Oh quiet time...

Madison is getting the hang of sitting up in her Bumbo chair!


My sweet summer time kiddos!




Madison loves to snuggle with that horse!

Bethany was playing with the boys at the playground, and She was totally dominating!

Each afternoon around 2 o'clock Bethany has her quiet time and Madison goes down for a nap. I usually take my quiet time to do laundry, dishes, clean up the house, and do my housewifely duties. Today I decided to have a little quiet time too. Sitting and reflecting on the last 4 months of my life, and how amazed I am at the joy I feel being a stay at home mom. Staying home was a decision that I struggled with because I enjoyed the competitive side of my job, and I really do like to work...just not where I was working....but staying home has been so amazing thus far.

I am so happy that I am able to share this summer time with Bethany and that I get to watch Madison grow and change each day. Being at work for the bulk of Bethany's 'little kid' years makes me realize how much I missed out on by working 12 hours a day. Granted not all working moms have such a crazy work schedule, but I am so thankful the Lord has positioned us to be able for me to stay home. Going down to one income was an adjustment, but one that I (most of the time) willingly adjusted the spending habits to accommodate. I have to say that I am not the best budgeter, and even though we try hard to do the Dave Ramsey deal...I still mess up more than I'd like to admit. I just really enjoy buying things for the girls and for Justin.....Shopping is fun for me, and I am good at it! But I am learning, and we are going back to our envelopes this week so we can get back on track!

I took the girls to story time at the Library this morning, I really enjoyed it and I think they did too! We are very fortunate to live in an area that has tons of childrens programs that are free or close to it. You can catch a story time 3 days a week at various locations around the burg, and can follow it up with a picnic (when the heat index isn't 116 which it is today, so we did the dollar menu at McDonalds and even though I really hate going there, they have an indoor air conditioned playground...so we went there) I love going to the library with Bethany and seeing her little face light up and get so excited to pick out her 3 books and 1 dvd! She also gets to pick 1 book for Madison and she will read it to her. The last 2 dvds that she has gotten were episodes of my old favorite, Mr. Rogers!! I really wanted to find Reading Rainbow or Wishbone, but they didn't have them...I guess that will be a youtube search!