Ben went pee pee today on the potty! I am excited yet sad. It is the end of an era for the Page’s. Could that have been the last diaper ever last night? *sigh* He was so excited but weird.

He is EXTREMELY shy. He doesn’t want me in there and he doesn’t want me to tell anyone. He is humiliated at the idea of people knowing he wears underwear or goes potty. Poor baby. I hope he does good with Maw Maw while we are in Biloxi.

I will probably blog from Biloxi. Watch and see! We leave Friday at 5am!

Geez. A week or so ago a really good friend I went to school asked me on Facebook what happened to me during a certain time of my life. I typed out a long email to her and lost it. I accidentally hit a bookmark at the top of the page and it took me off facebook… when I hit the back arrow it was gone. I was upset.

I realized then… that time in my life had been horribly hard and I obviously hadn’t dealt with it. My life could have been so different. So much better. I am sad thinking about it. I am stinkin sobbing like a baby. Stupid hormones or something… sheesh…

I reconnected with 4 of those friends tonight.

She made the Chris Sligh video!!! Too cool!

Whoever  said people spending money they don’t have is America’s problem hit the nail on the head. All these people with loans above and beyond their limits are the ones in deep doo doo. It is really sad that we have reached the age of credit. For a lot of people… credit makes them feel important. What is sad is when all these banks go belly up.. they are going to call all the loans and we are all going to be royally screwed.

So basically… I am VERY thankful for a cash only Christmas. I would hate to have to pay the finance charges and such on Christmas. Barkey worked out an AWESOME budget plan with us. I know I talk about it a lot and so does Danny but it is LITERALLY changing our lives. As Dave Ramsey says, changing our family tree. Wow. Powerful.

This year we have been able to do Christmas all for ourselves with cash only. And it is turning out to be a good Christmas. We have even had the privilege to help others. That makes me REALLY happy. Giving is an AWESOME thing.

Today we started a new tradition. I hope to still do this when my kids are all grown up. It was soooooooooo fun! I thought of it and Danny agreed and we put it to practice today.

All the kids got $1 for each sibling and $2 each for me and Danny. We hit the Dollar Tree. They each got their own basket and went to town. They LOVED it! It promoted GIVING, which is the WHOLE POINT of Christmas. And it made them stop and think about their siblings and what they might like.. PERFECT excerise in consideration. They will get a nice dose of the joy of giving. I can’t wait to let them give their presents out on Christmas morning. And it helps teach them to keep a secret. They are DYING to tell but no one has yet.

I will be surprise if they make it all the way to Christmas without letting the secret out. haha. Oh yeah… the girls got to get a present for Carolina and the boys got one for Blue. They really liked that. They are so excited. It is funny. It put LOTS of presents under the tree. I am cracking up waiting for some of them to be opened. It is funny how well they know each other. Silas and Allie picked the same thing for Toby. I had to tell Silas so he could get something else. It was something NO ONE but your sibling would know about you. HAHAHA! I wont rat Toby out but it was HILARIOUS! Caetie asked me if anyone got repeats.. I told her that Allie and Silas almost did for Toby.. she GUESSED what it was. haha. So she knows him well too. If I told you what it was, you would CRACK UP!

Allie is a TOTAL Daddy’s girl. She was really trying hard to think of something loving to give him.  She wanted to get him flowers but we couldn’t find any that looked good without a vase. They were all kind that went in the styrofoam bouquet. YUCK. She found something else. It was sweet. Danny better appreicate it and realize how much effort they put into this. Awwwwww… Toby too. He asked me over and over if I thought Dad would like what he got. We will have to be careful not to say if we have a favorite. LOL! It might crush someone. Even Ben was cracking me up! He got Allie a headband with Blue hair like Caetie’s. It was funny! He picked all his own stuff too. I was amazed.

So now, with us learning the whole budget thing.. and using envelopes… Starting in January we are putting Christmas on the budget to save up a little all year. I am going to do the same with the kids. They will get a budget envelope that has Christmas Fund wrote on it. They need to put $1 a month in the envelope at least.. more if they want. But I am requiring $12 by December. I told them they could buy presents for everyone again with their own money and something for 5 of their friends. Their eyes lit up. They were excited then. I can’t hardly wait. This is going to be soooo cool! I will take tons of pics! Just thinking about all the things Danny got cracks me up and warms my heart. We have some good good kids.

I would ask that you keep this private. I am having a problem with a family member. They seem to think it is okay to tell my personal information even though I have asked them specifically to stop. It is preventing me from having a relationship with my Father like I want. The tainted information being shared makes him look at us poorly… when the information being shared is not the full truth. If I want him to know something, I will share it. There are things I deliberately don’t tell… it is MY business to keep it that way.

So.. for you to be here is a private matter. Please don’t break my trust!

Anyway…. lots was missed in blogging. I need to catch up on my surgery, the cats surgery, Thanksgiving, Deck the Tables.. LOTS of things. I will catch up shortly.

This blog is to welcome you, ask for privacy, and to share my new website. I will slowly build it to a nice family site. My good friend… scratch that.. BEST friend, Rachel, helped me think of the name. 8 Page Story is what we went with. Each of the 8 Page’s in my family can have there own site here if they wish. Until the Rapture was more for our churchy kind of stuff… I just put my blog there to get off blogger.

I suppose I am Page 2 of our 8 Page story..

Welcome! Hang around for a while! Bookmark the new site!

BTW… I updated 101 at the top… I will update the kid’s section soon. I will let you know what I do.

Back in business,
Wendy

Yesterday we went to Becky’s wedding. It was very Becky. Here are a few pics. It was a really nice spot. We really liked it.

The reception was really nice. Now I know why people crash weddings.

After the wedding.. Crystal (Barkey’s wife), Me, Caetie, Toby, Allie, and GG went shopping. Danny, Barkey, Ben, and Silas did some work at the church. Crystal spent over $200 getting my kids clothes and shoes. There just aren’t people like them anymore. Super nice, giving people. We are blessed to have them as friends. All the kids got several outfits each and brand new tennis shoes. It was much much needed. They weren’t going to make it to Christmas time with what they had. Toby had 2 pairs of pants. GG had only a few shirts. It was mostly summer stuff. I am thankful for good friends. We are blessed.

I just got an email about my cousin Carey getting out of prison. *shivers* He ALWAYS give me the creeps. And let me just say, if I lived near there.. my kids would NOT play outside. Just knowing what he has done is not okay in my mind!!!! YIKES! And to know there are people like that all around us and not know the specifics… oh my goodness. It is very unnerving! Nadine better watch herself.

On to a better past revisiting me….

I found my friend Brandy on myspace and facebook. I check for her all the time. She hasn’t had them long but a search paid off a few nights ago! It is so exciting!! We are catching up. It has been a couple of years since we mailed each other. We had been snail mailing each other since 1st grade! We only lived a few streets apart growing up but I hadn’t seen her since 2nd grade and then she came to my 9th or 10th birthday and I haven’t seen her since. Momma, what birthday did I get the waterbed? That was the last time I have seen her. We have snail mailed all these years but not in the last few years with all the drama that has gone on with church stuff and such. But I finally found her!!!

It is too cool. She is my BFF for realz.