Caleb's First Birthday

Caleb Turned One!!

THINGS ABOUT CALEB

FAVOURITES:
His Favourite food: Probably squash... he loves  squash!
His favourite toy: Currently a pail we got as a "Basket" part of a gift basket from one of my music students. It is fascinating seeing him try to put the lid on and off and things in and out of it.
His favourite things to say: Ba-buh... Ba-bauh. He makes a really gutteral short snarl. And he also says Mahm. 


MILESTONES: 
He learned how to crawl on all fours just shortly after his birthday
He learned how to climb stairs at about the right time.
He's just now starting to "cruise" around furniture.
He weaned from breastfeeding just around his birthday. (He LOVES cow's milk)

Caleb loves to play with Adam. And Adam builds him a "Playgym" in the living room so that Caleb can climb up onto the couches and off again safely. They spend time together in Adam's room playing all the time. As soon as Adam hears that Caleb is awake from a nap he asks if he can please go in and talk to him. The love and adoration they have for each other is heart-swelling. 

Here are some pictures of Caleb's Birthday Party. We had just family come. Brittney and Kevin and their kids and Chisa and Daniel with their children as well as Grandma and Grandpa as well! We had some hotdogs and cake and sat around and visited then he opened presents. I LOVE LOVE LOVE being so close to family. It is so awesome having nieces and nephews and my sisters and my parents around. I wish all my family would move here. It really is the "promised land" (inside joke for those you wondering)

Birthday Boy!!

The whole cake is edible and I did it all by myself! (I borrowed Brittney's cake decorating stuff) 

Lounging in the Birthday fun!

Haha this was during the "Happy Birthday Song" I think he was a little confused!

Om, Nom, Nom. Carrot Cake with Browned Cream Cheese Icing. It. Was. Soo. Good.

"Thanks Aunty Brittney and Uncle Kevin!" 

Much needed and SUPER-CUTE jammies! Thanks Aunty Chisa and Uncle Daniel!

A crocheted sweater by Grandma Lansing. So adorable! Seriously, hand crocheted stuff just kills me. So cute.

This picture just makes me smile. So much fun!

He's so handsome.

Caleb and Gage checking out his new toy from us. Love the bow on his head. Hehe!

This most excellent hairdo comes to you from the lovely hairstyle product know as icing and cake. 

Halloween 2014!

This year for Halloween we went to my sister's house for her annual Halloween party! It was awesome! Complete with bobbing for apples, donuts on a string, cookie decorating, and potluck dinner. Dustin won the pie-eating contest!!! That's right... my man has skills.  Fun was had all around I didn't take a tonne of pictures but I did snap a few. So here you go! Halloween is one of my favourite holidays! I love dressing up!

Grandpa dressed up as a scary ape and terrified quite a few of the little ones... including Caleb.

The Sanderson Sisters from Hocus Pocus. So fun!

Cutest Winnie the Pooh out there

The whole Family. That's Adam the Optimus Prime.
Dustin went as a mechanic and actually did mechanic work while we were there.

They melt my heart!

The Budget Binder!

The Wiebe Family Budget Binder

As promised in a previous post. Here is a run down of our simple Budget Binder. Being organized in our finances has helped us in the last few months to realize that what we thought we spent our money on.... to what we actually spend our money on is quite different. Before we jump into the particulars I want to make the most important note out of all of this......


 ***************IMPORTANT NOTE**************************
Budgets don't work unless BOTH people in the relationship are involved. Seriously. If you don't both keep receipts, keep track of spending, and stay on the same page with what the goals are for your household, it just falls apart. Either one person gets exhausted with the up keep or one person spends money you didn't have or whatever just, people, PLEASE! Do your budget together. It is only an hour or so every couple weeks. THIS IS SO IMPORTANT! And you can count it as quality time?! Ok, it might be lame quality time; but necessary!

*DISCLAIMER*
 I am not saying I am the most financially savvy person in the world and that if you follow these steps you'll be a millionaire. I have debt, the same as most people, and to be quite honest (and anyone who knows me will attest to this) I am terrible at math. However, we do our best to stay on top of the bills and budgeting. And so, our budget binder is very simple!


So here are the steps of how we budget and the things that are in our Budget Binder:

1. THE BILL CALENDAR

At the beginning of every month I fill in and print out our Bill Calendar. I use a simple calendar from Microsoft Publisher, and accent it however I feel suits the month. What goes on the calendar?

