Little Eyes

This past week I got my feelings hurt. Really hurt. My first instinct was to be angry, and I was, but my kids were watching. I have three girls that were watching Mama. Watching to see how I would handle my emotions.  The last thing they needed to see was drama. Women love drama! Love it!! I hate it! I have never been a drama kind of girl. I had two best friends growing up. We were friends for 20 years. I had one fight with one of them. That's it. I don't want my girls to grow up and think that friendship has to involve drama. It shouldn't. Friendship is about love and compassion and helping one another, not drama. Ladies, our daughters are watching. Let's show them how to be a friend. Let's show them how to love without any strings attached. Let's show them that when our feelings get hurt, that we forgive. Let's show them how to love the unlovable. Let's raise up a generation of young women that don't "do" drama.

Milestones

The children are growing too fast!!!!!!!! Someone has taken my little boy and replaced him with a young man that is almost as tall as me. He is such a big helper. I could not make it without him. He is currently learning how to cook scrambled eggs and sweet tea, (he is southern). He is reading the bible in a year. Not a children's bible, the real deal. He is doing so well. He is doing wonderfully in his homeschooling. Multiplication and division tables are next to learn.

Gracelyn is looking more and more like a young lady. She has such a sense of "diva" about her. She is SO picky about her clothes, Ahhh! But she is so cute at the same time. She has the sweetest little voice and she can be such a big girl. She is doing great in school. She is working her way through the alphabet and today she wrote her name for the first time. Normally they write it and she traces it, but not today. She did it all by herself. What a big girl!

Selah is looking more and more like her big sister. She has the most beautiful blonde hair and the most contaigious laugh. It's right from the belly! She is talking more and more everyday. The house is only quiet when they are all asleep. She is our best eater and makes meal times a delight. She is rubbing off on Preston and Gracelyn which is wonderful. Broccoli for everyone.

And last but not least, our little Kendall. Nine months already, sniff. She is so cute. Love those cheeks! She is now crawling on her hands and knees. She loves her princess castle that Santa brought. She waves and claps with delight. She is such a joy. I think she is all the kids favorite sibling. It really is the cheeks.

They are growing up so fast. I really do try to take it all in. Someday I'll miss the noise, and fighting, and chaos and dirty diapers. The sticky floors, endless laundry and spaghetti sauce covered faces. If only I could stop the clock.

Amazing Grace

I have a confession. Today was not our best day. Today we argued, we stole toys, we yelled. This is not something that we are proud of. It was not our finest day. But in the midst of the chaos, in the midst of the tears, there was grace. Grace for the yelling, grace for the mean faces, grace for the anger and the lack of understanding.

We would not survive this life without it. We would never see heaven if we didn't receive it. Families would fall apart if it weren't for grace. I thank God that my family gives each other grace. I am thankful that we forgive one another. Days like today show me what this family is made of. We are made of love, compassion, understanding, and kindness. We falter but we pick each other up. We know how to say "I'm sorry" and "I love you " and "I forgive you". We know tomorrow is another day and we will do better. We know we are stronger because of days like today. Thank you Father for grace. Thank you Father for our 4 amazing graces.

Our Family

Who would have ever thought we would become bloggers. In this day and age, everyone has a blog. It seems like the easiest way for us to write down our happenings of our everyday life and be able to share them with friends and family. 

Why "saving6 allens"? If you know my husband, you already know that answer. I am married to Clark Howard's biggest fan. He thinks so much of him that our son's middle name is Clark. So that should give you an indication of why we are 'saving6allens'. We are a frugal family in most aspects of our life. We try to find the cheapest, yet most effective way to do something. I looooooove bargain shopping for the children's clothes. Chad enjoys scoping out the drug stores for good deals and he IS the rebate king! We save for our vacations, gifts and clothing ahead of time so there is always money set aside if we need it. 

We are trying to teach our four children about the value of a dollar. The two biggest have the Dave Ramsey bank system to put their allowance in. Save, spend and give. Currently, they put a third in each bank but I'm sure as they get older that will be adjusted. They love to bring them downstairs every Sunday (if we remember), and put their money in each one. I will try to post a picture of them later so you can see them. 

This blog will not always be about money but you will here about our bargain shopping periodically. This blog is about our life, our sometimes crazy life. If we don't take a few minutes to write it down and take some pictures, we'll forget some of the precious moments. Our world moves so fast and I don't want to miss a memory, a milestone or a hilarious moment that my children or husband or maybe even myself have. I will try to post more later in the about me (us) section. 

Thank you for visiting and I will post more later.