I have a second grader...whoa.

Slowly but surely, we are getting our school supplies ready. Jeremy and I have three concerts in August so it will be a hectic month for sure!

Macie and I went school supply shopping last week and her back pack and lunch box is in the mail, courtesy of The Gap.



I am kind of digging the fact she wanted a messenger bag. I think they are super cute! She is at that tough age where you are not sure if the style/pattern is too "little kiddy" or is it too "big kid". I just listen to what she wants and hope it works!

Finals are next week and then life will be back to normal for a little bit.

Day by day...

SwagBucks

Unless you have been living under a rock, you are familiar with SwagBucks. It is a search engine where you can win "SwagBucks" that you can redeem for prizes. You can get anything from sweep stake entries to PayPal cash. Nice, heh?

If you have yet to sign up for SwagBucks, you must do it now. I installed it as a search engine a few months ago and just redeemed my bucks for $10 in Paypal cash. I just have it in the corner of my screen so I remember to use it. The search engine is great - it comes from Google and ask.com. I have never had any problems with it.

You can also earn points by shopping, trading in phone/video games and consoles and referring friends.

Swagbucks graciously offered a code for me to share with my readers. The code expires 1 week from today.

1. Go to Swagbucks.
2. Sign up through that link. This will give you three points.
3. Enter code: ALAINASCODE (case sensitive)
4. This will give you two points.

This means you can get a total of five points in your account automatically, just for signing up! Then, just start using it as your search engine and win...simple as that. Each time you search using it, you have a chance of getting anywhere from 1 to ??? 'bucks'.

It is so easy and has great perks!

Open wide.

On Thursday, the girls (plus a friend of Macie's) made a little trip to the orthodontist.

First, I would just like to say how odd it is to me that they start ortho work so early now. I have never had braces or any work on my teeth besides what the dentist does, but looking back, both my sisters did not have braces and all that jazz until high school.

And here, Macie is going to be in the second grade.

Anyways, we show up and the place is awesome! Very kid friendly and big! Love it already. We get back to the private room and I start taking a few pictures, with you in mind.

Macie and her BF talking...

Notice how her friend is holding her hand. Just last week, her friend, who we shall call M, got an expander so she is familiar with the whole procedure. She is giving her tips and trying to calm Macie’s nerves…so sweet.

A few minutes into it, Zoa started getting restless and a bit upset.

So I opened a new app on my phone for her to play with (so cool!). About this time, the doctor came in. Little did I know, Zoa had started snapping pictures. I have deleted about 15 or so pictures but thought I would show you a few. Be prepared, these are high quality...

Peeping out the window...

The orthodontist said Macie would need a palette expander and possibly a lip bumper. We go back in a few weeks. How much fun this will be! (Hear the sarcastic tone?)

Enjoy the weekend!

"As much as I'd like to meet the tooth fairy on an evening walk,
I really don't believe it can happen."
--Chris Van Allsburg

Finer Things Friday: Our week in pictures

What's fine in my life this week?

Our new patio and fire pit...

S'mores made over the fire pit...

Snuggly toddlers...


Having a good meal from the freezer on a busy night....

What about you? Any finer things you are celebrating this week?

Works for me Wednesday: Not so sloppy Sloppy Joes (edited)

(Edited: I obviously don't enjoy it when my kids are dirty. I like them clean, but I understand kids will be kids and I am trying to let loose and let them play in dirt for a change. After I read this, I thought it sounded like I never bathe my kids so I wanted to clarify.)

Don't get me wrong...it does not bother me if my kids are dirty. I don't like them to be dirty when we go out in public, but if we are outside playing, I am all for it. Maybe not with food though...

I figured this out on a night just like that. We were all outside on the patio just hanging out. I went it to make Sloppy Joes and saw that we were out of buns. We did have hot dog buns though...good enough. I left the part of the bun that is attached together and filled up the bun.

Brilliant! Why did I not think of this before? The girls ate it like a chili topped dog - leaving it facing upwards. Voila! No mess! Plus it was easier for them to eat because it did not fall apart and go over the side. It will be our new way to eat them.

It works for me!

(Image via.)

July Check In

{Better late than never}

June has come and gone...and I survived! Jeremy was out of town a total of three weekends this month. I was out of town with him one weekend- which was so needed. I am thinking about doing a Two or Three Week No-Spending Experiment and will decide for sure once I talk to Jeremy. It's a possibility though. I'll let you know!

Here's our updated list...

1. $1,000 to start an Emergency Fund
This has always been in place...we just have to use it instead of a credit card for emergencies.
2. Pay off all debt using the Debt Snowball. Our goal is to have everything but the student loan, car and land paid off my the end of the year.

• Doctor bill - Paid off in May 2009!
  
• Doctor bill - Made large payment.
  
• Credit card - Paid off in June 2009!
  
• Credit card - Paid off in June 2009!
• Credit card - Paid off in June 2009!
• Doctor bill - Paid off in June 2009!
• Student loan
• My car
• Land

No, we did not get a large sum of money inherited to us...we switched money around and paid everything off. We are now going to re-fund the account from which that money came from. We are shooting for that to be done around income tax time/February of 2010, and what is not refunded, will be with the money from taxes. Such a relief! We don't have those little bitty bills floating around anymore.

"Get in Total Attack Mode. All you have to do is execute, execute, execute now. If your friends that are broke aren’t making fun of you, then you are not on track. If your family says, “Look, they’ve joined a cult!”
then you are right on track."
— Dave Ramsey, from his syndicated radio program

(Image via.)

Fruit is part of summer, after all.

I am over here today. :)

Empty

I try to type but the words just don't come. What is wrong?