Weighing the Options

This fall, Brandon and I took the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University course through our church. It was a great learning experience and we'd highly encourage anyone who's interested in achieving financial peace to consider taking it at some point.

Part of what Dave taught us about was the importance of teaching your children how to handle money. One of the ways he suggested we could do this was by paying your children for doing chores around the house...thus instilling the value that in order to make money, one must work for it. We decided to pick a few household chores and attach a monetary value to them. We made charts for both of the kiddos and frequently give them the option to make some money. They can refuse if they wish.

Most of the time, Connor is eager to do the chores to make money. He does dishes, helps with laundry, empties the trash, and cleans up around the house (some woman is going to be VERY happy one day!). Brandon sits down and "pays" the children every Sunday. Connor eagerly awaits payday every week, and sets aside some money for savings, some to give to church, and some to spend.

Our little man attended his first skating party this weekend and he LOVED it!! He did really well coasting around the rink. After this experience, he decided that he wanted to use his money to buy roller skates. Some online research showed us that skates would cost $18.00. He has $9.00, and you could tell that waiting another two weeks to buy something was going to pain him a great deal.

Dave Ramsey also mentioned the concept of "matching" a child's savings, much like a traditional IRA through a company. Brandon and I talked and thought that we'd offer Connor a match for his money...if he would agree to brush his teeth without whining for ONE FULL WEEK (this is a constant battle at our house and we have been brainstorming for quite some time about how to nip his whining about teeth brushing in the bud). We presented the idea to Connor.

He thought about it. And thought some more.

Then he said..."I think I'd like to just keep saving my money and buy my skates myself".

Some things just aren't worth giving up the right to stomp your feet and complain about the small injustices of life....and apparently teeth-brushing is one of those small injustices in our son's eyes.

Guess the battles will continue on. Whoever came up with the brilliant idea that kids should brush their teeth TWICE a day?

Dang it.

The Christmas Tour: 2007 Edition

Okay, so once again, I'm behind in posting. But hey, the suspense makes it a little more exciting, right? I'll get caught up, but let's pick up where I left off...Christmas.

We had a great holiday season. We spent Christmas eve and Christmas morning in Great Bend with the Hanekes and then drove on out to Colorado for three days of fun in the snow with the Carlsons in Colorado. We had a great time and the kids were such troopers in the car!

Before we took off for Great Bend, we opened presents as a family here at home. Here's Kylee with her new princess vanity (now if you see our daughter sporting purple eyeshadow, you'll know why):

Here's Connor, not looking AT ALL excited to be opening presents...

The kids were excited that Santa found them in Great Bend at Great Grandpa Haneke's house. It was so much fun to watch them open presents. Santa brought the kids tents this year...Santa was hoping that the tents would reduce the number of "forts" constructed around our house (using every chair and blanket available, of course), but alas, the forts still appear....the kids do enjoy sleeping in the tents at night when we're away from home.

Santa also brought Connor a laptop...which he subsequently asked to return for more Transformers....we had to give the educational toy a shot, right?!?!?

Kylee and her new Snow White Dress:

After a delicious lunch in Great Bend, we headed towards Colorado. The kids had a great time seeing Aunt Mary, Uncle Justin, and cousins Drew, Amy, and Beth. Grandpa and Grandma did a good job of juggling the whole crew! We played indoors and out....the highlight for Connor was getting to go sledding. He zipped right down a fairly steep and high hill, laughing all the way. Kylee thought she wanted to try, but when we got on the sled, she changed her mind...

I took her down with me, anyway. It was her first and last trip.

Grandpa and Grandma Carlson had matching t-shirts made for all of us. Here's Connor modeling the grandkid version:

And now, for the FAVORITE presents this year...Kylee with Tea Time with Belle and Connor with Optimus Prime:
We concluded our Christmas season by celebrating with the McKinney family. We all enjoyed swedish pancakes together, and, of course, more presents. Connor got a guitar from Grandpa and Grandma Lori (we're thankful they opted for this instead of a drum set):

Oscar, Grandpa and Grandma Lori's dog, gave each of the kids fun stuff to use in the tub:

We rang in 2008 with a quiet evening playing games with friends. It was a welcome wind-down after the holiday hustle and bustle. Now it's back to work, me teaching Assessment at Jewell and Brandon handling the new year's business at DST. Connor is back at school and Kylee keeps us on our toes on a daily basis.

We hope 2008 finds you happy and healthy!