As you know we’ve been looking at vans as of late. With baby #3 arriving in February we needed to keep our eyes open for that perfect deal. We had looked at the Dodge Grand Caravan’s. Two different ones, Canada Value Package and the Stow-n-go. The only thing we didn’t like about the CVPackage was no rear air or tinted windows. The only thing about the SXT (stow-n-go) package was the price.
We met with our financial adviser and discovered we are doing better than we thought and could afford a bit better van (or bit more money). So we looked and discovered the two ‘best’ vans out there are the Honda Odyssey and the Toyota Sienna. The Honda starts above our budget, so we thought we’d go look at the Toyota. Their websites suck! I like the Dodge one, it shows every van they have in stock, and in transit. And all the different prices, features etc for each van. You can basically shop online, the Toyota and Honda websites aren’t anything in comparison.
Come today… Saturday. We decided it would be a good day to test drive the Toyota (and go look at it for the first time). We dropped the girls off at Grandma and Grandpa’s house at 10:30am. Once at the Toyota dealership a sales lady came out and showed us the van ‘she would want’. uh huh… Rear video, power sliding doors, 8 passenger, you name it, it had it! Yeah, we didn’t even ask the price on that one and asked to see a ‘base’ model. She didn’t have one as low of price as it showed online, however had one similar. We took it for a test drive. Very nice. Very. But once back at the office, the price…..well…. Lets just so not so nice. Once everything was totaled it blew our budget out of the water!!
It was only 20minutes to 12. “Want to go test drive a Dodge again?” Orlund asked. I figured might as well while we have the Toyota fresh in our minds….
Arrive at the Dodge dealer. (opposite side of town so like a 20minute drive). A sales guy comes out and we ask for our sales guy (I’ll call him John for the purpose of it’s easier than calling him ‘the sales guy’ LOL). Orlund mentioned before the sales guy went to get John that we had looked at a Toyota. A few minutes later John came out. I have to say he didn’t look all too impressed. But he started to tell us about the different features, prices etc again, and said they’d just got some new ones in so we started to walk over to look at them. He then mentioned while motioning to a red minivan, that it had just been traded in as the owners were upgrading. it had 67000Km’s on it (the price was under $20,000). It still sounded like an okay deal but he kept telling us about it. I couldn’t figure out why he was so excited about this red van. He then re-told us the information… No it didn’t have 67000Km’s it had 6100Km’s!!!!! GAME CHANGER! It was a 2010 Canada Value Package however with rear tinted windows. The papers were still being signed to hand it over, so we couldn’t even unlock the doors to look. We asked him to check the price with his boss. It was an AMAZING price. We said YES!
We went for lunch (to give them time to transfer the van over to the dealer). Came back and signed the papers…. we might have been silly but we didn’t get to look inside it (unlocked as in) until we were waiting for the insurance guy to come!! Our first test drive was driving it off the lot!!! CRAZY! I know! But even including taxes it didn’t come to $20,000 !! How could we pass it up! I guess another sales guy was taking photo’s while we were away at lunch and sending them to one of his clients trying to get them to buy it before us!! But we got it!!! So now I have a beautiful Red minivan in my driveway I couldn’t be happier….Okay I could… read on to find out….

After our purchase, which got us picking up our kids at 3pm. I was ill, I hadn’t planned to be out so long so hadn’t taken my Diclectin (anti-morning sickness pill). So when we got home I laid on the couch while the girls played around me. I awoke to find Joy sitting on the potty yelling she was done, no Orlund to be seen and an Olivia poking at me… Guess I was worn out! So after helping Joy I peaked out the window as Orlund was supposed to show his Civic to a guy at 5pm. I saw him out there showing the guy (I looked out our bathroom window). Then I came back to the living room and in a few minutes watched through the front window and Orlund and this guy took the car for a test drive…… But the guy stopped before even fully backing out. I was wondering why when I noticed that he’d backed into his own car!!! Yup broke our tail light and dented our bumper, he broke his side mirror (driver) and dented the middle of the drivers door!! He’s paying for repairs but not buying the car….him buying would have made me happy… THEN…..
(and John said we were so lucky we should have got a lottery ticket) ~ Orlund was cooking Chicken on the BBQ. I noticed a funny smell. So Orlund took a look outside… sure enough the BBQ was on fire again! He had to push the flaming BBQ away from the house as much as possible (its on our small upstairs deck), there is smoke damage to the side, which with any luck we will be able to scrub off. Orlund turned the propane off and I think just let it die out itself. So I called a Pizza place and got to drive my new fancy van to go pick up a pizza for dinner.
Well Orlund just informed me he IS ushering tomorrow and I need a shower so I’ll have to get up REALLY early. Good night all!

