beach bums

Jonah had his 1st beach experience last October. 

 

Jonah and Eli-the beach bums

I was talking to Steph one day last summer...and come to find out...they were going to the same beach the same week we were! So we managed to see each other for a play date or 2. 

We stayed a full week! 

I had to dress Jonah for the part. He is just too cute for his own good! We drove down on a Saturday night so we went grocery shopping Sunday morning.

Then Jonah hit the pool!

Happy boy!


He wasn't sure about the sand.


or the water.

Later, we went out to eat at Colbalt's. 

Picture time after dinner. My cutie. 

Family picture!

Now it's time for Jonah's 1st full day on the beach.....

He's ready!

Still warming up to the idea of the ocean water. 

Our view. We stayed in Perdido Key, Fl. It was a great condo!

Pops came down on Wednesday night. So did the Betts family.

We met some family friends for dinner at Cosmo's. Jonah did great! 

The next night we went to the Shrimp Fest. We met up with the Betts family for a bit.

Our boys are best buds!

I mean, look how cute they are!

The next night, we did an impromptu photo shoot. 

Turned out great!

My favorite picture from the whole trip. Jonah sitting on peanut!

 Jonah (12 months) Peanut (19 weeks gestation)

silly boy

My favorite of my boys

Jonah says "hey, I like this vacation stuff."

Thinking...

We had perfect weather. It was in the 70s.

Jonah is now used to the beach life. We must consider a move!

I love my little boy!

He even learned how to take nap on the beach. This was a daily thing for him. 

Jonah is on the right...see him snoozing. Ocean breeze, natural ocean sound machine...this is the life!

He loved the pool too! 

Kyle brought Jonah over to the Betts' beach spot that was only 1/4th of a mile from ours! The boys played some!

Our last day....

At this point, Jonah wanted to swim off in the ocean. He loved the waves! 

Kyle and I went on a date night the last night. Beforehand we stopped by the Betts' condo to take family pictures. 

 Like I said, I like our impromptu pictures better. I had no make-up on and hair pulled back. Always works that way!

Our sweet family of 3.5 (peanut on the grow in-utero)

Aunt Leah and Uncle Josh could not come but we still had a blast on the McCoy family beach trip. October is the month to go! The beach did dodge a hurricane...close call.

Kyle and I went out to Flippers to eat, then to the Gulf to hang out afterwards on our date.

The Gulf was the coolest place. I highly recommend you trying it out if you are in the Orange Beach, Al area! 

Jonah had a great time and so did we. We love taking family vacations and can't wait to add peanut to our next trip! 

food for finance: e-fund re-established + new goals

We've been on a roller coaster ride with Dave Ramsey's baby steps. We had things come up and as of today, we re-established our emergency fund! All we have left to pay off is the house. WHOOT! I went on a rant a couple of months ago about my frustration about being stuck in baby step 3. But today, I'm feeling accomplished!

 

I told Kyle that we needed to re-visit our goals back in December. I told him we should run the numbers to see when we could pay off our house and be completely debt-free. We live in a 3 bedroom, 1300 sq ft starter house with our 2nd baby due in 6 weeks. We don't plan to be here 5 years from now but do know that we can't sell our house now in this market. So...just for fun, we figured out that our house could be paid off in March of 2020. That is 6 years from now! Once we buy 2 cars (with cash) we will throw all of our other money on the house.

 

We kid around with each other and say that we'll just stay in our house since the house will be paid for in 6 years. Who knows what crazy thing we will do. But for now, it is fun to see what could be if we are disciplined! I am a big fan of long-term goals. I am a big dreamer and if I have it written down, it gets me through the days when I want to throw my hands in the air and give up. Or when people look at me like I have 3 heads when I tell them what we are doing.

 

Kyle and I are meant to be with each other. We have so much fun talking about saving cash for a "newer" car. I mean, who gets excited about that? We do! I would not have it any other way.

 

Now, our emergency fund is strictly for emergencies (which is why we had to re-build it, we had emergencies come up). But if one of our 12 year old cars decided to bite the dust, that would be an emergency and we'd take some of that money to pay for a car with cash. So we have a back-up plan just in case.

 

So please ask me how it is going. The more people that know about our plan, the more accountability Kyle and I will have to stick to our guns. We just want to be able to be financially free when we are in our 40s. We want the best for our kids and being completely debt-free will allow us to do so much. We'll be able to give more, allow me to have my dream job of just working 2 days a week, buy our RV, and much more!

 

I want to document this journey so that our kids can see how hard we worked when they were younger. How much we said "no" to many things so that we can say "YES" in the future!

 

I'm excited to see what is in store!



wake me up, when september ends: 11 month re-cap

September came and went. And it ended with a BANG. We had planned J's 1st bday party the last weekend in September. Well, I got the tummy bug, then Kyle got it, then Uncle Josh, Nana, and Pops. Along with my mom getting really sick and was admitted to the hospital. Needless to say, we had to reschedule, freeze cupcakes, and such. Good news is that everyone got better!

 

Our last time to do our week-by-week photos..

 



 my sweet little man

 

 

all dressed up

 

 



Jonah in his big brother onesie.

 

 Jonah also had pink eye

 

then he had a cough which he got an inhaler and spacer

 

Reena & Chirag came to town with their little man Kavan.  

Kavan-born in August

Eli-born in Dec

Jonah-born in Oct

those are some cute boys!

it was fun to see some friends we have not seen in a while!

goofs

the "normal" picture

 

Football season started in September. 

Nana had to get Jonah the right outfit for the tailgate.

Jonah's 2nd tailgate. He enjoyed it more this year. But it was hot!

McCoy family doing what they do best.

Jonah would not leave the blanket. It was great...he crawled only on the blanket. No grass for him!

Jonah and I came back to the condo to watch the game and eat pasta. He loved it!

The next up we had baby dedication at our church.

He was too cute!

cheesing it up with Nana and Pops

Loving his Granny and Granddaddy

He was over pictures by this point.

 

Next on the agenda, Kyle and I went to the Catfish and Khakis fundraiser for the Junior Auxiliary.

It was a fun time for a date night!

 

Fun times during the month!

 

My sweet boy is big!