So Many Changes...

Things have changed so much since my last post. I know we had a great plan for me to quit my job, but we have tossed out that plan and decided to have faith that was the path for us. My business has really taken off. I was selling dresses so quickly I couldn't keep up & had to stop taking orders because I was nearly 2 weeks out. I was making more in a day a half of sewing on the weekends than I was bringing home after taxes and daycare at my full time job.  I had a list of customers on a wait list, and it was growing! My husband and I had a serious conversation about my job & we decided at this point there was NO reason for me to continue to work. Today I went in & put in my 2 weeks notice. It was a tough decision and it was very hard for me. I love the kids I work with every day. In a normal week I spend more time with them than I do my OWN kids, and I would miss them like crazy. When I went in prepared to quit, my school and I were able to work out a deal. Starting April 22nd & until the end of June, I will go down to working part time. I will work from 8am-noon everyday and I will leave permanently in June. This ended up working out to be really great because I would be home to get my son off of the school bus so we don't have to pay his daycare anymore, plus the girls daycare would be WAY less since they would drop down to half time instead of full time. I would also leave work with the girls at noon and take them home to eat lunch, they nap right after lunch, so I can sew in the afternoons for a couple of hours. My son will get off the bus right by our house & he can play until the girls get up from their nap while I work. It will save a ton of time in the morning when I normally pack my lunch & the girl's lunches as well as their nap mats and all that stuff. It will also give me time to transition the students I am working with to a new teacher, as well as transition my girls to being home more often. Over all it is really the best of all 3 worlds,being a Mommy, a business owner & a very rewarding job. If you go like my page (there is a widget in the top right corner) & see something you like, Please PM me & let me know you came from the blog!

Easter..

Today was Easter! Easter was the first holiday we spent with the girls last year & it was a really nice holiday. We spent the weekend at my parent's house & the kids really loved it. As you can see from the photo above Delilah was in LOVE with the candy, she couldn't be stopped. No, really, we couldn't stop her! Before the kids hunted for eggs we went down to the water to snap a few photos.

In other news, a saving update, we DID have savings to report this month, then the transmission went out in my husbands car. Once we sold that car & bought another we were right back where we started at. So there is no change there for now. Hopefully I can have a little progress this upcoming month. Also my husband had a little accident. A couple of weeks ago we were at my nephews birthday party at a bowling alley & he went to pull up the bumpers (yes, we now realize this is a big no,no!). Well when he pulled it up the hinge snapped the tip of his right pinky slicing it nearly to the bone. It took a few stitches to put it back together again, but he is on his way to healing! I also told you I would be sharing a little about some work I've been doing. I recently launched an online store on etsy. I am selling custom girls dresses & little things. You can find it at www.etsy.com/shop/EverCustomCouture. I also launched a facebook page for the store at www.facebook.com/EverCustomCouture . I've sold a few dresses & it is going well. Its a little hard to find time to sew with 3 kids, school and a full time job. The kids are all doing well and there really isn't too much to report!

Stay-cation 2013!

So this Spring Break things were so crazy! I was off for the week because school was out & so Chris took a week of vacation also. We were originally planning on going out of town but before we knew it we were 3 weeks away & everything was booked solid! So we decided to use the week to do a "staycation" or basically stay in town & do tons of "touristy" things we're ashamed to admit we haven't taken our kids to do yet. We basically hit up every area attraction the kids always BEG us to go to but we just don't have time! The first day we hit up Build a Bear. The kids already all had bears, so we decided not to buy new bears, but rather just buy them all new clothes. Everly picked out a new gymnastics outfit for hers. Delilah "picked" a cute pajama set. I say "picked" because lets face it, she's 20 months old. I picked 2 soft outfits ideal for snuggling & held them up & she yanked the pajamas one out of my hand. Tuck's "bear" is a monkey he named Train 3 years ago and he picked out an army uniform for him.While at the mall I ran Tuck into Abercombie Kids to pick out a shirt. Its a treat for him so I took the opportunity while we were there. After we fluffed them & changed them we headed outside to eat frozen yogurt in the gorgeous outdoor waterway.

  That evening we took them out to a local park to play and feed the ducks. The ducks weren't hungry, they were fat. But there was this nice nutria rat that WAS hungry, and friendly. The kids sat patiently as he made his way up & Daddy fed it from his hand. Chris took  Lyla to swing. If I have never told you, she adores the swings. The higher the better. She will giggle until she can't breathe and she will do it for however long you leave her on the swing!