Well it’s 10:32pm… I usually feel so sick at 10:30pm that I crawl gagging into bed and lay there feeling ill until I finally drift into a deep sleep. But I just ate a big bowl of itchy ban noodles so I’m feeling okay (for the moment). The rest of today was wonderful. After I finished blogging Orlund and I visited while the girls played about. Then we went for a walk over to Mac Park to the BG Urban Grill to try their smoothies ~ got a 2 for 1 coupon in the newspaper. YUMMY! And I checked out the rest of the menu as well, very reasonable prices.
After our smoothies and walk we had a quick lunch and then it was nap time. After naps we jumped in the car and headed to the fabric store. Unfortunately they wouldn’t let me return some things I’d purchased, however I got the threads I needed. Olivia stayed with me. Joy went with her Daddy to Princess Auto. Orlund was shocked when Olivia and I came to find him, he thought we’d be in the fabric store all day… nope I just put my head down, ignored the adorable materials screaming my name, and got just what I needed. *Yay Me*. We then decided since we were already in that part of town to go check out the Dodge Grand Caravan’s again. We had gone once before, but the sales guy seemed a bit ‘slimy’. I know, I know, a lot of them are, but this guy we didn’t care for. Luckily when we pulled up another guy came out. We liked him. He gave us some more options and pricing, the other guy we saw as we entered the new guys office. Gave a little smile and pretended we didn’t recognize him. We know who we will be dealing with now at least….now just to meet with our financial adviser. Then we will start the actual wheeling and dealing.. LOL.
Well Orlund is shutting down and it’s now 10:41pm, I’d better hit the sack before I hit the ill…..
Good night all

Oh and I also learned today (the hard way) that just because your first child never took their diaper off during nap time, doesn’t mean your second child wont….yuck!

Good morning all you beautiful people! This morning has been a beautiful morning for me. First I got to sleep in until 8:30am, and awoke to coffee brewing (Thanks Honey). Then Orlund took Joy out for a father-daughter breakfast, so Olivia and I had a special one here too. Chocolate milk makes the 1year old happy After I was done eating, waiting for Olivia to finish I looked over my to-do list. I’ve been doing good this week and getting a bunch accomplished, however I have fallen behind some. So Olivia and I headed downstairs (she loves to play down there) I dusted the ceilings and walls while she explored the toys. After that I decided we should come back upstairs so I can get some other cleaning done. She found the swiffer to be great fun! I emptied the dishwasher and re-loaded it with our breakfast dishes. Then just as I was about to leave the kitchen a giant white casserole dish caught my eye. It was on the very top of the ‘drying’ dishes (they dried overnight). So I decided to empty the sink as well. Looks nice when all the dishes are away!

Well Orlund and Joy just returned from breakfast, time to get the rest of this day on track
(Just a side note. Orlund just told me that while he and Joy were standing in line to order Joy looked up at him and said “Daddy I happy” ~ awwww!)

Just a random shot of my messy girl

So the other day my beautiful and talented Sister-in-Law came over and trimmed up Orlund’s hair. I also got a hair cut. I wanted the same cut as I’d had before an inverted bob. I really liked the cut on me, however I let it grow out in hopes to donate it to cancer. My hair grows quickly, however apparently not quick enough as my patients ran out and I chopped it off.

My hair looked great after she’d finished cutting. Then I took a shower to get rid of the cut hair that lingered behind. I made the first mistake that I always make when I chop my hair off, I slept with wet hair! No matter how hard I tried to style it the next day nothing worked.

