Kelle, Author at Enjoying the Small Things

Six Years

January 22, 2016 By Kelle

I went to pull the big red bow off the front of the green car the other day. It’s been several weeks since Christmas and—to be honest—I’m surprised it hasn’t fallen off yet, especially with the way Dash drives that thing. But here it is, late January, and the bow is still hanging on as the car turns another corner, rolls across another sidewalk groove, lands in the garage for another night of recharging, red glitter shedding all the way. It’s faded a bit in the sun, but the bow on the car still whispers “present.”

“Don’t take it off!” Lainey yelled, catching me just in time. “Leave it on. It reminds me of Christmas.”

It’s been six years today since Nella was born, and I guess you could say I still can’t take off the bow.

Six years old seemed so far away when I could barely comprehend the length of space between “She has Down syndrome” and “You can take her home now,” but I’ve realized in parenting that nothing is far away and time is an elusive and magical concept. How else do you explain that yesterday I dropped off a clingy, crying shy girl to kindergarten, and today she was a third-grader who barely turned back to say goodbye?

I do know that six years old was something I didn’t want to think about when Nella was born because I thought it would be hard. So I told myself to take one day at a time, to love as much as I could love in one day. To take any sadness, any happiness, any worries and all celebrations–but only one day’s worth–and make that my daily job. Because I can handle one day.

Truth is, it does get harder–for all kids. But that one day approach has served us well for every member of our family. I mean, look at us. We’re here. Alive! Frosting cupcakes!

I know how to handle one day. I wake up and listen to my kids and see what they need and get them to school and check their papers and show up for an appointment and give a pep talk and say I’m sorry and watch them play and hold their hands and tuck them in and end every day with Thank You and Onward and We Did It.

What I didn’t know though was how little I’d need to remind myself “One Day at a Time.” I’ve been a little preoccupied the past six years with this: (pssst: this is the part where I flood the post with my favorite pictures because birthday and sap.)

You know what life does after unexpected things? It returns to its regularly scheduled program. Mine includes taking cupcakes up to a preschool class where friends will sing “Happy Birthday” to a girl in a yellow dress. She’s six. And she’s mine.

As for what’s beyond six? Possibility and promise, one sweet sliver of a day at a time.

Happy Birthday, Nella. You are loved.

Boss Yo Money

January 20, 2016 By Kelle

This post is sponsored by YNAB.

Things I like to talk about: Babies. Bucket Lists. Candles. The Creative Process. Friendship Stories. Family Stories. Books. Music. Cool People. Peter Pan Collars. Nail Polish Colors. Food.

Things I don’t like to talk about: Money.

In fact, my overall response to all things money–budgets, taxes, banks–for a long time has been this:

I don’t want to look. Just tell me if I can spend or not. For the record, this is a horrible way to approach everything. YOU HAVE TO LOOK.

One of my 2016 goals is to exercise my girl power and, together with Brett and his boy power, become more in control of how we think about, spend and save our money. We talk about the importance of awareness and responsibility in personal health, taking care of our bodies and raising our children; we can certainly extend that awareness and responsibility in our finances.

The funny thing is, on that list of things I like to talk about, I have bucket lists. We love to talk about trips we’ll take someday or things we want to do with our kids or house projects we dream of starting, but all of those things? They can’t happen without money. And instead of throwing those dreams out into the universe and waiting for them to boomerang back to us (unlikely), we can grab the wheel and steer it much more efficiently if we become more specific in the HOW and WHEN behind those dreams.

Enter BUDGET. We’ve had very loose interpretations of it in the past, but we know we can do better at managing and saving our money, so we’re trying a new way of budgeting that is easily manageable and flexible. Less winging it and more MAKING IT HAPPEN.

A big help toward that goal? You Need a Budget, an app that allows you to have full control of your money and focuses on four basic rules that allow you to manage, save and change the way you spend. EVERY DOLLAR IS ASSIGNED A JOB.

The app syncs right to your bank account, and everything you spend from dinners out to that cute shirt you really want are tracked and categorized.

From someone who’s been intimidated by the word “budget” in the past (sounds like “DIET” and “RESTRICTION” and “NO FUN”), this is…dare I say…fun. Motivating and definitely satisfying in the sense that it feels powerful and smart to see where money is going and, in doing so, take charge of how it grows. And it’s flexible! You choose what’s important to you.

The app creates a great visual that makes teaching your kids about money easy too.

YNAB just launched an all-new web based version with smart budgeting features that make it even easier to be the boss of your money including direct import, goals, age of money, and many more.

So maybe I still won’t be discussing savings bonds over coffee with friends next week. But I’ll at least be able to tell you how much that coffee costs and how much is left in our Eating Out budget with an easy touch of a screen. Girl Power!

Are you ready to take a new look at budgeting? YNAB is offering my readers 3 months free when you click this link.

Find My Shoes (A Tiny Shit Find-It Game)

January 19, 2016 By Kelle

Step on a Lego lately? Tired of finding Shopkins wedged between the couch cushions? Got a few Barbie shoes hanging out in the bathtub toy net? Home overtaken by tiny shit? Hear ye, hear ye: a solution for all. Actually, I was trying to think of something fun the kids could make at Nella’s Barbie-themed birthday party and wanted to use up some Barbie shoes that are everywhere in our house except on a Barbie’s foot. And since I have a few minutes before the Never-ending After School Errand Adventure begins, I thought a short little post with our Tiny Shit Find-It Game might be fun. Except we won’t call it Tiny Shit Find-It Game this weekend. We’re calling it:

You’ll Need:

16-oz Juice Bottles (one per kid) We used these ones.
Colored Rice, a little less than a pound per bottle (we just used regular food coloring to dye dried rice)
Funnel
Tiny Toys. You can use Barbie shoes, Shopkins, Legos, etc. Just make sure they look different and you keep track of what’s in the bottle so kids know what to look for. We are making sets of 10 different Barbie shoes for each child’s game. Because these kids are preschool age, Lainey helped me make photo keys for what each child needs to find.

Have kids funnel their rice into their juice bottle, pausing periodically to drop a Barbie shoe in until all of them have been placed. Fill the bottle almost completely with rice, but leave a little bit of space to allow movement/shifting. The more tightly the bottle is filled, the harder the game is.

Secure the lid, shake the bottle up, and shift to find each shoe on the list.

Found the green one!

Nella loves it and quickly got the hang of how to move the bottle to find the shoes. Easy peazy. I wonder how many of these we’d have to make to clean out our junk drawer.