Twenty-five pairs of what?????

I can totally understand a 3 year old who is potty training having 25 pairs of underwear, or the child whose washing machine eats socks having 25 pairs of socks, but really, no 3 year old needs 25 pairs of foot wear! Only 18 pairs our shown in this picture. Missing are 2 pairs of boots, 2 pairs of ballet slippers, a pair of tap shoes, a pair of black Sunday shoes (exactly like the black shoes shown), a pair of fuzzy pink princess slippers and another pair of ratty sneakers. This is simply too much for any child, though Carrie Bradshaw would be proud. Our only defense is that we only bought 7 pairs of shoes- including the slipped and dance shoes. The rest were gifts from her friend Claire, who knows the value of having good shoes. And, if you think Claire's shoe gifts are excessive, you should check out Lily's clothes- since Emily and Charlie wore out size three, Lily's great wardrobe comes from Claire.

From there to here????

As we looked at Charlie tonight- braces on her teeth, hightlights in her hair, painting her nails, it's hard to believe that she too started out as a little girl playing with her kitchen set. The 9 years between Lily and Charlie seem so huge, but they've gone by so quickly. Before we know it, Charlie will be all grown up and off at college and Lily will be sitting at the table painting her nails.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

We hope that you all had a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Ours was fabulous as it was the 1st time that we all had the week off- ever. We spent Christmas Eve at our cousins' (many times removed) home having a great party and followed that with our traditional Christmas Eve drive to look at lights. The girls were excited to do so in new PJ's that Grandma Camp had made for the whole family. Emily found the special Christmas pickle ornament on Christmas Morning and we had a fabulous time opening presents. We had a friend over for a huge Christmas breakfast and followed that with sledding with another friend. We finished Christmas with a fabulous dinner at our cousins again. It was the best Christmas that any of us remember. The rest of the week was just as wonderful. We played games, went to the movies, went ice skating and sledding and just hung out for a whole week. We absolutely loved it!

Simple ways to Save (which may or may not be fun)

Please share your simple ways to save money on this post. Any trick you have that is not illegal or immoral would be appreciated. Here are a few of my ideas:
*Set a budget before you go shopping and then take your budgetted amount in cash and leave all other payment methods at home. This actually terrifies me so much that I almost always come in well under budget, but a couple times I was really worried I was going to have to put something back at the grocery store. For me, this is not easy or fun to do, but absolutely works.
*Shop at Home First. This is from Cindy's porch and it is a great idea. Look around your home and use what you have before you buy new. A basket that's now too small to hold Lily's toys is now holding our wii remotes/ etc. A Planter that held flowers when Emily was born (9 years ago today) now holds all of our loose change. Thinks about what you need and then look to see if you always have it.
*Be proud to support our enviroment. Our cars are an 89 and a 94. They aren't sitting in a landfill somewhere taking up space and we aren't saddled with a car payment. They are paid off and practically free. Reuse gift bags. A great group of friends never signs the little cards attached to gift bags. We'll see the same bags at every birthday for a year or more. We're saving the landfills from bags and our wallets from wrappings. It's a ton of fun.
* Free cycle- believe in the karma- what goes around comes around. We have given away all of the following since we moved into our home: a couch, 2 entertainment centers, 2 vacuums, a stereo case, a crib and mattress, a gas grill and tank, tons of baby clothes, and so much more. We've mostly marked items free and put them on our curb and they are gone, usually in less than an hour. We've done this because in most cases, we're replacing the outgoing item with a newer one that someone else has given us. My girls can play the piano because friends gave us their old one, our basement couch is fabulous for the same reason, and Lily dresses so well because another friend has given us all of their daughter's clothes. If giving your item away is a possibility, then think about doing it rather than selling it. It feels fabulous to watch the joy on someone's face when they get something they need for free.
These are all of my current idea. PLEASE add yours!

Share your ideas for Free/Cheap fun

Ann's last post got me thinking. what kind of fun things can we do that's either cheap or free. If you have any ideas or hear about a free/cheap activity in our community, or a free cheap idea that we can implement here (or anywhere) please share it, because we can all do with a little cheap and easy fun- and David, not the kind that gets you in trouble!

And so it begins......

Today our family starts compacting. We did this a couple of years ago and it worked out quite nicely. Compacting takes it's name from the Mayflower Compact, the document the pilgrims came up with to govern themselves when they chose to land in MA instead of further south in Virginia. Compacting today has to do with being very conscious about any spending you do. For us, we promise not to eat out, go to movies, or purchase any item that is not needed to replace an item. (So a new loaf of bread, major appliance, medication are all covered. A new dvd, shirt, or junk food is not.) Each family that is compacting makes up their own rules. For us, we're still taking the girls ice sketing again, throwing Em a birthday party and doing stuff for Valentine's Day and our Anniversay. But everything else is on hold. We'll compact until we get ready to leave for our trip back East this summer. When one of our stops will be- Plymouth, where we'll visit Plymouth Rock and Plimouth Plantation- where actors show you what living with the real Mayflower compact was really like.

So, feel free to join us with your own compact or to help us with ours- we'd love to borrow movies, book and games from friends and feel free to ask if the stuff in our carts are REALLY needed when you run into us at the store.

Please DON'T Share

Well we have had a fabulous Christmas and break. We'll get all the great pictures up this week. For now, however, we are simply waiting to see how many of our friends shared with us over the holidays. We spent Christmas Eve with a fabulous group of friends. At this point, 4 of the families have reported that they have had the stomache flu. If we had only seen these families on Christmas Eve it would be less scary. We have, however seen them all over the break. So, while one family used the title "We Share so Well" as their title for the stomache flu post, mine is Please DON'T share, because so far (knock on wood) none of us has gotten it......yet