So this morning before the boys arrived I jumped in the shower and set to styling my hair….. apparently it doesn’t like me. Which is usually how it reacts when I get it cut. I looked back at a picture I have with this cut from last time. Wish I could get it to style like that!!  I think my hair is a bit longer this time than the last so it’s being a bit sassier or something. I’ll leave you with the picture of last time, lets hope I can tame the hair or perhaps get it trimmed into submission!! lol.

The Original

The other night while I sat at the table waiting for Joy and Olivia to finish dinner this conversation took place~

Joy had said something that hurt my feelings. So I pretended to be sad and sat there pouting (like she does) and mentioned to her that she hurt my feelings. “Mommy no happy? Mommy be happy”
“But you hurt my feelings”
“Mommy say sorry to Joy”
“I’m not going to say sorry, your hurt MY feelings, you should say sorry to me”
“Mommy say sorry.. Say sorry to Joy or big owies on bum. Say Sorry” She pats her bum making sure I understand
“Oh really? no Joy you say sorry”
“No, Mommy say sorry or big owie on bum! I 3 and them big owies” she holds up 3 fingers. Folds them down then one at a time raises them “One, two three” she counts as fast as she can, Climbs off her chair comes over to me and gives me a smack on the bum. Then climbs back into her chair and continues eating….
Well I couldn’t contain it. Here I should have been explaining to her why she can’t do that, and all the other things that needed to be explained, but I just burst out laughing! What a goof ball!! Can’t tell what I do with her! Orlund then asked about the 1,2,3 thing as we had agreed long ago not to count, but that she should do it when we first ask her too. I use the counting only when it’s not to harsh of an issue and I know she needs time to process the information.
So yes, that was my enjoyment the other evening! I couldn’t get over how well she mimicked me from the words I use to the body language~ they sure do watch everything we do!!!

Olivia just wandered over to me showing me her soil covered fingers. The look on her face said it all “please mom, clean this off I don’t like it”. The soil around her mouth told me she didn’t like the taste. Told her to stay out of my plants. Perhaps now that she’s tasted it she might listen. Joy was a child who wouldn’t push the limits, at least not often. Olivia is a child who lives to push the limits. We have fun.

I have a list, rather simple list, but none the less a list. The list is of everything I need to do this week. With the exception of keeping on top of the chores once done ~ example; I have Clean kitchen on list, well I will have to do this about 3/4 times a day, but it’s just written on the list once. I could get the entire list done today. TODAY. Will I? Probably not. My mind is ready to do the list, my body is not. I’m going to have to push through and get at least some  more of the list done. It’s nap time. Nap time slows me down. If I could put the girls down and come out to work on things it would be fine. But I lay on the floor, getting Joy to lay still enough to fall asleep. I usually fall asleep. I wake when she’s asleep, but then I usually have a hard time getting motivated again.

Hard day's work.

Well it’s time to get Joy on the potty and Olivia drinking her bottle. Just felt like sharing my day today. I have the boys every day this week (other than today) from 8-4. Please pray for my sanity….. On a more serious note, but about praying ~ Please pray for Charlotte. She’s going back up to Calgary Children’s for some scheduled tests, but she’s been having a rough few days, please pray it passes quickly and she’s healed!

