Dear Becca & Grant,
                  My vacation is over and I have to go back to work in the morning. Maybe with me back to work Mom won't feel like she has to put in so many hours. She's going to get 105 hours on her next check. She needs to ease off the hours or she will get burned out. I had a pretty nice vacation. Sunday, as I have already mentioned, we went to Cracker Barrel and had a great breakfast. Most of the week just the kids and I hung out. Thursday Mom & I took the kids down to Mamaw & Papaw's and we went clothes shopping for Becca and Grant for the summer. We went to Sonny's Bar-B-Q in Nicholasville. I enjoyed it but I don't think Mom is all that crazy about it. We then went to the Goodwill over there to see if we could find some cheap clothes. We got quite a few pieces of clothes for the kids and a Casper the Friendly Ghost video tape for Becca. She loves it. We then went to Wal-Mart and busted the budget on summer clothes. We had a nice time.
      Our budget was a total disaster this month but we knew that it would be because we had never tried a written budget before or any budget for that matter. We learned that until we get all of our categories fully funded we will have little glitches. This past month we were hit by Easter that we hadn't planned on, a birthday for a set of twins that Mom spent way too much money on, her son, Dylan's birthday which I don't begrudge her spending on at all, Kristie had a minor issue that hit us pretty hard, and I had to pay taxes and insurance on the Explorer. We had money for all of these things though because I knew exactly where our money was at and where I could cut in order to cover these other unplanned expenses. Gasoline threw us off as well. I only budgeted $55 or so per week for both vehicles and we found out that that wasn't near enough. Next month I have budgeted nearly $70 per week for gasoline. I hope that's going to be enough. I have set up a new category soley for unplanned expenses called our non-emergency fund.
      After twenty-two years of dipping Copenhagen, the most expensive smokeless tobacco on the market I have decided to go with a value brand called Grizzly Snuff. It tastes very similar to Cope at almost half the price. I think it's even a little more moist than my beloved Copenhagen. I am proud that I was able to cut that huge expense from our budget. I freed up nearly fifty dollars. We're going to have to save for a new computer monitor for the desktop. We don't hardly use the desktop much at all so we're not in a real big hurry but there are things that have to be done on the laptop. So we will wait until we have at least $500 in the non-emergency fund and then get us the cheapest black flat panel monitor we can find. I think we are going to have to pay around $200.
      I realized that I hadn't thought about an automobile replacement fund. I set one up but I have no idea where the money will come from because after I save 15% for retirement and $215 towards college and take care of basic stuff there's just no more money to stash away into a new car fund. It'll work itself out. Maybe we will find more places to cut the budget. When we get our last credit card and Dell paid off we will have a little more to work with. Well, enough about the budget.
      Becca is on spring break next week so she doesn't have any school. I'm gonna close out this post out now. Daddy loves Rebecca & Grant!

Dear Becca & Grant,
                  Oh Boy, Becca got herself in some deep doo-doo yesterday. Mom was at work and Becca was running around the house getting into everything like she always does. She came up to say something to me and I noticed she looked different. She looked like she had bangs. I asked her if she had cut her hair again. She then informed me that it was an accident. She had butchered her hair up right. She had really short bangs and the left side of her hair was cut to about six different lengths. I told her that it was not an accident and then she told me that we didn't need to tell Mom that she had cut her hair. I don't think that would have worked. She had given herself a miniature mullet. It was heart breaking. I told her how sad I was and she started to cry. I called Mamaw and told her and when Becca talked to Mamaw she told her that she loved her new cut because she was now pretty like her Mom. Mom had gotten herself a haircut earlier in the week. I suppose she wanted a haircut because her Mom had gotten a haircut. I wasn't going to spank her even though she really deserved one then she smarted off to me about her hair and then she got a spanking. Becca fights like a bear against a spanking. She got four good swats on the rear.
