Life on Planet Caddick

It happens to anyone who actually speaks with another person. Something is said and either misunderstood or misheard. If this has never happened to you raise your hand. That's what I thought, nary a hand in the air. Erik and I are pretty good about communicating. I learned very early in our relationship to choose my battles wisely. That's why I'm learning more about soccer, football, and NASCAR than I ever wanted to know! It's not a big deal to me. I like to save my battles for flooring, or vacations. Big things =) So, the other day when we had the following conversation it cracked me up so much (and now I'm forcing the probably not-as-funny-as-I-think story on you!). Me - "We're having roast and potatoes for dinner." Erik - "That's all?" This is one of his favorite meals. I'm confused. How could this not be enough? After over 20 years together he's got to know I'm not going to cook up a five course meal, right? Righ...

Our June trip can be read about at Life on Planet Caddick You should go read about our fun and clumsy times hanging out at the hotel! We get dangerous and silly when we're bored! Last week we also attended the high school graduation of a dear friend. Zach wants a graduation ceremony, so I think I might lose him to regular high school when the time comes. I'm going to hope that doesn't happen, but will do my best to be supportive if it does. *sigh* Why do they have to grow up so fast?

We don't go to Myrtle Beach nearly enough. We live close enough, it's just that our lives were consumed with AF junk, and Scouting junk so we never had the free time to go. Truth is - this wasn't free time for Erik either. He attended the South Carolina Firefighters Conference (or something like that) for work. His job paid for the hotel room and Zach and I were told we could tag along. So we did. A tank of gas and some food for a night at MB? Um, yes please. Friday morning, bright and early (for me and the boy - we're night owls) we headed up to Myrtle. Got there in plenty time for Erik to hit the booth for his shop. Zach and I wandered for a little while, but lets face it - Erik is the Firetruck (yes, we capitalize Firetruck in this house) guy. But we support him and let's face it a business trip to the beach rather than the sandbox is awesome! Here are some shots of what Heaven looks like to my husband: Here's what Zach and I do while E...

Now that the boy is 13 we've opened a teen checking account for him. Before this he had a prepaid card and I just put his scant allowance on it each month and pressed forward. The problem was, he still wasn't figuring out what to do with his money. Since we are getting our house in financial order I figured it was a great time to teach him too. We don't have a curriculum. For things like this all you need is perseverance, patience, and something else that starts with a 'P'! I kid - just some common sense helps. He has a savings account already, so when he was old enough we made our way to the bank to get that checking account started.  When we got home I made a separate budget for him in our budgeting program, taught him how to make categories for things he wants/needs (ok just wants at this point - we take care of the needs, he is still a kid after all), and how to check how much money he had before he spent it. When the statement came we reconciled. We opened the ...