Our New Boat

A week ago Saturday I went out, by myself, to test drive minivans. I stopped at the Toyota dealership first and tried a 2007 Toyota Sienna. It was nice but didn't have all the options I wanted. I visited the Honda dealership next and drove a 2005 and 2006 Honda Odyssey. Very nice, right price but didn't feel right. After driving the two types of vans I decided I would rather have a Honda. I know a lot of people with Honda Odysseys and they all love their vans. I took home some information to my dear husband and we thought about it for a few days. I have been wanting a minivan for a long time but when it came down to it none of the three vans I tried on Saturday felt right. I started looking online for used Odysseys and found one I really liked. I got really excited and called the dealership first thing Monday morning. I scheduled an appointment to see the van on Tuesday when Chris could come with me. However, when I checked back with them that afternoon the van had been sold. DARN! Back to square one. After rolling it around in his head for a bit, Chris decided that a new 2008 van would be an option. He did some homework and found some tips online for buying a new car. He calculated approximately how much the dealership paid for the vehicle, added about $500 and said he would not take a higher price. We scheduled a babysitter and headed out to the Honda dealership. Chris drove the '06 and liked it. Imagine our surprise when we went in to discuss prices and the sales manager offered a new van to us at $25 below the price we previously agreed would be a "good price". Before we could commit to anything, he came back and offered an even lower price. The only haggling that took place was with the price on our trade-in, a 1993 Honda Civic hatchback. All in all we got a great deal, stayed within our budget and got a brand new van for only a bit more than the "06 would have been. We are happy.

Easter Weekend

I know it's a little late for writing about Easter Weekend but I guess it's better late than never.

Saturday morning I got up and going so I could test-drive some mini vans. I went to the Toyota dealership first and tried a 2007 Sienna. It was nice but lacking some features I really wanted, like automatic sliding doors.

The Honda dealership was next. I kind of thought I would lean more toward an Odyssey anyway. I drove a 2005 and a 2006. I liked the '06 but wasn't really excited about it. More to come on the minivan adventure.

In the afternoon we went outside to work and play in the yard. Tristan found the dirt pile, again. This is what happens when a toddler is left to his own in a pile of dirt.

We invited the Brinkerhoff's over for dinner and an egg hunt on Saturday night. They were some of the first friends we made when we moved here and our kids are the same ages so we have done a lot with them. Unfortunately, since our move last April and the ward split we haven't seen much of them. Now they are moving to Reno, NV. Kennedy and Steven have been good friends over the past 4 1/2 years and even though it's been several months since they have played together, it was like no time had passed.

The kids enjoyed playing together and we fired up the grill and had the first burgers of the season. It was all good.

Sunday morning the kids found their baskets full of fun stuff (thanks, Grandma Mary for the cute clothes). Tristan was sick so I stayed home from church with him so he could get a good nap. It was much needed after staying up way to late the night before.

The rest of the day was quiet and peaceful. I am so thankful for the Savior and His love for us. I think Easter is the most underrated holiday. We could never show thanks enough for what happened on that first Easter.

Conserving Water

You wouldn't think that a state like North Carolina would have a drought. However, in the past five years that we have lived here there has been a drought almost every summer. Some years we hear more about it on the news that others. One year we had a nice rainstorm and the anchor on the news made a comment to the weather man, "One more storm like that and we'll be out of the drought." I never heard things like that when we had droughts in Utah.
Last summer North Carolina had the worst drought in recorded history. The whole state is in a panic. They have never had a problem this bad and are not prepared for no rain. The lakes that supply Raleigh and surrounding areas literally dried up. Reports of 34 more days of water circulated the news. So many laws have been set up since last summer in regard to conserving water. Businesses were ordered to decrease water usage by 50%. That's pretty drastic.
Today I went to Duke for a doctor's appointment and experienced one of the ways businesses like this cut down on water usage. I walked into a stall in the ladies' room and noticed the toilet handle was green. There was a sign above the toilet that basically said this:

Push up for #1

Push down for #2

Easter Egg Dying

Today I had a dentist appointment to fix an old filling. I left my kids with a friend. It worked out for all of us because the kids got to play with some friends and I got to go to my dentist appointment without worry.