The next day we took the kids to one of those indoor bouncy house places, you know the kind that make you realize you're older than dirt & have NO business jumping. Period. Ever. We ate pizza & soda (my kids never get soda). They had a TON of fun even the baby really enjoyed herself.

When we first decided to do the "staycation" we asked the kids what they wanted & Tucker immediately chimed in he wanted to do Halloween, which I was a little impressed with I must admit. But when I asked out of EVERY holiday they would pick Halloween they promptly changed their mind to Christmas! So the next morning we set up a borrowed Christmas tree & wrapped up a bunch of presents (courtesy of the jumbo $.99 store). The kids really liked that one!

 

(On a side note, I enjoy the photo above, because Everly was NOT about to give Delilah attention for her negative behavior).


We also took another trip out to the zoo. Let me just say, we were NOT the only ones who though it was a great idea to go to the zoo, during spring break, when the weather was FABULOUS! But again, the kids had lot of fun!

 The next day we took the kids to a local "farm" petting zoo place. They fed all the animals & the girls rode the pony. For some reason Tuck was too afraid to ride the pony but he was the only one the baby deer would come up to! After feeding the animals we all rode the train around the park. Then the kids wanted to play & come down the giant slide. For some reason Everly decided to come down it FACE first. By the time I realized she came down head first it was too late to put down the camera & stop her. She ended up with rug burn on her face! There is a little fabric liner & over it is usually mulch I assume, but that day there was no mulch between her poor little face & the liner. She cried, I giggled. I only giggled because that is SOOO like her. She has no fear & always seems to get hurt in the most random ways, like using her face as a stopper when she comes flying out of a 15 foot slide. The photo below was about 1/2 second before previously described face to ground impact! 

 The last day we took care of some business in the morning & in the evening the kids played the XBox 360 Kinect & watch a movie. We made pizza and the kids ate huge homemade sundaes. Overall we had a great vacation, I just wish it wasn't over SO soon. I also spent a little time getting a few small things together for my new "business". I will share some more on that in a little bit, but I sold my first couple of items & it was really nice. I know it is going to take awhile to get my clientele up and I just have to be patient! Other than the chaos of this past week things have been going really well! We're excited about our new savings plan (we didn't really HELP that cause with the all the splurges this week), but we're committed to making it work!

Recent Happenings

Things have been really busy lately! We went today to take new family photos. Our friends at www.tracephotography.net always does them, so if you're in the Houston area, check them out. The photo above is a little sneak peak, I'll post more a little later. I''ve recently been brushing up on my sewing skills. I bought a nice little computerized Brother, and I'm really liking it. We also recently finished converting our 1 1/2 car garage into an office/ craft room / guest room. We have really been in desperate need of a little extra space & it has been SOO nice being able to go in there & sew. The kids are doing really well. The girls have been coming with me to work since we have a daycare on site. Everly is doing really well, she spends part of the day with our non-typical students & I think it is really good for her. She had a few bumps with her new teacher. I think her teacher was a little too lenient & Everly was taking advantage & testing her with fits & being defiant. I had to tell her teacher not to worry about being too stern with her & now she is doing much better. Delilah is as good as always, though I think she's taking advantage by conning her teacher into holding or rocking her. Its really nice to just bring them with me, but I'm still having to go get Tuck after because he goes to a daycare by his school.  Other than that everything is pretty much the same. The kids are really growing fast so we're just trying to enjoy it as much as possible.

New Year New Goals

  In my last post I mentioned a new adventure I'm dragging my husband on. Well, as long I've had kids I've been torn between work & staying home. I would love to only work part time, but with 3 kids & daycare that could just never happen. The other day I got to thinking we should really work on a goal that would result in me being able to stay home with the kids. We would love the kids to be home schooled and get a little more personalized education. So after sitting down & doing the math we came up with a plan and we hope to be there in 12-18 months. Our first goal is to save 4 months worth of expenses (not counting my husbands 401k & retirement). That is the primary goal. Once we reach that goal we will then go 3 whole months saving my entire paycheck. This serves 2 purposes, one to see if we can survive without it, but also to put a little more money back. Another part of the plan is between now & then for me to work on making a small income from home to help cushion the blow a little bit (I have a plan on how to do this also, but it will take awhile to get there & I'll share that a little later). We currently own our cars outright & do not have notes on either one. We also don't have any credit card debt, which helps! We do have student loans but that is about it as far as debt goes besides our mortgage. My promise to YOU (hopefully to make me more accountable also), is to post our savings progress on the first of every month! I am not going to give exact dollar figures but you can see the percentage we have saved towards our goal on the upper right corner of the blog, there is a little savings meter! We had a little money set back already, so as you can see we are at 38.5%! Our plan is to just really cut back & try to think of all the good things we can do once I stay home! (the picture above is our son Tuck & our dog Bella).

