The Saturday 7

1. Last year, I got serious about tracking every penny we spend. Thanks to a friend's recommendation, I discovered Mint, which makes a daunting task much easier. I was able to link my credit cards, debit card, and bank account to Mint, so every dollar I spent using a card was tracked. Mint is pretty smart about putting transactions in correct categories, but I checked it every week or so to re-arrange anything they got wrong. (Every time we made our car payment, it labeled it as "hair and beauty." That's an expensive haircut!) Anyway, since I started at the beginning of the year (and since we almost never pay cash for anything), by the end of the year, we had a good representation of where our money went. It was both fascinating and horrifying. For example, in one year, we spent almost $600 at McDonald's!! I probably shouldn't even admit that. Lol. One of my goals for 2019 is to get a lot more serious about sticking to our budget. We've always had a budget, but we almost never actually stick to it. Haha. While we were living with my parents and not paying a house payment or utilities, we had extra money to blow. If we buy a house this year, though, that is going to have to stop. Yesterday, I went to Meijer with the intention of spending below $60. (I'd already spent $40 earlier in the week and am really trying to stick to $100 a week for groceries.) I ended up having the cashier put two things back to stay under budget, and my total literally came to $59.99!

2. I actually have a bunch of goals for this year:

• Read one non-fiction book a month 
• Read Harry Potter (So many of my friends from all walks of life rave about this series. I'm finally going to give it a try.)
• Do something about Lucy's diet - starting with actually reading the book I had the library buy, checked out for 6 weeks, and never read a word of [affiliate link]
• Stick to the budget
• Less screen time for all (I'm having a really hard time coming up with a concrete plan to implement this.)
• Make everyone eat dinner at the table
• Require more from my kids regarding chores and responsibility
• Be more consistent in disciplining Levi
• Potty train Levi, transition him into a big boy bed, and take away his Binky (😭)
• Enforce bed time
• Get my hearing tested
• For homeschooling: read aloud more, focus on getting Lena to read fluently, make sure Lucy masters her times tables
• Buy a house

3. That last one might actually be a real possibility in the next few months . . . Probably six months ago, my brother asked us nonchalantly if we'd be interested in buying his house. Because he only bought it two years ago and has put a lot of work into it, he'd have to sell it at our max price. At the time, we weren't ready to commit to a house at the top of our budget and wanted to see what else was on the market. Well after half a year of disappointing house searches and realizing that our max budget isn't going to buy us much, we asked Luke again if he was serious about selling to us. Here's the twist: the reason Luke is interested in selling his house is because he wants to buy my parents' house (if you're new here, that's where we currently live - haha). When Luke told me a month ago that he was definitely still interested in selling to us, I said, "Ok, then we'll wait for Mom and Dad to find a new house, then we can start moving." He surprised me by saying, "We can live with Mom and Dad while they're looking for a house. We don't need to wait." On New Year's Day, Luke and Esther came over to have an official family meeting and hash out the details. We decided that we're going to take the next two months to pack, and then do the house swap on March 1st! We'll buy Luke and Esther's house and move in there. And they'll move in here with my parents with the intent of buying this house when my parents find someplace to go! 

4. Luke's house is going to be pretty perfect for us. It currently has 3 bedrooms, but there is space to frame in a 4th. There are also two bathrooms, which we never thought we'd get at this price. It's located in my ideal town, about 2 minutes from my sister's house, and ironically enough, directly next door to the house that Justin grew up in! Haha. I've never actually lived in town (unless our apartment on Cornerstone's campus counts), so I'm a little bit nervous about that. But the house is on a quiet street with a fenced in backyard. It has central air, wood floors, a dishwasher, a spa tub, and a laundry chute! I actually think my brother is being way too generous and could get more for the house than we're paying, but I'm eternally grateful for his kindness. 

5. Another ironic twist of events is the moving date. We moved in with my parents the first weekend of March 2013, so if all goes as planned with the move this time, we'll be moving out exactly 6 years later. And when we moved in, Lena was 6 weeks old. When Luke and Esther move in here, their baby Ruby will be 11 weeks old. I've been joking that my parents are trading us in for newer, younger models. Honestly, leaving my parents is the hardest part. I wrote this last time we thought we were moving, too, but it still applies. I can be totally excited about the house one minute, dreaming of paint colors and walking to Niki's house and living in a town with a grocery store, but then I think about leaving my parents and immediately get a pit in my stomach. We've been trying to prepare Levi for moving to a new house. I said, "Mommy and Daddy and Lucy, Lena, and Levi are all going to live at the new house." He immediately responded, "And Grandma and Grandpa?" Haha I get a little choked up just typing that. My parents have been such a huge part of my kids' lives, and while we're moving 10 minutes away, it's not going to be the same. I hate that Levi is too young to remember the mornings sitting on Grandpa's lap in his chair or sitting on the bathroom counter helping Grandma put on her makeup. Honestly, I have to do my best not to think about it. Or to think about the gift of quiet and privacy we're giving to my parents by moving out. Haha. They love having their grandkids so close and they're emotional about us leaving, too, but they've never had an empty nest. I'm excited for them to finally get the opportunity. (Even if it comes by getting pushed out of their house by their other kid and grandkid. Lol.) 

6. In non-house news, I asked the kids on New Year's Day what their goals were for this year. Lena couldn't come up with anything, but Lucy decided she wants to read more books than me this year. Girl after my own heart! She started a book journal to keep track, and has already read 2 books (as of January 4). We're only counting chapter books. No little kid books allowed! She already has me beat 2-0. In my defense, though, I have to do a lot more cooking and cleaning than she does! Lol.

7. Pictures

Bubbles at the library

Levi learning to share with Ruby - cars and pizza

Homemade slime . . .aka the bane of my existence!

Something I want to remember: every time Lena eats salami, she breaks it into little pieces and asks me, "Which one of our family members is this?" I have to guess, "Daddy, Levi, Grandpa, etc." based on size. I have no idea where she got it from!

When Toys R Us went out of business, I snagged 4 $10 LeapPad gift cards for a grand total of $12! We finally downloaded new games onto our LeapPads today, and Levi is loving them.