      I decided that she needed her hair fixed and she needed it fixed now. I loaded up both Becca & Grant and after I put some gas in my thirsty Explorer we headed off to Cookie Cutters, the children's hair cutting place that we take Becca and will one day take Grant. Cookie Cutters is way out of our way; over very near Hamburg but we have discovered that if someone does not have experience with children they really can't do the job. The stylist at Cookie Cutters had a consultation with her colleague about what could possibly be done to her hair. They asked me what I wanted to do and I told them I wanted to save as much length as possible. Becca had the most beautiful long hair. The stylist informed me that Becca could have a mullet and the length could be saved or they could give her what they called a pixie cut and it would just be a cute short haircut. I opted for the short cut. I really wished that Mom was there to help me make the decision but I couldn't get in touch with her. Mom & I have been together for so long that lots of times we know what the other one would want. The stylist cut your hair using a razor which kind of blended the hack job into the cut. For a short cut it looked nice but I absolutely hated for her to lose her hair.
      After the cut we went to Culvers for a burger and a frozen custard. I asked for a triple burger and the girl told me they didn't have a triple. They just had a burger where three burgers are compressed into one. I took all of my frustrations with Becca out on this poor girl. I asked her in a not too kindly voice if the sandwich had three patties and she said it did and then I informed her that three patties means it's a triple and then I told her she needs to use some common sense. I was so incredibly rude. Actually I bit that kid's head off. I must have gotten her flustered because after I pulled off I noticed that I didn't have my fries and realized she didn't give me my drink. I was probably a little too hard on the girl but sometimes the ignorance of some fast food employees just irks me.
      We then drove down the interstate and got off at the exit nearest Mom's work. We drove over there and went upstairs. We saw Mom walking down the hall and I told Becca to run up on her. She did and Mom kind of looked at her like she didn't know her then a look of horror cam over her face. She looked at me and shot daggers at me with her eyes. She demanded to know what I did to her child. I told her that Becca started it and I had to have it fixed. When I asked Mom if she liked it all she said that was that it would grow back out. Mom was very upset because Becca's hair had just gotten long enough to pull back. All of the women that Mom works with were almost as sick over Becca's hair as her Mom & I were.
      Becca was supposed to go to bed early but she really didn't but I told her it was earlier and she believed it. I told her if she got out of bed even once she was going to get another spanking. She had been reminded just how mush a good whooping stung so she almost listened to me. She got up once and as I got up to pop her on the but she screamed that she had to pee so I gave in and didn't spank her. She did in fact urinate. I then told her that she had already peed so the very next time she got up she would get a spanking and I meant it. She went back to bed and hollered to get up for about a half an hour and then she went to sleep. She's been asleep ever since.
      Becca is a good girl but she's a three year old girl and they tend to get themselves into all sorts of messes. She's exploring her limits and the limits of her Mom & I. She's been a hand full lately but I'm sure it's just a stage she's going through. Grant is still the happiest boy you'd ever hope to meet. As Papaw said the other day, he is the most patient baby he'd ever seen. Papaw is looking forward to mowing with Grant and I am sure that if Grant had any concept of what mowing with Papaw entailed that he would be excited about it as well. I think Papaw is Grant's favorite person outside of this house. His favorite person right now seems to be his big Sissy. Becca can get a smile out of him just by looking at him. The other night Grant was having a very uncharacteristic fussy spell. He didn't want to be in his jumperoo that Mamaw & Papaw got for him, he didn't want to be in his bouncer or in my lap. Becca wanted a bath so I put Grant in his bouncer and let him fuss while I prepared a bath for Becca. I decided to put Grant in the hall looking into the bathroom so he could watch Becca take a bath. Becca was blowing bubbles with a bubble wand in the tub and Grant watched her and giggled and laughed at her. He does love his big Sissy.
      Gotta close this out. Daddy loves Rebecca & Grant!

