Quick Look at Quinceanera Prices So Far

Here's what I am looking at so far, in the way of expenses:
1. Reception Hall-- $500, which includes the clean up.
2. DJ/Band-- $800
3. Dress-- $ 338.00
4. Security for the event-- $200
5. Tiara-- $34.00 plus tax
6. high heels-- $20.00
7. video taping of the event-- $0 because my sister in law has offered to do this
8. cake-- still working on this
9. pictures-- still looking over various offers that have been made but possibly around $250
10. invitations-- I will be making those so it won't cost too much.

Her various gifts such as the Bible, watch, necklace, ring, doll, and bracelet have already been chosen by some of our closest family member for her, so I have no idea on those things at all.
More to come, as I venture on her journey for her quinceanera.

Back To Quinceanera Planning

As I go over this list for the quinceanera, I am writing all of it down. I have been so busy lately with my father being ill and going out of state to see him through surgery, but now I am back on track. I made the first payment on the quince dress yesterday, which brought our total down to $200., which is good. Thank goodness for places that offer layaway.
The cake is going to be paid for from my stepson, THANK GOD for him. The reception area is being paid by my other stepson and wife, THANK GOD for them too! Now with those things out of the way as far as having them paid, I am setting my concentration on finding padrinos (people to help pay for) the band/DJ that we are having. Since the singer of the band is my brother-in-law, he has set us up with a nice package through a friend of his. We are excited about this. More than likely, my other sister and brother-in-laws will help us with some of this cost.
Now, on to the photographer. If I could, I would be the one taking pics. I love doing that, but since I must set my sites on the event, I have put an ad on craigslist to get some prices. Let's see how that goes. We still have a little less than 6 months so, I think we are in good standing right now.

Wordless Wednesday.....Loving Our Pets

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Tackling a Clean Computer Desk

This is my darling daughter's computer desk, and as you can see, it sure needs tackling. You can, of course, see all of the most important items there, besides her laptop, her ipod with clock, phone for yacking on, perfume to smell pretty, water, her digital camera, and a brush to have a beautiful head of hair.....what more can a girl ask for? oh, and the most important here is that SHE is going to be tackling this chore !!

Teens, Money, and Checking Accounts

Teaching our teens about money, living expenses and bills are things they probably would rather not hear about. I believe that it all starts when they are younger, receiving allowances for doing chores around the house. Do we teach our daughters about money throughout their years of growing up? Have you started a savings account for them so they will have some money put away for those "college" years? We have one, but it's really not very much. I don't know how people do it these days with groceries and gasoline sky-rocketing. My daughter has started asking about checking accounts and I think that it's good to show them how it works, or at least to explain it to them. You can't spend the money by writing a check, if there's no money in the account. I think she understands that and soon, I hope we will be able to sit down and look at what checks look like and to see what goes in what blanks.

A Not-So-Good Report Card

What do you do about a "not-so-good" report card? Sometimes we as parents want our children to make better grades than we made ourselves when we went to school, however, today's times are so much different. I have discovered that some of the things they are being taught, I never had a clue about. School is so much more tougher these days. Granted, it's great that they are learning more and more and I am so glad that they are gearing high school towards a college outlook, but what can you do if they don't bring home the grades that you expect of them? First you must find out what the problem is for the grade they were given. Did your teen turn in all of their work? Maybe some of the grade falls on that. Perhaps it's also something a little more difficult than the last semester's learning. In our school, they offer free tutoring for those kinds of things. This kind of tutoring not only helps them to "understand" something that they are having trouble with, but also allows them to make up or turn in some of those old projects that maybe didn't get turned in to help and bring that grade up. Talk with your teen and see why the grades weren't what you expected and try to come up with a remedy for helping them bring it up. Most cases, tutoring has been what's helped us.

Wordless Wednesday--Cake Mustache Anyone?

This is my daughter's good friend's quinceanera. Ours is next, so stay tuned !!
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Taking On New Challenges

As my daughter grows, more and more, she is becoming a wonderful young lady. I have been trying to teach her the importance of learning how to cook and do things for herself so that she will know how to do these things when she's out on her own. My birthday was last Monday and I just so happened to go out for dinner, and when I came back home, she had baked me a cake. It was a homemade yellow cake that she had found the recipe online for. It was not iced, she she became inventive and arranged some chocolate chips on it while it was still warm, and then she sliced up some strawberries. It was such a wonderful cake and boy was it delicious. Amazed and astounded, my other grown children were suprized that she was able to do this alone, but suddenly had to realize that she is growing up. What a lovely birthday cake !!! Teach your daughters how to take on new challenges, not only is it a great learning experience, it can be fun too !!

Valentine Roses

Out came my daughter from school yesterday carrying the biggest bunch of beautiful red roses that you would ever want to set your eyes on. They were wrapped in green tissue paper, adorned with a box and some baby's breath added in. My daughter had such a lovely smile on her face and she hopped into the car on our way home. She had received her first bunch of roses from a guy that she really likes alot. I was so pleased to see that she had gotten such a lovely gift. I think that this mom here is starting to feel old now.........my baby got her first bunch of roses.

Wordless Wednesday-- a new grandson !!

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Know Who Your Teen Hangs Out With

I am writing this because I heard someone say yesterday that their teen would do whatever they wanted because they(the mother) couldn't be with her 24/7. However true, there are still things that can be done to protect your teen from hanging out with the wrong crowd. That's where all the trouble normally begins. First of all, your teen needs to have many friends....casual friends and good, close friends. There are things that you can do to help keep your teen from getting into too much trouble, and that's to find out who her friends are, and make sure who she hangs out with is someone who's not getting into trouble all the time. You can meet some of her friends during the times they want to go to the mall, especially if you are doing the taxi-thing. You can also meet the parents if they go to spend the day or night with them. I have found that keeping my ears and eyes open really helps. Talk to your daughter about what kind of friends are appropriate and let her know the consequences of hanging out with someone who gets into alot of trouble. Keep an open line of communication with your daughter. Also important, know where she is going to be when she goes out somewhere and who is doing the picking up and dropping off.

"I Want To Drive"

Boy oh boy ! I was not prepared to hear those words from my daughter just yet. She hasn't turned 15 yet, but she's ready to drive. Actually, it's a little more involved than that. She thinks it's so easy, to just hop in the car, and take off. Oh wow, she's got a lot to learn. We have a choice here, and I think that we will be offering her driver's ed classes next Christmas, at which time she will be 15 and it will give me a little more time to adjust here. Maybe it's because she's my last child, my baby, or maybe I just can't imagine her being ready to drive. I will say one thing though, she is very responsible, and that I am glad.

Wordless Wednesday--Leaving Florida

Life's Unexpected Emergencies

We live day to day, mostly in a comfort zone of things done the same way and it's hard when things suddenly change. We had an unexpected change last week which took me away from the home and out of state for a week. My dad went to the dr. having a little bit of arm pain and dizzy spell, and after a quick and simple procedure of having a scope take a look, he had to undergo a quadruple by-pass. Of course, I booked a flight out of state immediately and threw a few things into my gym bag, figuring I wouldn't need much, and had to go on a plane to Florida. My darling daughter was beside herself and didn't want me to leave. She was not used to having mom gone. This was definetly an unexpected emergency. My cell phone was our only way of communicating since I was at the hospital from early morning til the sun went down. His surgery ended up fine, however, it was more than draining on me. I think my daughter learned how to help hubby around the house a little more and learned how to survive without me for a week. Sometimes life just throws you an unexpected curve.