Ten Years!

      Today me & my wonderful husband have been married for 10 years! It is so hard to believe how fast 10 years has gone by. It seems like yesterday we were 20 & 21 getting married. Looking back I don't think either of us realized how much work it would be. But, I do think we both were willing to do ANYTHING it took to make it work & that's the reason we got married. We had realistic expectations of each other and our marriage. We basically grew up together and it hasn't always been easy. We fight & bicker like you can't believe. If you know us in real life maybe you CAN believe it, because chances are you have seen it. We don't hold a grudge against each other & we always just fight it out right where we are! We usually get over it in about 10 minutes and feel much better. I don't want to be one of those couples that acts all perfect and fake all the time. I think those people are headed for trouble. How exhausting must it be to always feel the need to put on a perfect front! I want our kids to see us have a real marriage, with real fights, real bumps and real LOVE. I want them to see it is work, but it is worth it. I don't want any of my kids to go into marriage thinking its just a fairy tale & a wedding. I can't even begin to imagine where I would be without Chris. He has always believed in me and my dreams. He always supports my crazy ideas & dreams and trusts me (stayed tuned for more on the NEWEST adventure I am dragging him into). Even when we have failed he has always been there to pick me back up and help me keep going without throwing it in my face. Everything I lack as a parent he is. I'm tough and strict, he's soft and playful. I'm a planner and a control freak, he is free spirited and doesn't care if I plan everything down to the last detail! I'm messy and a horrible cleaner, he can put on headphones and clean the house in an hour. He is such an amazing father to our kids and I could never ask for more. He will usually get out of bed at night when they cry before I can wake up. He changes diapers, kisses owies and wipes noses better than most mothers. He can juggle 3 kids at a doctors office, make lunches while doing hair, and cook dinner while doing laundry without blinking. He starts the coffee pot for me in the morning even if he has been up and down all night with one of the kids. He still makes me laugh until I sound like a truck driver and always knows how to make smile and how to piss me off! Its been a roller coaster, but has been so worth it!

Dr.Temple Grandin & Park Fun

So things have been very chaotic lately! A few new things are going on. The girls are now coming with me to work as we have an onsite daycare at my job & they finally had openings to fit the girls in, we had been waiting a few months. It has been a HUGE help & time saver. Not to mention its nice to be able to check in on them & see them throughout the day. We also recently switched Tucker's daycare, this is also the daycare where the girls used to go. We discovered that about 5-6 months ago the LaPetite Academy that he had been attending illegally published photos of him as well as both girls on their website. They not only didn't have a legal release, they had EXPLICIT instructions to NEVER publish the girls names or photos. It took 2 phone calls & 3 nasty emails threatening legal action before they removed the photos. Even then I only got the run around as to why it wasn't their fault. The worst part is for a year even we didn't publish photos of the girls on our Facebook pages, blogs, etc. I felt like it was such a slap in the face from a company that was supposed to protect our children, instead they put them in harms way. In happier news the baby has a new found love of the swing! See the video above. She laughs like that the entire time she swings. I also went yesterday & saw Dr.Temple Grandin speak at an event near me. If you aren't very familiar with her you can always watch the movie named after her, but basically she is an autistic woman that went on to invent a cattle sorting system used by half of handlers in the US. She has won many awards including from PETA for her work in the ethical treatment of animals. Working with kids with autism everyday it can be very hard sometimes to understand what they are going through. Dr.Grandin has an amazing way of breaking things down & describing things that make it a little easier to see things from their perspective. After the speech she did a book signing. I waited in line over an hour to get a book signed.

 She was very nice & JUST like the movie. The part that made me laugh is she was talking to me the whole time, she wouldn't even stop when they tried to take this photo. It was really exciting to meet someone that has overcome so much and opened so many people's eyes. She is really a true testament to how misunderstood people with autism are. She may be awkward in situations, or can't pick up social cues, but she is brilliant and is in no way "handicapped", or less than what we view as typical. I think she has taught so many people a lesson on acceptance and tolerance and I find her very inspiring.