My Middle Child and some photos

Middle children tend to be pretty wonderful things.

They are rumored to be the peacemakers,
tend to be generous, easy-going,
flexible and social.

My Chris is all of those things,
although he is far less easy going internally
than he appears externally.

Even though he is a middle child,
he has the advantage of being the first born son,
thus also enjoying some of the privileges and characteristics
of a first born, as opposed to "a spare."

Tonight, Chris got a chance to be a shining star
and I am so proud of him.

He performed in "School House Rock"
and he just did SO WELL.
I'll post up a snippet of his show
when I get it uploaded.

In the mean time,
a quick budget update.

All is going well.
We have adapted to cutting back
our spending and entertainment expenses
and don't feel deprived at all.
In fact, in the area of entertainment expenses
we have been coming in far below what we had originally budgeted
in that category.

I paid an additional large chunk off on the van
so that balance is down to 11k,
from 17k only a month ago.

I can almost see the light at the end of the debt tunnel.
Of course, then I get to start the saving part,
which is a lot less exciting than the conquering part!

A couple of quick pics of the kids
before I go -

Trey had his first baseball game:

He seemed most interested in the post-game snack.
I suspect baseball will not be this silly wiggle worm's sport:

My Chris- this boy just lights up my life:

Kate, soon to be thirteen.
And starting to get a little cranky!
I have to beg to get pictures anymore.