This afternoon we colored Easter eggs. This was Tristan's first time. When we picked out our sets at Target he saw one with Disney's "Cars" and, of course, had to have it. He loved it so much he wouldn't let go of it the rest of the morning. I had to let him take it into Sam's Club with us and they tried to charge me for it again, even though they don't carry those.

Kennedy was more interested in the whole process than Tristan. She helped me plunge the eggs into the dye and helped me pick out the colors and wraps for each egg. It was fun and I think we only cracked three eggs (out of 18).

Monkey See, Monkey Do

Kennedy has been out of preschool for a week now. I must say, she is handling it well. She understands she is not going back to "The Creek". I have tried to keep her busy enough that she won't regret staying at home with me. She does follow me around the house a lot more than she used to and repeats a lot of what I say, especially if it's in regard to disciplining Tristan.

On Monday we went to the library and got some books on St. Patrick's Day and Easter, which is our "theme" this week. Today we went to Wal-Mart to get some seedlings to plant in our garden. We also did some Easter crafts. Tristan thought the crafts were fun. He got right up to the table and colored and decorated his page with stickers. He wanted to do what Kennedy was doing.

Speaking of which, he already recognizes the alphabet. I don't know if this is typical for some 23-month olds, if he has just picked up the interest from his older sister or if he is just brilliant. He loves when we read to him and for a while he would bring us abc books. One day Chris had on a sweatshirt with words on it. Tristan pointed to the O and said "O". Chris started quizzing him and he said a few of the other letters too. Three weeks later he recognizes all 26 letters. We just laugh.

Generator

Hey, I like this family blog. I'm glad it's working! I loved the videos, posts and pictures.
Last week Chris took a day off. Yes, this is an occasion to blog because he hasn't taken a day off in a long time. Anyway, for a year we have been talking about getting a generator. We are on well water so when our electricity goes out we don't have water either. How do I know this? Our power has gone off several times over the past year for one reason or another and we have experienced the no water.
It took a lot of research, saving and feet dragging to get the job done but last week we finally got it hooked up. The reason Chris took the day off was so he could be here when the electricians showed up to hook it up. It went without a hitch.
After the electricians left we set Tristan up with a movie in the house (Kennedy was at her last day of preschool) and we went outside and hooked up the generator to test it and make sure we knew how to hook it up. It took us a few minutes to figure things out and we missed a step so we had to start over but we got it to work and I actually think I could do it myself. We feel much better knowing that if we were in an ice storm or hurricane that we could still have some power.
Here is cute Tristan on his couch where I found him after we figured out the generator. Isn't he cute? He fell asleep watching "Cars" his favorite movie.

Preschool Drama

Our life has been full of preschool drama the past few weeks. When we started out the year at Hope Creek we learned there would be a new director. We also learned that one of Kennedy's teachers was a woman from our ward. I felt good about sending Kennedy to this preschool and she LOVED the first half of the year. In December both of her teachers quit. This was not something new to the preschool. I think they have on of the original teachers from the beginning of the year.
Even though my friend quit she still substituted there on occasion. A few weeks ago we went on a ward temple trip and ended up carpooling with this woman. She gave me a bunch of information about Kennedy's new teacher that made me uncomfortable about keeping her at this particular preschool.
I wanted to find out for myself what was going on in the classroom so I met with the teacher and that made me feel better. I wondered if my friend was just disappointed that the new teacher didn't continue the same routine and activities as they had done. I was confused about what to do so I asked Kennedy what she thought. Immediately she said, "Mommy, take me out." I was a bit surprised because she has loved having time away from home doing her "own thing". I asked her why she wanted me to take her out and she replied, "Because sometimes Miss Carol yells at us."
That was the last thing I needed to hear. I meant to leave her in her class until the end of March since our tuition has been paid through the end of the month. However, when I met with the director to discuss the situation the reaction I got was not one of support but one of combative behavior. She basically invited me to not bring Kennedy back to preschool. I felt horrible. I didn't want to tell Kennedy that she was never going back to her preschool.
Last Wednesday was her last day. I didn't take her back after that. I am now doing things with her at home and she seems perfectly fine with that.
Next year we will try a different preschool.