Dear Becca & Grant,
                  Yesterday was Easter Sunday. We didn't go to church. I feel kinda bad about not going but we haven't gone to church in a coon's age and I always thought of those people who go to church just at Easter as Easter Christians and I didn't want to think of myself as just an Easter Christian. I'm probably worse because I didn't even take my family to church on Easter Sunday. It's been a long time since I felt at home in a church. I felt at home in the church I grew up in, Versailles Assembly of God which eventually became Kingsway Assembly of God when they moved to Kingsway Drive and then they became known as King's Way Assembly of God when they moved again to Versailles Road across from the castle. I even courted met and courted my first wife in that church. I also felt at home at Mortonsville Assembly of God when I went there with my family when I was a teenager. Since then I just haven't felt like I belong anywhere. We tried Kingsway but they have become too upscale fro my taste, we tried Mortonsville but the entire congregation was maybe ten to fifteen people and the average age was was probably sixty and we tried Woodford Community Christian Church but it just doesn't feel like home. I know it's probably an excuse because I love to sit up on Saturday night playing on the computer. I think in a few weeks we are going to go back to Woodford Community Christian. I know these kids need to be brought up in church just as I was.
      Instead of church, after the kids saw their Easter baskets and had too much candy for the a.m. we all took a shower and headed out to Cracker Barrel. It was around 11:30 when we got and we decided to have breakfast. Both Mom and I got the Sunrise Sampler and Becca had an egg and a piece of Sausage. Becca ate Mom's grits, a biscuit and a good portion of my baked apples in addition to her food. She was one hungry little girl. Mom and I where hungry as well. It's the best breakfast I have had at Cracker Barrel in long time and I love Cracker Barrel. When I was a child I loved Cracker Barrel because I always associated it with going on vacation because that's just about the only time we ever went but now, while some of those old vacation associations still exist I mainly like it because they have wonderful grub. Grant even had a few bites of grits and a few bites of gravy. We all had us a country breakfast.
      After we ate we went to Wal-Mart and purchased a head of lettuce, a few tomatoes on the vine and loads of junk. We kept within our budget though and I am real proud of that. Cracker Barrel wasn' tstrictly in the budget but I knew I would be off this week so I decided to use our overflow income for having fun while I'm off. By the way I'm on vacation this week.
      Finally we went to Samaritan Hospital and up to the Cardinal Hill floor where Mom works. They had the Easter Bunny up there and they had a big Eater Egg Hunt. Becca ran right up and hugged the Easter Bunny. Grant & Becca also posed fro a picture with the Easter Bunny. After the picture Becca secretly informed me that she thought maybe the Easter Bunny was actually a human because she had human hands and not bunny feet. Becca is one smart cookie.
      She may be one smart cookie but lately she has not been her golden child self. Part of it is my own fault and I readily admit to that. When Mom worked the doubles at Cardinal Hill it was just simpler to let Becca lie down with me in Mine and Mom's bed than to fight with her about going to sleep in her own room. She has become used to sleeping in our bed and it's now nearly impossible to get her to sleep in her own room and when we do we end up waking up with her between us. I also feel like she is going through a stage where she just does not want to sleep by herself. She will drift right off when I lay down with her but Saturday night it took her two and a half hours to go to sleep in her room. I was trying to clean up the house a little while I listened to the Financial Peace lesson that we missed a few weeks back on my iPod. I even ended up getting so frustrated that I took her television out of her room. That's when she really had a meltdown. She ended up waking Mom up and she was able to get her to go to sleep.
