Texas road trip in pictures

New Year

Happy Chinese New Year!

Welcome year of the dragon!

LIVE!

Yesterday was a special day for us! Steven and I became Dave Ramsey fans after starting Financial Peace University in 2010. Some friends of ours just finished FPU and invited us to go to his live event. My parent's were also interested in attending FPU and met us there.

We had a blast! It was 5 hours and I think we laughed for 4 1/2 hours of those. My cheeks hurt after we left! Steven and I really enjoyed the 13 weeks we "spent" with him during FPU and this was such a great refresher/encourager. We are still on Baby Step 2 - paying off debt - and seeing Dave - we're on a first-name basis ;) - got us even more excited to work on paying off that debt, with gazelle intensity. My parents ended up signing up to attend FPU starting next week and I'm so excited for them! Going through it has really changed Steven and I - not just the budget aspect (which has certainly been transformed), but also our communication and our spending habits.

After the live event, Steven and I picked up Natalie (who had stayed with our friend Kerrie and family), and then went to our friends house for a late dinner. It was so fun to listen to Dave and then hang out with friends who love him like we do!

How can we resist this face? Especially when she asks for donuts for breakfast? Daddy sure can't, so they went out and got donut holes! And Mommy can't resist either when this sweet face asks for her chocolate sprinkle donut. With a smile like that, we'd pretty much give her anything ;)

Puzzle

One of my favorite blogs is Kelly's Korner - her daughter Harper is a little younger than Natalie, and I enjoy reading all about her spunkiness (very similar to Natalie's), and her newest daughter Hollis. Today on Kelly's Korner is all about adoption fundraising. If you're new here, we started our fundraiser we had been chosen by Jack's birthparents and knew we would have fees to pay ASAP. Even though that situation didn't work out, we know that we will adopt again and want to remain debt free for this adoption.

We have about 100 pieces sponsored so far. In September some friends hosted a Crop For Adoption fundraiser for us, which was really fun! Visit this previous post for more information.

first dentist visit

Natalie had her first dentist visit today and she was awesome!

We went to our favorite dentist. My whole family sees her, she's just the sweetest!

While we were waiting, she read her PowerPuff Girls book she had brought.

She first had some X-Rays. The little cover was bigger than she was. She looked adorable with just her little feet sticking out. She held so still, and was very cooperative.

Sandy was the best hygienist! She was very calm and gentle. Natalie got her teeth cleaned with cookie dough flavored toothpaste.

Because she was such a big girl, she got a whole bag of treats - toothbrush, toothpaste, floss, toys and chocolate.

So proud of you Natalie :)

and jump roping