Althea, Bryan, Andrew, and Sylvia
I’m planning to start posting on my photography blog as I do photo sessions. I had to overcome a few technical hurdles first, and while I don’t have my systems running seamlessly yet, I think I’m to a point where I’ll be able to give my clients a sneak-peak of their pictures as I’m editing them.
So if you’re curious, here’s a sneak peak. What a beautiful day! What a wonderful family! More are available over at altheadotzourphotography.com/blog
I love Sylvia’s bedtime routine these days. She’s so adorable and communicative, and her routine is a lot of fun.
Starting at about 6:40, we give her a bath. She loves pouring water and splashing and dumping a cup over her head. She’s often enjoying using the potty before bed.
Then there’s a bit of a struggle while she declares that she’d rather not get her pajamas on.
Then we say goodnight to everyone with hugs.
After that, we read some books. Her favorites right now are The Napping House by Don and Audrey Wood and the golden book Baby Dear by Esther and Eloise Wilkins. I loved Baby Dear as a kid (my mom and Bryan’s mom did too!) and it’s fun that Sylvia is enjoying it as well.
Before our last book, I say, “One more story. And then…” And Sylvia replies, “Nigh nigh.”
I hold her to my chest, and I sing the song I most like to sing to her, Sleep, Baby, Sleep.
Sleep, baby, sleep
Your father tends the sheep
Your mother shakes the dreamland tree
And from it fall sweet dreams for thee
Sleep, baby, sleep
Sleep, baby, sleepSleep, baby, sleep
Our cottage vale is deep
The little lamb is on the green
With snowy fleece so soft and clean
Sleep, baby, sleep
Sleep, baby, sleepSleep, baby, sleep,
Down where the woodbines creep
Be always like the lamb so mild
A kind, and sweet, and gentle child
Sleep, baby, sleep
Sleep, baby, sleep
Then I lay her down, she rolls over, takes up her poodle and paci, and goes to sleep.
It’s a good routine, and I’ve been happy to be part of it!
As Bryan and I have been looking at our expenses, I’ve been starting big and working my way down. If you have the interest and patience, I think I’ll proceed with this money management topic (see my first post here) by sharing some thoughts about each of our major expense categories. So jump in, and hang on!!
(I’m pulling my stats from Mint.com, which I’ve been using to analyze our spending over the last year.)
The first expense, the biggest one (27% of our annual expenses), is housing.
Andrew and I finished reading Stuart Little this afternoon. For those of you who haven’t read this great book or who don’t remember the plot, the book ends with Stuart (a mouse) heading north to search for his missing friend, a lovely brown bird named Margalo.
As we turned the last page, there’s a pictures of Stuart driving north in his cute little car, and the last line is, “But the sky was bright, and he somehow felt he was headed in the right direction.”
Andrew paused and said, “What happens then??” I told him that since the book ended, we’d have to write his own ending. So we pulled out a pad of paper, and he wrote out, “Stuart finds Margalo.” So sweet. Such a wonderfully sweet boy!
Earlier in the book, we ran across a line that had been one my mom quoted. I read it out loud to Andrew a couple times, and I thought I’d share it with you! In this chapter, Stuart (a mouse, remember) has taken on the job of substitute teaching a class of school children.
Everyone’s eyes lit up with excitement to see such a small and good-looking teacher, so appropriately dressed.
After some humorous preliminaries, they get down to business. Stuart announces that the world gets into a lot of trouble because it has no chairman.
“I would like to be Chairman of the world myself.”
“You’re too small,” said Mary Bendix.
“Oh, fish feathers,” said Stuart. “Size has nothing to do with it. It’s temperament and ability that count. The Chairman has to have ability and he must know what’s important. How many of you know what’s important?”
Up went all the hands
“Very good,” said Stuart . . . . “Henry Rackmeyer, you tell us what is important.”
“A shaft of sunlight at the end of a dark afternoon, a note in music, and the way the back of a baby’s neck smells if its mother keeps it tidy,” answered Henry.”
