Cheap Date

Once in awhile we walk over to the grocery store to eat the cheapest of cheap lunches. For less than $5 I can feed all three of us, including dessert. Lily made up a song after we ate.

Halloween 2014 + Autumn Update

Hey, how's it going? Been awhile since I've seen you. It's probably my fault since I don't post very often, but we're still friends, right? I'll give you a little update to prove it.

We started homeschooling in earnest and it is going well. So well I can't even explain. Not every day is perfect, but it doesn't have to be. The kids are thriving and happy, and that is what is important to me. One interesting side effect of homeschooling that I didn't expect is how much closer I am to my kids. I mean, I'm with them all day every day and I have been since day 1, but now we have at least 90 minutes of uninterrupted, totally devoted, Mommy/Kid Time every single morning. It's easy for us to kind of ignore each other, even when we are together and interacting, so having 90 minutes every morning where we focus on learning stuff together has been incredibly positive and really fun for everyone. I haven't regretted our choice to homeschool for one minute. Not once. But I could go on and on about that, so let's move on, shall we?

Ben is participating in NaNoWriMo, which has been a goal of his for several years now. I am very proud of him and I look forward to the book that is the product of this month of hard work. He is doing well at work, has earned "Dad of the Year" for the fifth straight year, and enjoys his bike commute, even in the rain.

I am working hard on Science Kiddo. I am learning so much and trying so hard to get this thing off the ground. I have big plans, but it is definitely a roller coaster ride. One evening I am so discouraged I want to just delete the entire website, the next morning I'm doing a happy dance because a post was received well. Hopefully it evens out a bit as I get the hang of being a real Blogger.

Tommy is an awesome kid. He is kind and thoughtful. He loves writing little love notes to the other members of the family. He is so sweet to his little sister and is always willing to get her things, play with her, and help her out. He is her #1 cheerleader. Tommy loves babies, math, and staying up way past his bed time. He recently had a genius idea to make all of us potty charts so we each get stickers when we go potty (this is to help Lily out, of course). Even though he has been potty trained for over three years he is now earning prizes again for going potty on the toilet.

Lily is a funny little girl. She loves Tommy more than anything and especially loves to wrestle him to the ground. She is constantly making us laugh and smile with her funny sense of humor. She plays with her food like it is a family, she treats her stuffed animals like babies, and she loves to put puzzle pieces in the wrong places just to be funny. She loves to climb on stuff and she loves all things pink and princess. Lily is so empathetic and loving to everyone. She is always the first one to give us a hug or to worry about a sad kid at the playground.

We haven't really been up to much lately. Just busy homeschooling and hanging out with our homeschooling group and going to the gym and the library. The weather is turning cold and gray, but I am looking forward to the season of soups, hot chocolate, and Vitamin D pills.

Here are some pictures from Halloween. Grandma Chatterton made the kids' costumes again this year. She's so talented. Winnie the Pooh and a Black Ninja. The kids worked hard to go trick-or-treating so they get to eat their spoils and enjoy the sugar rush.

Here are some other pictures from this Fall. A fun picture from the zoo and one from the pumpkin patch.

Here are a few videos from our Fall adventures:

Eating a Sour Patch Kid Halloween Night

"I got an MRI and now I'm dizzy. I went to sleep and there was an MRI that I didn't even know and now I'm asleep."

Lily Chasing Tommy with a Homemade Weapon

Dancing to the Classics

Best Friends

This summer we have seen our kids shift into being each other's best friend. It is the most rewarding thing I have seen them do so far. Not only am I happy they love each other, I'm also happy they have a constant playmate so that I get a few more frequent breaks during the day :)

New Family Pictures

We finally updated our family photos this Fall. Ali Lanenga did an amazing job and I highly recommend her services if you are in the Portland area.:)

Rethinking Cost of Living

I think in my past life I was an accountant. Or maybe in my future life I will be an accountant. Either way, I love numbers, and I love to keep insanely detailed records of where my money comes from and where it goes.
I did some calculations this week that perhaps nobody but myself will find interesting. I am not sure exactly what my results say, only that they say something.