I put every single payment that will need to come out. Including a rough budget for groceries. I mark our paydays, and when our Child Tax Credits come in. (The link to find out what day you get paid is HERE ) I also mark any special occasions... Like Birthdays and Anniversaries, or Planned Long Distance Travel.

A Mock-up of September's Calendar.

The point of this calendar is an easy access to knowing what bills need to get paid from what paycheck. Payday morning, I sit down with the calendar and pay what bills need to be paid. I make sure there is enough money left in the account to cover automatic withdrawals, and a reasonable "float" for miscellaneous purchases, and gas. Then with what's left over- if there is any left over... sometimes there is not- I make payments towards our debt.
                   
 Interjecting here---> It is important to know what your main financial goal is. Ours right now is paying off our debt. A couple years ago, our main goal was saving for a house. In 10 years I'm sure our goals will be more focused on investing for retirement... It doesn't matter what you put your extra money to. the most important thing is to HAVE A GOAL! It makes deciding what to do with your money so much easier and tends to keep you from wasting your money on frivolous things *cough cough* takeout *cough cough*

2. RECORDING YOUR ACTUAL BUDGET:

After paying what bills need to be paid I then print off the last two weeks of transactions from my online bank account. (Thankfully, mine has that option.)

I review the itemized list and assign each transaction to a group in my Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet Budget. Then I put the paper copy of the two weeks into the co-ordinating monthly tab in my binder.

 I chose a simple family budget spreadsheet that adds your totals up and gives you a month by month trend report at the end of each line. It also keeps a YTD total at the bottom of each column (month) If Spreadsheets intimidate you... (like they did me) I suggest taking a tutorial of Microsoft Excel. That's what I did. It makes things A LOT easier to understand. Remember.... I am TERRIBLE at math. If you still feel nervous about a spreadsheet then you could just keep a total of your categories on paper. It was just too much work for me.

I would link a copy of my spreadsheet but not only am I terrible at math... I'm not that great with computers either! Hahaha. Seriously though, take a little tutorial online either through Miscrosoft Excel (what I did) or I'm sure you could YouTube it!

When itemizing your two weeks of spending/deposits I want to note that KEEPING YOUR RECEIPTS really helps! I have a plastic sleeve in my Budget Binder that I can throw receipts into so that every two weeks when I itemize my actual spent budget I know what was spent on what. Then I just throw out all the receipts to start the next two weeks (Unless, of course, there's something worth keeping for Taxes)

The inside of my binder. Each month has the finished itemized list of credits/debits
and there is a tab for Receipts and the Bill Calendar at the end.

 

The whole point of keeping a budget is to REVIEW IT! After keeping a couple months sit down and look over where you're over spending, and where you might be able to cut to work faster towards your goal!

This is how we budget at the Wiebe Household. It's not very fancy... or complicated. But it works for us. How do you keep a budget?

Before you sit.... Check yourself!

I recently made Adam a list of things to do before he can watch a TV show. I've been finding he watches too much TV and I hate the constant bartering. So I made up a little list using Microsoft Publisher.
( I LOVE PUBLISHER)

I put the picture in a plastic sleeve so he can use a dry erase marker to mark the things he's done.

The best thing about this is that usually he gets busy doing other things and having fun doing them that he forgets that he wanted to watch TV anyway!

Anyway, I realized that I needed a similar list too... because I spend an awful lot of time on the computer (Says the woman writing a blog post... touche) So here is a list I made for myself and I plan on hanging it up right beside my computer to remind myself to do other things first, as well!

I may just have to frame this and hang it up. It would be more appealing to the eye.

It's so hard sometimes to be accountable to yourself when you're a stay at home mom. This is my struggle, and I find that visual aids help me the most. Do they help you?

4 Things Anyone Can Do To Tackle Debt

Since we purchased our home a year ago, our financial goals have shifted from saving for a house (duh) to paying off the debt we've accumulated. I'd like to say it's all debt from smart purchases but let's be honest... when we got married we were young... impulsive.... ..... yea ok, we were just down right stupid with our money management  spending.

So our goals have shifted. We are now tackling our debt until it is ALL PAID OFF!

Here's 4 things we've done or are doing to make that happen.

