A penny saved or a bird in the hand?

Feeling better is making it much harder to write, I've noticed. I'm so busy trying to catch up on life I'm having a hard time taking the time to site down and put words on paper. And then when I do sit down I can't really think of what to say. It's much easier to pour out your heart when you're feeling alone, underappreciated and very, very sorry for yourself!

I took the girls to the park today. It was fun until time to go. Then there was much screaming and pleading to stay. Even the toddler, who's always been fairly cheerful about time to go, lost it. I had to pick her up and carry her kicking and screaming to the car. Of course, they were both tired and hungry, but what do things like that matter when there are slides, swings, and merry-go-rounds to play with?

The teen had his birthday recently. The husband wanted to do something special for him, since the last year's been so rough, so we arranged a surprise party at a local pizza parlor. His friend picked him up from our house, supposedly to hang out, but drove him to the restaurant instead. I wasn't able to be there (we were giving him a little-sister-free night, too) but I understand he was plenty surprised. It was really fun doing that for him.

We're trying to decide what to do about a down payment on a house. Should we borrow the entire amount, or clean out our savings? I don't want to clean out our savings. It makes me nervous. I'm not sure we'll be able to replace that money. We're not good about saving money. There always seems to be some crisis or other that keeps us from putting anything aside. If we don't have this, we won't have anything to be a cushion in case of a major emergency. On the other hand, I'm not sure how it would effect our ability to get a loan if we don't have a down payment. We're still talking it over. Any thoughts or suggestions would be welcome!