It's About Time

We finally took the plunge and bought a minivan. It has been hanging over our head for a long while now. With another little person on the way in less than a month we decided it was time. There is just no more room for another person in our 5 seater Camry. I decided like a day or two before Christmas that we should go find something before the end of the year. I have always heard the end of the year is one of the best times to look for a vehicle. We did some looking online and found a few deals and called on them. Some of them didn't pan out but we found a couple at this dealership. We went and test drove and stewed for a while and made our choice. It may seem like a quick decision but there were a few factors involved. The very first, most important one is that we have a very limited budget. We didn't really have the luxury of looking all over the place and finding what we liked the absolute best. Our goal was to find something gently used with not tons of miles that came with a good price tag. This van was exactly that. It is in great shape and we couldn't beat the price on it. We actually got it for less than the blue book price. I guess what really matters in the long run is that everything just seemed to work out with it and fall into place and we felt good about it. We scored on the price and got a fantastic interest rate. We really do feel like we couldn't have done better. We are totally excited (not to have a car payment of course but other than that) and there hasn't been a moment of regret yet. Can you believe this is the very first car either of us has purchased ever in our lives? I consider that amazing and a blessing. Yay for Mommy finally getting a minivan like she has been dreaming about for forever.

 One of my favorite things about the van is the exterior look of it. I like it a lot better than the look of most minivans. I also of course have dreamed about the day that I wouldn't have to bend down into a car to get kids in and out.

This afternoon the kids helped me mix up some cookie dough. We have put it off a little longer than usual but we are getting there. My biggest motivation was that I am hoping to get some cookies rolled out and baked tonight so the kids can take some to their teachers tomorrow. I hope I get some done. Baking is certainly not as easy this year. I have never been this pregnant and trying to bake. I am finding I have to do things more in shifts. It's kind of annoying because I just want to get it done but I guess I can only do what I can do.

Zoey helped with the double batch of sugar cookie dough.

 Noah helped with the spice cookie dough. We totally had one of those flour all over moments when he went to turn the mixer on and pushed it on too high.

 This was the first year Noah was able to help read the ingredients and recipe.Way to go Noah!

Olivia's New Favorite Thing

These are Olivia's newest most favorite thing. I have not had a lot of luck finding her shoes that tie that don't cost a lot. Maybe I am not looking in the right places but I really couldn't find many options in tennis shoes that tie. Why shoes that tie you ask? Because I am so tired of going places and by the time we get there she has pulled of her shoes and socks and thrown them wherever in the car. I found these cute pink Converse at Kohls. I swear it showed that they were $20 on sale. I got up to the register to ring them up and they came up regular price. I asked the clerk about it and she didn't even look into it for me. She just asked if I had any coupons. The lady behind me asked the gal if I could use her coupon. It was for 30% off. Because of the kindness of a stranger I got the shoes for about $20 with tax. I actually got them for just a bit cheaper than I originally thought they would be. I really appreciated what she did for me. What a way to show the true spirit of Christmas.

First Pony Tail

Olivia finally sat still for me and let me do her hair. I can never even get her to keep a teeny tiny barrette in her hair. We got the pony tail in today and it has lasted all day. I sure hope this is the start of a trend.

Gingerbread Houses

This afternoon when the kids got home from school we got to work on our gingerbread houses. Last year we had issues putting them together with the frosting stuff we made. We thought we would be smart this year and just use glue. This year we learned that the glue didn't work so well either. It made the crackers too soft and didn't work well for trying to glue stuff onto the actual house. We still had a really great time though and we already have some ideas in mind for next year to make it more successful. I love that we started this tradition last year. It is a great way to spend time as a family and it is always fun to see what each of us creates.

The houses built and getting some drying time before we start the decorating.

 Olivia with her mouthful of Bottlecaps. She thought her contribution would be to see how much candy she could decorate the inside of her tummy with.

 Zoey's

 Noah's

 Daddy's

 Mommy's

 Our happy little gingerbread village.

Backtracking - Pumpkin Painting, Pumpkin Carving, Halloween

I just realized as I was looking through some pictures on my computer that I never posted about Halloween. My kiddos looked absolutely adorable and we had a lot of fun so I figured I best throw some pictures up from then.

Here is our little guy (confirmed again it is a boy). 33 weeks and he is looking great. The ultrasound went great and fluid levels and measurements are all as they should be. It is always great to know things are going well and the baby is healthy. I can't believe he will be here in 7 weeks or less. It is coming so quickly now. I am excited to meet him but I am so not ready yet. I feel so incredibly nervous about it all. I know everything will fall into place though and he will fit in and settle in just like the others have. It was very exciting and fun to see him on ultrasound yesterday. The tech had a hard time getting any good profile shots or 3D shots of his face. He is all squished up against the uterine wall and the placenta. He also sat with his feet up by his head most the time. He was not very cooperative in giving us a good shot of his face or anything else the tech was trying to look at or measure. She got everything though and got this shot the best she could. We did get to see some cool things like him practicing his breathing and at one point he had some fingers in his mouth and was sucking on them. Jay thinks he looks like the Terminator but I think he is so cute. He has chubby cheeks and the tech saw some fuzzy hair on his head and a little tuft of hair at the base of his skull. This is our first baby to stay head down the entire pregnancy. Different experience for me. Not sure how I feel about his feet constantly pushing up at my ribs. Anyway, we are just thrilled he looked so great. What more could we ask for? Totally nervous but completely excited and in love!

 

 This is a front view of him. You can see his head with both his eyes and his nose and his mouth. He has his right hand up by his face and his other hand is at his mouth. Can you see it? I hope so. My 5 year old boy saw it right away without any help. It was very cute because he was so excited.