My Sammy

He is amazing - always has been - and today he is 6 years old.


I want to clarify here, that it's not just me. EVERYONE who knows him, even for just a few minutes, recognizes his own brand of genius. He is smart - much smarter than he needs to be at this age - and extremely sensitive, too. That's quite a combination in a little boy!


One of my favorite pictures of Sammy, during the monsoon of April 2010.





He is so caring and gentle with babies. When William was born and Sammy was almost 3, I was so worried he would be jealous of the new baby. But instead, he immediately took on the role of big brother and both William and Luke just adore him.

I remember holding Owen as a baby when I was newly pregnant with Sammy, hoping and praying I would have another boy so that they could grow up together as best friends. Well...

Owen and Sammy are 19 months apart in age.

Right after people comment on how intelligent Sammy is, they turn right to his sense of humor. His teacher says that she gets it, but the things he says usually go right over the other kids' heads. Chris and I just think he's hysterical.

It's been difficult for me to let him go out into the world because he's like an amazing jewel I just want to keep to myself for a while longer, before having to share him with others. He is doing so well in kindergarten this year, both socially and academically, and has a few girls after him. When I visit the classroom, they come up and ask me when Sammy can come to their houses to play. Note who he is surrounded by in the below picture of his class...(he's second in from the right, in case you can't spot the red hair.)

Sammy - you are such an incredible, special person and I love you more than you will ever know. Happy 6th Birthday to you!

I want to pull the stars down from the sky
I want to live a day that never dies
I want to change the world - only for you
All the impossible, I want to do.

And every time you touch me, I become a hero
I'll make you safe no matter where you are
And bring you everything you ask for, nothing is above me
I'm shining like a candle in the dark when you tell me that you love me.

104

Today would have been my maternal grandmother's 104th birthday. We buried her the day before what would have been her 97th on February 4, 2004. Owen was just a baby then and she'd been in a nursing home for several months. One of the greatest regrets of my life is that by the time she passed, it had been almost a month since I'd last gone to see her.

I didn't like that nursing home. I guess it was ok, as far as nursing homes go, but it wasn't exactly a place I wanted to hang out. I went there a few times while I was on maternity leave when Owen was a tiny baby. The women there would practically mob me as I walked in. They all longed to touch this brand new life, perhaps hoping a bit of his newness would rub off on them. One woman I'd never seen before pleaded with me to hold him - what could I say? I put my 2 month old baby in her lap and I've never before or since seen such gratitude on someone's face. In that moment, I prayed that one day when I am old a young mother will see fit to allow me to hold her infant, too. I'll breathe in and the smell of that newborn will transport me back in time. Yeah, that will be nice.

The last time I went to see my grandma was on New Year's Eve 2003. Chris and I walked down the hall towards her room and laughed at how every single room had "Wheel of Fortune" on. The synchronization of the bells and the wheel spinning was just hilarious to us! She was there in her little room and excited to see us, as always. My mom had put up a picture of Owen in his Christmas outfit on her wall. She was really confused and kept calling him "Omar" and referring to him as a "she." I think we only stayed for about 1/2 hour and then said our goodbyes, never imagining it would be our last.

A few weeks later my mom called me very early one Saturday morning to tell me Nana had died. My initial reaction was a tremendous amount of sadness for my mom because they had always been so close. But as time goes on, I am more sad for me and the rest of the people she knew because she really did leave her mark on all of us. She was truly a "character" - not one easily defined, but definitely an unforgettable one. I miss her and always will.

Frugal Challenge - Keeping It Real

Ok, so we aren't even through the first month of our Frugal Challenge 2011 and I wanted to get a progress check yesterday. I believe I stated earlier that I'm now recording every single penny we spend in my new phone with the app "Daily Expense Tracker." Chris gives me receipts for everything he spends, too, so this should be an accurate accounting.

I went to my phone yesterday and added up every single thing that wasn't a "necessary" expense. Gas, bill payments and groceries were all necessary, of course, but some of the things that weren't were eating out a couple times, a babysitter so Chris and I could go out to dinner by ourselves, new pants for Owen (killer sale - less than $7!), having my friend color my hair, etc. I truly felt like I had been watching EVERY. SINGLE. PENNY. and if you would have asked me to guess how much the non-neccessities added up to, I would have said around $100.

It was closer to $300.

O.M.G.!!!! How the heck did we spend almost $100 a week (on average) on things that ARE NOT essential to life??? This is not even taking into account the fact that we in no way plan meals, clip coupons, etc to save on our grocery bills! Seriously, the act of recording every purchase has been a TREMENDOUS eye opener for both of us and will hopefully lead to us being a lot more aware of where our money goes.

I highly recommend this exercise for everyone, but beware: you may hate yourself in the morning!

Life with Just Two

Nothing new to post, really. It's the long cold winter up here in Wisconsin where we just hole-up and watch TV (well, mostly football - GO PACK GO!). Oh, and I've been watching the new American Idol and am becoming a bit of a J. Lo fan. She just seems so nice, doesn't she? I watch The Bachelor, too, but mostly for the laughs. I'm REALLY excited to watch the new Survivor that starts next month. I'm a HUGE fan of Boston Rob so will be rooting for him all the way against the EVIL Russell.

Anyway, we pulled all our old pictures off the laptop and loaded them onto the new computer and I came across lots of fun pictures from when we only had Owen and Sammy. They were so cute (and so chubby looking!) and I was fondly recalling the relative peace and quiet of a house with just two boys. Enjoy!
Owen and Sammy are 19 months apart. They've been best buds from the start. The above picture was taken right around Sammy's first birthday.

