Papa

This is my Papa, he is 89. Recently he was walking with his walker and his arm popped they took him in and sure enough he broke it. After taking a closer look they said he had cancer. We'll first things first they put a rod in his arm so it would heal and did a biopsy while they were In there and found it is Non Hodgkin's Lymphoma. They found it in his colon, arm, abdomen, but it is probably all over. They gave us a few treatment option but they would all be hard on him and most likely wouldn't make his life longer so we opted not to treat it. He had to be in a wheelchair for a while after surgery, but he is getting stronger and we think he will be back to using his walker soon. Which is great news! They are giving him months don't know how many. It's not good but it could always be worse.

Love you, Papa

Christmas Decorating

I am normally am very ready for Christmas and all of the decorating but last year the radio stations started playing Christmas music right after Halloween and it really messed with my brain. I wasn't ready for it to start and it made me kind of Scrooge like. We'll this year with thanksgiving being so late and the radio stations backing off until the week of thanksgiving, it helped give me the time I needed. We had thanksgiving and the long weekend so we set up the tree it was really nice. Gabe was excited to help and I think that really got me in the mood, kids can be really good spirit lifters.

The last few years we have had blue, green and purple ornaments so when I found, all of this for $10 I was really excited.

Sara Evans

Well the other day I got an offer from Patrick's grand parents to go to the Sara Evans concert. They had tickets that they weren't going to use. I called my best friend Abbi and told her she needed a babysitter. 

It's been forever since we have had a much needed girl date :) 

Raelynn Yvonne

As an only child I've always wondered if I would ever be an aunt. We'll now it has happened, thanks to my wonderful husband having 2 sisters. This is my niece Raelynn.

Isn't she so sweet.

Here are some pictures of her with her cousins.

New Beds!

The boys have all been sleeping in toddler beds which have the same mattress size as a crib. They all still fit but I think Shawn was getting close to being to big for his.

 Recently we got them all twin size mattresses but they hadn't been able to use them because their room just isn't big enough for three of them. We'll over the weekend we bought them a bunk bed and got it all put together so they can use their new beds.

Needless to say I think they really liked them.

They haven't decided who is sleeping where yet. I think they all kind of want the top bunk. As long as they don't fight they can sleep in a different bed every night if they want.

Veterans Day Parade

Now that Shawn has entered first grade he is old enough to join Cub Scouts. I am pretty sure Patrick has planned for this since Shawn was born. They were both excited to go sign up. Any way the time has come and he is officially a member.

Yesterday he did his first big thing as a scout he marched in the Veterans Day Parade.

Here comes the pack

Gabe, Wesson and I had a great time watching the parade and looking for Shawn and Patrick to march by.

Money, Planning and Financial Security

I am really happy that Dave Ramsey posts his daily tips on Facebook. Lately I feel like he has been talking right to me.

Before we got married Patrick and I took Dave Ramsey's class "Financial Peace University" (FPU)

It was great we did it together and found out a lot about each other's finances and how we handle  money. We had budgets figured out and other than his student loans we were debt free. It was awesome and I really felt like we were on the right track. I was I control and really happy.

When we got engaged and everything changed.

This is the problem, we stopped doing this. This was both of our second marriages and quite frankly we had to pay for our wedding our selves. When money started flowing from our savings into our checking to cover the thing purchased with the debit card it all went up in smoke. There was money that wasn't typically in the account being added and it wasn't going through the budget and I didn't have a wedding budget we just paid for things as they came up. Poof there went the plan.

We didn't realize this soon enough. Not to mention it got worse. When we moved into our house we took on more problems because we needed to do some updates. There were parts that we just couldn't live with. We'll bring on the credit cards. We made quite the mess.

Then the unthinkable happened Patrick was laid off and was out of a job for a month and the emergency fund was gone! Even after getting a job he was still only working part time and he wasn't making much. 

We have more payments than I know what to do with, and a household income that is not enough for the 5 of us. Ok I am to this point. I DO NOT LIKE WHERE WE ARE NOW!

Differnt choices are happening! Starting with this one!

And it reduces the amount of payments that we have juggle every month.

I won't lie I didn't pay much attention in FPU to this section because I didn't have any debt to pay off at the time. We'll I guess that's what I get, so now is the time to put the teachings into place.

I wish I could say we did this but that money went out the window with the rest of it. Patrick has a new job now and will be making more money. I really hope to get stuff paid off and have the savings resume. But I am going to listen to Dave and take it one baby step at a time.

God this is so true! I am definitely not a risk taker I want all my savings back.

I MISS MY SECURITY BLANKET!!!!

This is so important not only for your money but for your marriage. This is another reason that I am so happy about Patricks new job not because of the money but because of his hours we will both be home in the evenings and on weekends so we can have more conversations about how we are doing and what we need to change and what needs to be budgeted for.

The two of us being a united font is going to change our lives!

I am really hoping that the boys will see that we are getting out of debt and realize how important that is. I also hope that they will see us when they are older, when we are not using credit cards and that they will choose to live by our example. 

I really needed to write this post so that  I can use it to hold myself accountable for all of my decisions and get myself out of this mess.