Will they ever announce it???

So we are still waiting for the announcement of ladder driver promotions. A couple of the lieutenants have been teasing Ben about being ladder driver. He really felt like they wouldn't tease him like that unless they knew he got it. We still are not sure but ben was told today by a source I won't mention that Chief has made the decision of 5 of the 6 drivers. The reason they are taking so long to decide on the last position is because it is down to Ben and another driver. The debate is whether or not they should give it to Ben because they KNOW it will cause a lot of anger in the department. I don't think there will be a LOT of anger...but definitely the guys he gets it over would be upset. The big reason they are thinking of giving it to Ben is because of his dedication to training and studying. They know he works hard. His efforts are finally being seen! So we hope to know soon. Either way, it will be what the Lord wants for our family. That is what we are praying for. I can't help but hope for it though. The extra money should help Ben relax how many 48 hr shifts he's pulling. This only getting to see him every 3rd day is getting OLD! I miss him and I know he wants to be home. When he is home that 24 hrs goes so fast.

On another note....here are pictures from Alli's Halloween night. We did not take her trick or treating...she needed to go to bed. But we had her outside with us while we handed out candy.


Also, Alli's new thing is she is starting to stay awake more. She no more of this napping after being awake for only an hour. She is still going to bed between 8 and 9 and sleeping till 8am. But this week has been QUITE an adjustment to her knew schedule...which is to NOT have a schedule. She appears to be dropping one of her nap times and staying awake more like 1.5 hrs before getting sleepy. She has been only napping lately for 30 min but I think this was because I didn't understand what was going on and tried getting her to stay to her OLD schedule. Mom in training....constantly learning. This coupled with a little bit of a constipation problem Sunday and Monday makes for an unhappy 4 month old. :) We're getting there though.

So I've continued the coupon thing this week. I'm super excited about the savings. I saved $97 at Kroger (54% saved) and $67 at Publix (66% savings). Some of the items with coupons were pretty close to free. This is definitely meeting my goal of saving 50% on grocery items. So I'm proud of that. I'm also proud of mom. I guess she's been inspired to try to save some too and did a little coupon shopping at Kroger herself on senior discount day. She did really well!! Way to go mom!

Oh so...another update since last post...we thought the hospital had written off our portion of Ben's surgery bill. Not even a week later I get a bill. I went online to check it and make sure the balance was still $0. No...it wasn't...the bill was back to a balance! So I called and they told me that insurance sent an update explanation of benefits which showed patient portion still owed, so they in turn updated our bill. I'm not mad about having to pay...because we knew we owed it. I'm mad at being TOLD we had a zero balance and then they take it back and expect us to pay it. We had the money to pay it and then after being told we didn't have a balance I put it towards Pepper's surgery bills. So once we got the bill....we didn't have the money we'd had before...so incredibly frustrating. Anyway, Ben graciously put some of his birthday money towards the stupid bill and I'm happy to say that all our dumb medical bills are paid off! Hallelujah! Now to pay off Pepper's surgery.