This one is from our first Christmas in WI, so Sammy was around 18 mos old and Owen was 3.5.

Our first summer in the new house. Owen turned 4 and Sammy was 2.5

Our first Halloween in WI. I love how Sammy was "double-fisted" with his candy.

Their hair looks ATROCIOUS! This was back when we used to pay for their haircuts so it got really long in between. Thankfully, Chris cuts their hair now. We'd go broke, otherwise!

I saw that Daylight Savings Time starts around March 12 this year, which means spring will be here before we know it! What about spring do you look forward to the most? For me, I just love to open the windows in the house and smell the fresh air. I am also REALLY looking forward to cleaning out the GARAGE! What a MESS!

Christmas Pictures - REALLY late, sorry!

My mom just reminded me recently that I hadn't put up a single picture of Christmas on my blog and I had forgotten all about it, actually. Christmas already seems so long ago! At any rate, I like to do what my mom tells me to do (only since I reached adulthood, mind you) so here are some pictures from Christmas of 2010...

Luke got some new pj's from his Nana and Pa. Cute, huh? You can see William in the background of the 2nd picture with his new Batman pj's and a Captain America mask from one of his new costumes. Nana snatched up a few for the little boys on clearance after Halloween and they were thrilled, as playing dress-up NEVER gets old around here.

Nana and Pa arrived on the evening of Dec 25 and since Chris worked all that day, we celebrated our Christmas morning on the 26th.

Ah, the chaos! The boys love Imaginext stuff and this castle was a favorite. All four of the boys play so nicely with this and the Batcave they got last Christmas.

The "Air Jams" guitars were a big hit with the 3 older boys. Luke grabs them whenever he gets the chance.

Chris and I got new phones with all the bells and whistles, so we've been trying to train ourselves to take more pictures and videos with those. Work has been insanely busy, so I haven't had much time to blog about anything. Hopefully that will change soon and I can post something more current.

Sorry to both my followers (ha ha!) for being so late with this one. Back soon?

2011: The Year of Frugality

My own personal idol is Heather at Wanting What You Have. She's a stay-at-home mom to 3 kids and she and her husband achieved total debt freedom (even their mortgage!) about 3 years ago. This past year, she racked up a huge hospital bill from having her 25 lb baby (ok, slight exaggeration there, but he was over 12 lbs for sure) and has already paid it off. Not only is she my idol for her frugality, but also her organizational skills. I aspire to be more like her and someday, somehow get this house in order! I know keeping it in order is another story, but if I could at least go into my spice cabinet and not find AA batteries.....ah, to dream of such a world!



Anyhoo, Chris and I are going to take part in our own Frugal Challenge in 2011. He is naturally a pretty frugal person, with his only real weakness being fast food since it's so much easier to feed the kids in the drive thru. I, on the other hand, have many weaknesses. Just yesterday I bought myself a really cute turtleneck. I didn't need another turtleneck, but it was only $4.80! How could I resist?



So here are the ground rules for this challenge:



1. Necessities have already been agreed upon. For instance, I was able to clear my face moisturizer as a necessity, but the one I have that's also a self-tanner is NOT. Most personal hygiene items will be considered necessities but I was unable to talk him into allowing make-up and nail polish.

2. At the other's request, any receipt has to be presented. So if Chris goes grocery shopping, I might ask him for the receipt and check to see if there's gum on it (another one of his weaknesses). If there is, the amount for whatever non-necessity he purchased will be subtracted from his monthly allowance.

3. We are each going to have a $20 per month allowance to spend as we wish. We will not be questioned on how we spend this allowance.

4. Any purchases made that are non-necessities for the family (i.e. the occasional pizza) need to be agreed upon by BOTH parties.

5. Although we want this to go through 2011, we will have a 6 month check at the end of June. At that time, whoever has saved the most of their $120 allowance money (6 months x $20) wins the other person's savings. (So I guess if I get to the end of June and feel like I might lose, I will hurry up and blow the rest of my allowance, right? ha ha!)



Of course we expect to save alot more than just the allowance money, as this will cut out all unnecessary spending from our regular income as well. Anyone who knows Chris will think he has the upper hand in this challenge, but anyone who knows ME knows how competitive I am. So I think it's a toss-up on how this is going to transpire. I'll keep you posted! Wish me luck!



(Until midnight on Friday, I'm free to spend at will but darn it! I'm out of money because of Christmas! BALLS!)

Looking forward to 2011

Yes, I know I should be focusing on Christmas which is just a few days away, but as usual at this time I begin to get very anxious about the new year approaching. Many people dread making New Year's Resolutions because they feel like they never keep them, but I do enjoy the challenge of making them and TRYING to keep them, at least until the end of January.

I have quite a few resolutions for this year and many, many things to look forward to. I'm more excited about this upcoming year than I've been in a loooong time and I hope to bring all my dreams to life very soon! In the meantime, I've definitely been staying busy at home with the boys. They are practically bouncing off the walls these days and I can't say I blame them - this Christmas is going to be FANTASTIC for them, esp with the *surprise* visit from their Nana and Pa from Michigan. (SSSSHHHHH! They have NO idea!)

Chris is working all day on Christmas and I'm taking the boys out caroling in the neighborhood. What a fun tradition to start, don't ya think? We're having our Christmas on Sunday, so I'll be sure to get some pictures posted then.

Merry Christmas to all!