Making Dave Ramsey Proud!!

On July 1st, R and I started on a new financial journey. After reading Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover, we decided to get on board and take control of our finances. So far, it has been a great month of eliminating debt and living on a pretty strict budget. As part of the plan, we went through and cut up all of our credit cards (Dave Ramsey is NOT a fan of credit cards...go figure). Luckily, most of our credit cards remain in a lockbox unused, but cutting them up was very symbolic of our fresh financial beginning!

4th of July

At home before the festivities

Ready for the 2-mile walk in the parade!

Despite how it looks, little R DID enjoy the parade...not sure what this look was!

However, he was totally unimpressed with the fireworks!

I know I'm a little late, but since it is almost August I figured I would post our 4th of July activities! It was horribly humid and rainy pretty much all day, but by evening the rain had stopped, so the fireworks were on!

A's cheer group was in the town parade, so we sat through an extremely long parade to see/hear them cheer in the parade. Then that evening we went to Edmond's fireworks show. It was a humid, muddy mess and they didn't start the fireworks until 10:00. I think little R asked at least 100 times to go home before they even started! Then, when they did start he absolutely hated the noise...and ended up falling asleep with my hands over his ears!

I love the 4th of July! I don't know if it is because of R's career or just being grateful to grow up in this wonderful country, but I always get sentimental on the 4th of July, and I can't hear the Star Spangled Banner...ever...without tearing up! So, despite all the mud, rain, humidity-induced bad hair, and the ashes falling all over us at the fireworks display, it was a good day and we were so happy to celebrate together as a family!

She's a bike rider....FINALLY!!!

A has never had a desire to learn to ride a bike. We have attempted numerous times, and she was terrified! She has a Barbie scooter that she has been perfectly content to ride around the neighborhood. Finally, we decided we were doing our daughter an injustice by not making her learn to ride (she is almost 9 years old!)...so after a couple of crying, slobbering, snotting evenings of Daddy making her do it, she is now a bike rider....AND LOVING IT! I was totally convinced that the neighbors were going to call DHS on us those evenings...A was totally overreacting and causing quite a loud scene, begging Daddy not to make her do it! But no DHS workers have shown up at the door, so I guess we are safe!

This is what happens when you are the only boy...

The girls love playing dress up, doing each other's makeup and hair. Little R likes to be involved in whatever his big sisters are doing...so this is the result!! I don't think James Dobson (Bringing Up Boys) would approve, but the girls enjoy it, and little R enjoys it...so no harm, right??? And we won't mention Daddy's opinion of the whole thing...we will keep this G rated! : )

Sooo....what does this tell us? Do we need another little boy in the Willis house to even things up????

Cheer 4 Christ

A continues to LOVE Cheer 4 Christ! They were actually in the 4th of July parade on Saturday, but I didn't get any good pics of it, so I thought I would post a couple of their performance pics. Both pics have one of A's best friends, Reese...they met at school this year, and have become quite close. They won't be going to school together next year (they are both moving to different schools for the new school year), but we are hoping they remain friends...they have LOTS in common, especially their LOVE of cheerleading!

Kris Allen

While the kids were with MiMi & PaPa for a week, R and I got to spend lots of quality time together. One evening we went to a concert at an amusment park here called Frontier City...they have lots of summer concerts, and Kris Allen was a must-see! We waited in line that afternoon to get meet & greet passes, so we got to meet him that evening before the show. It was fun meeting him, although R and I both felt like giants compared to the little guy! He put on a great show...very talented!!

Bringing Up Boys

As an afterthought to my previous post...I am currently reading the book Bringing Up Boys by James Dobson. I am only on Chapter 3, but so far it is a great book! And my previous post goes right along with the whole theme of the book...boys are definitely different than girls! As a Psychology major, I used to always say that boys we knew were rowdy and undisciplined because they were allowed to be...and now that God saw to it that we are now raising a boy, my thoughts have changed on that subject completely!! Little R plays with things entirely differently than the girls did...they would have never dreamed of throwing their toys across the room to see how far they would go, of hitting everything EXCEPT the golf ball with their golf club, of climbing up the back of the couch in order to jump off the front, and the list goes on and on! The last 2 1/2 years of raising little R have definitely been quite the learning experience for us...and I'm sure he has MUCH more to teach us! : )

War Paint????

The girls have always LOVED sidewalk chalk...pretty much everywhere we have lived, our sidewalks and/or driveways have stayed artfully decorated during the warm months. This is little R's first summertime experience with sidewalk chalk...last year he had no interest. Of course, he found much more interesting things to do with the chalk than just draw on the concrete....I'll let the picture speak for itself!!

Sable's Summer 'Do

BEFORE

AFTER!!!

I have fussed for years about how much Sable sheds...and we jokingly talked about shaving her in the summer, but none of the groomers would do it. Well...R asked our groomer during the winter about shaving her, and he said "No problem"...so Sable now has her summer 'do! She looks like half the dog that she was, and I still can't look at her without laughing, but I do love vacuuming and not coming up with TONS of dog hair. And I know it will feel much better for her this summer! He was supposed to shave her big, fluffy tail, but because of a past incident (which we won't speak of Christie!), she is very antsy with people touching her tail...so she made it clear to the groomer that her tail was just fine the way it is! She kinda reminds us of a large squirrel! : )

A wins 1st Place!!

A's school had a poster contest to go along with their big book fair at Barnes & Noble. The kids were supposed to draw a poster that went along with a book they had read recently. A has been reading a book about the underground railroad, so she has been talking about that topic a lot lately. It has opened the door for some great "drive time" conversation about an important topic! Needless to say, that is the book she chose to base her poster on, too. And she won 1st place!! Way to go, A!!! We are very proud of you!!!