Rites of Passage

Moms, do you ever have those experiences with your kids that you think while it happens that it is a rite of passage to being a parent?

 

For example, I remember the first time Brady looked me out of the house and I didn’t have keys. I felt like I was actually becoming a mom. Or when Reese peed, pooped and spit up on the floor all at once. Well today I had another one of those experiences. One of those experiences I have been waiting to happen. Knowing it would happen sometime in my parenting, but waiting for that time…

 

Brady decided to use her real scissors on her hair and Reese’s hair… (well I don’t know if Reese did cutting, they aren’t talking about it)

 

Reese is now sporting bangs that are one inch long thanks to her sister. Brady somehow gave herself bangs that are a good length (she used to not have any). Also Brady has some random chunks missing throughout her hair. Brady’s hair disguises her new do, Reese however has no hope on hiding this new look.

I brought them to Fantastic Sam’s. They washed their hair for a haircut for the first time.

 

Oh boy, the joys of motherhood! What are some other things you consider a ‘rite of passage’?

Baby Tay

So we recently canceled our home phone service. Today I took the corded phone down and gave it to the girls to use as a toy. This is the first thing I saw… (THESE ARE CAPTURED MOMENTS NOT POSED!!!!)

 

Then when I went to brush my teeth, do my makeup and hair, etc. Brady did this…

 

Well, she was very proud of herself for coming up with this. She then started singing  the words to Taylor Swift’s “Our Song”

 

Watch the video: http://youtu.be/Jb2stN7kH28 and you will laugh!

Summer is Over…Let the Fun Begin!

The girls started ballet classes today and start preschool next week. Both of these are new to Reese, and it is the second year for Brady. Here are pictures from their first day of ballet. We changed studios… Bare with me because there are a lot of pictures I like.

 

This one below might be my favorite

 

She jumped out of the frame!

 

Reese loves her ballet ‘purse’

This is the dance studio’s owner daughter. The owner is both the girls’ teacher.

They give the kids candy after class! YIKES!

This is Brady sitting next to one of her best friend’s and next door neighbor.

Wordless Wednesday: Brady vs. Fresh Cherries…Brady 0 Cherry 1

30 is 30

Well, I got asked a lot what I thought about turning 30. Here was my general response…

 

I am EXACTLY where I want to be in my life. I am married to a great man, have two lovely kids, as a stay at home mom, in a very nice house, with wonderful friends near and far. How can it get any better than that. To me age is a number, life is what you make of it! So, I am very indifferent about turning 30.

 

If you would have asked me ten years ago where I wanted to be in my life at 30, I will tell you I am living that dream now.

 

 

I will tell you though, I got this haircut two weeks ago and when I saw there pictures of me on my birthday I got it cut again… now it is up to my ears…hahaha so that is the change I made for me at 30!

Brady’s First (of many) Plays

She was suppose to say one line at the end, but I think she forgot to say it. When she dumped out the 190 pizzas she was suppose to say, “Here’s your pizzas!”

Thank You, Mom!

 

Thank you mom for…

• carrying me around in your belly for 9 months, 2 weeks (yes, I was two weeks late) and enduring the third trimester in NC summer humidity while chasing around one and five year old.
• giving me the gift of life 30 years ago, today.
• cleaning up all my bodily fluids that didn’t make it into proper places
• working lots of hours so that I could take as many dance classes as I wanted, never once complaining to me about how much it costs.
• taking me on vacations (even when Dad couldn’t always make it).
• putting up with my awkwardness and loving me through it all.
• doing puzzles or playing tetris until midnight.
• being my number one fan at ALL my dance recitals.
• for giving me enough rope to hang myself, but catching me before I fell.
• paying for me to go to private college even when we thought I had a full ride.
• showing me by example how to be a good mom.
• loving every single day for the last 30 years.
• being my mother and my friend!

I love you!

Wordless Wednesday: The best gift I have Given my Daughters…

 

 

EACH OTHER!!!!

Thanks to my Readers

I want to thank all of you out there that follow my blog. I appreciate that you take interest in what I have to share.

 

I want to give an extra special thanks to my regular commenters, and you know who you are. Whether you comment directly on the blog, through email or on the phone, it means SO much to get feedback. I feel like my blog is a conversation. I have a ‘story’ to tell you most of the time and I like it when you talk back to me. I feel like the miles are millimeters of distance between us when we share with each other. Thanks!

