Lately

It's been awhile since I posted.  I've been busy trying to get everything ready for closing on the house which is next week and getting it rented out.  I put myself on a new, stricter budget so we can get the house paid off as quickly as possible.  Too help me do that, I decided to go back on the strict Dave Ramsey budget and put cash in envelopes so I stick to my budget.  I have used a budget as long as I can remember.  But if I want something bad enough, I will just buy it and put a little less into savings that month.  I also notice that I spend much more on groceries when I am paying with a credit card.  I never carry a balance so Mario likes me to get the air miles but I keep trying to tell him that I would spend so much less without the credit card and the extra savings can be spent on a plane ticket and still have money left over to dump into our savings account.   To make a long story short, I am back to using envelopes.  But I hate the Dave Ramsey paper ones, so after seeing some really cute fabric ones on a friend's blog, I decided to make my own.  I thought they came out very cute for a non-crafty person like me.  I get all kinds of anxiety when I walk into a Michaels or Hobby Lobby.  They are not my kind of stores.

We started a new chore system with the kids after reading how the Eyre household did theirs and now  Shawni, their daughter does it with her own family.  I read about it on her blog-71 toes.  Anyway, the kids get an allowance that is equal to their age.  Then they do the 10-20-70 rule.  10% tithing, 20% savings, and 70% living expenses (love that category) because kids need to learn to budget their money.  The kids earn 10% interest every quarter to encourage them to save even more than 20%.  They can't take the money out of savings until college.  I am recommitting myself to having the kids do better at piano practice, reading 30 minutes a day, times table review, and chores.  I made the following circle chart that I rotate daily.  It's been working well for the past few days.  I just have to stay consistent.

Ok, stop reading now if you don't want to hear me bragging about my wonderful children and husband.

Mario has left a lot of the new house details to me.  But that's ok because he is the one flying to Florida for the closing and then showing it to potential renters.  He has been very busy finishing his PME (Professional Military Education) for Lt. Colonel.  He always has a goal to complete it before he pins on the next rank.  He just finished number 4 of 5 tests/papers.  I think the last one is not graded or at least most of it isn't graded, so in his mind, he is pretty much done.  I am so proud of him for not procrastinating and getting it done.  He's good at making goals and sticking to it.  His big motivation this time around is to get an extension here in Omaha so Erin won't have to move during high school.

Eric wanted to drop Spanish 2 when we moved here because Spanish 1 was apparently taught differently in Tucson.  So he was lost in Spanish 2.  The thought of getting a B or a C in a class caused him a lot of stress.  My brother, Charlie, convinced him to stay in and just study (something Eric has never done) and I am happy to say that Eric has the highest grade out of all her classes.  So I am so thankful that he didn't drop it.  He continues to excel in all his classes and now he will start preparing for ACT/SAT tests.   He took the PLAN test that predicts your ACT scores.  His results give a range and it said that he would get somewhere between a 31-34 on the official ACT.  But his goal is higher.  So he's going to get a chance to put those study skills to good use.  I hope he's not disappointed if he comes up short.  I know that whatever he gets, I will be very proud of him.  We found out that Eric has no chance to graduate towards the top of his class here in Omaha because the class ranking is not just GPA but also the number of classes taken.  Tucson only had 6 periods and they offer 7 here.  So there is no way he can compete because his GPA is multiplied by his classes. So he comes up 1 class short.  I called the school to see if there was anyway he could make up that one class missed and essentially they said, "Nope, but his grades look good and if he does well on the ACT/SAT he should have no problems with scholarships."  I'm glad to see they support the military families in the community!

We attended parent/teacher conferences with Erin.  I think we only go because we like to hear all the compliments from her teachers.  They recommended her for all Honor classes next year.  The paperwork said to expect one hour of homework per honor class.  I don't believe Eric ever puts in more than 2 hours a week total for his 4 honor classes (unless there is a big project due) and I suspect Erin will be no different.   It is amazing to me that she will be in high school next year.  My baby girl!  Oh, how sad!  The big countdown begins.

The twins continue to amaze/amuse us.  They were excited to tell me the other day that the entire 3rd grade was given a math test.  The top 4 scorers would be put on a team to compete at competitions.  My boys made it into the top 4.  We were thrilled.  We sat down with Zach's teacher and she told us that there is no reason for Zach to not get advanced on everything.  But he hurries through his work.  Why can't teachers just grade on a normal grading scale?  That's besides the point.  So now we have to work with Zach to slow down.  He's definitely an A type personality.  Then there's Nate.  He's the exact opposite. His teacher said that he takes his time with everything he does but finishes most of his work within the timeframe given.  He hates timed tests though.  I think they cause him anxiety.  They both read on a fifth grade reading level but the teachers said they won't let them move beyond that because the material is not age appropriate.  So it starts all over again.  Same problem we had with Eric and Erin.