Beach People

It's not a surprise (if you know my family) that we are beach people. For the last several years, we have gone to the beach as a family not once but twice a year! I have two brothers: Cody and _ _ _ _ (he wishes to remain nameless just in case someone decides to google him or something). They have wives and kids: Cody and Renee with Zachary, Zoe, Sarah, Sophie, and Phoebe (twins), and my brother _ _ _ _ and his wife Kim and their daughter Abby. This year we headed down to the beach for an evening for pictures. I thought I would share some with you.

Me, Renee, Mom

Cody, Renee, and the Kids

The original Mooneyhans

Two cute girls in a boat

My parents with their pride and joy, the grandkids

_ _ _ _, Kim, and Abby

Just the girls




Me and my girl

I Cheated

Bennett and I love car rides so much because we have many hours (usually 5 at a time) to just sit and TALK! As we drove home from the beach we discussed the ridiculous rising cost of living and the ridiculous amounts of money we (I) have been spending lately. Now in all fairness, I don't feel like I am a super duper bigtime money spender, but I it seems that although I have a monthly budget I can almost never stay within it (one time so far this year). That's pretty sad. And now that Mary Claire is in kindergarten things have gone from bad to worse. I feel like I write about 10 checks a day. So.....we decided to go on a "financial fast." Melissa, do you remember when we saw the guy on TV talk about this in New York? Basically the idea of a financial fast is that for 1 week, 7 days, you don't spend any money. None. Zip. Psshh, easy. That's a breeze. I can do that. Duh. All I have to do is stay away from Super Target and it's in the bag. Oh wait. My palms are getting sweaty. Can we change the subject?

This past Tuesday marked Day 1 of my "financial fast." I am on Day 4. And I am here to say, Bennett, that I have cheated. I have been bad. Here's what the fast has looked like so far:

Tuesday: I was so good. I didn't even leave the house other than to drive Mary Claire to and from school. We had cereal for dinner.

Wednesday: I was so good. Until I drove by Bojangles. And I smelled Mountain Dew. And chicken biscuits. Of course I soon remembered I needed stamps to mail some important things and hit the post office. Bennett had dinner at the Angus Barn (poor guy) and the girls ate pantry Kraft mac and cheese. I had cereal. Again. And Mary Claire went to bed saying, "Don't forget my walkathon money!"
-$4.39 Boj's
-$8.40 USPS
-$60.00 Brassfield Elementary School PTA
-$60 and change--Gymboree. Did I mention there was a sale? AND a coupon?

Thursday: Last minute plans--old friends coming over for dinner (remember Chewy and Natalie from our wedding?). How can I feed them without spending $? Look through the pantry. I can make chocolate chip cookies (of course, I ALWAYS have the stuff on hand for that), beer bread, and 3 pieces of frozen chicken. Not sure that will cut it for the 7 of us. No fresh fruit or veggies. To Food Lion I go.
-$20.99 Food Lion

Friday: Today. I am so tired. Both girls got up at least 2 times each last night for various reasons. I needed caffeine. And a donut. Dinner at this point in questionable but there is always cereal.
-$3.07 Harris Teeter


So there you have it (so far!) Even with trying to be so good, and not spend any money, I'm up to almost $160. Do you think less of me? HELP!!! I am going to have to try this again next week I guess.

Miss Elizabeth's Garden

The Elizabethan Gardens

Breathtakingly beautiful!

Mary Claire, chasing butterflies

Our little Elle Belle, feeding the deer

Can I freeze this moment forever, please?

Beachy Girl

Happy Girl

Mama's Girl

I'm still trying to blog about all of the fun things that happened this summer, but we just got back from the Outer Banks (again!) and so I decided to post a few new camera pictures. We had an awesome time. We really did. I was so sad to leave! So sad that Bennett and I called a realtor and looked at a beach house for sale. Again. Not that we can afford one, but that we are both dreamers...

The best part of the trip for me was visiting the Elizabethan Gardens (pictures to come later). Seriously, how many times have I been to the outer banks? Why have I not gone there before? Have any of you ever been there? It is my new favorite place!

The worst part of our trip had to be...let's see...oh yes, pulling back the sheets in the room the girls were staying in only to find BUGS! Alive ones! Ones that curled up and down and all around! Let me just say that's the last thing we wanted to see when we arrived at 10:30pm. UGH!

Missing...

So it's been a while. So much has happened, yet nothing has changed. (Can anyone name that song?) It's 1:10am and Ben thinks I'm sleeping, so this has to be brief. I'm hoping that a newly revamped blog will motivate me to post our crazy summer. More later, he stirs every time the keys click!

The Riff Raft Club

We spent the fourth of July this year with Bennett's family in Severna Park. The weekend began with a birthday party for his Mom on July 4th. Though it was her birthday she gave all the little girls a red cheerleader costume which turned out to be a huge hit. Former Baltimore Colt cheerleader Aunt April lead the squad in practice and the girls think they are all ready now to hit the football field. It was very cute, thanks Mom!

On Saturday, we went to the Grachur Club on the Magothy River for some swimming and sand playing. Grandpa delighted in escorting the grandkids from the beach to the big floating wooden "raft" out in the middle of the water. The Grachur Club has been around for literally 100 years and apparently it is tradition that whoever can swim from the shore to the floating raft officialy becomes a member of the "riff raft club." The kids were super excited to become members.

My Shark

Swim Team. Not the most relaxing thing in the world, girls. It is very hard to watch your barely swimming just turned 5 year old swim up and down the lanes for a half an hour daily with you just sitting on the sidelines! So yes, I am the only mom out there carrying a (big) three year old on her hip walking her 5 year old swimmer up and down the lanes, in case she drowns! Plus there is the added stress of little me too wanting to be on the team...and the stress of not knowing any of the other moms which is made worse by the fact that I am not a very social person!

All that to say Mary Claire does LOVE swimming and she is getting better at it. She can do the back stroke, free style, and today the coach was even teaching her to do the breaststroke (gotta love swim team for the free daily swim lessons!). Every Tuesday night we have a meet, and although Mary Claire is last every time, she always finishes and we are really proud of how hard she has been working. At practice she is literally all smiles all the time, and loves being teased and thrown into the air by the coaches.