1. USE A BUDGET BINDER

It's a rather simple, and not new in any way idea. You can't tackle your debt if you don't have control of your spending habits. Keeping track of our budget on a spreadsheet has really helped us track our spending trends and realize just how much money we really blow on "Groceries" and other things. (It's definitely been more than I thought) Now we're able to target and plan for how we can improve spending habits in a more specific manner.

 However writing down a budget takes time. It also takes a lot of work and BOTH people in the relationship need to be involved or it gets to be too much for one or the other. I'll post about how to make your own Budget Binder- Wiebe Style- at future date.



2. PAY OFF THE CREDIT CARDS. EVERY PAYCHECK.

Generally speaking, my hubby and I don't like to use our credit cards (too easy to blow money on nothing).We tend to save cash for things we want to purchase. That way we know it's really something we wanted if we actually manage to save up the amount and buy it. Sometimes, however things get put on the card and I always make sure they either get paid off the day we use the card, or at the next pay day. ** If your credit cards are maxed out then make sure you pay more than the minimum payment every month until they're payed off completely and THEN PAY OFF THE CREDIT CARDS. EVERY PAYCHECK.

3. MAKE A "MANDATORY" MINIMUM PAYMENT TO YOUR CREDIT LINE

Our credit line is where our biggest debt (other than the house) is. It is also not necessary for us to pay a minimum monthly payment... which has come in handy over the years when we literally had NO MONEY to put towards the credit line. However handy that flexibility has been, it has also made us quite lax in paying anything towards our primary amount. So we figured if we pay back $167 minimum monthly we'd be able to pay off $2000 per year! We pay tithing first, bills second, then at the very minimum $167 to our Credit Line, if not more.

4. NEGOTIATE FOR BETTER RATES

This really is as simple as it sounds! We went in to our bank today and got 2.5% knocked off my husbands interest rate for his credit line. I kid you not! Simply because we asked (and qualified for it). Really, the bank works for us! We give them a TONNE of money yearly in interest alone. They want to keep us around- Or that's the attitude I went in there with anyway. I haven't tried this for our Credit Cards yet but I'm definitely going to now!

I know a post about money can be boring and even depressing... but I was so impressed at how easy it was for us to get a better interest rate I just had to share. So there it is...Anybody else out there have a similar goal?

Old Mrs. Leary

One Dark night...
When we were all in bed...
 Old Mrs. Leary left the lantern in the shed...
And when the cow kicked it over she winked her eye and said...
It's gonna be a hot one...
In the old town...
Tonight

FIRE FIRE FIRE!!!

Anybody else remember that song?

Anyway... a while ago our sheds burned down. We had started a prune pile in the cement pit of one and well one thing led to another and we had a regular multiple shed fire!

This is the frame work of the one shed before it collapsed

This was taken from inside the house. It was hot IN our house! 

So then the fire dept showed up to help put it out!

Adam was super excited to see the firemen at work.

They made short work of the fire... They are really good at what they do!

It was a crazy night! The sheds are now gone. Which actually worked out for the better! Saved us a lot of work tearing them down. Now there's just a big pile of charcoal and glass and metal to clean up and get rid of! 

Funny note. After the fire dept put out the fire... The one firetruck got stuck in our yard. The ground was too soft and the weight of the truck sunk into the ground. They had to get a semi tow truck to pull it out. Crazy night!

A Totally Average Totally Imperfect Day

Today I was thinking about how Pinterest and Facebook and Super Bloggers more often than I'd care to admit really give a skewed vision of peoples' lives. Oooh Susie Facebook ran another half-marathon and I have a hard time fitting 90 squats into my day! Susie Pinterest just pinned her Martha Stewart remodel job of her kitchen pantry with labeled clear jars. Wow that jar full of Macaroni also has a fancy label in a frilly font that ALSO says macaroni... in case I ever forget what macaroni looks like and need a reference point! here's a scenario that I am guilty of and I know I'm not alone in this. I sit down on Pinterest etc and read how put together every 'Susie' out there is and instead of just feeling happy for her.... I add on a big ol' pile of self-criticism. "Susie is awesome!! She has 3 kids and just ran a half marathon and had time to bake Organic Qunioa Fish oil Avocado coconut oil goulash for her kids in their homemade knitted sweaters... what is wrong with me? My kids only had cold cereal for breakfast and I haven't worked out in a week and they're lucky if they are dressed before 10 most days. I need to pull myself together I am such a failure!!" (I'm not alone in this right?) And I'm guilty of it myself. I like to think I'm an optimist. So when I post things on Facebook I try to keep my posts positive. "If you can't say something nice... don't say anything at all" Right?!

