Category Archives: Lily

The Cost of Vision

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Eyesight is one of the most important things in our world. So it would also make sense that I would have a cost associated with it. However, I am coming to realize just how expensive it can be. Last Thursday, all three of the little kids had eye appointments. Lily and Kendall were scheduled for their yearly exam. Zach was scheduled at the request of our ophthalmologist, at the girls visit six months ago.  It turns out that she wanted to monitor his eyes and she was right he indeed needed glasses and has the same eye condition as the girls, esotropia, but  he also is very far sighted. After the visit, we came out with some news for each of the kids. Lily asked and was given permission to purchase contact to begin using. Lily is also in need of new glasses as her cheerleading pair is very tight and damaged and she recently broke another pair . Kendall was excited to learn that she no longer needs to patch to improve her weak eye but also needs both glasses for cheerleading and regular glass as well. Zach gets to join his sister with new glasses to be worn.  Vision Works is currently offering a buy one get one free promotion which is why the wired arrangement of glasses. Cheerleading glasses need to be black plastic frames with plain lens while other frames where child’s choice and transition lens .  Unfortunately, I made the decision to drop our eye insurance for this year but on a better note, I do have a medflex account just for this reason.

So are you wondering how much eyesight is costing….

Each appointment plus cost of refraction          $115 x 3= $345
Zach two pair of glasses                                    $309.93
Cheerleading glasses x 2                                   $99.00
Lily and Kendall glasses                                     $289.93
Lily second contact appointment                        $60.00
Contact for six months for Lily                            $120

Total cost for vision $953.86 but well worth every cent in my opinion!

 

Playing in Dirt

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FullSizeRender (1)

That is how we spent most of this beautiful Saturday! Playing in the dirt!  The temperature was around 65 degrees and it was sunny!  I would call it a perfect Spring day in North Carolina!!

I started the day with a long list of small projects that needed to completed to make our yard at least presentable.

  1. .Mix new dirt into square foot garden.  (See above).
  2. Weed all three flower beds and place new mulch.
  3. Fix square foot garden where it was hit this winter.
  4. Drill holes in large planter and re-plant.
  5. Move and straighten playhouse.
  6. Place lime over wet area of yard.
  7. Mow and trim yard.
  8. Fix Matt’s van, (small leak).
  9. Fix cup holder in white van and add cup holder for Lily.
  10. Wash and hang to dry all sheets.
  11.  Apply mulch to playground and then Preen It (this will prevent weed growth).
  12. Wash dog and all his bedding.

As you can tell we did accomplish a lot. The ground is simply too wet right now to get the playhouse adjusted, so hopefully in the next couple of week we can get this marked off the list.  Applying the weed preventer, need to happen just prior to it raining so I am going to do this on Sunday  in anticipation of rain late Sunday night or Monday.

This is one area that I will admit that I usually forget to budget for however this year, I did not.  I had budgeted $100 for the yard, after using this I ended up pulling $25 from the yard sale profits to keep us even for this project. I am so excited to have this behind me and to not have to borrow money to complete. One  of the ways that I ended up saving money was buying plants off the “clearance” shelves at Lowes. I ended up purchasing all but 2 of the plants from this area  this year. I had great success with these last year as most of the time the plants are simply not blooming or missed getting water prior to being placed in this area.

Lily is a bit of a prissy girl and does not like playing in the dirt but because we were all outside, she was required to at least sit outside as well.

FullSizeRender (2)And finally a picture of the mulched beds and planter…

 

Beautiful Snow

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First a view of what we work up to this morning.

I told Matt we could use this as a Christmas card next year!

I told Matt we could use this as a Christmas card next year!

Zach looked out the window this morning and his first comment was "The trees are even covered with snow" This is our front yard beside the house.

Zach looked out the window this morning and his first comment was “The trees are even covered with snow” This is our front yard beside the house.

2015-02-26 snow day 2 028

We had a good amount of snow the kids really enjoyed playing.

Even enough snow to make a snow family.

Enough snow for 5 complete snowmen.. A snow family!

Enough snow for 5 complete snowmen.. A snow family!

Working together!

Working together!

Each one better start their own snowman!

Each one better start their own snowman!

Disney Budget

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10307198_10203858799259339_7281155481593743545_n[1]This arrived in the mail today, so it makes is seem a little bit more real. Kendall and Zach spent a good 15 minutes “reading” it which meant Zach would see a picture and then Kendall would read what went along with it! I am so looking forward to this trip.

Tonight I am going to give anyone who cares to read the real number  for this trip. First I want to give a little explanation about some of the decision we made and then real numbers.

The first Disney trip, we took at a family was in April of 2011. This was our budget trip. We ended up staying off property in a nice house, bringing lunch every day with us and general being very picky about the money we were spending. We had an awesome time and I can’t say that I did not enjoy the trip because we did but it was stressful especially in regards to money. This trip, we have made some major changes and hopefully they will result in a little less stress while we are in the parks.

After talking  to several people, researching and looking at prices I have learned several things. The first and most important of which is that you do not save money by booking your trip yourself. The cost of booking yourself and the cost of using a travel agent is the very same. I decided to use the travel agent this trip to save me from attempting to obtain dinning and other reservations myself.

The biggest expense for our trip is lodging.  One of the few negative things I can say about Disney is that they really are not “large” family friendly. In order for us to all stay together it automatically means what we have to stay in a more expensive resort or the cabins at Fort Wilderness. I have heard some awesome things about the cabins but I don’t like the idea of being very limited. I talked with Amanda and Matt, and we were able to come up with a plan that works for us.  Matt, myself and the 3 little kids, we be staying at the Art of Animation Resort in a Cars suite.  Amanda and Haley will be staying at Fort Wilderness in a pop up camper. Another big decision was that I purchased dining plans for the 5 of us. Amanda and Haley will both be responsible for their own food. Amanda is planning to eat at the camper most nights and I am trying to help Haley save enough money to eat on during the trip. Amanda will also be purchasing her own ticket as she is an adult who is working!

Art of Animation for 7 nights with 2 adult 6 day tickets and 3 children 6 day ticket in addition to the dining plan and a memory maker photo pass equals $5383.

Fort Wilderness camping spot for 6 nights (they were already booked for the first night, so I will spring for a hotel room off site) and 2 adult tickets for 5 days equals $1044.

The dining plan offers basically 2 meals a day and a snack so we are going to be taking breakfast items for the majority of the mornings. We do plan on eating a couple of Breakfast out so we are going to be bring snacks to carry with us in the parks. Currently we have 2 days without a plan for a sit down(reservation meal) one of those days is when we will be in Downtown Disney and we most likely will eat there and use a dining credit. The other day is because “Cinderella’s Royal Table”, which is the princess meal uses 2 dining passes.

Some of the ways that we are planning to save money on the trip included not purchasing the Park Hopper Option, leaving one day of the week unpaid, we will not be going inside the Parks. The current plan is to go visit Downtown Disney, enjoy the pools, visit the campground and just a early to bed kind of day in the middle of the week.

Total Budget for the Trip: $7340
Tickets/Lodging/Dinning Plans:  $6500
Additional Food including travel and snacks: $500
Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique   $150
Gas $200

This post is way long so I am going to save the ways we plan to save and fund this trip for next  post in regards to Disney.