The week before Christmas & New Year's is a bit of a blur. Caleb was still getting over the stomach bug for the first couple days, so we stayed at home. But, thankfully, the boys had LOTS of new toys to play with, so they were happy and busy! Joshua would carry around his new MAC and dancing truck, and both have slept with him in bed most naps and nights. Both boys play with Caleb's new laptop and love playing the letter games. Joshua also loves his Leapster and plays with it until the batteries die, which Daddy will charge up and replace. One of Caleb's new favorites is his Drako hamster (which squeaks and moves all around on the floor). He also enjoys his new puppy (the fake variety that barks and walks at the command of a remote), and his new Rex dinosaur. We've played dominoes and memory, and we've done lots of coloring and some of the various crafts we had bought the boys. And, we've heard the story of Christmas narrated by the Ginder's over and over and over again. The boys made me laugh over and over again throughout the week, but alas, if I don't write the things they say down right away, I forget.
That week, I started de-decorating. The boys were really sad that we were taking the ornaments off their Christmas tree. I mean really, really sad. I told them that Christmas comes every year, and we'll put everything back out next December. But, to a little guy, that seems like forever.
Wednesday morning, Mamaw came over to see the boys' toys. That night, she also watched the boys so Shawn & I could use up the rest of the gift card he had for Applebee's and I could exchange a pair of pants at Target. Thursday morning, we went out to breakfast with Grandpa Georgia since we had canceled on him on Sunday. We also gave him his Christmas gifts then. That night, he came back over to our house to watch the boys for an hour so we could go look at minivans.
We had been looking at them for awhile and test driven many different models. We ended up purchasing a 2011 Toyota Sienna that night in my favorite dark gray color. We had talked before going about what was important to us feature-wise and what was not a 'must have.' I had said that I MUST have power doors because I wanted the sensor that their hands wouldn't be broken in those heavy doors if one were to close (our babysitter's mom just had off for 6+ weeks from getting her wrist smashed in their minivan, which they have since gotten rid of). That feature is not standard in all vans but was important to me for the safety of our kids. The second feature that I wanted but wasn't a complete necessity was a back-up camera because again, I worry about the safety of our kids, particularly if they would be playing in our driveway, etc. When we went, this van that we test drove had both those features but not a ton of the other ones that we didn't care that much about. It did, however, have things like blue tooth and the buttons to program your garage door opener, an MP3 player jack, and other features that I'm sure I'll enjoy even though I wasn't looking for them. I also LOVE the amount of cup-holders it has, and the fact that it can seat seven or eight, depending on if you leave the sit in the middle of the captains chairs in the middle of the van. And again, not that it really matters, but it's also nice that all the seats can recline for comfort. While that won't happen with the car seats with our kids for awhile, adults would really enjoy this feature, particularly on long trips.
They gave us more on our trade than we were expecting (which we realize it's all a number's game and it's really about the bottom line), and we felt like we got a fair deal when all was said and done. It also comes with two years free maintenance (including oil changes, etc). We're happy to now have enough space to bring home the baby when it's time, and we're also happy that we won't have to worry about the one car we have that's big enough for our family breaking down. I think we'll have this vehicle for a long, LONG time!
Joshua loves the new ride (telling us that he'd like to have a minivan when he grows up), but he keeps asking where my car is. I realized we had the Escape ever since he was a baby, so it seemed strange to him that we wouldn't be traveling in it anymore.
As I thought about 2010 coming to an end, I thought about what a great year it was. We took two trips to Florida as a family, I celebrated my 30th birthday, we enjoyed watching our two little boys turn another year older and continue to develop healthily, I finished the draft of the book I was working on, we met new friends, and we conceived our third child. There's so much more we could celebrate, and we did all along the way! I am most blessed by my husband and children, our family and friends, and our Lord Jesus. With such a great year behind us, I'm looking forward to 2011!
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