This morning a certain three-year-old had a small tantrum because I couldn’t find his green reindeer shirt and he wanted to wear it. The truth is I didn’t even know what he was talking about. I finally figured out he was talking about his green John Deere shirt (I’m a little slow sometimes). Unfortunately that shirt was in the wash so he wore his Mabel shirt, with his I love Papa shirt on top.

 “I look even more sharper like this!”

Then later, while we were out running errands, we saw a man snowblowing his driveway. Adam said, “Look mommy, that man is mowing his snow.”

Adam wrote his name for the first time today!

This morning I sent Adam in to his room to pick out the clothes he wanted to wear. A couple of minutes later I heard him yell for help. When I opened his closet door I found this.

It’s a good thing he doesn’t weigh much.

While at the car dealership Adam told anyone that would listen, “We getting a ‘wan’, because we having a new baby and need lots of room.” And if for no other reason, that alone is enough to make me excited about my new wheels. This car will be the one that brings our newest little one home from the hospital. That’s a pretty awesome thing.

I’m also looking forward to the sliding doors. No more worrying about dinging the car next to mine when I’m getting one of the boys in or out of their seats in a crowded parking lot. No more making Adam wait to get in the car while I buckle up Luke.

And I’m excited about the “trunk” space. It will definitely make traveling with the kids/luggage/stroller/pack-and-play/etc a whole lot easier. Dave won’t get to practice his tetris-like packing skills as much, but we’ll also probably be able to see out the rear window better.

Plus, this van will have bluetooth capabilities. So I’ll be able to talk on my cell, without actually holding the phone. This is not only much safer, but in this state it’s much more legal.

There’s a backup camera too. Which will help me to see if there are any stray toys in the driveway. It should also prevent anyone (ahem, Dave) from backing in to trees in campgrounds with my vehicle.

Those are the silver linings I’ve found so far. I’m sure there will be more. I mean this van is seven years newer than my current wheels. There are bound to be a lot of other positive differences. And Dave promised to get me satellite radio (the van we got doesn’t come with it – in order to get one with satellite radio I’d have had to get leather seats and leather seats just don’t seem like a good idea with little kids).

So yeah, satellite radio. I’m spoiled, I know.

Oh, one more quick van-related story before I end this. When we first got to the dealership yesterday we were greeted by one of the salesmen. After he introduced himself to me and Dave, Adam piped up and said, “And I’m Adam.” The salesman shook Adam’s hand and said, “Hi Adam. I’m Josh.” Adam responded with, “Pleased to meet you Josh. I’m three years old and I can’t read.”

That kid kills me.

Last weekend we went and looked a new vehicle. We’ve known for a while that we have to get something (I can’t fit three carseats in my car). I had my heart set on a slightly larger SUV than I currently have. We test drove the car I had been dreaming about, and even got to the number crunching stage. We had the deal almost set and Dave and I decided to go grab lunch to talk about it before finalizing it all.

At the diner we realized that it wouldn’t work for us. While the bigger SUV could fit the number of people we needed it to (and then some) we wouldn’t be able to easily access all three children in their carseats. At this point Adam can’t buckle or unbuckle himself (which I’m fine with, the last thing I need is him bailing ship while I’m driving), so our original plan of putting him in the third row of seats and Luke and the new baby in the middle row, wasn’t really feasible. Plus the third row of seats didn’t have the latch system we like to use while installing the carseats (we’re able to get them in much more securely using the latches instead of just the seat belts).

We came home and researched as many other options as possible. What it comes down to isn’t so much the number of kids we have, but the ages of them. I have little kids and without a DeLorean with a flux capacitor that’s not going to change (for the record – DeLoreans aren’t really carseat friendly either). We did find a couple of options that we might be able to make work for the three children we’ll have in May, but there is no way we’d be able to make it work if we decide to have a fourth child.

So just like that, my SUV dreams were crushed and I found myself smack dab in the middle of minivan territory (a place I vehemently swore I’d never go). It took me two days to grieve the loss of the SUV I’d wanted (a bit melodramatic perhaps, but hey, it’s being replaced with a MINIVAN). Then I joined Dave in the hunt and started looking around online at our options. We had it narrowed down to two and decided to go look at the front runner today.

We were just planning on looking at it and possibly test driving, so we took the boys with us.

Luke’s test drive

Redneck playpen

Adam at the wheel

Luke took a nap in the floor model

We ended up being there much longer than we anticipated (about three hours longer by my count). We did end up getting a van though and will pick it up in a few days.

Now I just need to sign Adam up for soccer and get a little stick figure family for the rear window (that was total sarcasm, if you couldn’t tell). I’ll drive the minivan, and I’m incredibly thankfully for the little people that make it necessary, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it.

Not too much going on here this week (thus the lack of stories and pictures). We’ve been dealing with some mild sickness. Both boys have had on and off low-grade fevers and stomach issues. Adam has had a runny nose as well. So we’ve been doing a lot of snuggling and resting to try and get everyone back to normal.

We’re not there yet, but we’re close.

This kid got a (much needed) haircut today.

Pretty handsome, don’t you think?

Last night at the thrift shop I came across a Sheriff Woody doll. I knew that Adam would love it (they’re his absolute favorite movies), and it was only 99 cents. The only problem was that Woody was missing his hat.

When we got home, I looked around online and found people selling just the hat for $18. I wasn’t about to pay that much. So this morning I searched the internet and found a pattern to make a baby sized cowboy hat. I scaled it down to fit Woody and got to work.
I spent a couple of hours this afternoon making a new hat for Woody. It was a little more time consuming than I thought it would be, but I was able to finish it before Adam woke from his nap. He was thrilled when he saw the finished product. So it was all worth it.

Plus, I think it will look great on my application for “Mom of the Year”.

Hope your Valentine’s Day has been a sweet one.

Adam and I made some Love Day (as he calls it) cookies this morning.

Luke kept busy with a backhoe and some cheerios.

Adam declared them to be “dee-licious” (the rest of us agree).