Well today I was talking to a very dear friend... on the phone... while chaotic mess surrounded me and I ate some yogurt and Goldfish crackers for breakfast... at 10:30 am. I DID get dressed this morning... including putting on a bra... go me! Anyway we were on this topic of trying to be perfect. And realizing that even Susie Pinterest's gorgeously remodeled bathroom is going to get piss all over the floor from her 4 year old "missing" and bathtub rings from not washing the tub EVERY SINGLE TIME SOMEONE BATHS and makeup powder that builds up around the sink. I see lists on Pinterest of what days to clean what to keep your house under control and I think... WHO HAS TIME TO MAKE A PRETTY LIST?! They're probably major procrastinators... because that's what I'd do... Seems legit.

"Ugh, I need to scrub my bathroom because it's a mess... or... Orrr! I could make a list of things that should be scrubbed in the bathroom and make sure it's in a matching font and matches the season we're in and also matches my hair and my bathroom tiles and curtains... oh wait the tile doesn't match the curtains... I better go buy new curtains" And off I go in my van with a mission to find matching curtains and come home with a bag of chips some toilet paper and no luck for matching curtains and the unneccesary and HUGE desire to remodel my entire bathroom all because it really needed to be scrubbed. (and still does)"

Anyway... I wish that we would all just relax. And maybe start posting some real posts. Because hey, I'm guilty of just posting the "AWESOME" days I have. You know, the ones that make you look like Betty Crocker on speed. But I rarely  never post the normal days. Sometimes I'll whine about the REALLY AWFUL DAYS!! You've all seen Susie Facebook post those posts...

"Oh little Johnnie Facebook got into the flour while I was in the shower after my HIIT workout and totally covered my kitchen in it, while little Susie Facebook Jr. drew all over the floor with a permanent marker and pushed her little sister Annie Facebook down the stairs... Here goes a trip the the ER.#Scarface #budding artist #worstdayever #bottleofwineneeded"   

So after this longwinded rant about how I think we should all be nicer to each other and more honest with each other... I decided to post an honest... very average day in the life of me.

I woke up at 8:30 today. Adam had probably been up for an hour or so already. He ALWAYS gets up before me. ALWAYS. Thank heavens for Netflix and my 4 year old's ability to navigate it without my help. I woke up because Caleb was crying and needing to nurse I laid back down in bed to nurse him and faded in and out of consciousness until he was done. Adam came in the room... "Mom can I have a snack?" "Sure bud," I reply "There's some leftover yogurt you didn't finish yesterday in the fridge" Off he goes to finish the yogurt he didn't finish yesterday. Then I get up and get dressed, change Caleb... head downstairs and ask Adam if he wants some breakfast. "Not yet mom, I want to finish my show" "OK, just let me know when you want some breakfast" My sister showed up with my niece, Luana. We're having a play date today because Brittney is going to Cranbrook to get her hair done. Chat with her for a while and explain that it's going to be a watch TV most of the day kind of day because Adam was up every 1/2 to hour all night because of his mouth. (His poor little mouth is filled with canker sores because he's getting his first Cold sore- or Whore Blossom as Dustin likes to call them. The cold sore has caused his entire upper lip to swell up and split. And he's had a fever for 2 days.) The day continued... Adam refused to eat his breakfast which was Toasted Oat O's (a knockoff Cheerio... DON'T MAKE THE MISTAKE OF BUYING KNOCK-OFF CHEERIOS... some things just need to be the real deal) covered in a hearty dose of brown sugar. Then the two kiddo's watched a tonne of TV between playing and generally creating a chaotic mess of My little Ponies crafting supplies, building blocks, and everything in between. I read a book. "Why Gender Matters" By Leonard Sax... for probably an hour or so. Then I checked Facebook. Nursed Caleb and put him to bed. Made some bread dough... heard Caleb screaming... went into his room and he had scratched his head raw. Blood everywhere. Someone murdered a leprechaun I swear... It was all over his shirt, the bed, his hand, his face, the blanket. I was horrified (and only slightly exaggerating) so I cleaned him up and put some Polysporin on it. Noticing as I threw his bloody stuff in the pile of clothes on his floor that I REALLY need to do some of his laundry... which was further pointed out to me when, later on, I decided to put a cap on his head because he was still rubbing his head with his socked hand until it bled. No clean caps/toques... so I just put a jacket on him that has a hood. Still haven't put his laundry in the wash.

