true "mom" status..

We've been praying over our transportation situation for years. In 2005 I bought a brand new Dodge Neon. I love my Neon. It's a great little car and it has served my family and I very well over the last 8 years. It has never broken down on us or had any issue bigger than a dead battery (because apparently the trunk light doesn't go off  when it's open). Ben had a VW Jetta when we were dating and into our first year of marriage, but it died a sad death one July weekend when we were headed to Washington to visit with family, we only got as far as Salem. It sat parked for a long time until we were able to have it repaired and then we sold it. We were a one car family for a very long time and we managed okay.

A couple years ago we inherited my father-in-law's car so I could drive the Neon around and Ben could take the "new to us" Dodge Intrepid. It was quite nice having the freedom to get to work a couple days a week (when I worked outside the home) and to run errands and take kids to appointments without having to arrange for Ben to carpool, which he did a lot of (thanks Brad!). 

We've been outgrowing the Neon as a family car for a while now. The bigger the boys get the less leg room they have (well mostly Kai since Des is rear-facing) and there is zero space for any of the loads of stuff that come with packing around a toddler and preschooler. When we go anywhere that's more than a day trip (even just one night) we have to borrow a bigger vehicle. 

For along time I had hoped for a nice crossover or SUV but as I compared them to our needs now, and in the future, they weren't practical. I wanted a 7 seater so we could have 3 more kids  haul family and friends. I wanted storage space, even when using all 7 seats, and the seats needed legroom because my boys are already leggy, and will probably (hopefully) take after Ben and his brother in the height department. So basically, we need lots of space. I also wanted good gas mileage, which is also hard to come by in a hip vehicle. All those things leave the ever popular and super "uncool" minivan. We all dread minivans in our high school and college years, but the longer I drove our Neon packed tight (Desmond's carseat touched the back of the passenger seat and Kai was always kicking the driver), the more I longed for a minivan. I truly envied those who drove them, more so then those who owned their cooler counterparts. True "mom" status people, that's where I found myself. It got to the point where Ben really wanted one too...now you know the height of our car situation when the dad wants a minivan! 

We prayed for years and figured it would fall into place someday. We especially hoped it would at least happen before we decide to add another kiddo the family. I don't think Kai would like riding in the trunk...more than once. 

Recently I started browsing minivans on craigslist and local dealer sites, as I've done many times before. I found a really good deal on one and Ben even test drove it after work one day. He liked it so one Sunday we went to see it. I immediately shot it down, the upholstery was disgusting and it smelled like someone had smoked in it for  its entire existence, non-stop. The night before we went I came across a new listing and so I asked about it after the 1st was a no-go. Our dealer (the same I had purchased my Neon from) couldn't locate it. We were about to head to church when I spotted another couple looking at it. Ben ran to tell the dealer that if they didn't buy it, to call us and off we went. In the middle of service Ben got a call and they had tried to buy it, but couldn't. So after service we headed back for me to test drive it. The car hadn't been fully processed yet (no mechanical work, no detailing) and it was already cleaner than the one we'd looked at that morning. I took it for a test drive and it drove smooth, a 2005 Town and Country (which is the EXACT same thing as a Dodge Grand Caravan, for those of you who are more familiar with Dodge). We decided that pending it's inspection we would buy it (a killer price and so much of it was falling into place that we knew this was our chance). I went home to feed the boys and Ben headed back to complete the deal. 

Sadly it took 4 days and a lot of back and forth for repairs to happen.  Our dealer even said had they done the inspection before selling it that they wouldn't have. That may sound bad, but all that means is that they repairs they made cost them more than they wanted to pay for the low price we got it at. So we got it all fixed up and at a killer deal. Ben traded in the Intrepid and will use the Neon as his work car, which is perfect because it gets much better mileage and is an overall more comfortable car. 

Our first trip was last weekend to the coast for the 4th of July. We didn't show the boys until it was packed up and ready to go. Then we told Kai we had a surprise before we could leave. I opened the door and said, we have a new van! and he gasped and said "yay!", he was so excited. The first 5 minutes of our car ride he kept shouting "this is SO FUN!" over and over. 

We had so much space for stuff for our stay in Florence. We packed our huge plastic wagon, a cooler of food, our luggage, a pack and play, Malakai's cot, camping chairs, toys, and more with room to spare. It was the perfect first run with the new car and we are so pleased. 

