Day 4 & a lesson in being together

Sorry bout’ that…sometimes the days get away from from me.  So Days Four and Five have come and are almost gone, and the challenge is going really well so far.  No major urges to spend, no major slip-ups.  No major meltdowns while driving past Chipotle.  This in part to not having driven past any.  Ahem.

I would like to say that you might think this challenge merely prevents me from my 1st love, The Big C.  But it has actually manifested itself in many ways.  Like when we had a slight home emergency yesterday that required spending $32.  We were loathe to see that money spent, but it was a must.  And those are exactly the things I warned you about.  Stuff happens.  Life happens.  However, the look on our sons face when he saw IRON MAN/CAPTAIN AMERICA decals for his room – and Mommy and Daddy both wanted to give in and just get em’?  Yeah.  That’s not a must.  And they might be gone when we go back in October.  Yes, they might.  But as Anton likes to keep saying “it’s September…”  And for us, September = “days of nothing”.

Otherwise we’re doing really well.  Sunday we had a lovely breakfast together…wait.  Can I just stop right there for a sec?  If you have such a busy life (and many of us do) that you have not been able to get your family around the table – this challenge is the perfect solution for that.  No TV on in the background.  Just family time.  We have the sweetest conversations and moments with our kiddos during mealtime.  Not to mention the joy of seeing our kids excited over their meals – that many times Daddy lets them help prepare.  Sunday was awesome for being together – I’ll show you why…

Breakfast:  Fabulously fresh eggs, sausage, hash-browns, (and some homemade ones too) fresh ground Ethiopian coffee (to. die. for), toast with strawberry preserves.  Delicious!

Love the look of joy on Quint's face...

I LOVE the way Q’s little hand slid into this shot.  He was dying to get his mitts on that toast!

Yes, don’t mind if I do….

Lunch:  Left-overs.  Sort of.  AB and I didn’t eat.  But the kids were hungry – so they had a fruit/meat/cheese/crackers combo.  We were saving all our room for…

Dinner:  We invited some friends over for a good old-fashioned Texas Brisket, corn on the cob and summer yellow squash (thanks to R!), beans, sliced onions, and pickles.  Anton made homemade BBQ sauce…out of this world.  Everything was delicious, right on down to the amazing “cake” that E brought.  Ummm, something like sugar cookies on the bottom, oreos, then brownies, then vanilla ice-cream.  People.  ohmygarsh.  Needless to say, I stupidly didn’t get a picture of it.  Such a great time…  And can I just add, that eating together as a family, or getting together with friends make the no spending bit seem very insignificant.  You’re having so much fun, you really don’t think about it.  And honestly, you’re a lot more comfortable in a home most times.  And then there’s seconds.  There’s that.  No judgment!

Day five to come tonight…