Money lessons

Yesterday Maryn was bound and determined to go to the store with her piggy bank and buy the whole store out.  Me thinking this would be a great opportunity to teach her about coins and how much they're worth asked her to sit down with me and we would count all her money to find out how much there was.  I told her things cost money and you have to make sure that you have enough.  So she wrote on my shopping list marshmallows, gum and crush.  All the essentials for a 6 year old.  She had about 7 dollars in change so I thought I would try to teach her how pennies, nickels and quarters add up and can equal a dollar and she could exchange with me all her loose change for dollar bills so it would be easier to carry in the store!  OH BOY!!!

After the whole exercise of explaining how much each coin is worth and showing her then physically exchanging her coins for dollar bills I thought she got it.  Then a minute later as I put all her pennies in the penny jar she said give me back my coins now Mom!  Well Maryn we exchanged them you have the same amount of money that you started out with.  And the screaming match begins.  I've never seen so many cross words come from a little kid.  She was shaking with anger, lip trembling and bawling her head off screaming you stole my money you thief.  So after trying for 5 minutes to explain what had happened and me finding myself matching her yelling I told her fine I would exchange back the pennies I traded her for.  That seemed to be a simple solution when after we changed it back she demanded I give her the dollar bills too and now she was mad at me because her purse was too heavy to carry in the store.  Then the screaming match proceeded.  "GIVE ME BACK MY MONEY!!!"

I asked Maryn if she new what exchange meant and she said Yes.  I asked her to explain it to me and her reply which was very nasty toned was, "It's where people take away your money".  ARGHHHH  My only saving grace was Maryn's friends were coming over and after I told her that she stopped crying enough to listen to what I had to say.

I think after 2 pounds of tears and a hoarse voice later she finally understood what I was trying to do.  Explaining money will have to be a Daddy thing.

Who Knew after Nine Years

Who knew after nine years Matt and I would make such a great team!  I think both of us had our doubts before we married but today is our 9th anniversary...we were looking back the other day at what has transpired over the last 9 years and it has flown by!!  Almost scary how fast it has gone.  We've had our ups and downs.  I can not tell you how blessed I am to have this man in my life.  He truly completes me and has made me a better person.  He challenges me in ways that in any other way I would admit defeat and give up but he helps me to push forward.  I'm thankful that we can be ourselves in our relationship and laugh uncontrollably at funny things after this long.  One of my worries before getting married was what if I run out of things to talk about?  But with Matt even in silence I just enjoy being with him.  He is a great husband and even a more amazing Daddy to our 3 "active" kids.  I don't think they know how lucky they are to have a Daddy that cares so much for them.

So, a little story you may or may not have heard from me.  This story dates back all the way to our first official date.  We had been talking at a get together and he had mentioned how he had never been to the ocean and would like to go.   So, me being me invited myself along with him and little did I know that was his plan from the start.  Never to really ask a girl out but let them do it for him.  First part of the date he changed my brakes then we were off to the ocean.  We had a lot of time to talk on the way there and I could tell that he was different and very reserved...at first...not very forth coming about specific details just kind of playing it cool.  It was SOOO hard to read him.  When we got to the ocean we walked around for a bit and on the beach we were rescuing crabs from the seagulls trying to throw them back into the water before they became lunch.  When we were walking down the beach I noticed a coin on the sand and quickly picked it up and said, "look a quarter" then a few steps down the beach I found another one and this time I picked it up and squealed, "Oooooo, a Canadian quarter...I wonder where all these came from".  And Matt replied, "Maybe they washed up from Canada" and me being a dork was like, "Oh that's so cool let's go find more".  So I was searching all over the beach and the next time I turned around to say something to Matt and noticed he was flicking Canadian currency in front of me while I was walking and I had no clue and he was laughing so hard!  I felt like such an idiot.  And that was our first date.

I'm thankful I didn't scare him off from my ditsy behavior and that he got to know me for me.  I look forward to many more years of fun and laughter.