What I discovered is that the cost of living in a depressed market like Phoenix is not much less than living in the bustling community that is inner Portland. I hear people say things all the time like, "I would love to live in Portland, but the cost of living is so high." Turns out if you are willing to think outside the box a bit, it's not any more than living anywhere else.

How it Started

I was reading a financial planning blog about how to save money in various areas of life. Under the title "Housing" I found an interesting paragraph that stated something about how it may be wise to live in an area like Phoenix where the cost of living is generally much lower than that of the rest of the country because housing is cheap. Having lived in the Phoenix area for nearly five years, this little fact stuck with me and I started mulling it over in my mind.

Our life in Portland is completely different from what we enjoyed in Phoenix so it's hard to compare. It is literally comparing apples to oranges. However, one day as I was riding my bike with the kids I began thinking over some general numbers and I thought, "What is the cost of living in Portland compared to that of Phoenix?" I couldn't wait to get back to my spreadsheets at home to find out.

So I did some calculations and honestly, the results shocked the pants right off me. I have converted all figures into 2014 dollars to make for a more fair comparison. Because inflation.

What is Included

I wanted to compare what our monthly living expenses have been in the last three places we have lived. What I included are all the expenses of just living in a place and getting around that place.

For housing I have included the following: mortgage or rent, HOA expenses, home repairs and maintenance (including the lawn and garden), all utilities (water, sewer, trash, electricity, internet, and gas).

For transportation I have included the following: car repairs and maintenance, gas, car rental fees, car insurance, car registration, bike repairs and maintenance, bus expenses.

What is NOT Included

I did not include the initial cost of buying a car, a bike, or a house. I was interested solely in the month-to-month expenses it takes to live in a place. I also didn't include expenses such as food or healthcare, even though these expenses have changed because of our location. For example, we eat out a lot more now that we live in Portland because PORTLAND. And food trucks. And doughnuts. But the move to Portland also brought a new job for Ben that actually pays for our healthcare, so we are saving big time there. And Ben is getting paid a higher wage now than he was in Phoenix, but that's another factor I didn't include in my calculations.

The Results

We lived in Goodyear, a suburb of Phoenix, for just of over three years. We owned a home. We had one car that we used sparingly since Ben worked from home at the time. On average, we spent $1,723 per month on living and getting around there. This shocked me since our mortgage was less than $1,000 per month.

In 2013 we moved to Aloha, a suburb of Portland. We rented a home. We didn't own a car anymore, so we got bikes and learned to ride the bus. We had very kind friends who let us borrow their car often, and we always refilled the gas we used. If we were going far we rented a car through Getaround. On average, we spent $1,790 per month on living and getting around there. Our rent was $1,195 per month.

In 2014 we decided we wanted to try our hand at city living. We downsized to a small apartment and Ben started commuting by bike to work. In the six months we have lived here we have spent an average of $1,785 per month on living and getting around. Shocking, since our rent makes up a huge portion of that figure, coming in at $1,495 per month.

Summary

Aloha vs. Portland - The fact that we are spending nominally the same amount of money living in inner Portland as we did in Aloha blows my mind. Our rent is $300 more now than it used to be, but we are saving that much in utilities (small apartment vs. house), gas for cars, and bus fare (Ben alone spent nearly $100 per month on bus fare in Aloha because of his commute). Added to this is that our quality of life is so much better in Portland than it was in Aloha. We are close to everything, we walk and bike mostly everywhere, and we have a community here that just doesn't exist in the suburbs. Don't get me wrong, we loved our friends and neighbors in Aloha and I miss our backyard something fierce, but overall, our life is much simpler in Portland. We have a lot more time to be together as a family and there is so much more to do and to see and to experience that it is well worth living in a small space.

Phoenix vs. Portland - Again, it blew me away how much we were spending in Phoenix on all the secondary expenses. Sure, our mortgage was below $1,000, but our utilities were through the roof. Cooling down a big house and watering a big lawn definitely cost a pretty penny! And of course we had to pay for all our own home repairs and updates. We were spending on average around $300 per month on our car (this never included a car payment), which I suspect is much less than most people in that area spend. Ben didn't commute to a job and we only ever had one car to insure and repair. And yes, we did make a few bucks when we sold our house, so it was a decent investment. But living in the exurbs was difficult for a lot of reasons and I'm not sure we'll ever choose that experience again (though we did love our friends there and miss them terribly still).