      She's also taken to telling little fibs when she thinks she's going to get in trouble. The good thing about it is that she is a terrible liar. Maybe she just hasn't had much practice but she just can not lie to save her life. Becca's been doing real good with her potty training. We let her run around the house totally naked because we feel that if she doesn't have the security of a pull-up she will be more likely to go pee in the potty. Anyway, Saturday she was sitting on one of her many toy buckets in the living room watching television when I heard the unmistakable sound of someone urinating. I asked her if she peed and she looked back at me and told me thawasn'tt she didn't. I knew that she did. I told her to go dump the bucket. She told me there was nothing in the bucket. I got up and checked it out and sure enough there was some pee in her toy bucket. I asked her why she lied to me and she told me it was because she couldn't wait. I told her I was not asking her why she peed in the bucket but why she lied about it. She once again told me it was because she couldn't wait. I never got a straight answer out of her. Later that same day she brought some strawberry syrup into the living room and asked if she could have some strawberry milk. I told her that she could not have any just right now. She blew up like a big ole' bull and stomped back into the kitchen. I heard her throw the syrup bottle. She hollered out as soon as she heard me coming her way that something fell off of the counter. I got in there and I asked her to show me what dropped. She looked around and spotted a package of paper plates that I had knocked off the counter as I fixed breakfast that morning. She was busted again. I suppose all children eventually learn to lie but we must pound it into her head that she can not get away with lying and that there will be severe consequences for lying. She's a good girl and she'll do fine if Mom & I correctly do our jobs as parents.
   Last Saturday Becca and I went to see the new movie out called Horton Heres a Who based on the Dr. Seuss book by the same name. Becca really liked the movie but she was so tired. I thought she was going to nod off a couple of times but she stayed with me through the whole movie. I asked her if she liked the movie as we headed to the car and she told me that she did but she didn't like the fact that she dropped her popcorn. We stopped at Starbucks and got us a cocoa and a cappuccino for the ride home. Becca loved her cocoa and I hated my cappuccino. After she finished her drink she fell asleep. We went down to Mamaw & Papaw's to pick up Grant. Everyone was down at Uncle Rodney & Aunt Lynn's house. We went down there and Becca ended up playing with the boys until almost ten O'clock. Becca and I had a nice day.
   Mom started her second shift job this past week. She has really busted her butt this past week. She's worked twentyone hours of overtime this past week and will be getting a fifty dollar bonus for all the overtime she has put in. Mom doesn't make any extra money on the hour when she works overtime usually. We're doing very good with our new budget. Things have come up that have knocked us off but I kind of knew they would so I planned accordingly. Still when I have to put out money I hadn't planned on spending and I have to steal from another category in the budget it hurts. Mom has a bad habit of spending money before we actually have it. We do have the money but she might buy gas or take Becca to eat and spend money in a category that won't be funded until our next paycheck. It's really no problem because there's always money in other categories to cover it but it just irks me. The other day she called me and wanted to know if she could get a burger even though she had no cash and I told her that if she didn't have the cash she couldn't spend any money on burgers because that's not how we do it anymore. I felt guilty because she hadn't planned on working a double so she didn't take enough food from the house with her so I called her back and told her to go ahead and get a burger. She would just have to be better prepared next time. She had left her debit card at home to avoid temptation. She had a paid off credit card with her and asked if she could use that and then pay it as soon as it showed up on the online statement and I told her that we would use the credit card under no circumstances at all. She took it quite well and agreed that I was right. Of course after we got off the phone she said she looked at one of her co-workers and told her that she was just about tired of Dave Ramsey. She's absolutely on board though. She's a good wife. To be fair she absolutely had to buy gas early because I hadn't budgeted enough to get us through the week. Like Dave Ramsey said, the budget will not work the first month. I've been riding with Papaw to work for so long that I really had no idea how much we would need for gasoline plus Mom started driving to work five days a week instead of two so that throws us off too. I got pretty close on the gasoline budget though. I budgeted fifty-five dollars a week when I actually think, or at least hope it's going to take sixty-five dollars a week. We had Easter that I really hadn't planned on, Alicia's twins had their first birthday and Mom felt like she needed to go out and spend too much on them, I had to pay taxes on the truck other small odds and big ends came up. As a result of figuring out that life can throw a budget off I have added another category to my budget called our non emergency fund. This money will be for things that pop up and isn't a big enough deal to dip into our regular emergency fund but still might need to be taken care of. Things like printer paper, ink cartridges, forgotten birthdays, minor holiday spending, replacing worn out laptop computer mice, and stuff like that that really doesn't have a home in our budget. Even Becca is getting into the act. I printed out a copy of our budget and ended up giving it to Becca to draw on the other side. She colored on it for awhile and said that she knew the perfect place for my budget. I thought she was going to put her art work on the fridge but when I went in there she had my budget displayed. I don't think Grant really cares one way or another. As long as he has the occasional fresh diaper and a bottle of formula he's just fine.
