckered out she would fall asleep in the car.  Not a chance.

She laid in bed, she laid on the floor.  She went in her room, she came in my room.  She got a pillow to lay on the floor.  She laid on the floor singing to herself for 30 minutes.  I was totally okay with that, BTW, if it meant she was going to go to sleep, I didn't care where she did it.  She went back in the bed, back on the floor, crawled around the floor all while I tried to ignore her hoping she would tire herself out.  She finally decided to lay down and fall asleep just before midnight.

I'm tired just thinking about all that.  What time do your kids go to sleep? How do you get them into bed easily without a fuss?

Where Did The Weekend Go?

Why do the weekends fly by so quickly? We had a nice weekend, it just went too quickly.

On Friday night we took the kids to see Despicable Me.  It was a cute movie.  The kid loved the minions.  I think my favorite parts were the song in the beginning and the minion floating in space at the end.  I also had to chuckle at the Bank of Evil, formerly known as Lehman Brothers.  Noodle's favorite part was when the little girl puts a mud pie on the desk of the lady that runs the home.  I immediately thought that was something Noodle would do when I saw it.

Saturday we spent the day test driving used cars.  I couldn't believe how well behaved the kids were considering how many times we were in and out of cars, and moving booster seats and the like.  They did so well.  Of course, their favorite car was the one with the DVD player.  We hurried home and went to a birthday party after that.  It was a long but fun day.

We just hung around the house on Sunday.  We did some food shopping and light cleaning.  Just as we were getting home it started to get really dark and stormy.  The winds really picked up and there was a bunch of lightening.  I thought for sure we would be making dinner on the George Forman grill in the kitchen.  The rains cleared just in time for us to throw dinner on the grill. 

All in all, it was a pretty good weekend.

Our New Favorite Read: Mommy's High Heel Shoes

It's not often that a book catches the interest of both of my girls at the same time, unless of course they are fighting over who had it first. The other day, I received a really cute book, that they both  absoultely loved!  It's called Mommy's High Heel Shoes by Kristie Finnan.  As soon as I pulled it out of the packaging, my girls were immediately drawn to it.

The illustrations are so cute. We spent a good hour reading the book and finding the ladybugs, cupcakes and hearts that are hidden on each page. We were also excited to find a local farm featured in the book. Noodle, my older daughter, has been there a few times in the fall for pumpkin picking and was happy to tell her little sister she had been there before.

I love how this story points out all of the different shoes a mom wears, or the different jobs she has.  As a working mom, I know what it's like to wear all of those different shoes.  It's so fun to see the girls trying to walk around in my shoes and pretend to be Mommy.  We related so well to this book, it brought up lots of discussion about things we do that the family in the book also did.  It was nice to see the parts of the book that the girls got excited about and how those parts reminded them of things we did in our daily life.

Noodle, has been carrying the book around since it got here and flipping through it.  I love that she is starting to read and is taking an interest in doing it herself.  Beans would like to carry it around too, but a few too many books have met their demise in her unsupervised hands.  So instead, Beans and I sit and look for ladybugs, cupcakes and hearts together.