Toddler Talk- We're Ready

We didn't do anything extraordinary this week. We are on a new schedule to help me keep up with our busy life. Because I didn't want to stray to much from the schedule yet, we laid low. We stayed around the house. Cleaning and playing and working and paying some more. I really enjoyed the quiet time with the kids. I feel like, sometimes, that is when the best memories are made. When you are just in the quiet of your home, simply living life.

We often get so caught up in the world around us that we forget to just enjoy our own little world. So this past week, we did just that.

On Saturday, we had some friends over. They have a little guy. He is a complete an utter joy. I feel in love with him instantly of course. I knew I would. It was my toddlers who I was worried about. I wasn't sold that Talon would like a baby around. Someone interfering with his mommy obsession. Which made me worry about when it is time to bring in our first foster baby.

But then, in walked Fenix. Well, he was carried in but you catch my drift. As soon as that baby entered the room, my love at first sight moment was stolen...by Talon. The kids adored him. They couldn't get enough.

Can you blame them? Look at that face, those chubs. He is adorable and happy and sweet. The little guy was confirmation that the kids are in fact ready for a baby in our home. YAY!

I love how God uses ordinary experiences, like hanging out with our friends, to show us sure signs of the plans that He has for our lives.

Let the construction begin...Again.

About 4 years ago we moved into our home. We purchase a dump of a manufactured home aka Mobile home. People who have been to my home get upset when I tease about  the mobile home we live in because it really is gorgeous. But all joking aside, we purchased a dump. We knew we did. We had a very small dollar amount to work with but knew we wanted to own something. We had been burned so many times renting that we were fed up.

So we found this place. A very nice mobile home park. A park that only recently became open to anyone. It used to be a senior only park. We loved that. It meant a quiet neighborhood with friendly neighbors. We looked through the park. Found some beautiful homes. All out of our price range. And then we found this one. It was not beautiful. Not at all. Upon finding this place, my hubby and his parents (who were looking with us) saw it and were ready to run. I saw potential.

Although I didn't want to buy a mobile home, which is a whole other story, I figured, if we were going to go for it, we could make this place work. Between my hubby who is an amazing handy man, as well as, my dad and brother who do it for a living, I just knew we could make it work. We brought my dad to take a look, assess it and see if it was doable on our humble budget. He too was shocked that his daughter would even consider this place but he thought we could make it happen with LOTS of work. Inside and out!

Did we really buy this place?

We purchased out home in December of 2007 and our journey began. We had to redo the whole home. Replace floors, everything in the bathrooms, windows, paint, cabinets, anything and everything. Looking around, the only things that remains is the walls, fireplace and one unused bathtub. The transformation is ridiculous. Seriously mind blowing. Look. I think I may have been crazy.

BEFORE

Livingroom

Kitchen and Dining Room

Bathrooms

AFTER

Kitchen and Bedrooms

Formal Living Room and Family Room

When we bought this home, we had only been married a couple of years. We had no kids. (We found out shortly after buying that I was pregnant with Rhi). We were a family of two with plans of selling the home 5 years after buying, to make a small profit, a down payment for our first house.

Today, we have two toddlers. We are about to begin our adventure with foster care to adopt. Our family is growing. Our lives are changing. Although we still plan to make a small profit on it eventually, we don't see ourselves moving too soon. So, it is time to take this ol' place on another journey with us. I am so excited for the new transformation.

Stressed, nervous but SO excited. I cannot wait to share all the changes with you. I think that is why I wanted to share the originals with you. To give you the background. I mean I can't show you where we are going without showing you where we came from right?

Sooo... I hope you will follow along with us as we change our home and everything that happens in it!

Toddler Talk on Financial Peace Junior

This week we began Financial Peace Junior with our oldest (3 y/o). Financial Peace Junior is a set of tools and resources designed to help parents teach their kids how to manage their money. Kids have a commission chart to keep track of their chores, how much each of those chores are worth and how much commission they will be receiving daily and weekly.

Once you pay your little one, there are three envelopes that they separate there money into. Give, Save and Spend. We are using the give for Rhiannon's tithe, it can also be used for charity. As for her save, she hasn't decided what she wants to save up for. I am thinking a trip to Target to pick something is in order.

As for how this is all working. Let me just start by saying, I was a little bit worried that Rhiannon wouldn't grasp it. She is only 3. How would she comprehend any of it?