  This picture was taken on our honeymoon!

Patches

If you have children then you suffer from the same problem I have of holes in almost every pair of jeans.  I was getting so frustrated because I think we have bought no less than 10 pairs of jeans since the beginning of the school year.  I know there are places that you buy certain pairs of jeans and they'll replace them the only problem is my daughter is a bean pole and we have to get her a certain type of jean.

I was just going to make cut offs out of them when my husband suggested I try something else.  He gave me the idea and I ran with it putting my own spin on it.  And the cool thing is it didn't cost me anything out of pocket.  Granted they are not perfect and she won't be wearing them in public but these will officially be her play pants.  I ended up making my own patches with left over material I had and I used other scraps of her old jeans also.  This was the end product.  I don't think they look that bad and Maryn loves them.  Like I said FAR from perfect but they'll do in a pinch and save me spending money until the warmer weather comes.  At least her little knees will be protected when she's playing outside.  On the circle patch I had originally sewn on a button and after thinking about it that wasn't the smartest thing so I took it off.  Don't need an imprint of a button on her knee when she falls.

A few quiet moments and time to jot down some thoughts

I have a few spare moments and noticed I hadn't written for a while.  Things have been extremely busy around here and that's how I like it.  It's nice to be needed.  It's nice to have things to do and places to go.  It's nice to have amazing friends to shoot the breeze with and be yourself.  It's nice to have work to accomplish and on occasion see the finish product of your work.  Things are good!

I have been very humbled at how blessed I have been.  I always worry when things are going well in my life I expect it to be taken away because sometimes I think it's too good to be true to be happy.  For some reason, I'm not going to worry about it this time around.  If the bad comes let it come it won't change how I feel about the people I love.  I have been amazed by how cool my children are.  Not by our doing...they are just amazing little individuals and they make me happy.  And I'm very grateful for such an amazing husband.  He has been working so hard for our family so I can stay home with our children.  My heart broke for this sister in our ward.  She just had her third baby and her work asked her to come back early to work.  Her kids were torn up that she had to go back.  She made the comment how she wish it was back in the day when the women stayed home and cared for their children, kept house and the husband could support them on one income.  She said that's just impossible now.  I stood there not knowing how to reply and felt guilty because I have been so blessed to stay home with my children since day one.  At first I didn't understand what a blessing this one but now I try to make everyday count.  While in the meantime making our home a place where the kids want to be.

This weekend the girls and I had an opportunity to play outside and get some yard work done while Daddy studied for an upcoming test.  I work/played stopping every so often to help them gather their little buddies(worms) and relocate them to safer living quarters in the garden area then push them on the swing.  I'm so excited for Spring to be officially here and be able to work in the yard to make it our little oasis.  This time last year I was too pregnant to get the energy to work outside and the poor yard was neglected big time.  I realized I like to help make things beautiful.  It just takes a little time and hard work sometimes.  Isn't that how it is with life?  Sometimes it just takes a little or a lot of time and hard work and the end product will be so beautiful!

I hope everyone has a great week!  Here are some random pictures over the last month.  Enjoy!

 Maryn named this piece of work Dottie..notice May Bear lost another tooth!

 The Lego Head Family

 Notice Mason's first bruiser on his forehead

 Kiss me hot lips

 Mason loving on Grandma

 Macey fell asleep while reading her Elmo book

Need I say anything?  We had a little too much fun during lunchtime at Mason's expense.  You can tell how happy is about it.

Dinner Conversation

We were sitting down for dinner and believe it or not there was a quiet moment then out of nowhere...

Maryn said:  I watched myself being made while I was in heaven.

Daddy's reaction:  (choking on food)

Mommy's reaction:  Huh?!?  (Didn't think I heard her right)

Maryn's response:  Yeah, I watched the whole thing!

Mommy's reaction:  (Hiding my face trying to hold back laughter)

Daddy's reaction:  I sure hope not!! (Also, holding back laughter)

For all you Sleep Deprived Mom's

ENJOY!