   I am more at peace financially right now than I have been since Mom got her big settlement for when she was almost killed by a car as she rode her moped. Even then we were going through some pretty rough fallout from terrible decisions and poor money management so I am even more at peace now than then. I am more at peace right now than I have ever been in my adult life. SInce we left Powhatan Trail we have done okay financially. We've always had the money we needed and even some to blow, maybe too much to blow but we somehow never managed to come out ahead. I would look at the charts on Quicken and our spending was almost exactly equal to our income. We managed to save nothing. This budget has really opened my eyes to where our money was going and if we could manage to eat out twice a month instead of twice a week and quit spending so much money on spoiling out children we might be able to help them pay for most of their college educations. I have one concern though and that is the fact that by having my kids so late that they will be in college about the same time that I will be thinking about retirement. Where do I concentrate most of our savings. Right now we are paying $215 a month for preschool and when Becca gets out of preschool we are still going to put that money back so that Grant will already be funded for preschool when he gets ready to go and when we get him funded for preschool we are going to start putting that $215 into their college saving fund. Will that be enough? Can I manage to save 15 percent of my pay toward retirement and still make significant contributions to their college fund and if I can do that will we be able to save for things like cars and maybe the occasional toy? I plan on putting seven percent into my 401K because that's the maximum company match and eight percent into a Roth IRA. That's after we get our debts paid off which we really don't have that much of and put back 10 to 12 thousand dollars as an emergency fund.
   I have opened up a savings account with ING DIrect online bank to keep my emergency fund and an ING Direct paperless checking account that pays a small amount of interest. I have thought about opening up a checking account with Charles Schwab online bank because their checking account pays as much interest as the ING savings account, you get actual paper checks for free and you can use any ATM machine anywhere and there is absolutely no charge at all. They even refund the money charged by the bank that owns the ATM. It sounds like that would be the way to go but ING Direct has such an easy to navigate system and moving money about is so easy and simple whereas with Charles Schwab it's a little more complicated to set up an account and I really don't understand how you would move money from our brick and mortar bank to Charles Schwab. I may get a Charles Schwab account and have my check deposited into that account and then I could simply write a check to the brick and mortar bank if I felt the need. I am going to have to research this some more. Charles Schwab is a name that I trust though so I am not afraid of getting ripped off. They are a real FDIC insured bank as is ING.
   I have the checking account set up because I want to put our sinking funds in there. Things that one would normally buy on credit but instead we are going to save for them. I just think that having multiple accounts and spreading our money out would help keep us on track better. If we had this account for just this purpose and another for that purpose we would be less likely to use those monies for other things. Plus I have to pay $5.50 every month to Community Trust, our brick and mortar bank because we always fall below $500 during the month. I might see if I can find a no fee checking account somewhere. I think Community Trust has one. Maybe Mom & I will go over there and ask about it this week. After we change our direct deposits we would close out the account with the fee.
   I know the past two or three paragraphs have been probably the most boring you have read to date but as I was writing it I realized I wasn't really addressing the dear reader but instead was thinking about these things by writing them. I am excited about our financial future and our future in general. It's just that I have concerns. Dave Ramsey talks about how if you save X amount of dollars from the time you are 20 you will have millions of dollars by the time you are 65. Well, I am not twenty years old and I am starting kind of late in the game and that kind of scares me. I have made some absolutely abysmal decisions regarding finances in my life and I'm afraid that maybe I've waited too long to really get on the ball. I would like to live in comfort in my retirement. Is that going to be possible or am I going to have to go back to Kroger after a 40 year absence? We'll see. I'm going to have to crunch some numbers and educate myself on how money and investing really works. I have always considered myself a marginally intelligent guy, actually I have sometimes boastfully considered myself an extremely intelligent guy but investing and finances has always been something I could not get a grasp on. I can fake my way through most conversations on most any topic at all buy when you start talking about mutual funds and the like my eyes kind of just glaze over and a little bit of spittle starts to drool out of the right side of my mouth. I am a financial idiot. I can't even spell it apparently because my spell checker just yelled at me.
   well, kids it's time I hit the proverbial hay. I think we might make a day trip to Hazzard this week. Another budget buster there. Daddy loves Rebecca & Grant!

