Making the Most of What You Got

It is no secret that we don’t have lots of money. I am not telling you this in a woe-is-me kinda way. Our money situation is largely due to the choices we have made. Getting married at 23, buying our house at 24, having our first kid at 25, taking a year off to stay home with Quinn, having a second kid and forfeiting my income so I could stay home with our children…yup, those are all choices. Choices we stand by. If money and career were number one, we probably would have had our kids later in life and I wouldn’t have given up my job. When I made the choice to be a stay-at-home mom, it meant selling our second car, refinancing our house, and giving up a lot of extras. At the end of the day though, we are not without. We have more than we need. It is easy to get caught up in it all and want more. I do it. A bigger house, a second bathroom, a two car garage, a walk-in closet, a second car, vacations…yup, I want all those things. But on most days I am content with where I am.

At the end of the day though, I am in the business of making memories. Yup, making memories cracks the top 5 in my job description. 1.) Keep kids safe, 2.) Make them feel loved, 3.) Instill strong morals and values 4.) Facilitate their growth  5.) Make awesome memories. Kids are simple. Awesome doesn’t have to be lots of money. Give them your attention and time. Above all, I must add, a cheery disposition does wonders for making everything fun.

My house is destroyed, the fridge is empty, the laundry pile is huge, no blogging or crafting were completed, but make no mistake…this weekend was AWESOME! We made our summer to do list with the idea of capitalizing on memory making. The thing is, it didn’t count unless we did it as a family. Lucky for us, Ross took off yesterday and today. We have been knee deep in memory making and fun.

We canoed, we had a campfire with s’mores, and the boys slept in a tent in the backyard. On Saturday we went to the farmer’s market and fished. Saturday night we had a cookout at the in-laws. Sunday was lazy. Sometimes you just need a lazy, rainy morning. Eventually we went to Quinn’s preschool open house, on a little shopping adventure and out to dinner. Monday we made it to the zoo and fed the giraffes and today Ross and Quinn went fishing early in the morning and we all went to the beach.

The canoeing, campfire, s’mores, tent, farmer’s market, fishing, zoo (feed giraffes), and beach all happened right here in my hometown. Take advantage of what your community has to offer. We spent $12 on canoeing, $3 on green beans at the farmer’s market, $5 for wood for the campfire and $30 for fishing poles. For $50 we made memories.

And because I just couldn’t resist, here are the faces of Eleanor.

OMG! I love that girl. I cannot believe it is almost September. The husband turns 30 in September! Old man ;). Pretty soon we will have to bust out our fall bucket list. We still have a few things left to finish up on the summer list. A trip to the fire station, a squirt gun fight, mini golf and a movie in the park. Movie in the park doesn’t seem likely, since we accidentally missed them. Err! Check out the original summer to do post.

This is what we have done: a trip to Chicago where we visited the Shedd Aquarium, hike, and Madison trip (non of which I have blogged about yet), lemonade stand, sleepover, Swimming at Grandmas and sparklers, the water fountain, water balloon fight, church festival State Fair (I took the liberty of changing it), feed the giraffes, sleep in a tent, farmer’s market, fishing, and canoeing.

How did you all do on your summer to do list? Thinking about making a fall to do list? So how do you make the most of what you got?

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