update on our road to be debt-free

I've been pretty open about our road to become totally debt-free. I need to give everyone an update on our progress.

 

Jonah (8 months old at the time) attending his 1st family budget meeting!

 

So...a re-cap.

We are doing Dave Ramsey's 7 baby step program. We became debt-free but the house in Feb of 2011 (baby step 2). We had our 3-6 month emergency fund in place in Feb of 2012 (baby step 3). After that we started saving for Jonah's birth, I call that baby step 3b(baby).  I made that one up! Then we started saving cash for a "newer" car, and I will call that baby step 3c(car). I made that up too! Then, Kyle got a new job and we transferred his retirement over to a Roth IRA. We had to pay taxes on that. I will call that baby step 3d(duh), yup made that up.  We'd rather pay the taxes now, while the money has not grown, than to pay the taxes when we retire when the money has grown and we are in a bigger tax bracket. Look at me talking like I know what I am talking about! I've learned a lot!

 

THEN...

Life happened.

We've had things pop up that we've had to pay for. I am SO thankful for our emergency fund. I won't bore you with too many details, but I will name a few things that happened.

 

Kyle ate some ice and broke a tooth. Sounds harmless, but it ended up costing us $3,000. That is some expensive ice.

 

Our cars are older (2002) and we've had to maintain those...

 

Forced home repairs happened...

 

Just stuff happened!

 

So the bad news is that we are having to rebuild this emergency fund. Kyle found another retirement fund from an old job that he rolled over to a Roth. Now we save for that too. We are having baby # 2 and we save for that.

 

The good news... it was NOT stressful. We didn't have to worry about where the money was coming from. It was nice to just write a check and be done.

 

Sometimes I get frustrated that our wheels are just turning. Then I have to step back and take another look at how far we've come. Seriously, I'm mad because we had to use some of our emergency fund? Really Angie?? There are people out there living paycheck-to-paycheck. People that have debt up to their eyeballs. And here I am pouting that we had to use our SAVED CASH? We have worked so hard to get to this point and I need to be proud! Reality check! I'm sure a lot of people would love to have this problem!!

 

Even though we've had to take some steps back, we are still doing awesome!

 

Our goal is to own our house. We want zero debt as soon as possible!

 

If it means that we drive our 2002 model cars for 2 or 3 more years until we have the cash to pay for a newer car, then so be it. We are in this together.

 

Why I love my husband. He sent me a text that read...

"Budget meeting when Jonah goes to bed?"

 

WE.CAN.DO.THIS!!!

 

 

june happenings and 8 month re-cap

Here I go again, trying to play catch-up.

Here is Jonah when he was 8 months old. It was this past June.

And here is a re-cap of what all happened in June.

 

To start off the month, we had to take J to the ED because he bonked his head in the pack-n-play.

He threw up 2 times so I called his doc. She made me take him in.

I really thought he was fine. His eyes were not dialated, didn't lose conscienceness, and was not sleepy. He was fine....but I did what I was told. And they said he was fine, $200 later. Better safe than sorry.

 

Here are his weekly photos...

 

growing...

and growing...

growing some more

so big!

 

 

ready for church!

 

Friday fun days!

I am off on Fridays so we go and meet friends for lunch!

 

I loved to make J's food.

He loved my spinach

Kyle and I had a date night to an event to honor the Olive Branch mayor so Besty came over to keep J.

Well look, here is Betsy and J hanging out in Copper-Young.

 

Kyle went out of town the weekend of Father's Day.



We got him this cute poster and the trip with the guys for a gift. You're welcome!

 

Jonah, my shopping buddy!

 

 We went to Ele's 3rd bday party.

 

Jonah (Eli too!) had his 1st public transportation ride on the trolley downtown.

 

Jonah and Eli having a serious conversation.

 

 We also went to middle Mississippi for AnnLea's birthday party

Aunt Leah brought Lexie so Jonah had fun! Ride little Lexie go to town!

 

In jail.....

Mom, why are you in jail?

summer time, swim time!

 

Jonah had his 1st swim time....it was more like bath time to him!

 

 

lunch after chruch

a nice summer evening having dinner outside!

 



Jonah started planking. It is funny because Kyle and I were doing it as well. 

baby planks.

 

Then he started crawling!

Then he started crawling on June 13th!

He also started pulling to his knees.

He had his 1st Sam's trip with daddy.

Then he started pulling to stand.

He slept a full 12 hours one night.

Also loved my homemade collard greens and spinach!

 



i'm back, and pregnant!

It has been crazy ever since July.

I hate getting behind on blogging. I want to keep this for memories. But when I found out I was pregnant, all my energy went down the drain. I'm going to do my best to get caught up. After an almost 4 month break, it's time!

