*Clears throat, steps onto the stage*

WE'RE DEBT FREE!

I would LOVE to call Dave Ramsey on Friday and scream that, but, you know...work and all. So I'll scream it by way of large, bolded, italicized, underlined font!

A post I wrote in August about being credit card debt free was a HUGE step because it freed up a large chunk of money we had to pay monthly. If you go back and read that post, we had a goal to pay off our Explorer in November and my student loans in January. Well guess what!??! We made it happen TODAY. In OCTOBER. Isn't that crazy!?!? Kevin has taken a few overnight jobs (and sometimes 3 overnights in a row) every once in awhile to earn some additional money that definitely, definitely helped us pay these off sooner.

Considering our original DMP plan wasn't supposed to end until June 2014 and then we had the other debts--Explorer and student loans--to pay, I'd say we did pretty darn good, finishing a year ahead of schedule.

So...what's next? We're on to Dave Ramsey's Baby Step #3: 3-6 months of expenses in savings. According to our calculations, we should be able to finish this step within 6 months (even with Christmas accounted for) so huzzah! And you know how our calculations go. We always seem to overestimate how long it will take because we think on the conservative side.

I'm really getting dorky-like excited to start saving up for retirement and the boys' college fund (although we do have the college fund already set up for them, we're just not contributing yet).

"About a Bear and a Guy" By Colin, Age 4

Colin wanted to write a story the other night, so I dictated it while he told it. Here it is:

Once upon a time there was a bear, then there was a man who got bit by the bear. He got scared and ran away with his ax. Then he drove in his truck and he saw the bear in his back window. He was in the woods. He wasn't afraid of the bear. He drove back to him. Then he said, "Hey, want to trade axes?"

Then they walked together and built a campfire. Then he went in the woods and built a campfire with bricks and wood. Then he burped when he ate all the marshmallows. Then the bear burped when he ate all the marshmallows.

Then the bear rode in a baby stroller. He broke it and fell and said, "Ow! I'm never going to play with you again." Then he said, "Hey want to carry me?" Then the man fell down.

They walked together and the bear wasn't tired. Then the bear said, "Hey, you want to go home and sleep?"

The man said, "Yes."