Family Ties

Yesterday's mega-post was long enough for three updates, so I don't feel guilty about giving a short one here. M and Robert fooled around and were silly for the camera today, this is the only one that turned out, but it makes me laugh to look at it. They are obviously cosplaying the chestburster from Alien. ;-) Today was the first day of the semester for M, so he was up early and off to school. He has two classes right now, which means more money for us this summer, yay! The caveat, and it's a big one, is that if even a single student decides to drop from his smaller class by the end of this week, that class folds, and we are back down to half as much money for the summer. Last year we qualified for food stamps during the summer, but this year we will not, even with our expanded family size. Ironically enough, it is the fact that I learned from last year and started saving money that is tripping us up, as having just about any money saved, even if it is earmarked for things like paying rent, is grounds for being disqualified from food benefits. And my WIC vouchers are ending too, so things are going to be getting a lot tighter around here if M loses that class. But like I said, I've been putting money away, and we still get formula vouchers, so we'll be okay, whatever happens. Still, cross your fingers for interested students!

My folks and my little sister stopped by today on their way home from the beach, that was fun! We ate lunch together at the Greek restaurant (it was open today!) and got to see each other one more time. Robert loves his Mimi and Papoo and auntie! They dropped off the stuff we forgot at the beach, and gave us some seashells. Hurrah! Unfortunately, the presents I ordered for Mom's birthday and Father's Day hadn't arrived yet, so I will have to mail them. For supper tonight, I made Macaroni and Cheese Taco Bake, where I made two boxes of mac and cheese and a pound of ground turkey with taco seasoning, put them in a baking pan with some sour cream, put cheese and salsa on the top, and baked it. Super good, and tons of leftovers.

To cap the night, I spent half an hour on the phone with stupid, stupid, stupid Sallie Mae bank, which culminated in me deciding to close the CD I just opened there. If they can't keep track of my money for two weeks, I'm not going to trust them with it for five years. We will do something else with Robert's future bank account money, something with someone who is more reliable. More on that later, because now it is bedtime!