A Week in Review

2011 VW Routan

Hubba in the kids waiting area of VW

We got a minivan!!!! :) I went on a "fact finding" mission to see about trading in our Jetta this week. We have long known that we need to upgrade to a minivan because we simply cannot all fit in the car at the same time with the Jetta. Day 1 at the dealership involved paperwork and talking to a wonderful salesman and test driving one of the pre-owned vans. There were three choices - two white and one slate. I HATE white vehicles and the slate colored one had 4000 less miles, cost $3000 less and wasn't white. The only downfall was that it didn't have the dvd players or the power lift gate. Huh, for $3000 I can buy a few dvd players and open my own trunk. :)

I left the dealership armed with info and ready to pray about our decision. I was able to convince them to hold the deal they had arranged for me for 24 hours to allow us to talk about it, pray about it and play with the finances. (On a side note, I was proud of myself for getting out of the dealership without signing anything! Those kids play rough!! :))    Day 2 at the dealership involved some more negotiations, more waiting and a lot of paper signing. And, I left with my van!!!!!  I was able to pick the kids up from school Thursday in it and completely surprise them! Their faces were priceless. :)

My handsome first chair

Thursday after school was Nathan's concert. The girls had their concerts on Tuesday after school. Everyone had a great time and they all did very well. Jillian had a special part doing a rap section of a song with 5 of her classmates. Chloe played the recorder in addition to singing. Nathan played the trombone and got recognition for being first chair all year long. I hadn't realized that there were monthly competitions where he had to defend his chair position and he won - every month!
The kids were also great about Hubba. During Chloe and Jillian's concert time, Nathan occupied Wyatt outside so that I could camcord their performances as well as just enjoy myself and relax a little. During Nathan's concert, Jillian and Chloe took Wyatt and were incredibly helpful. I felt very blessed to have such good helpers. The concerts made for very long days and the experiences would've been much different without their help. *I took pictures of the girls during their concerts but the pictures were just too far away to be any good, so unfortunately, this is the best one I have...  And here's Jillian watching Wyatt for me.

Standing by her best friend Macie

Such a good helper! And she looks adorable too!

Saturday the whole family volunteered at the Market on the Move at church. One Saturday a month this organization comes to various places around the valley and provides the public with the opportunity to purchase produce -- the offer is two boxes for $10. It turns out to be WAY more veggies than one family can use and so we get the pleasure of serving others, meeting new people, getting cheap veggies and sharing our veggies with our neighbors. This month we got tomatos, zuchinni, eggplant, yellow squash, cucumbers, honeydew melons, green and yellow bell peppers and big spicy New Mexico peppers. Chloe helped break down the empty boxes and Jillian helped me sort through the yellow peppers. A lot of them were moldy and needed to be tossed. The spoiled produced gets donated to local pig farmers and whatever produce isn't purchased is donated to the food bank. Its a great program and gave us an excuse to go somewhere together in the new van!!! :)

After Market on the Move, we visited with one of our friends and then went out to Dennys for a family lunch. Lowell loves to go out to eat. This is his favorite way to spend time together.... Nathan and Chloe loved that they got to eat pancakes for lunch. Jillian had pizza. Then we all worked together on the word finds, the crossword puzzles and the coloring pages on the kids menus. We had quite a wait for our food and even our drinks but we had fun passing the time together.  Well, except for Wyatt. He seemed to get a little bored as evidenced by the fact that he is completely laid back in his high chair. :) He seemed to be perfectly content this way however and watched people go by while drinking his bottle. Such a goof ball.
                             
Sunday we went to church together. It has been awhile since we've been able to go... It seems like someone is almost always sick or we have prior commitments that fall on Sunday. I'm hoping for us all to be healthier so that we can go more often. I love our church and I miss it when we can't go. The kids really love it too, and I think Lowell even likes it a little. :)  
Sunday afternoon we spent time hanging out, lounging around, playing a lot of Mario Kart, laughing, fighting, and cooking veggies. Lowell was a great help being my "dicer" while I made tomato sauce from scratch (first time) and made freezer packets for other meals.  After dark, Nathan and Lowell had a "flashlight session" working on the car together where Lowell did most of the working and Nathan held the flashlight. Nathan loves whatever he's doing so long as he's with his daddy but I'm not sure who enjoyed it more. Lowell had been looking forward to it all day and was still talking about it today.
Monday we did a little more of the same... Lounging, Mario Kart, laughing, fighting... and more cooking. Today we made dinner together - hamburgers, onion rings, veggies, and guacamole. Chloe also dyed her hair for the first time. We got some free wash-out dye from a friend and so she is now a darker shade of brown. It was a subtle change, but she is excited about it. :) Nathan and Lowell worked on the car some more and Nathan even got to drive the Dodge -- ALL BY HIMSELF -- Lowell was in the passenger seat! Nathan did all the shifting completely by himself. That officially makes him a better driver than me. I think there's something wrong with that.                
Some of the neighbor kids came over in the afternoon and the kids played outside, rode their bikes, played with bubbles and, of course, played Mario Kart.   We also made a quick trip into town to pick up my computer from a friend of ours who was fixing it. Because he is a veteran, Chloe made him a "Happy Memorial Day" card. Very sweet.  He put it on his fridge.                                    

Lowell was kind of bummed earlier in the week about not being able to work this Saturday because he is trying to get all the overtime he can... We decided instead to turn this weekend into "Family OT"- spending all the time together that we could. What a great way to celebrate our freedoms - by loving on those closest to us and being thankful for all we have. Happy Memorial Day!