Something BIG happened this week! Insta-Friday

What a SUPER week!!

Want to see what we’ve been up to?

*I didn’t get any pics of Andy’s birthday. That whole day was a whirlwind, but he did have a GREAT birthday! I made him the most amazing apple crisp. An Amish recipe. Best ever. I swear.*

Okay, here we go – My week via cell phone pics…

I thought I’d start with this one. (Try to ignore the stylish plaid backdrop..ha!) Eli gets left out of a lot of instafridays…mostly because he doesn’t hold still AT ALL when I try to take his picture & we all know how good phones are at taking actions shots…

Look at him though! He’s so cute & getting SO big! He’s almost 18 months old. That’s insane. He’s my baby!

Big Bro/ Baby Bro

Middle Bro sweeping my room. Such a great helper!

Is it bad that Eli already knows what to do with the TV remote?

Something BIG happened this week!!

No crazies, I’m not pregnant…

WE BOUGHT A VAN!

This story probably deserves it’s own post, but in a nutshell Andy & I feel so humbled that God would provide something so GREAT at a time when we SOOO didn’t think we had enough $$ to buy a van…because we wanted to pay cash for it. We sold our Chevy Uplander in the spring to pay off our school debt & become completely debt free. That meant we’d have to manage with 1 vehicle…a car…all summer long…with 3 car seats & very crammed space…Oh, and no tinted windows. Do you realize how hard it is to tote babies around with sun in their eyes? Umm yes, I was known as Ghetto Blanket-in-the-Window Lady all summer long.  But this is what stepping out in faith looked like for us. We both knew it’s what God was leading us & telling us to. (Dave Ramsey might’ve had a something to do with it too…tehehehe)
        
Can I just say this thing totally blows that Uplander out of the water?! The simple things like ummm TINTED WINDOWS…HelLoooo! And a Thermometer – CD Player – Compass – and Extra Leg Room have me GIDDY! Then, throw in heated seats, power sliding doors, seat memory & I just want to cry! I feel so BLESSED that God would give us this much! I’m so thankful!
Why not just throw a Flooded Backyard Party & let my kids play in it, right?!

 
Super-fun time! It rained A LOT & our backyard flooded for a day. It was really no big deal…Especially since Caleb & Keston got to play in it. They were in heaven. Andy & I heard them talking about it as they were in bed that night. I hope they never forget that day. It was awesome!

I hope your week was super too!

And since I shared a personal part of our financial life, do you want to share something with me? What’s the most extreme thing you’ve ever done to save money?

Have a VERY FUN weekend!

I’m linking this post up to Insta-Friday at Life Rearranged. SUCH a great blog! Even if you don’t link up…or blog at all for that matter, I still suggest you wander around over there.

Total Money Makeover Monday - My Favorite Ramsey Quotes

It's MONDAY...around here it's the Monday of payday week...BUT payday doesn't come till FRIDAY...SO this means we have 5 days till there's more $$$ in our pockets. I for one need a little 

MONEY MAKEOVER MOTIVATION!

There's not much left in our "spending budget" so we need to be mindful of our spending so we don't dip into money that's not meant to be spent - follow me?! To start our week off right I thought I'd turn to our money man,

Dave Ramsey,

for some i n s p i r a t i o n!

These are some of my favorite Ramsey quotes!

"If you will live like no one else,

later you can live like no one else."

"Act your wage."

"We buy things we don't need with money we don't have

to impress people we don't like."

"Pray like it all depends on God,

but work like it all depends on you."

"Broke people giving financial advice is like a shop teacher with missing fingers."

"Success is a pile of failure that you are standing on."

"People resist change much like a 2 year-old resists having his diaper changed. It might be stinky, but it's warm and it's all mine!"

If you want to listen to Dave's radio show today and REALLY get motivated...click HERE. (DO IT!)

Total Money Makeover MONDAY - A Ramsey Rant

We're BIG fans of Dave Ramsey around here.  So to inspire you & hopefully give you the same Ramsey bug that we have, I'm going to share a "Ramsey Rant" with you:) Maybe this will give us all a little more momentum at the beginning of this wonderful week.

"...the average car payment in America is $484 over 82 months (according to the National Auto Dealers Association as published in USA Today and Smart Money Magazine.) $484 invested in a Roth IRA in a good mutual fund from age 30-70 will be somewhere around 5.5 million dollars....Hope you like the car. STUPID!"

You can also listen to the Dave Ramsey show here.