Claire the Afena Mom Blog

In the Claire household, we don't talk too much about retirement. It seems so far away, and we're focused on paying down the mortgage, saving for education, and getting in some fun family vacations when we can. I've spent so much of my time thinking about, writing about, and actually planning our family's budget, and it's not always easy to make that switch from living and budgeting for the now to saving for retirement.

It’s been an interesting week for me. With the political race for president heating up, a lot of coworkers and friends have opinions they want to share. I’m a bit of a trouble maker, so I’ll almost always take the opposite view, for fun if nothing else. I was on the debate team in high school, and I’ve been playing devil’s advocate ever since.

My favorite season is fall, and as we’re getting closer to colorful leaves and pumpkins, I find myself wanting to be outside even more than when we were basking in sunshine and swimsuits...

It’s official…the lazy days of summer are behind us. The kids are back in school and before long we’ll be watching the leaves change and planning our Thanksgiving menus. I know what you’re saying…Claire, please don’t start talking about the holidays, it’s only August!

I had a girls’ night out this week, and it was a lot of fun. When you have three children, a puppy, and a backyard renovation going on at home, it’s not very often that you take time out for a party. But that’s just what I was able to enjoy this week as I attended the Hollywood Glamour in the Gardens event.

It’s time to head back to school. My children are still young enough that they’ve been waiting for this moment for over a month, ready to see their classmates and teachers again. My little man, bless his heart, is still a year away from pre-school, and not too happy about it.

Everywhere I look, I see superheroes. The box office is full of them. They’re on lunchboxes, shirts, and bed comforters. And yesterday I found out they’ve invaded Afena Federal Credit Union as well. And I think it says something about our culture that we are fascinated with superheroes…are we missing the heroes in real life?

So this week I started taking our new puppy Moose to puppy classes. At first I was disappointed he wasn’t in a higher level class since I’d already taught him to sit, he’s housebroken, and knows his name. What else could he learn in puppy class? Well as it turns out, Moose has a lot to learn… and so do I.