SIX!!

My baby is six! When did that happen? I told him he couldn't grow up...he didn't listen!

I love this boy so much. It has been my tradition to share what I love about the birthday kiddo so here it is, six reasons why I love my 6 year old!!

1. That smile! The cute little cheeks, the bright eyes...his smile lights up any room he is in. I love.love.love it!

2. He still SNUGGLES! While he barely fits on my lap, he will still climb up and cuddle in my lap. Or snuggle for stories. He will also snuggle with any of his siblings... as long as they let him! He is my love bug, for sure!

3. He loves to clean! He really does. I thought he would grow out of his "helper" stage but nope. He calls himself a "professional bed maker" and is always willing to wash a table, mop, sweep or vacuum!

4. He is nice to everyone. Even if he has a friend who annoys him, he is still kind. He will play with anyone and include them in his games. He would spend hours out at the park playing with whoever was out there.

5. He loves anything his brothers do! Legos, Minecraft, Star Wars...and doesn't let them tease him when he wants to watch a "baby show" like Paw Patrol, Jake and the Neverland Pirates...

6. He loves to read, draw and do puzzles.

Happy Birthday sweet six year old! Mom loves you!

A look back...

Today my husband woke up early, showered, grabbed a few snacks and his backpack and he was gone. Off to school. Grad school. Cal State Northridge to be exact.

It has brought back so many memories of the last time he was in school. Life for our family is so much different now than it was then. So, so different.

That time in our lives was when I learned so much about saving money. Unfortunatley, it didn't happen with a lot of speed bumps along the way.

 

Here is a little comparison:

Then (1999-2002 approx)

**3 kids
**3 kids all in diapers
** Ben at school from about 8ish to 5ish
**one car (an old blue mini van) still making payments on it
**Ben had to ride the bus, so that I could have the car
** lived in a variety of housing, including: student family housing, managing an apt. complex and later we moved into a low income housing complex.
** qualified and were recieving: food stamps, WIC, the state health plan, and a stipend every month for our utility bill so that we could run the heat w/o worrying about the cost
**lived off of approx. $1000 a month


My hubby will probably kill me for this one (:

Our family then, with some help from both sets of Grandparents

in front of our low income housing






 

Ben graduated from the University of Oregon in June of 2002. We have lived in a few different places, but our life NOW looks like this...

**5 children (ages ranging from 13--->3
**1 child in diapers (although is almost completely potty trained!)
**Ben's hours have not improved much...
** 2 cars (1 SUV that we bought just 2 years ago, brand new and  a 2006 Ford Focus that is paid for)
**We made the choice to live in military housing, it was brand new and renovated, has parks, a pool, gym and we don't have to pay for utilities (other than our phone/internet/cable etc)
** Qualify for absoutely nothing
** Insurance is through the military,  as well as our life insurance.
**We have a variety of savings accounts, (long term, short term etc)
** while I am not going to share how much my husband makes, I will tell you that it is quite a bit more than $1000 a month (:

Turner family now...

 

 

While things have changed, we still try to keep our heads about us when we make choices. We are not perfect. I have been know to make frequent visits to a store that rhymes with Shmarget. I know we have come a long way and I know that we LEARNED lessons that we wouldn't have learned, had we not had to go through what we did. I like where we are at now...ecspecially not having 3 kids in diapers!