May 2013

This month has been quite busy. There have been some big decisions made in our household, which, in turn come some lifestyle changes. For the past couple of months we have been looking at a house of some friends that wanted to sort of do a "trade" of our homes. The house was great, the location great, it was big enough to fit all of us plus some, but in the end it just wasn't right right thing for us to do right now. We also decided to start the Total Money Makeover (by Dave Ramsey). This has been the BIG lifestyle change for us. We are saving, saving, saving because we are sick and tired of living paycheck to paycheck. So now we are scrimping and saving to pay off the small amount of debt we have so we can do fun things with our kids and not worry about it and save for retirement so we don't have to worry about that later. We are really excited about it and it is going well so far, now the test is to stick to our guns and not spend anywhere that we don't absolutely have to. If you want to hear more about the Total Money Makeover, feel free to ask. I would HIGHLY recommend this method for anyone and everyone that has to deal with money in any way, shape, or form at any point in time in their life. **OK, I am done with my little rant now :-)**

At the beginning of this month we had a wedding to go to in Arkansas. Brevin's sister got married so we went down the day before for a family BBQ and then the day of the wedding for the ceremony and reception. It was a beautiful little house and such a nice day. Darcie, Addi, and Reagan all looked beautiful in their dresses.  Congratulations again Darcie and John :-)

 

 

 

 

 

The last couple weeks of school for Aspen were a lot of fun! They had a spirit week where she got to wear camo one day, jean shorts day one day, and crazy hair day one day (I can't remember the rest of the days).

 

 

I also got to go to her school one day for a field day and then again on the last day of school to watch her teacher pass out her "Rock Awards".

 

 

 

 

 

Each child got an award and a "golden rock" that she got out of her yard. Aspen got "Most Dependable".

 

 

Also this month, there was another kind of field day at Aspen's school. We can't remember what it was called, but it was after school and the whole family got to go and play on some bouncy house things and play games and win all sorts of prizes. There was all kinds of food and so much stuff to do! The girls had a blast, but for some reason the only thing I thought to take pictures of was Aspen on the bungee bounce thing. She just laughed and laughed so hard at herself because she couldn't reach as far as she thought she would be able to. She had a blast doing that. Hadley's only interest was joining in with the 5th grader's tug of war. The people in charge were afraid she was going to get hurt, but I let her join in anyway. She had fun, but was mad that the girls didn't win. Both girls did the cake walk and played all sorts of other games and came home with all kinds of candy and prizes.

 

 

 

Aspen was happy for school to be over so she could have a break, but she was definitely sad to be leaving Mrs. Davis and her friends. She sure loved Mrs. Davis! She is even writing her letters this summer (she moved to Maine right after school let out).

 

 

 

 

 

 

Since school has been out, Aspen started T-ball and Brevin started softball again so our schedules are crazy again. We do a lot of running around, but the kids love it. Aspen is quite the little ball player. She gets better and better every year. I think next yeasr we are going to sign her up with the Carthage Y for T-ball so that Brevin's friend from work, Lee, can be her coach. They play a little different in Carthage and we think Aspen will benefit from that program more. They actually teach them how to play the game right, not just hit the ball and run to first base and wait for us to tell you what to do next.

 

 

 

Hadley really likes going to Aspen's T-ball games because there is a fun little playground at the field and LOTS of kids to play with. She has a lot of fun.

 

 

Chett is getting big, big, big. I can't believe he is 11 months old already!! He is crawling all over the place and pulling himself up to things. Hopefully he starts walking soon now. He is so much fun to play with. He giggles and squeals and just gets giddy when you play with him. We love it!

 

 

 

 

This is my rose bush on steroids in my front yard. I can't believe how many blossoms it has on it this year!!

 

We have been going on a lot of bike rides lately. Chett usually ends up falling asleep along the way.

While Brevin had some meetings to go to one night, the kids and I loaded up and rode to Sonic to play on the playground for a little bit. The kids are just LOVING our bike rides lately. 

 

When Grandma Johnson was packing up to move to Wyoming, this mask was found somewhere in the process and it ended up at out house. We thought it would scare the daylights out of Chett, but he just laughs his butt off at it. I think it looks pretty silly too, especially on little miss Hadley.