YAY! Real Food!

Samuel had his first bowl of Cheerios today! Boy did he love it. I just made a small bowl for him using cold formula. I'm trying to get him accustomed to it being cold since he starts on Milk soon. We are on our last container of formula and thats it! I'm not buying anymore!

Financial Health Check Up!

Here are some links that have been very helpful to us! And some of the Dave Ramsey info as well.



First off every month should have a budget. Make budget planning a snap with this Microsoft Excel monthly budget sheet. Enter your planned and actual expenses and it will automatically calculate how well you're doing. From MomAdvice.com

Everyone should own the Dave Ramsey book "The Total Money Makeover, Revised and Updated", it has fantastic information and it very encouraging. Whenever you feel discouraged just pick up his book and read stories from real people who have overcome financial hardships. This would also be a great read for a young adult.

Here are the Baby Steps:

1. $1,000 to start an Emergency Fund: Any extra money goes to pay off Debts. For emergencies that cannot wait and to be payed back as you use it.

2. Pay off all debt using the Debt Snowball: Pay smallest debt to larger Here is the link for the Debt Snowball

3. 3 to 6 months of expenses in savings: Just encase someone looses a job or a big emergency comes up. Pay it back as you use it.

4. Invest 15% of household income into Roth IRAs and pre-tax retirement

5. College funding for children / Retirement: Here is a good Retirement Calculator

6. Pay off home early. Here is the Mortgage Calculator to pay off your house earlier.

7. Build wealth and give! Invest in mutual funds and real estate.

Also a great website is RefundPlease There are a number of online retailers that offer to credit buyers back cash on past purchases. For instance, if the product you purchased at Amazon.com within the last 30 days has dropped in price they will credit you back the difference.

A good financial website it Kiplingers


Ok one more thing to add! Here is a good Retirement Calculator

Have fun playing around with things!

Wipe Cases

Here is another easy gift! Many people sell these so you really cannot find directions on how to make them, but I'll tell ya how I made mine!

You will need:
1-small wipe container (I used Huggies)
Some batting
Fabric
Ribbon if you want a bow on top
Rick rak type of material for the sides
Hot glue gun

Directions:
Cut the batting to fit in the top and bottom of the wipe container. You will cover the opening in the top. Hot glue them on. Cut the fabric to over-lap slightly on the sides. You are going to hot glue the fabric around the sides of the container, making sure you do not glue the container shut. Cover the top and bottom. At this time if you want a bow on the top glue a piece of ribbon on the top from side to side like in the pictures (just on the top). Then take the rick rak material and glue along the sides. It took me a bit of playing around with, the first one I made. Thats it your done!

Blanket

Ok this one is SUPER easy! I made the blanket with Fire Dogs for a friend's son when she adopted him and the striped one for my daughter. These blankets are soft and extremely warm. People in my house fight over them in the winter. They also make great gifts. Here is how I did it:

1 yard of 2 different print fleece
2. Cut a 4x4" square (or 5x5" square for a longer fringe) out of each corner (through both layers of fleece.
3. Depending on the size square you cut out is the size fringe you will make. So cut either 4-5" along each side of the fleeces (make sure you cut them together).
4. Tie the pieces together one top and one bottom that are together. I like to Double knot them and have the opposite fabric on each side like in the pictures.

Thats it! Its also a great project for school aged children.

Wedding Bells

So after being married for almost 3 years, I finally made my wedding shadowbox. I really love just looking at it and thinking of the day our two lives became one. It has been a wonderful journey with an amazing man. I truly thank God for putting us together, we are much better people together.

Pooh Diaper Wreath

Here is the diaper wreath that I made for my husband's cousin's baby shower. The theme is Pink Classic Pooh. I thought it came out really cute. I had size 1 diapers but they where too stiff, so I grabbed the boys size 3 diapers. Other people that I have made them for didn't want too take them apart for a while so it might be better off using larger diapers so when they are ready to disassemble it they will still be able to use the diapers. The only thing I was not happy with was getting the foam ring! Only Michael's carries them and they have gone up to about $6 each. If you know of any where to get cheaper ones please let me know. I am also interested in buying them in bulk since this is a gift that I make for all of the baby showers that I attend.

Woodstock Fair 2008

On Labor Day we went to the Woodstock Fair in CT. We had a lot of fun and ate a ton of great food. I usually am not a fan of fair food, but really it wasn't your typical spread. Greg had an amazing roast beef sandwich. They even cooked the beef on spits right there. Very cool!

Jake got kicked off the turtles.

Jacob went on his first carnival rides and was kicked off for standing up.

So Greg went on the Crazy Bus with him.

Here is a picture of all the kids in front of the sand sculpture.