Us and the Kiddos: June 2014

Monday, June 30, 2014

Little Teaser and the path to get there

Louis and I have been talking about buying a house lately. I've been very, VERY casually browsing homes-just kinda getting a sample of what's out there and what the prices are looking like these days. Yesterday we actually took the time to go look at one that I found that we both really liked. It is in the best part of town, at least in our opinion, good ole Southeast Boise. We love it here. The house prices are a bit more affordable out in Meridian or other parts of Boise , but it's just not our thing. Problem with this part of town is the houses are more expensive, but apparently re-sell is never a worry over here. Plus I work over here, my parents live over here, and the girls go to school not far away, so there is no reason to go elsewhere. The best part of this house, besides location and it being brand new and sparkly clean, is it is completely affordable. It is well below what our pre-approval amount estimated. It is actually quite a bit below even the conservative figure we were given, which is good. I don't want a house payment that is so high that you are a slave to your house. We don't need a huge house in the most opulent neighborhood. I have a few stipulations and most of them are a nice kitchen since I love to cook and its the heart of the home. This house would need very little work expect for some vanity type changes- paint the walls, blinds, perhaps some wainscoting in the office or something, but all that would be cosmetic and no rush. Here's a few pictures of the home so you all can fall in love with it just like I did. The address is 974 E Wright which is just right off Apple and Law, about 5 minutes from my moms house.

**This computer is being stupid and wont let me upload some pictures, so here's the link to a virtual tour of the property:974 E Wright**

We sat down, like adults-boring right?!?!, and did our monthly budget and figured out all of our money stuff. Like I already said- BORING! Anyways, we have decided we are going to open a joint account and stash away about $2K a month, and then when we are ready we should have more
than enough to put down a decent down payment. We already are in the mind set of being obligated to put down 20%, if for some odd reason we get an FHA loan( with only 3.5% required down) or something vs a standard loan through a bank, then we will have a nice cushion left in the account. After bills are paid and we have socked away our monthly 2k savings it leaves us with almost another 2k as leisure money. What I suggest and we will see how it goes, is that we each get a 100$ a week as pocket change- buy a coffee on the way to work, go out to lunch, buy a coke on the way, etc., but the rest of it is there for those little things life hands us- car registration, doctors appointments, new pair of shoes for the girls, etc. Hopefully there will be money left over after all that stuff and we can blow it on whatever. In a perfect world, this is how I have it planned!! :) Here's to hope!

Monday, June 16, 2014

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all you amazing dads out there. It is a tough job to be a dad- you have to be the supporter and protector, the rock and foundation, the person we all lean on, and some of us do a lot of leaning. You have to be the one to dish out the discipline but also the one who wraps arms around them as they climb up in your lap while watching a movie because they're scared. The toughest part is that you don't HAVE to do any of this. Anyone can be a father, but it takes someone special to be a dad or daddy. Luckily for me and mine, we all have dads/daddys in our lives! My girls, all three of them, have amazing men in their lives. Their father/father figures and grandfathers are all amzing. The are setting examples for them now how they should be treated by a man and the expectations they should have from a man. Any man that enters into the lives of these three little girls are gonna have huuuge shoes to fill. I love you and thank you Louis and Jim for all you do for us and Jason I thank you for being an amazing dad and giving me two of the best things I could have ever asked for. :)

For Father's Day, we were pretty low key this year. We started the day out by going out to breakfast. Louis loves Denny's, so we headed over there and had some vittles. It was actually surprisingly good! :) After that, we loaded up and went over to my moms house. He took the girls to the pool swimming and I stayed back and me and my mom cooked up a Father's Day feast. I made potato salad and key lime tarts to go with the ribs and stuff she was making. I also made cookies n cream cupcakes for our relay for life bake sale at work. I made both Louis and Jason the same gift for fathers day- a picture frame with the word "dad" spelled out with pictures of the girls. They both really liked it. Papa got a bottle of wine and grandpa P is getting a random bunch of stuff that Louis has been putting together. :) Anyways, it was nice because all of us were able to get together at nana and papas- me and Louis, Jason and Shelly and nana and papa and of course all three girls. It's nice that we can all be adult and join forces for the girls. The only people who suffer when parents cant get along is the children and I'm thankful that through it all we have all been able to remain adult about things.

Sunday, June 8, 2014

Capitol Classic Race

Yesterday was the St.Al's Capitol Classic Race. It is an annual race that is for children ages 6-14, they run from the train depot down to the Capitol building, only a mile, and all the proceeds go to help the childrens programs at St.Al's. Bella ran with her friend Marta, and had I known Zoe wanted to run to, I would have put her in, but I had no clue and let me tell ya, she was MAD! Next year I guess. Anyways, after the race all the children get a medal and then there's a party type thing afterwards in Capitol Park where they have sandwiches and frozen yogurt and all t hat kind of stuff. We didn't stay for the party because of Zoe, her feelings were hurt, so we went and had some lunch at Chicago Connection afterwards. Regardless, Bella had a blast and is already looking forward to next years race. There is another one in the mean time though called the Harrison Classic that is in the fall that they will both do. Good for them, get them off the couch!!

***Saint Alphonsus Capitol Classic Saint Alphonsus Capitol Classic Boise, ID Jun 7, 2014 10:30AM search Leaders Results Isabella Martin Bib 687 ISABELLA MARTIN Capitol Classic » Boise, ID Finished 00:10:47 Overall 555th of 1,208 Female 219th of 635 F8-9 58th of 204 0 Facebook 0 Twitter Email Timing Interval Time of Day Chip Time Chip Pace Gun Time Gun Pace Start 11:15:20AM Finish 11:26:07AM 00:10:47 10:47 min/mi 00:26:07 26:08 min/mi***

Killin' Time

Friday was my first day with the girls of summer break. We hung out, ran some errands, did some shopping, got some lunch, and went over to a friends house for a girls night out. It was a good day!

Playin' for a while at the "Space Park"

Then we went to the book store. They LOVE the book store. I had to go to Natural Grocers up there so it was a prime opportunity to visit.

My friend Bonnie

The little ones gettin' into some goodies....

Zoe's Kindergarten Graduation

June 3rd was Zoe's kindergarten graduation. We were all able to make it so that was nice. I can't believe that my little monsters are already in third and first grade...crazy!! Anyways, she got to go pick out a dress and of course she picked out some frilly fluffy little number. Her school only has one full day kindergarten class and then one half day kindergarten class, so all in all there were like 30 kids graduating. They performed three songs and did the handing out of the 'diplomas' and then afterwards had a cookie and punch reception. It was Tuesday morning, and one of the days I work, but fortunately my co-worker is awesome and covered me for three hours so I could attend. Good job ZoZo, we are super proud of you buddy!!