I was visiting with a girl friend of mine last night at Mom’s night out and she mentioned to me some struggles she deals with (in regards to house and kids, time really). And I told her about how I wish I could just get my house clean, and keep it clean. Why can’t I have what so many other people have? Umph as I call it. You’d think that if I’m not spending the time cleaning than perhaps I’m spending it playing with the kids. You’d think. I do play with them. I do clean. But I don’t feel like either is enough time put towards them. I think I’m spending it online. What a horrible thing. I blog (usually while kids are napping ~ or like now pretending to nap), I go on Facebook (feels like a connection to the world outside my house), I read other blogs (check them daily even 2x’s daily), and I have other websites I visit to read whatnot on. I try to do it all only while kids sleep. But the truth of the matter is, I’m addicted and I come online more often than not. NOT GOOD.
I have one friend who blogs regularly, almost daily. Today I just read that she is now stopping her blog. It’s gone as of tomorrow morning. Danica I will miss you!! You truly inspire me and help me be a better mom. I just wish I could write as beautifully as you do. Although I will miss her stories (even philosophy Fridays), I completely understand the desire to not put so much time into blogging. I have decided I do want to keep blogging. However I’m going to cut down on all my other online endeavors. I’m going to make myself have Umph, get the house the way I want it and spend that time with my kids. They are only little for a short time. I don’t want to look back and feel like I missed out on their childhood because I was online. That’s not why we decided I would stay home with them. We decided for me to stay home to raise them, and I want to raise them right.
So while Danica moves on to other things, I too have decided to move on. I have wanted to be a certain way since I got married. I keep getting there, or almost there, then falling back behind. But I’m going to just keep on trying! Flylady was working to help me reach my goals, and now I need to press on and get back into it. What is something you’ve been putting off doing? Or something you want to do?

Oops. I’ll back up before I’ll explain my oops moment.
Today has been one of those, test your patients, drive you nuts, is it over? kind of days. The only thing that helped me through was knowing that tonight is Mom’s night out. A night that mom’s from our Church (and their friends ~ out reach opportunity) get together and enjoy a hot dinner without the hubby or kids. It’s nice. It REALLY is. Well the boys just got picked up so I started to get ready. Well Joy and Olivia started begging for a snack (sad to say it that way, but they sound like they are begging). So I sat them up with some Cucumber and Tomatos to munch on until Orlund gets home and makes them dinner. I also told Joy that once she was done the veggies then she could have some Cheese. Well I went to the bathroom and got myself ready, makeup on, hair done, dressed. Joy came in and showed me she was chewing a cucumber (yummy), so I followed her out to the dining room. Figured she was telling me she was eating it. Well I wish I had of had my camera. I came in to discover OOPS I didn’t buckle Olivia in! She was sitting cross legged in the middle of our dining room table! She had found a pencil and looked like she was looking for a piece of paper to draw on. Guess I was to excited to get ready and get going! She is now happily eating her food, safely strapped into her highchair. Joy is harassing me asking for more cheese….sigh…. 2hours… just 2 more hours…

So we decided to test drive a minivan today… Just to see. Eventually we would like to purchase one. There is a brand, and kind that we would like(although after today will look at others). The one we test drove doesn’t have as big of an engine as we’d hoped for. However there is a Brand new (that one is used, 1year old) one that isn’t as ‘fancy’ with a bigger engine. Oye! I tell ya… SO much money.. Neither Orlund nor myself are wheeler dealers…. When the time comes to purchase we might take my dad along. The van was beautiful. I love it. I don’t love how much money everything costs. Oh and the guy pretty much slapped us in the face with the STUPID price he wanted to give us for our cars! What an insult! Definitely will be selling those privately. We can see through all his “I don’t normally do this” but we aren’t aggressive people…. sigh.. Oh well.. someday..

On another note, I’m finally getting some progress going on Joy’s scrapbook. I had laid out a ‘plan’ about a year ago of how I wanted to do everything… However whenever I went to work on it, I just couldn’t get it to work. So I finally scrapped the old idea and started fresh, and I like it! I’m getting it done! I would like to get it done this month. I started on Friday. I have 16 14 pages to do. I did one yesterday and one today. Pretty good progress I have to say, and I still feel like doing more Yipee! I don’t know why I ever thought doing a scrapbook was a good idea. Oh well. Once I have Joy’s done I’ll start on Olivia’s. Actually I don’t think I’ll really work on hers until October (just with all we have planned for summer). But I will slowly gather the pictures I want and print them off. I also still have my mom’s cross stitch to finish…

I also have this excruciating pain in my left shoulder. Right up on top of my shoulder, and when it flares up the pain is so much I usually end up crying. The pain travels up into my head making me want to vomit. It acted up tonight when I was driving and I almost pulled over, luckily the Lord relieved enough of the pain I could get home. I’m praying for it. Joy prayed for it too. What a cutie. Well It’s past my bedtime so I should head to bed. NIGHT!