Side note: Caleb has wicked Cradle Cap. REALLY GROSS!! Poor guy is always crusty. That's why he scratches it.

My Best friend called. She was having a rough day. We commiserated together about, well about exactly what this post is about and how we feel like we're failing as mothers and embarrassed about how "little" we can handle in a day. After chatting for a while we got off the phone to get back to our duties... and I decided to sit down and write this post. Well my internet is deathly slow so while that was loading I threw some prepackaged chicken in the oven for the kidlets because it was 1:00 already and we hadn't had lunch. Started the post... ate some chicken with the kids... WITH CHOPPED UP CELERY because it's healthy. Hahahaha. Sigh. Continued to write this post. Took a break to nurse Caleb again. Brianne (Brittney's Sister in Law) showed up to pick up Luana so I helped find all the My Little Ponies that she had brought over this morning... all the while making excuses to Brianne as to why my house is a total disaster. She didn't care. In fact she said the house looked nice, since the last time she really saw it it didn't have much for furniture because we had just barely moved in. Thanks Brianne!! Made my day so much better!! Thanks for being kind to me :) And here I am... finishing this post while my over-prouffed bread cooks.. and will be done just in time to be late for Caleb's vaccination appt.

I'm gonna go put on some makeup.. so I look put together for the nurse who's going to jab my baby.

What a strange world we live in.

Yes, the children are a little too close to the tv

How does she live in this mess?!

Look at me! I got dressed today!

You know what? They'll live!!

 

Adam's first "shave"

We joke in our family about Adam needing to shave by the time he's 6 or so... because, well my husband is part monkey :) So at his last birthday he got a Superman shaving kit from some friends of ours. We all had a good laugh. Dustin helped him "shave" and it was so cute I had to take some pictures to share!

Dustin lathered him up!

Just so cute!

Listening to directions from Daddy

Freshly Shaven!!

Adam's 4th Bird-day!

Well after scouring Pinterest for Pinspiration for Adam I decided on an Angry Birds 'Bird-day' Party for him. He's really been into Angry Birds lately and I thought it would be something really cool. Now one thing I have to say is that Pinterest has kind of turned me into a "Hard-core" mom. I'm not saying this to brag. I almost say it in disgust. I used to scoff when my sister cut cheese with a cookie cutter in a flower shape for her daughters' tea party. "You're so hard-core", I would say with my nose upturned and eyes rolling. Well... I've joined the group. Brittney definitely pointed that out to me at the party.... more than once :)

We started the party out with some colouring pages (Angry Bird of course) and play dough... (We were going to go outside first but it was POURING RAIN!)

Then while the kids were playing we got lunch organized. Nothing crazy. Adam wanted hotdogs and macaroni salad. Bam! Done!

Blowing out the candles! Woop woop!!

I made the cake with Brittney's help with some fondant! Turned out pretty good if I say so myself.

Adam opened his presents! He got some awesome stuff!! An Angry Birds Hot Wheels track, a practice Superman Shaving Kit, some clothes, cars, a real bow and arrow from Grandpa Lansing, a few board games, and some crafting supplies!

We had looked at this particular thing at Walmart. Aunty Brittney bought it for him.
When he opened it he said "Yesss! I always wanted this" Hahaha

I made an Angry Pig pinata but didn't stabilize a string in it to hang it... it ended up busting off so the kids just punched it apart. Hahahaha...

 Then the SUN CAME OUT! So we decided to go outside and brave the weather to try out the sling shot that Dustin Expertly made! The kids loved it!! We knocked over boxes that I had wrapped in paper and drawn on to look like brick, ice, etc. with a set of colourful kickballs that we got on Amazon for a steal! I was going to paint angry bird faces on them but didn't get to it. Meh!

Adam had so much fun! And I'll admit I felt like a million bucks with all the work that I put into it. I sort of get why people get hardcore sometimes. Because it sure pays off when your kid comes down in the morning and sees all your decorations and hard work and says "Wow Mom this looks AWESOME!! You are amazing!! I love all this Angry Bird stuff!!" Yea.... he's feelin' the love! It was a good day!