Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Remembering Granpa


DSC04410, originally uploaded by cordeauphotos.

Granpa would have been 68 this year. Granpa loved birthdays. He loved any celebration really. So this year no detail was spared in remembering him. The day was complete with chocolate covered strawberries, yellow message balloons and artichokes. I know that you are far to young to remember him and the time that you did get to spend with him. But I hope that the small things that we do to remember him and the stories that you hear about him will help you to realize what an amazing man he was.

Saturday, September 11, 2010

First Soccer Game


DSC04382, originally uploaded by cordeauphotos.

Thanks Granpa for taking us to our first soccer game. GO DYNAMO'S

Hold that thought!


DSC04368, originally uploaded by cordeauphotos.

Kallison

Gloves


DSC04363, originally uploaded by cordeauphotos.

Aida loves to read. She also loves to make sure that her feet stay sterile as she reads and walks around the house. \
She wont keep shoes and socks on, but she will wear gloves on her feet all day long!

Friday, September 3, 2010

$20k paid since May!!!

16k car loan – gone

4k stupid (I mean student) loan – gone

12k stupid (I mean student) loan – in progress

We sold the car for what the loan was and paid it off, bye bye car payment. This car payment was a huge burden on our young family and was difficult to shoulder every month. When we first got the CR-V we thought we needed it for our family, its amazing how we were able to justify this huge purchase that we really could not afford since Kristi would not be working. I guess it seemed like a good idea at the time, but now that I look around on craigslist I see many many cars that are drivable and wouldn’t put us in the poor house. That being said having only one car is not without difficulties such as the pick up drop off schedule is different each day by a few minutes here and there. Luckily I have a flexible job in that respect, and being there past 5 is actually nice because there are fewer emails!!

The biggest change we have really made are that we stay out of malls, target, best buy, baby’s R Us…and all of the other stores unless we absolutely need something. Before we spent time wandering the aisles aimlessly and putting this and that into our cart, by the time we hit the register it was a $75 - $100 bill and oops we didn’t really need all of this stuff. Now we rarely venture into these stores unless there is a purpose and we have been paying cash for everything mostly not even using debit card except for gas. Small changes make a big difference.

Another big change was we stayed out of restaurants except for special occasions. We had been going out to eat 3+ times per week and one month we spent close to $500 on eating at restaurants. Wow that is a huge number, now we spend less than about $75 on going out to eat. We probably go out to eat or fast food less than 5 times per month. Well we have a long way to go still, but we will get there eventually. By the time it’s all said and done we will have an extra $1k to put towards things that really matter.