Dear Becca & Grant,
                  It's almost ten O'clock on a Sunday evening here at the ole' Lanham homestead. I wanted to be in bed by now but when I sit down with the budget spreadsheet and Quicken the time gets away from me. I am excited about this journey of budgeting our hard earned cash. This is Mom's last week working two doubles on a weekend. She does one more double Saturday and then she starts working second shift. It won't be a Monday through Friday thing though. She'll get two weekends off per month and she will have to work two weekends per month. I hope this doesn't hurt her income much. She will get her second shift bonus and she will pick up the weekend bonus for the weekends she makes. She will lose her weekend bonus for the majority of her hours but she will pick up an extra eight hours per week. It should just about even out. She's going to have to spend a lot more money on gasoline though. That's the one stickler for me. I will be glad to have Mom at home occasionally on the weekend.
      We have all been real sick most of the week. I got sick Tuesday night and ended up missing Wednesday. Becca had a horrible night Tuesday night. She was crying out in her sleep, when she was able to sleep at all. She was so tired but she just couldn't get to sleep. Eventually she just gave up and we let her. By this time I knew I wasn't going in so I sat up with her as she watched some of her shows on television. Eventually she dozed off on the sofa so I let her stay there and I went to bed. Mom had to go into work for a training session Wednesday but I had been up all night with Becca so when Grant woke up she got up with him. She let me sleep for a few hours and then she took a nap of a few hours. She went to work feeling just as bad as the rest of us. She valiantly went on into work because she had already missed this session once before because they scheduled her for it after she had worked a double. They told her she could take it later so now was the later of which they spoke. She didn't have to do any heavy lifting or anything physical so that wasn't too bad.
      I ended up taking Becca to the doctor. She had the bug we all had and a slight ear infection. She was scared to death that they were going to give her a shot and she would not cough for the doctor at all. She just flat out refused. After the doctor we went to Fazoli's because we were both famished. I had a big plate of spaghetti with meatballs and Becca had a child's plate of the same. We thought we might want a slice of pizza with our spaghetti so we each got us one but ended up not touching it. I was beginning to feel real crappy after eating so I wanted to go home but I had promised Becca some frozen custard, YUM, from Culver's so we went over there and got us a chocolate cone. I couldn't finish mine and Becca got most of her's on her pink bubble jacket. I was having chills so I decided I didn't want to get out of the Explorer so we went to the drive-thru pharmacy at Kroger here in Versailles for Becca's ear infection antibiotic. We waited in line for almost an hour just to drop off the subscription. Eventually we got it dropped off and had to put up with a guy who didn't know his head from his back side. It was going to be about and hours wait for the medicine. I told them we would pick it up in the morning and then we went home. I really don't remember what happened that evening.
      Becca had another bad night. I decided that if I could get some sleep I would try to go into work. I tossed and turned. I was burning up one moment and freezing the next, all the while I my body was so sore I hated even to move. Becca must have felt much the same way. We decided to have another late night with the boob tube. She went to sleep on the sofa again.
      The next morning she seemed to be doing a bit better as was I. I went to bed at six O'clock Thursday evening so I could maybe sleep off whatever it was that had us down. I was able to sleep straight through with the occasional bathroom trip and I went to work Friday morning. When I got there I felt like death had a hold on me. I was sweating like it was the middle of July. People were asking if I was going to be okay I looked so bad. I had a bad cough and I was still sore so every time I coughed my body was racked with pain. We had a brief black-out after I had been there about an hour and it sent us down for about an hour. Once we got started back up I felt much better for some reason. I was able to make it through the day without much trouble.
