Learning the value of money

Thursday night was an exciting night for Jonah. He made his very first big purchase with money he has saved up. The big purchase was a Nintendo DS.

Last Christmas Jonah had wanted to get this DS, but we felt he was too young. Same with his birthday that was 2 months later. He also went thru a phase where he was taking advantage of money - not that we have any! He wanted to go out for dinner, buy the DS, so we told him, we dont have money that we can always do what we want. So when he asked to go out for dinner, we said we can do that once in awhile, but not all the time. So he offered to pay! We said OK! We thought this would be a good learning experience as he is seeing the money come out of his piggy bank. Now it was no where fabulous, just the local Subway. Cost about $22. He seemed fine with it. So we made a deal. If he can earn enough money to buy the DS, he can! So he started saving. Any money he received as a gift, went in his piggy bank. He would do jobs around the house to "earn an allowance", all the money went in the piggy bank.

We told him he needed to save $150 and then we would go to the store to buy it. We counted it a week or so ago and here we are, 6 months later......

First, we had to decide on the colour - he chose blue of course.

Then he paid at the register with the cash.

And here is the happy customer:

Proud Momma moment

Jonah has been staying at a new babysitter this month. He is having an awesome time and really enjoying himself.

A couple of years ago, Jonah took a tumble in Lake Ontario off a jetski (yes, he had a life jacket on) and after that, fear of water kicked in. We tried taking him to pools and he would freak out. I do not DO freaking out in pools. I hate it. Last year, we finally got him in Uncle Marks pool with a life jacket. He was having so much fun, that he ventured to water wings only. No way was he removing the water wings! Thru the winter, he went a few times but looking back we should have gone more.

So back to new babysitter, Michelle. Michelle has a pool. I thought, PERFECT, he can get back to using his water wings to get his confidence back in the water.

Well - here we are 3 weeks later and look at my little man.....NO WATER WINGS!!!

I am so proud! And in typical Jonah fashion.....he had to splash the camera.

My Colour of Crayon

Ok Cyn, I'll play too.....got this from Cyndi's blog, who got it from Lee's and so on.....Let's see if my colour defines me! What is my crayon colour?

You Are a Red CrayonYour world is colored with bright, vivid, wild colors.
You have a deep, complex personality - and you are always expressing something about yourself.
Bold and dominant, you are a natural leader. You have an energy that is intense... and sometimes overwhelming.
Your reaction to everything tends to be strong. You are the master of love-hate relationships.

Your color wheel opposite is green. Green people are way too mellow to understand what drives your energy.

What do you think?? LOL

So...what is YOUR colour??

http://www.blogthings.com/whatcolorcrayonareyouquiz/

I have eyebrows!!!

Yes, I have eyebrows and I am very excited! There are very few people who can understand my excitement with this statement. My girlfriend Sheri who was the one who got me into waxing my eyebrows in the first place and my cousin Sarah who also faces the same eyebrow dilema, being a fellow red head.
You see, it may seem irrellevant to some, but having light eyebrows...well....sucks large. What makes it worse for me is that my bangs are slighted to the side, which means that 1 eyebrow is slightly covered. The brow that is not covered gets more sun - you see where I am going with this? If you pulled back my bangs, it would actually look like I only have ONE EYEBROW! I hate it! Can't stand it!
I thought about tattooing my eyebrows permanently but was afraid that it would be the wrong colour and I wouldn't be able to fix it. Even though I have 4 other tattoos, this made me nervous.
So, instead I got them tinted. And I love it! I have had it for 2 days and people have already made comments. It will only last about a month, but thats ok. Considering it cost me only $8, it is something I will definately do monthly.
YAY for my eyebrows!!

Happy Canada Day!!

I just want to wish everyone a very Happy Canada Day. We love in an awesome country and I am very proud to say I am a Canadian girl!

Happy Birthday Canada!

Happy Anniversary!

Today is 11 years that I have married my best friend, Sean. We were married June 7, 1997. At the time, Sean and I were quite young in society's eyes, Sean was 24 an I had just turned 23; but we knew from very early in our relationship that we would be together forever.

I would be lying if I said the road of marriage was easy. But giving up can also be easy if you make it. Marriage will have its ups an downs, but it will also be very rewarding if you work at it. There were many times that Sean and I could have just said, Screw it, I am not dealing with this crap. But we didn't....and that is key.

I grew up very different from Sean. So we both had different ideas of what love really was. But thru the 11 years we have been married and the 14 years in total that we have been together, we have learned some of the most valuable lessons in life - Love, Honour, Respect, Cherish. But the most important lesson we learned about marriage is the importance of communication. Sean and I are more open now, we listen better and better as time passes and we continue to get stronger, where many marriages sadly destruct.

I can honestly say that I love Sean more today than I did when I married him and if it is possible, I will love him more tomorrow, next week, next year. I made a vow that I will love, honour and respect him until death parts us. I promise to keep that vow now and forever.

So I want to say to my husband, Happy Anniversary Sean! I love you so much, always and forever! Thank you for being in my life and making it shine. With love, your Sweets.

Toothless Wonder

It has been an exciting time in our house as we had 2 back to back visits from the tooth fairy!!

Jonah's front bottom teeth have been wiggly for some time. He came to show me that he could "bend" the tooth all the way back. Of course, the scrapbooker that I am, had to take a picture!

