October has been a GREAT month!

This weekend has been fantastic! Tyler and I had two days off of work and we spent Thursday getting things done. That included some of our school work, house work, and earning our right to say "WE'RE DEBT FREE!!!!" Twenty-eight months ago, Tyler and I made a commitment to get rid of all of our debt based on the teachings and guidance of Dave Ramsey. I have to admit when Tyler first brought it up, I thought we would be joining a cult, but that was not the case.

It turns out that when you are purposeful with every dollar and live on less than you make, knocking out debt is pretty easy! Not to say that we didn't have rough bumps and things come up, but over all it has been a great experience. Tyler and I looked forward to each budget meeting as we watched our 100K of debt (cars, 2nd mortgage, student loans) dwindle.

Last Thursday night we decided to make it official. We sat the kids down with us in front of the computer with us and explained the momentous occasion. The kids have been subjected to many hours of listening to Dave Ramsey, so they knew that this was a big deal. Both Zander and Zoey know that borrowing money is bad. We all pressed the mouse button to pay off our student loans.

To celebrate we had Family Fun Day on Friday. This consisted of running errands, painting pumpkins, a family bowling trip, and dinner out! A fun day!

Zoey enjoyed a blue drink at the restaurant.

Today we went over to the annual Pumpkin Carving party at our friends' Randy's and Sharon's house. The kids had a blast jumping on the trampoline and eating, while the adults all carved the pumpkins. (That doesn't seem right to me. . .)

Zoey and Zoe!

In other news. . .here is a picture of one of Zoey's latest writings. I absolutely love watching the development of her writing and reading. You really get to know what your child is thinking when you watch her write. She did all this writing on her own. Here is the translation. The title is at the top: I Know a Fruit That Grows on Trees. The song starts at the bottom left and goes up. I know a fruit that grows on trees and apple is its name-o. A-P-P-L-E. A-P-P-L-E. A-P-P-L-E and apple is its name-o.

Zoey is very envious of our neighbor's Halloween decorations. They really do go all out--a graveyard, lights, pumpkins, webs, ghosts, and bats, etc. Zoey has been trying to duplicate those decorations in our yard. Below is a picture of the trash bag ghosts and the scarecrow that we made.

Another cute picture from the pumpkin patch.
This is an oldie--but worth mentioning. This is a picture of Zoey on the morning of school picture day. I am looking forward to seeing if the pig tails stayed in long enough for them to get the shot.