 

 

 

So I found out the news in July and of course, I have not blogged since then. We knew that getting pregnant could happen, but we didn't think it would happen the first try. Plus I planned for the worst. I could miscarry, it could take a while....yadda, yadda. Nope, not this time around.

 

To date, I am 21 weeks. Baby looks great. Keep the prayers coming for a healthy baby! And that this baby stays cooking. If this baby makes it until his due date, Jonah and peanut will be 17 months apart. Blogging might not happen again after he comes, but I want to try as hard as I can!

 

OK-time to catch up....

winner winner chicken dinner

The Bluff City Bulldogs are at it again! But this time they won BIG!

On June 1st, the boys competed in the Variety Children's

Charity BBQ Bash.

 

The teams that enter this comp are big-wigs in the Memphis In May World Famous BBQ contest. They are the guys that won the whole deal.

 

The catch with this comp is that it is blind judging. Memphis In May is not. So...what happens when you don't wine and dine the judges??

 

You win 1st place in CHICKEN!

Those boys beat the teams that won Memphis is May! GET OUT!! This was out of 44 teams.

The sliver platter!

 

They also got 12th in brisket

16th in ribs

13th in pulled pork

6th overall

 

These guys are the REAL DEAL! So glad I'm married to one! And that I never have to cook chicken again. I will let the award-winning man do that!

8 months

On June 1st, my once little infant turned 8 months old.

 

 

At this stage in the game, taking his monthly picture is a huge challenge. I wants to take the sticker off, move around, etc. I tried to take this picture numerous times and this was the best face I could get with the sticker on.

 

Jonah, we love you so much!

May re-cap: 7 months

I enjoyed the 7 month stage. He is getting so aware of everything.

 

This night the Grizzlies were playing in the play-offs

 

Supporting mommy's school

1st Memorial Day

He loves Good Night Moon

Facetim'ing with my parents and Uncle Lyle

 

Jonah at Gracie Bleu

I love the shopping cart/high chair cover. It is the best because his toys can hook on, it keeps germs away, and it's soft.  

Toy overstimulation at Granny's house

Since my office is downtown, I went to the forum to get the free swag the Grizzlies were passing out to support them in the play-offs! Bandwagon!!

He still loves to swing

Looks like he standing but he was leaned against the sofa. I love our Fridays together!

 

Jonah got his first 2 teeth at the beginning of May (bottom 2). He started transitioning from all 4s to sitting and back. He has started to notice the dogs more. He loves Boomer and Bailey. We had about a 2 week run where he'd wake up during the night. But he slowly got back into his full nights sleep. He got to go to the zoo, BBQ fest, and have his 1st Mother's Day. 

 

I love being a mommy (for the most part!)

sunset symphony and the grizz playoff

 May really is the best month in Memphis as far a fun outings go.

My in-laws came up for the weekend so we had a date night to go to the Sunset Symphony.

 

Or so I thought...

 

Kyle got a call from a friend that had an extra ticket to the play-off game. It was game 4 of the Grizzlies vs the Spurs. How could I tell Kyle that he couldn't go when he would be on the 10th row? Plus this was the first time that the Grizzlies was in the west coast finals. Best wife award please!!! 

 

Ok so maybe there were a lot of us going to the symphony...

 

Pre-game at the Brasher's before heading to the river.

 

 

All the girls. It was a beautiful night!

 

Chillaxing

 

I forgot to mention that we did not have to pay for our tickets to the Sunset Symphony. My friend got them through work. Then Betsy got some VIP tickets for a tent from a law firm she deals with at work.

Betsy and I enjoying our dinner at the VIP tent! I was made to be a VIP!

 

Here are some pictures from Kyle trying to get to the Forum.

Beale street was cra cra!

 

Kyle's awesome seats!

The sad news is that the Grizzlies lost but what a great year!

 

Meanwhile, on the bluff...

I ran into my old roommate aka flatmate Kristen!

Kristen, April, me and Angie

The sunset at the symphony!

 

The VIP tent was giving away light up wine and beer glasses so I took Kristen down to get her one! They were so much fun in the dark.

 

So I was waiting to potty in the VIP tent and look who I ran into...

 

Lia from Sunkissed and Southern.

We went to college together and were sorority sisters! YAY ADPi's!!

 

I had a blast! Kyle had a blast! Fun times!

 

And bonus...we hardly paid for anything!

 

Nana and Pops left on Memorial Day. They were sweet to come help out with Jonah and make our flower beds look presentable!

You can't really tell but Jonah and Pops both have on seersucker shorts on. Twinkies!

 

 

Jonah loves Nana!

 

What a fun weekend!