Daddy was teasing Jonah and asked him if he wanted Daddy to pull it out - Jonah said, "what?" and Daddy just repeated the last part "pull it out" - SO......Jonah did. He just reached in and popped it out. No tears, no drama, just excitement at the fact that he no longer has a front tooth!

So that night we put it in his special tooth fairy pillow that he received as a baptism gift. He didn't want to fall asleep in case he would miss the tooth fairy! He finally did drift off and the tooth fairy came to take his tooth. She left Jonah with a shiny Loonie and a Toonie! I heard Jonah wake in the morning and I could hear the whispering cheers followed by 2 "kerplunks". Jonah was very quick to put his money in his piggy bank. I asked him what happened and he told me the tooth fairy left him "monies". He said "I got 2 whole dollars!" - since I had the inside on the tooth fairy, I said, are you sure? What did they look like?" Jonah replied "one was gold, one was silver AND gold". So I told him that was actually 3 dollars. You would think he won the lotto! We had to call Daddy right away at work to tell him the good news.

We had to make our phone calls to tell everyone else, Sarah, TeeTee, Nana, Papa and everyone we saw - mailman, grocery clerk - everyone!

Jonah heads off to school to tell his friends. When I picked him up, we had more exciting news! The other tooth fell out! So now Jonah has both his bottom teeth gone, and the cutest little gap in his mouth. So once again, we get a visit from the tooth fairy - another $3. Jonah was very excited to have $6. When we asked him what he was going to do with the money, he said he is keeping it in his piggy bank until he has enough money to take Mommy and Daddy to Subway for dinner! At this rate...Meatball sub, here we come!

Challenges

The past few weeks I have been experiencing challenges - different challenges. Some have been good, some annoying and some that are making me question myself - those are the ones that really piss me off.
Of the "pissers" one of them has to do with weight loss, the other has to do with doubting myself as a mother.
Jonah has been a montessori boy since he was 18 or 19 months old. This is a private school that is not funded so we pay an expensive tuition. We figured we would be paying money out for daycare, why not put the extra out there and give him a better education?? Well, we decided that for senior kindergarten we would put him in public school - it would save us money, he will have the chance to adapt before grade one, and it will be his last year "being a kid". Meaning that for the rest of his school life, he will be in school all day! So why not let him have the year that he will have school for half a day and be a kid the rest of the day. Sounds right to me. I have thought about this, lost sleep over this, prayed for the right answer. As a mom, do we ever feel that we have made the right decision?? I honestly do feel like I made the right choice but I think the emotion side of this is getting to me and that pisses me off. No one ever said being a mom is easy but MAN making decisions that can affect your childs life is so consuming!! UGH!
OK, that was one vent.....the other is my weight. I joined a Biggest Loser Challenge on a scrapbook site I visit regularly. It is challenging me to lose the weight for the team I am on. I want to do this, I want to feel good about myself, want my husband to find me sexy, want to look good in my friends wedding, want to enjoy scrapbooking pictures of myself for frigs sake! But let me tell you, I hate water, can't do the water. Frankly I think it tastes like shit and I am pretty sure a cows ass would taste better. I gag when I try to get it down. SO that would be the annoying part of my challenge....
BUT I have had good challenges. I enrolled in an online class that is helping me be more creative with my scrapbooking. I love the class, the women in the class are amazingly funny, encouraging and very welcoming! Every week there are assignments. You are given a few examples and you try to make your own rendition of it. I have tried some new things that I have never done and will continue to step outside the box because of this class.
Bottom line, I know challenges are good for us. Its just find ing the perfect balance. Well, I guess I just gave myself another challenge.....find that balance Char! LOL

OK, done with my vent. Have a wonderful Victoria Day Weekend!
Peace Out!

Happy Mothers Day!

"Happy Mother's Day" means more
Than have a happy day.
Within those words lie lots of things
We never get to say.
It means I love you first of all,
Then thanks for all you do.
It means you mean a lot to me,
And that I honor you.
But most of all, I guess it means
That I am thinking of
Your happiness on this, your day,
With pleasure and with love.

Happy Mothers Day to all my friends!

Time to part ways

Today we had a garage sale - Sean was so happy to be getting rid of the "junk" that is taking up all this space. Now to me, it was not junk...ok, some things maybe - but I have always been a packrat (thanks to my Dad).
The items that dominated the garage sale were mostly baby items - Jonah's highchair, swing, carriage, carseat, and MANY toys. Now I should mention that Sean has been trying to clear these items out of the garage for quite some time! But I would not budge. I was afraid to get rid of these items because of how I would feel. Would the memories be gone? Would we have another baby? So Sean and I negotiated. I got to keep the playpen! LOL
Seeing people look thru my boys things and barter a price was not too enjoyable I admit....but then this lady approached me. She told me her "young" daughter was pregnant and because they are tight for money, they need to find the main items thru garage sales. After talking with this lady a bit, I found out that her "young" daughter just turned SIXTEEN! I could see the disappointment in this strangers eyes, but also saw the twinkle when she said "it will be hard, she has no money and we are supposed to be retiring soon - but at least this baby will know what it is like to be loved." That did it for me right there. I started giving her things for free and that feeling of doubt of selling Jonah's baby items, soon went away. I know that this baby will enjoy the items just like Jonah did and she will be able to give that baby comfortable and reliable furniture. Memories of Jonah with those items will not go away, I realize that now. More will be made!!
I wish this stranger baby, who is having a baby, all the best and hopes she enjoys every moment.

And yes, Sean is quite happy that very little stuff made it BACK into the garage.