Again, I realize that I am comparing apples to oranges, but these are the apples and oranges we have actually experienced! If we wanted a big house in Portland and a car it would be far beyond what we could afford at this point, whereas we could easily afford those things in Phoenix again. Likewise, living in a small apartment without a car in Phoenix would be downright ludicrous. Even if Phoenix had the infrastructure to support a carfree lifestyle (which it doesn't), there are still at least four months out of the year when it is hotter than hell and trying to walk or ride a bike in that weather would be virtually impossible. I understand the limitations of my calculations here :)

What I would like to drive home is that things aren't always as simple as some people make them out to be. Saying that you would save money living in a place like Phoenix (or Las Vegas or Miami) where the cost of living is supposed to be low may not actually save you anything. And thinking that a place like Portland (or Seattle or Chicago) is too expensive for you only says that maybe you need to think about alternative ways to live. Overall, I think it is more important to look at a place and consider the quality of the life you will have there, and then find a way to make it fit into your budget.

I have totally nerded out tonight. Thanks for reading :)

The Never Ending Block Party - Summer 2014

My love affair with Portland continues. This summer we have had an amazing time taking advantage of all the free programs offered through Portland Parks and Rec. Ben rightly describes Portland as a nonstop block party during the summer. The location changes, but the party's always going :)

The kids and I went park hopping all summer and played at nearly a dozen different beautiful parks in the area. Portland Parks had representatives at many of these locations armed with board games, all kinds of bats and balls, crafts, and free lunches for the kids. Tommy got to try a climbing wall for the first time and totally rocked it. We went swimming several times for free in local swimming pools. We took free rides on the shuttle up to the zoo and Washington Park. We got to watch movies in the park with friends. (The Frozen sing-along was a huge hit with thousands of people gathering to sing, cheer, and boo at all the appropriate parts.) We enjoyed the Hawthorne Street Fair and Sunday Parkways. It was all free and it was all totally fun. The nonstop block party.

As we enjoyed Sunday Parkways this past weekend I got a little choked up as I watched hundreds of people bike together. How awesome that a community can come together and coordinate such a huge event! Portland is simply an amazing place to live if you like awesome people and communities, especially if you have kids.

We are extremely sad to see the summer wind down. It's so awesome to ride out in the morning and return at dinnertime having spent all day playing outside.

Here are a few highlights of our summer (there are a few videos at the end if you last through all the pictures):

Berry picking

Watching parades

Discovering a new beach

Playing at a cool new park

Playing in one of our favorite sand box parks

Riding our bike as much as 17 miles per day

Games at the park and Tommy's new obsession with chess

More parks

Free swimming

OHSU Tram

Free lunch

Building at the park

Splash parks

Dirt angels

Time at the beach with friends

Swimming in the Willamette

Visiting Mount St. Helens and our new obsession with volcanoes

Tommy 2014

Tommy is growing up to be such an amazing boy. He turned five this summer! I have no idea how my baby got so tall, smart, and handsome.

Things He Loves:
Numbers (especially numbers that repeat like 22, 33, 44, etc.)
Math (he is a pro at counting, adding, subtracting, and even simple multiplication and division)
Telling the time
Memorizing stuff (he almost has all 13 Articles of Faith memorized, plus a few Dr. Seuss stories)

Utah 2014

We started off our summer of fun by heading to Utah to see my family for a couple of weeks. We had a great time, as always, visiting friends and family. It's so nice to have a few extra hands to play with the kids!

If you want to be the most popular kids at the Portland Airport, make sure to get some Voodoo Doughnuts to share with your out-of-state friends and family.

The first day we were in Utah we met my sister-in-law and her kids at Kangaroo Zoo, a place with tons of blow-up slides and bounce houses. My kids adore places like this :) True to form, Lily is drawn to the tallest slides and insists on going up the stairs and down the slide all by herself. She is pretty adventurous! Tommy is always coming up with new tricks to do as he goes up and down the slides, too.

Lily and Jet going down a small slide together.