      We had the biggest snow of the season Friday night. I know, the biggest snow of the season in March; Crazy. When Becca saw it Saturday morning she wanted to go outside so bad she could taste it but she was still sick and it wouldn't have been prudent to let her go out. She didn't like that at all. Mom had to go into work Saturday afternoon to do her double shift. We had had 5 to 8 inches of snow and Mom's only been driving three years and I have been driving for nearly 25 so I decided I would take her to work. Mamaw & Papaw came up and looked after the kids while I took her. I got back home and away they went. Becca, Grant and I had a pretty good day together. Grant had had the bug as well but I don't think he had it as bad as Becca and I did. He had a snotty nose and a little cough but he was able to sleep whereas Becca & I couldn't. I had to get in bed early because I had to go get Mom from work at six O'clock the next morning. The time change happened this past week so we would all be losing an hour anyway. I had Becca go to sleep with me in my bed and she went straight to sleep. She seems to sleep better when she sleeps with either her Mom or I, but not when it's both of us. I know letting her sleep with us is not a good habit to get into but when she's sick I'm not going to deny her. Anyway, when Mom isn't there the easiest way to get her to go to bed and go to sleep is to let her sleep with me and she loves to sleep in our big bed and she is a spoiled little creature so she sleeps with me. At least until Mom gets home and then she gets carried to her bed.
      Becca and I had the best nights sleep we had had in a long time. I know I had slept twelve hours Thursday night but that was with the help of Excedrine PM and sleep with drugs is never as good as natural sleep. Grant woke us up at 4:30 which was actually 3:30 because of the time change. We both got up and fed him and by the time we had him settled back in it was too late to go back to bed. Mamaw & Papaw showed up at about 5:30 to keep an eye on the kids while I went and got Mom. It was really nice of Mamaw & Papaw to make two special trips just so I wouldn't have to drag the kids out in the frigid treacherous weather. I drove to Lexington and got Mom and came straight home. She went straight to bed. I expected Grant to be getting up at any moment plus Becca was still awake so I couldn't go back to sleep. I sat down with this computer as Becca watched some television. I noticed after a few moments that Becca was asleep. I considered going back to bed myself but Grant was going to get up at any moment. I should have went back to bed because Grant slept until 9:30 and Becca slept on the sofa until 10:00. I watched a two hour TNA wrestling show when I could have been sleeping. Becca was catching up on the sleep she had been missing while she was sick and I was glad for her. She woke up a totally different child.
      Mom was awakened by Becca beating on a bowl with two spoons right outside her bedroom door. I really didn't think it would wake Mom up. I don't know why I thought that. It was almost time for her to be up so she got on up and the roads had cleared so much that she was able to drive herself to work. Grant took a nice long nap as Becca drove me crazy. I took Becca and Grant down to Mamaw & Papaw's to spend the night because Mom wouldn't be off work until I had left for work so they had to stay down there. When I got down there the boys called and asked if Becca could come down and see the igloo they had built. I still wasn't real sure about letting Becca play in the snow yet but she wanted to so badly that like the indulgent father I am I gave in. Becca climbed into the igloo and I asked Jacob if he would give Becca a sled ride. Most of the snow had melted but there was still enough for a tiny girl to have a nice ride. Becca was excited to go sled riding because as she said, she'd never sledded before. Jacob took her to the top of a small hill and rode down with her and she absolutely loved it. She was back up to the top of the hill hollering about going again before Jacob had climbed out of the sled. They went down for a couple of more trips and then Jacob put her on an even more gently sloped hill and let her take a ride on her own. Becca absolutely loved it. That would have been the time to have had my camera at the ready. I was so upset that I didn't get her first sleigh ride on film. I shot baskets with Jon as Jacob played with Becca and I remembered why I was the only kid not to make the Mortonsville Elementary Eagles basketball team. I am probably the most dreadful player to ever put up a shot. I took maybe forty shots and hit probably three and I am not exaggerating one lick. I kissed Becca and I left. As I was driving home Mamaw called me. As we were talking Becca started screaming. She had just then realized that I was gone and she wanted to go home with me. I felt terrible for my poor little princess but it also made me feel good that she thought so much of me.