Back to School Savings

As many of you know I am a coupon and bargain junkie! For those you wonder, I use the blog Hip2Save for all my deal seeking. Great website for all those looking. I have looked at lots of these type of blogs and this one by far is the best in its organization. The woman that runs it is a military wife that lives in NC.

 

So I wanted to share the latest Back to School savings that this blog helped me to snag.

All that costs me only $16.18! That a $13 pencil sharpener, $4 command strips, $5 packs of paper….etc. I didn’t get all the original prices but I think I have about $75 worth of supplies there. In that picture there is one cent glue, free pencils, ten cent composition books, ten cent pens, etc.

 

Also, the great thing about the website is it lays everything out for you and there is a great print feature where you can ‘X’ out the deals you don’t want and print only what you are going to buy! Therefore, I was able to go to THREE office supply stores in 45 minutes total with my two year old. That is almost as impressive as the low price I paid.

I confess…I spend money to save it!

I am a bargain shopper. Thus, I get adrenaline from buying something that is a super good deal. I went to buy light bulbs, thought they were $2.38 and I paid only $0.70. I left the store happy. Well, today I went to buy soda at Walmart, walked down the clearance isle and found a easy bake oven for $9, they are usually $24. A steal right…so while I didn’t need a easy bake oven and hadn’t planned to buy one in the near future I am now the proud owner of one. I spend money to save it (get it now?)

 

Brady was beyond pumped about the oven she could use though…

All Girl!

I know that I have posted about this before, but my girls are all girl. I am not sure how we got to this point, but I thought I would share these examples with you.

Reese has been having separation anxiety lately every time I go to Zumba. This past Saturday Reese came running out from the shoe closet like this and told me she was coming with me to Zumba. Then she proceeded to start trying to do the ’moves’.  Yes, she was going to do Zumba without pants and in ‘jewel’ shoes…

The girls like to paint their own toes. Now, I looked at Reese and I felt like I was looking at a 5 year old!

 

Now a girly girl post wouldn’t be complete without a video or two of them singing their made up songs…

Pop-up Thunderstorm

Pensacola has had A LOT of the pop-up thunderstorms lately, like 6 out of the 7 days a week for the month of July. So you can look outside see cloudly, but blue skies and make plans for outdoor fun, to only find yourself in a  t-storm 10 minutes later.

 

Well, last week Reese wanted to go on a picnic. I look outside and see clouds and thought that was perfect for a picnic. By the time I had it packed 15 minutes later, I look outside and see the rain. I didn’t want to disappoint Reese and I had our lunch in bags, so I thought of this…

 

 

a picnic in the master bedroom! The girls thought it was pretty cool to be eating on blankets in my bedroom and I was glad I avoided the 2-year meltdown! In the up close picture Reese is showing off her new reusable sandwich bag we bought for preschool…that is right the Orthner household is slowly going green.

 

Well, I figured out half way through lunch the real reason Reese wanted a picnic so badly… She wanted ‘daddy’s chips'.’ Apparently single serving bags of chips is something to get excited about!

Wordless Wednesday: A Dog’s Best Friend

Budget priorities…What It Says About Your Values

I have been thinking about this and wanted to hear what everyone else does.

 

2011 is the year of budgeting for the Orthners. We are keeping all the receipts, categorizing, etc. to see where we spend our money and where we need to make cut backs. So I have even cut back how much I allot myself to spend on groceries: $650 per month. This past month (it had 5 Sundays in it, my grocery day) I had to limit the last week’s groceries to stay within budget. But meanwhile, we are paying a $750 preschool bill every month.

 

This is what I am getting at… I want to buy organic milk and meat. However, I don’t have the extra $32 a month to make the switch for milk, and I haven’t even figured out how much extra the meat would be. So I just try to forget what is in the milk and meat and buy the regular stuff. However, I would never consider sending my kids to any other preschool in Pensacola, I just really feel like this is the fit for them.

 

I realized the other day, that obliviously I have a much higher priority for education than I do for long-term health. I found this interesting since I hadn’t really realized it until I thought about it in this perspective.

 

So I want to know, what do YOU personally value more…long-term health or quality education?  I know that most people have a balance between the two, but want to hear what you do.