Tommy running a bit of interference for Lily so she can get up the stairs without being knocked down by bigger kids. He's a bit showy about it :)

One of the highlights of our trip was the sleepover we did with my brother's kids, Jarom and Makayla. We played at Jungle Jim's Playland for a couple of hours. The girls enjoyed doing the rides. I was actually shocked that Lily LOVED the roller coaster. She didn't look like she was having very much fun while she was on it, but when she got off she begged to go on the "go faster" again. She is an adventurous little girl who always wants to go faster and higher. The boys were less adrenaline junkies and preferred to play games and earn tickets. At the end they had hundreds of tickets, enough to buy two air guitars and some candy for the girls. After our adventure at Jungle Jim's we went to a horrible all-you-can-eat pizza buffet that the kids loved. They mostly ate the dessert pizzas, which are my favorite, too :)
We had a sleepover and watched the Lego Movie. I think the kids were up until past 10:00, but all four of them eventually settled down and slept through the night (miracle!). Did I mention that it snowed the first day we arrived in Utah? In June? It was pretty amazing.

The next morning we got up and decided to hike Donut Falls. Since we don't have many real mountains close to Portland I really love to take advantage of how accessible the mountains are when we visit Salt Lake. A short drive gets you into the heart of the Rockies with opportunities to do easy hikes, harder backpack trips, and everything in between. Donut Falls is a pretty easy hike until you get to the very end. The trail then disappears in favor of large boulders that require all fours to get across.

Here we are at the trailhead. We ate doughnuts and chocolate milk before starting out on our hike. Notice that snow in the back left of the picture. We saw plenty of it - in June!

All four kids running up the trail. I love that my kids love their cousins so much!

We decided that we wanted to cross the river to get a better view of the Falls. I carried Lily while the three older kids navigated their way across rocks and fallen trees to get to the other side. As I watched them problem-solve and make decisions about where and how they would proceed I wanted to cheer. These kids are warriors. They can do hard things. (And don't worry, we crossed at a very shallow and calm place in the river. I kept telling the kids that the worst that could happen would be some wet feet.)

This is about the moment my heart swelled with pride for these kids fearlessly crossing the river.

The kids threw rocks into the river for awhile and then we decided to head back down. On the way back across the river we opted to just step in and walk across rather than navigate over the rocks and trees again. That water was freezing cold! It's all runoff from snow, which made our feet go numb within a few seconds. Again, the kids were warriors and walked across the river holding hands without any complaint. It was a proud moment for me and definitely a highlight of the trip.

At the top and across the river!

On Friday we met a bunch of my friends from high school at a fun park. We got to chat while the kids played. One of my friends brought ice-cold Kool-Aid in a pitcher, which Tommy loved. He kept asking me on the way home, "Mom, do you know how to make that drink? Do you think we could make that drink sometimes?" Love it.

That evening Sadie came to my mom's house and the kids played in the giant sandbox with their cousin, Jet. My mom keeps it stocked with soft sand and fun toys. The kids can play in there for hours.

This sandbox is seriously as big as our apartment in Portland!

Ben flew in on Saturday night after enjoying a full week of bachelorhood at home. On Sunday his sister, Steph, came to my mom's house to play with the kids for a few minutes. We love those guys.

On Monday the family got together at the park to celebrate Tommy's birthday from earlier in June. Everyone spoiled him rotten with Legos and airplanes, pizza and doughnuts, and quality cousin playtime.

Makayla, Tommy, and Jarom at the park.

The Three Amigos.

On Tuesday we took the kids to hike Ensign Peak. It was very hot and dry, but we still had a really fun time. Luckily the hike is short and the view from the top is amazing, so it was worth it. My mom also took Lily and me to get a pedicure. It was Lily's first, and she LOVED it. For days afterward she admired her toes and said, "I have sparkly toes!"

Beautiful, beautiful Salt Lake City.

Our last night in Salt Lake my mom watched the kids while Ben and I went to the temple. We all went for ice cream afterward. Lily loves ice cream more than anything in life and exclaimed, "We go for icey!" all the way there.

Tommy and Grammy are pretty fond of icey as well.

We love you guys and can't wait to see you again!