Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Smoothie to the Rescue
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Memorable Memorial
Amy's parents suggested we bring the kids over for the Memorial Day parade in their town. We dropped them off and then headed to Lowes to buy stuff for our garden and then have a drink at McDonald's. Thankfully, we kids had a great time at the parade and were very well-behaved with their grandparents.Afterwards, the kids stuffed their faces with burgers and dogs, ran around under the sprinklers, and got a whole piece of pie for dessert. They fell happily asleep in the car ride home. Life's good.
Sunday, May 27, 2012
New Sights Downtown
After
hitting the Y yesterday morning, we made a beeline for my boss’ house in Spring
Garden to pick up some hand-me-downs.
With the new Barnes museum opening up to the public the same day and
just four blocks away, I couldn’t resist dragging the kids along.
It
was an easy downhill walk from Spring Garden Street to Callowhill Street and the new Barnes. Free tickets were all given out so we couldn’t
go inside, but we snapped a few photos around the exterior. Nice building, with some great photo opps,
although I missed where the “front door” was so it’s a negative for me when you can't figure out where the main entrance and photo opp are.
From
there, we decided to check out the new Sister Cities Park, just outside Cathedral
Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul. A fun
and calming patch of grass, walkways, and a splashy area with rocks to climb
on. Two thumbs up from my junior
explorers, who enjoyed meandering around. 
We
concluded our foray on the Parkway by hitting the Free Library. We quickly scored a combined 14 books and
happily lugged them up the hill back to our car, and were home well before
lunchtime. Nothing like having a
Saturday afternoon ahead with nothing to do except look at new books.
Friday, May 25, 2012
The National Bank of Dad is Now Open for Business
Jada's been pestering me for an allowance. There's lots of stuff she wants to buy, and she's quickly realized we're not going to buy it for her, so she wants to take matters into her own hands. Well, I suppose it's time. The National Bank of Dad is now open for business.
I was exposed to money management at an early age, and perhaps not coincidentally, ended up learning accounting in high school, winning a national competition in FBLA, majoring in accounting in college, and using spreadsheets for a living. I'm not necessarily hoping Jada will follow in my footsteps, but I do think that learning how money works, how to keep track of it, and how to choose between spending it, saving it, and giving it away are important life lessons. So this weekend, we're initiating an allowance for her.
On my bus ride home last night, I jotted down some thoughts which I then typed up at home and will go over with Jada tomorrow. I welcome your feedback. A few notes:
(1) Note the interest rate. On an annual basis, that's an interest rate of 14,100%! Let's see the banks match that. And yet it will likely not induce additional savings on Jada's part.
(2) We're not doing hard cash in jars. Everything's on paper. That's how the world works, that's what she's going to learn.
(3) While we will use the opportunity to teach about the importance of saving and giving, how the money gets used will be solely up to Jada. It's the only way to learn.
***
Jada’s Allowance Rules
Things I Will Learn From Having an Allowance
·
How money works
·
How to keep track of my money
·
How to choose between spending, saving, and
giving away
Ways I Can Make or Lose Money
·
Plus 10 cents for each weekend chore I do
·
Minus 10 cents for each weekend chore I do not
do
·
Plus 1 dollar bonus if I do every single weekend
chore
·
Plus 10 cents each day I put away all of my
things when I come home
·
Minus 10 cents each day I don’t put away all of
my things when I come home
·
Plus 1 dollar bonus if I put away all of my
things when I come home for the whole week
·
Plus 1 dollar bonus each week if I do my ledger
right
·
Plus more money for extra chores that Mommy and
Daddy give me
·
Plus more money if I find it or if someone gives
it to me
Things I Have to Do to Keep Track of My Money
·
Daddy will give me a ledger
·
I have to keep track of money coming in and
money going out
·
I am allowed to use a calculator
Earning Interest
·
At the end of every week, after I have recorded
my money coming in and my money going out, I will earn interest on the money I
have
·
Interest will equal 10 percent of the money I
have
·
Daddy will show me how to figure out how much
interest I have earned
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Weekend Whirlwind
3 baseball games
1 ballet recital
1 trip to Longwood Gardens
2 grad school classes
1 Sunday School class
2 grocery runs
2 trips to the Y
3 meals with Amy's parents
1 birthday party in New Jersey
1 run to Home Depot
Whew! This coming weekend, not only do we have 50 percent more weekend (thanks to Memorial Day), but we have no baseball games, no grad school classes, and ballet is over. So we are looking forward to having some real down time.
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Run for Your Life
The four of us will be running in a race next month to raise money for Jada's school. Amy did the 5-K this year but is still battling a foot injury so will run the 1-mile with Aaron. Jada and I did the 1-mile last year and are graduating to the 5-K. So this past Sunday morning, I took the whole family on a 1-mile run, and the goal is to creep up the mileage from there, so that by the race day Jada will have worked up some stamina.
The 1-miler on Sunday morning was a little bumpy: Jada lost interest and walked a bit, and Aaron took turns sprinting out, racing back, and complaining. But by the second half of the run, we had found our stride and even had enough in the tank to step up the pace on the last block home.
I recall fondly my parents taking my sister and me to the local community college track to run laps, and it would be neat if our family created the same routines as well. After all, what's better than a nice jog with everyone together on a beautiful weekend morning?
The 1-miler on Sunday morning was a little bumpy: Jada lost interest and walked a bit, and Aaron took turns sprinting out, racing back, and complaining. But by the second half of the run, we had found our stride and even had enough in the tank to step up the pace on the last block home.
I recall fondly my parents taking my sister and me to the local community college track to run laps, and it would be neat if our family created the same routines as well. After all, what's better than a nice jog with everyone together on a beautiful weekend morning?Monday, May 21, 2012
Betsy, Walt, Walt, Ben
