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Little Snowflake Boy Birth Announcement

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Week One, Done!

This first week went by pretty quickly, but it was lived somewhat differently.
One of our rules we set for ourselves was No Television.  There are a few special exceptions (family movie nights) but 99.9% of the time, it's off.  I KNEW this would be a big change for Branson, because we tend to have the TV on during the majority of the day.  He isn't generally glued to it, but he wanders back and forth between playing and watching.  We have already noticed He doesn't stick to a task very long and have heard that excessive television watching at young ages leads to kids that aren't able to respond well, problem solve, etc.  That said, the idea of turning the TV off entirely for me, as a mom, has been very intimidating because in all reality, Branson watching a show= Me getting something accomplished.  To my complete surprise, the first day we had the TV off, he did not even ask to watch it once!?!  It's so funny how as a parent I hyped this up to be such a HUGE deal...  Halfway through Day 2 went something like this:

Branson:  "Mommy, can I watch a Movie?"
Me: "No, we aren't watching the TV this year."
Branson: "Oh, Because it's Broken?  Daddy will fix it when he gets home."
Me:  "No, it's not broken, we just unplugged it."
Branson: "oh, it's not broken, we just aren't watching it and it's not plugged in.

Then he ran off and played with some toys.  HMMMM.  I seriously expected a BREAKDOWN. Followed by a year of whining paired with many more breakdowns....

Instead, in a matter of days I have noticed Branson and Asher playing together more, and playing with things longer.  I am excited to see the boys interacting more together and being more imaginative.  I'm so glad we have made this decision.  If I sat back from this situation that is life, I would tell you that, as a mom, I desired to be creative, engage the kids, play often, and have the television on rarely-if-ever.  But then, somehow living just gets in the way and all my good intentions are put off for tomorrow and today I am busy getting everything else done.  I know this whole NO TV thing is a little extreme, but I think it is going to push me to do the things I actually desire instead of letting life pass me by.  That is really the desire behind shutting the TV off, and so far, it seems like we are heading in a better direction.

And so it begins....

We got a late start with this New Lifestyle we have committed to for the next year.  We were visiting my mom in Lake Tahoe for Christmas and it extended into the New Year.  We stuck to our goal of not purchasing anything for a year- but stopped for fast food on the 13 hour drive home.  And that was that- bye bye McDonald's- We are actually glad to see you go!

While we were still on vacation, we had our first "oh wait, we can't buy that" moment.  And what, you might ask, was the reality check?  Nail Clippers.  Not just any nail clippers, but Toe Nail Clippers, with some beautiful Lake Tahoe Designs. Oooh La La, who doesn't need those, right?  I was on my way to make the purchase when Chris exclaimed, "We can't buy those!" Whew, that was close.  A mere day into our journey...

After our "Near Purchase" experience, we thought about how many nail clippers we likely had at home (probably 5) and how thoughtlessly we would have normally been to pick up another.  Why?
Because Chris likes the BIG ones and we can never seem to find them when we actually NEED them.
Really?  People are starving, homeless, dying of diseases, without clean water...... oooh, are those the BIG nail clippers?
Not this year friends...  And THIS is why we are on this Journey.  To stop LITERALLY buying into consumerism, making thoughtless purchases, and becoming slaves to our own choices.  It's time to take a  step back and realize how we live.  It's time to be purposeful in how we spend our money and time.

And here we go....