      I got home and showered and shaved. Sat down to jigger some on the budget and then I started this post. I wanted to watch some television but that is absolutely out of the question at this point. I have to get in bed like an hour ago.
      Becca is 98% potty trained at this point and I am so proud of her. Yesterday she was playing with some play money. She asked me who was on the money and I told her they were presidents and that some day she might be president. She asked me if she could be on money. I told her she could and then I started to drift off on a thought path that only a proud parent with big dreams for their kids go. I told her that they would name schools and battle ships after her. U.S.S. Rebecca Lanham, I told her I would be so proud with a dreamy look in my eyes and then she spread her arms and told that she she would also be poopying in the potty.
      Papaw has finished his first week of retirement with many many more to come. I miss riding with Papaw. As I drove home the other day I decided that the thing I would miss most was the times when Keenland ran and we would go home though the country. That was always such a nice drive. I'll miss Papaw up there but Becca and Grant will have a whole lot more time with him now that he doesn't have to go to work every day.
      I know that I hardly mentioned poor Grant at all in this post. It's just that Becca is so much more interactive than he is at this point. When he starts running about and talking about how he will be pottying as president I will no doubt talk about him just as much. He is starting to get the hang of sitting up now though. He's a lot more interested in things around him than Becca ever was. He will pull and tug on stuff and explore everything he can get his hands or preferably, mouth on. He absolutely love my goatee which I haven't trimmed since Christmas. It's getting quite long now and he's always rubbing it and feeling of it. He's been a good baby. As good a baby as Becca ever was and maybe even better as far as disposition.
      I gotta go to bed. Daddy loves Rebecca & Grant!

Dear Becca & Grant,
                  I have a very spoiled three year old. I give in to almost every whim she has, whether it be the new swimming baby doll or the baby alive or the newest batting equipment for the back yard. I made a bad habit of buying her something every time I went to the store when she was younger. I felt guilty about having to leave her every day and I would go to the grocery store or the department store after work and buy her a tiny little trinket, an Easter Bunny straw, a new sippy cup, nothing huge but something to leave on her desk and let her know that I'd been thinking about her that day. Now, every time I go to the grocery she asks me what I brought her. If I didn't get her a special treat she gets upset and stubs up a little and gets a little bit of an attitude. If I tell her I brought her food to eat for the rest of the week, she has a bit of a tis and then she'll eventually calm down when I find a snack bar or some fruit chewies to give her as her 'special' treat. I know all this is my fault and that it was a terrible thing to start, but we never thought we'd ever have another child (as we were told we weren't) and we made sure we doted on her. Now we DO have another child and we can't afford to buy things here and there every single day. or even every single trip to the grocery store. As a matter of fact we have started going to the Dave Ramsey meetings at a local church just so we can get the A-Z's down on how to live on a budget and how to save money, because now we just have to. I know I have drug this out.. I AM getting to the point.. I like to ramble, y'all know ''at. The point is this: My daughter just asked me if she could have another popsicle after dinner. I said yes. She said can I have another treat, too? A playing treat and not an eating treat. I was busy and I mumbled a 'yes' and went back to my task at hand. "How about a Jack In the Box!?" she asked. And then it dawned on me, she had just 'talked' me into a toy. OK, she snowed me into it.... To which I replied: WE ARE NOT MADE OF MONEY! We have to go out and work to get it! We have to go earn some money to buy you and your brother the things you want and need! I want you to understand this! Look at Me! When you go out and get a job and earn your own money, then you can have a Jack in the Box! To which she replies .. with her nose stuck up in the air.. "I'm gonna go earn some money in the kitchen."