The boys have a ton of room in their captain's chairs, we can see them better, and we have more space than we know what to do with for their bags and toys. 

carseats in the neon compared to the T+C

I took it grocery shopping for the first time today and it has the perfect amount of storage space and handy little hooks to keep your bags from flying around. I feel so blessed to have a car that is so useful for our family!

what we've been up to...

Memorial Day weekend was quite the whirlwind of events for us.

Friday night we drove up to Portland for our first long car ride with both Malakai + Desmond. It could not have gone any better. Kai drew on his aqua doodle pad nearly the whole way up. I was pleasantly surprised that we never had to pull out the ipod for last resort video games! Desmond napped a big chunk of the ride and then woke up happy and watched Malakai for a while. He was pretty fussy the last 20 minutes, but nothing unbearable.

{I-5 NB}

After we settled in at Lindsey + Adam's place she and I left the boys to hang out (aka Ben got to do bedtime for both kiddos and he ROCKED it!). We went to downtown Portland for Carina's 30th birthday party at The Barrel Room. It was a lot of fun and I was so excited to be out with friends, I can't remember the last time I did something like that!

{Linds + Elvis, China Town, Carina + her fiancee Reid}

{Carina on the piano, me + Lindsey, Carina + I, Carina + her cake}

Unfortunately almost as soon as we got there my voice started to get scratchy and with the increased volume once the band started playing I was straining to talk loud enough to have a conversation with anyone. Linds and I were the last to go and got back around 12:30am. I found Ben in the guest bed passed out with Kai sprawled across the bed next to him. He moved Kai to his cot and we passed out until Des woke up at 5:30am, when my amazing husband woke up with him and let Malakai and I sleep in til nearly 7am. That's when I woke up with a very hoarse voice.

{Des + Linds}

We had breakfast with Linds + Adam before packing up to head home. We stopped to stretch Malakai's legs and have some lunch on the way down. Kai slept the whole way and Des fell asleep about halfway down after a bit of a meltdown that we had to pull over for. I drove so that Ben could catch up on sleep as well.

{Bridgeport Village}

When we got back to town, there was a whole crew at our place to greet us because it was phase 2 of our lawn replacement. Ben's parents had gifted us with a new lawn for Christmas and the weekend before they had tilled up and raked out all the old grass to prepare for trenching, laying pipe for sprinklers, filling said trenches, calibrating sprinklers, evening out the land, spreading base mix, grass seed and the like and then waiting for it to all grow. My brother, his friend, Ben, his brother and their dad all worked from 2:30 (when we got back) til around 6pm that day.

Sunday I had a rare day off of work, but I was sick so I didn't really get to enjoy it. My voice was even worse- I could barely talk. Ben and his dad got started in on the lawn again that afternoon and into the evening while the boys and I hung out around the house.

Monday rolled around and I had arranged for Ben's mom to watch the boys so I could get some things done, including rest! Ben, his dad, and his brother were back at the yard for the whole day. I ran a few errands and took my time, but when I got home to nap I couldn't sleep. I did a few things around the house before picking up the boys and having lunch with them and their grandma. Even though I didn't get the rest I was hoping for it was still a nice break.

{trenching for new sprinklers}

Once the boys were down for nap I still couldn't sleep and was now coughing. After they woke up we played in the house and checked out the new sprinkler system a bit. Ben + I were both so exhausted (he was sick too!) that we ordered in for dinner and took it easy.

Yesterday we both went into the doctor. Ben seems to have another case of bronchitis and possibly asthma? I don't know if I agree with the doctor's theory, especially since her remedy was a $40+ inhaler. Oy! My diagnosis is viral laryngitis, the advice- wait it out. My voice is coming back a bit but my throat is painful and my cough is worse. I still sound like a frog man.

Today I went to work- I don't want to fall behind and honestly it's easier to be there while being sick than to be home with my 2 energetic boys. It's better for them to have some time with Mima who is healthy enough to keep up with them.

As for our yard, it's a lovely field of dirt and grass seed for now, but over the next few weeks we should be getting some lovely new grass sprouting up!

I'm super behind on my photo blog, but I have some catch up to do at home and at work before that gets updated. It'll get done soon though...I hope!

How we manage as a 1 car family...

When Ben + I got married the summer of 2007 we started our family with two cars. Ben had a black 2002 VW Jetta and I had my grey 2005 Dodge Neon. Two cars were necessary to us because we worked at separate jobs at different times. He worked at 7am at a hotel and I worked at 8am at a college campus.