She shocked me. We set up a list of chores and she has been rocking it. She will finish one task and ask what's next. She has lots of little jobs around here and only wants more.

When she is paid, she instantly asks "How much for God?". We are so excited for her. It makes me a little sad how grown up she is but this is a huge step in getting our little one to help, all while she learns proper money management that we all need.

Steven and I are currently going through the debt snowball plan. It is amazing how easy it is to reach goals when you take time to plan things out and stick to it. We have paid off so much debt and are so close to being debt free. Doing it all on a very tight budget. Before starting the snowball plan and working out a strict budget, we were hardly paying our bills, putting excess on credit cards and struggling. With the same (even slightly less) income, by simply managing a cash budget we are not only paying our bills but almost out of debt.

Why do I mention any of this in a toddler talk post, a post about Rhi's money management? A couple of reasons.

1. If we were taught to properly manage our money at a young age, we would not need to go through any of this. Our generation is so dependent on "credit". We do not realize that credit is a friendly word for debt. We want to train our children up, knowing that acquiring debt is dangerous. 
2. What we teach our kids about money means nothing if we cannot manage our own. If we gave the kids all of the resources that Dave Ramsey and Financial Peace Junior offer but did not stay out of debt ourselves, what would we really be teaching them. Our children learn directly from our actions and how we live our lives. Us being debt free and managing our money well is detrimental in teaching our kids to be debt free.

I am bias to Dave Ramsey and all that he offers on his site/radio show because I know that it is what worked for us. Whether your follow our lead or go another direction I would highly recommend that you start your children up on a money management plan as early as possible.

For more info on the Debt Snowball plan, Financial Peace and/or Financial Peace Junior go visit Dave Ramsey's website.

What are you and your toddlers up to this week?

Toddler Talk Tuesday

Wow! It feels like forever since I have done a Toddler Talk post. I missed sharing fun little things going on over here with my two toddlers. Can I tell you though that it was really nice to take a break from lots of things and just enjoy my kids. My family.

It was fun. We did so much together. It is always nice to have the husband home. Not only is he a great second pair of hands. I mean the decrease in changing of poopie diapers is phenomenal. But more than just cutting my work load in half, it is so fun to just enjoy our little family.

So there is my tangent on what a joy it was to have daddy home. Now for the post. Instead of telling you all about our Christmas, I thought I would let you see the thrill in the little faces. So sweet.

A look back

Hello 2012! You have come so quickly. The past year has flown by so quickly. Before I let go of it completely, how about a look back at last year. As much as I would love to list off or do a timeline of all that happened, I just can't put it all into words. So how about we just look back at our top 10 posts here in 2011? All the good stuff is in there, right?

10. Our Love Story , Aww I like this post. I like my husband. He ever shared his side of the story. SO sweet!

9. WIWW- Anniversary , Check out this dress. One of my favorite outfits, ever, not just in 2011.

8. WIWW- Week 1 , Umm, look at how much my outfit posts have improved since week one. It pays to have a photographer in the house. Why didn't I use him here?

7. My Story- Loss , Hardest post I've ever written. I have been overwhelmed by all of your support.

6. The Threadery Announcement , This was fun. Period.

5. What I Wore Wednesday- Blog Sugar , Another, WIWW post. You guys are really into these. Maybe I should be more consistent. Maybe that should be a New Years Resolution haha

4. Introducing- The Threadery , Again, overwhelmed by support of our readers, friends and family. This event was not just successful on the blog but in real life too. THANK YOU!

3. Do you "like" me? ...Kinda excited that this is also my most recent post and it made it to the top 3 woo hoo! We are growing!

2. Dress Line, I think the common theme of this year is support. This dress line was just a little idea in the back of my head at the beginning of the year. It took a while but it became reality. When it did, you all blew me away with your sharing, talking about and purchasing of these dresses. Thank you once again!

1. More Than Just an Outfit Post , Go read this post now. It is no surprise to me that it is number 1. It shares about an amazing friend, an awesome piece of jewelry and a huge step in healing for me. 

Just for fun, hubby said I should include my #1 least viewed post. I was kinda sad when I saw what it was though. I thought it would be something like this Toddler Talk Fail. A couple of words to say I failed but giving access to the link. But no, that post had 10 more hits than this one: HE is Moving , I L-O-V-E this post. I am shocked it had the least views on the blog the entire year. So, I am going to pretend you all just missed it. Go show it some love now, k? Thanks!

Now that we are done looking back on 2011, I am ready to jump into 2012.