Hannah

Hannah was born at 3:12 a.m.  She was in such a hurry to get here.  My water broke around 8 or 8:30 p.m. So I never missed a meal...

Christmas 2006...SEVEN years ago!

Good grief...my babies aren't babies anymore...  I love the one where all my boys have Superman shirts.  I was days away from Hannah grand appearance.

Every day math...

We are meeting with our financial adviser today.  He's fantastic.  He asks great questions and helps us get excited about our goals.

I love math.  I always have.  I was always math/science oriented, and that hasn't changed a bit.

I can still see my amazing middle/high school math teacher's face. Her name was Mrs. Wallace. She was a phenomenal teacher who adored math.  I'd say she was bubbling with excitement except she wasn't exactly a bubbly kind of person. But she helped to lay a foundation that I can build on, even now and understand our situation some how many years later? And I am certain she did the same for countless other students.

I do wish I'd been taught consumer math application. Math that was going to help me in a every day real life kind of way.  Mortgages, credit, interest, savings, retirement...so on and so forth.  So I am learning...mostly through necessity, but I'm enjoying it.  I am fired up and ready to put some pedal to the metal.

This calculator can give your dreams wings. http://www.daveramsey.com/article/investing-calculator/lifeandmoney_investing/#/entry_form  Think the power of compound interest...

I read a Dave Ramsey financial devotional on my YouVersion app recently.  And you know what story was referenced?  The tortoise and the hare... who wins every time?  Lord, help us be good stewards of our financial blessings.  Some years, it has seemed like our baskets have had holes in them, and it's very discouraging to look back and see such poor choices.  However, we have learned a LOT!

Here's to new, more precise goals, better advise, and steady, hard work.

Girls making cards last week...

October 2006: Continued...

Gingerbread Houses and such...

I am NOT a Pinterest kind of mom.  I don't do Pinterest.  I have friends who love it and get great ideas from it, and I like the idea of it.  But I know me and my own limitations.  It would suck me in with all its creative splendor, and it would spit me out leaving only wasted time and feelings of inadequacy behind.  Which leads me to our activity...

We decorated gingerbread houses yesterday. We were supposed to enjoy the experience with friends, but it seems the bug is spreading all over town.  Our friends are sick and we all needed to stay home and keep our germs to ourselves.  However, my kids were finally beginning to feel better and we all needed some help getting into the Christmas spirit. So I pulled out our kits and candy and let them loose.

The OCD in me wanted to decorate one that looked like it popped off the Food Network, but that's not me.  It's not them, so we had a blast with all the mess and gooey-ness that came with it. Then, they took pics of all the houses with my phone.

Grace

Combo

Hannah

Daniel

After wiping the table...for the most part...  Ethan's is the A-frame on the right...

Blast from the Past: A Series of photo memories!

October 2006