Dumb ol' recession

So.....in the middle of an economic recession, money is tight for many of us - I know that. We are surely not destitute by any meaning of the word, but we are moving ahead a little more cautiously, and little more thrify - like alot of people.
As of late there have been many a conversation about trying to be more frugal, and "that's a little too expensive", or "we probably won't be doing that this summer". It's good for kids to know that money doesn't grow on trees, right?
So, when Jason opened his fathers day card from Emma.......I somehow wondered if we've been a little too over-zealous in our financial discussions?





Happy Fathers day Jason!........minus the Reeces Pieces apparently.

Calling all cap and gowns.....

So it's graduation time for a lot of people. Kids graduating from kindergarten. Sister in laws graduating with their Masters Degrees (congrats Stef!). Tyler graduating from 6th grade. It's a big move. He's in the big leagues now. Well....he's in the littlest part of the big leagues at least.
Something was said at his graduation ceremony that I thought was profound enough to share. The assistant principal was giving his short little 2-cents worth, and said something about reaching our goals, you know - typical graduation stuff. The quote he used was perfect. He said something like "We've all been given two ends by birth - one at the top and one at the bottom. Which end you use more will determine just how much you get out of life".
I loved it!
We DO try to keep the couch sitting to a minimum, but sometimes - that's just what they gravitate to. HOWEVER, I have to give a big kudos to the kids. We have successfully gone for officially over a month now with no TV reception. None. Zippo. We decided for budgetary reasons to turn off the DirectTV the beginning of May, with the intention of just getting the rabbit ears antenna for the local channels - which, just hasn't happened yet. So, we've had no DirecTV, no cable, not even any local channels. So if they want to watch something it's either play a wii game or watch a DVD.
.......and they HAVEN'T EVEN COMPLAINED!
I thought for sure we'd hear whining every day about what they were missing on the Disney channel. I thought I'd whine about missing the news.
Actually, it's been quite fabulous thing! I'm don't feel like I have to compete with what's 'coming up next' on the screen.
The boys have asked if we could PLEASE turn it back on before the next Jazz season starts.
We'll see. For now we're going to enjoy some commercial-free time :)

Reach for the clouds...

...so we were jumping on the tramp - the girls and I, when two year old started jumping and reaching with all her might. "I got it!" - she said, and came and handed me a handful of..well...air.

"Thank you SO much!" I said, with as much enthusiasm I could muster.

"you welcome" she said, grinning from ear to ear.

"What is it?"

"clouds" She says (...oh....Clouds......of course!)

And why not?

Why on earth shouldn't we reach for the clouds, or the stars, or whatever you feel might be a hard thing - a little out of reach........and not always, but some lucky (and hard earned) days, actually reach them?