Happy Holidays 2018

It has been a good year for the FP household. Here is our Christmas card, which is admittedly redundant to much of the blog.

 

Highlights include:

Year of Medicine: Mrs FP had her gallbladder removed. FrugalChild3 had an emergency appendectomy. Mr FP broke his nose playing basketball. FrugalChild2 is allergic to everything (grass/weed/pollen/dust).FrugalChild1, FrugalChild3, and FrugalChild5 have asthma. FrugalChild4 might need eye surgery next year. Throw in a couple kids with pneumonia & flu,and we got to know our doctors really well this year.

Painting: Mrs FP (with occasional frequent and much appreciated help from Mr FP) learned a new skill and painted the entire interior of our house. We then decorated our house for the first time in 13 years of marriage.

Costco: We biked to Costco 187 days this year (literally). We’re on a first name basis with the sample ladies and they start to worry if they go more than two days without seeing us. We trained our kids to spot, like birds of prey, discounted items with prices of $X.97 and $X.00 from a mile away. We ingested about 40,000 samples and almost as many pizzas, rotisserie chickens, churros, and frozen yogurts.

Summer Fun: We went to the lake almost every week this summer and enjoyed paddleboarding and kayaking. We signed up for Kids Bowl Free again and enjoyed trying to beat each other. Mr FP had the high score with a 222 though Mrs FP had her fair share of victories. Our home also served as a hotel for friends and family as they drove across the country. We love seeing friends; please use our house as a hotel!

Vacations: We visited Mr FP’s family in California for spring break. We loved the San Francisco Discovery Museum and running across the Golden Gate Bridge. We rented a cabin in Bear Lake with four roommates from college and their families. It was a blast. We also went to two family reunions and loved spending time with family.

Sports Camps: When we quit organized sports, we promised our kids they could do whatever sports camps they wanted.This summer we surprised them by also signing them up for sports camps that they didn’t want to do! They spent their summer playing soccer, football,track, baseball, softball, tennis, volleyball, and basketball. It was a good (or traumatic?) growing experience for everyone.

Marathon in a Month: We ran our 6^th Marathon in a Month. We love this tradition.

 

Individual Highlights

Mr FP. Rock climbs in campus gym 3x/week, went on 50 mile backpacking trip to Wind River Range in Wyoming, bikes to work almost daily, blogs, nerds out about marginal tax rates, and hung out with his best friends Warren Buffet and Bill Gates (along with 42,000 others) at the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting (If you would like to come next year (on May 4, 2019), let Mr FP know because he’ll have extra tickets. The only thing you need to do is get yourself to Omaha). Does not enjoy when the kids fight and make messes.

Mrs FP. Continues to stay busy managing the house, the kids, and their schedules. Is enjoying her last year with a kid not in school and trying to figure out what to do next year when she’s all alone. Reads more than she should and sings all the time.Loves teaching singing time to the kids at church. Does not love being sleep deprived.

FrugalChild1 (6^thgrade). Is rocking middle school. Has lots of great friends and enjoys that she can walk to school this year (and not wait for her slow siblings). Is a great endurance runner. Enjoys piano, clarinet, chorus, science olympiad,photography, rock climbing, and reading. Does not love being forced to do sports camps for sports she’s never played.

FrugalChild2 (4^thgrade). Loves reading, singing, reading, writing, art, reading, and school. Would spend all day, every day of her life, curled up under a blanket with a book, if her parents didn’t force her to actually live life. Has fun in chorus, girl scouts, piano, and activity days. Does not like family bike rides.

FrugalChild3 (2^nd grade). Loves Pokémon, playing games, playing the Wii, playing single-elimination sports tournaments against himself (starting with 64 teams), playing actual sports, and climbing on our bouldering wall. Spends hours daily doing Pokémon tournaments with FrugalChild4 and FrugalChild5 and their stuffed animals. Does not like chores.

FrugalChild4 (1^stgrade). Likes My Little Pony, all things girly, singing, dancing, and listening to her music player. Is great at helping other people. Wants to be a ballerina when she grows up (unfortunately, she’s never taken a dance class).Loves giving compliments, friends, and invading people’s personal space. Does not like spelling.

FrugalChild5 (Joy School). Adores his siblings, playing Pokémon, board games, swimming, rock climbing, and all other sports. Is having fun learning to read and doing joy school. Is adored by everyone (most of the time). We love his happy smile. Does not love when Mom says technology time is over.

We hope that 2018 was great for all of you! We are so thankful to have the best friends and family! Merry Christmas and Happy 2019!

Love,
The FPs

[1] If you would like to come next year (on May 4, 2019), let Mr FP know because he’ll have extra tickets. The only thing you need to do is get yourself to Omaha. For a good laugh, watch the Conan video on YouTube entitled “Hindsight Financial” that they showed at the meeting.