“Correct,” said Stuart. “Those are the important things. You forgot one thing though. Mary Bendix, what did Henry Rackmeyer forget?”
“He forgot ice cream with chocolate sauce on it,” said Mary quickly.
“Exactly,” said Stuart. “Ice cream is important.”
Mom often quoted E.B. White as saying that one of the most important things in life is the way a baby’s neck smells if its mother keeps it tidy. I agree.
I’d just like to send a big thanks to everyone who responded to my first post on money management. It feels great to have a community of friends and family chiming in, and it’s neat to see all the different ways that families make their finances work. Thanks for sharing all your ideas and suggestions and support!
I think that writing out some of my thoughts about budgeting and money management should be fun. In fact, my next post is already in the works.
Tonight, I’m working on the budget for Andrew’s preschool (I’m just getting started as the treasurer…it seems like all my free time these days I’m thinking about money!). In that context, I was just thinking about how budgets are great because they really help define the priorities for an organization. Like Jessica’s comment (or actually Mitch’s comment on my last post), budgets aren’t about limiting so much as they are about purposefully allocating.
Well, in my case, maybe they’re mostly about limiting, but I’m going to try to think of it positively! Thanks for joining me as I meander forward, through this topic.
We took our first outing to the Door Creek apple orchard on Sunday afternoon. Pictures are in the gallery. This past month has been full of simply perfect weather. It’s been dry, warm, and sunny. Perfect for being outside. I’ll bet farmers would enjoy a bit of rain, but from my perspective, it’s ideal.
Our apple orchard outing was short…we zipped over, picked some Earliblaze (for a pie) some Courtlands (for apple sauce), and then we purchased a pre-picked bag of Honeycrisps. Andrew wasn’t interested in going down to the pond or heading up the hill to visit the sheep, so we then zipped on back home. In and out with no fussing:) Now we’re sipping on delicious apple cider and munching lots of apples. I bet we’ll need to go back soon!
PS. Lisa, we’d love to go out to the orchard with you and Bubs sometime. Maybe next weekend??
Ahh, fall. I do love the fruits of autumn!
Finances are a topic that just isn’t talked about much in our society. It’s generally considered a very private, personal thing. Even with my good friends – we don’t often have conversations about money. I understand the reasons why, but I also think that being more open to talking about money would benefit our society in general. With all the people drowning in debt or experiencing significant stress because of hidden money woes, I think smart money talk would be helpful.
I specifically think that it’s helpful to me to hear about how families make their finances work. In addition to filling my mind with thoughts of all the neat things I could do or make or buy, I like to see what people don’t do. What kinds of things do families forgo or made-do with so they can live within their means?
This past weekend was just stunningly beautiful. The last few weeks have been incredible. Dry, warm, blue-skies, lots of flowers…we’re just soaking it all in.
On Saturday, we took a family walk to our neighborhood park (which we call the Yellow Slide Park, for obvious reasons). Andrew rode his bike while Sylvia happily went along in the stroller. The oak trees have been dropping their acorns, so I hunted around for acorns and the kids had a blast playing on all the equipment. I’m going to post some pics below, but there’s lots more from that outing in the gallery!
I love those pictures of the kids together. I get so few of them when they’re actually in the same frame!
Sylvia was having fun walking on the balance beam (with Daddy’s help).
There was swinging silliness…
And note Sylvia’s miss-matched shoes. She got help getting dressed from her brother…
She loves to spin!!
Andrew sure does love his little sister!
It’s just so much fun to trail kids around a playground with a camera! More pics are available here:) 
To all those with whom I communicate via email:
I apologize for my regular lack of response to your kind notes.
I’ve just spent the last two hours going through hundreds of old emails (I’m actually writing this post at 12:30am), and it’s embarrassing…simply embarrassing…how many informative, questioning, consoling, interesting emails have gone unanswered.
My only consolation for you is that you’re in good company.
Yikes.
~Althea