In 2008 Ben got a job working at the same campus as I and working the same hours. We still had two cars but really only needed one. We lived so close that in the spring + summer we could ride our bikes to work instead of driving either of the cars.

That 4th of July we ventured out, just the two of us, on a road trip to Washington (state) to meet up with his family for the holiday weekend. We made it an hour, just into Salem when his Jetta literally powered down. By the grace of God we made it to the shoulder where we waited to be towed home. We never made it to Washington. We also didn't have enough cash-flow to drop on fixing the Jetta and it sat for a very long time. We finally asked to borrow some money from family to fix it so we could sell it (and immediately pay them back) and be done with it.

For the past 3 years we've been a 1 car family. It was pretty easy when it was just the two of us working at the same place. It was even easy when Ben got a different job because I was staying at home with our 6 week old son Malakai and soon started watching a friend's baby boy at my house.

It's become more difficult within the last year since we moved further from both of our jobs. Ben was able to secure a pretty reliable carpool so that I could switch gears and start driving to our friend's house to watch the little guys together. This arrangement worked for a surprising 10 months before I was unable to make the drive because of Ben's carpool becoming more limited. Thankful things transitioned somewhat smoothly when I moved from daycare to Nursery Director at our church which I do from home for the most part.

Things have been getting more difficult as I put in one morning per week as often as possible at the church office, and on Sundays Ben and I ALWAYS have to be there at different times. When he leads worship he needs to be there at 7am, but I don't need to be there until 8am and surely don't want to wake Kai that early. When he doesn't lead worship he doesn't need to be at church til 10:45am. It gets a bit sticky.

We have been blessed with the ability to borrow cars from our moms on such occasions. One of Kai's grandma's will come over to watch him for a couple hours and I'll take their car into the office. On Sundays we've been able to use my mother-in-laws car since they don't need it on the weekends.

My one real frustration has been not being able to go anywhere during the week when I don't have someone to borrow a car from. I can't go grocery shopping except in the evenings and on weekends, the WORST time to go. I can't take Malakai out for play dates or toddler classes. I can't make it to impromptu family or work gatherings. Sometimes Ben can get a carpool in advance if I know I'll need the car for an appointment or errands, but most of the time we are stuck.

All of that to say that I have the car today, and nowhere to go...

photo Friday & an update to my week

Sorry, I've been MIA all week. This buying a house thing comes with a lot of "to-do's"!

See...

This week we had the inspection and since there wasn't much to ask of the sellers we are finally starting to pack. Although, I ran out of diaper boxes yesterday. Which gave me more time to scribble out my lists {i love lists} and virtually paint our new place. 

But I still need boxes. I mentioned it on Facebook and after this weekend we are going to be overflowing with boxes. Friends who work at grocery stores, a cousin who is unpacking, and other helpful connections came to the rescue. Oh Facebook, what would I do without you?

Take more of these probably-

I've also had the car this week. My in-laws lent us their extra car because my FIL is subbing at a school down the street that he can walk to. So Ben has their car and I've had ours. I did such exciting things as meet Ben at the house for the inspection, grocery shop {it's so much more efficient midweek at 2pm!}, and take Malakai in for some immunizations {and walk 3 city blocks with him on my hip because there was no parking}. Actually on Monday I did meet up with a SAHM friend at her house. We sat in her backyard in the grass with our boys, soaked up vitamin D, drank lattes, and ate artichoke spinach dip. It was lovely.

cars and seats

I just ordered Malakai's convertible car seat on amazon. After endless research we decided on the First Years True Fit.

I'm still surprised that we were able to get the car seat we wanted for only $149 and zero shipping! We ordered online because this one isn't available in any stores in our area.

I've read numerous reviews from other moms and it rates well for safety here, there, and everywhere. It should fit well in our compact car...the one that we haven't driven for 5 weeks or seen in 2. That's right, our beloved little Neon is still in the shop. Long story short, after dealing with insurance and a badly timed ice storm we were at the end of the line and they couldn't start working on our car until after Christmas- three weeks after the accident.

They've told us three times now "It should be done by- fill in the blank- call us to check in" and when we check in...there's something else keeping it from being ready. First it was additional damage, now it's water testing on the exterior and then reinstalling the interior, blah blah blah. So we MIGHT get it back on Tuesday.

So we're still driving the electric blue loser cruiser

sorry if you own a car like this...but it's so not our style. I've come to loath it in fact. It has a lot of quirks like, I have to pull the handle of the passenger door three times before I can get out...it's like a prison, a really flamboyant old lady car prison.