Week Three: 1/13-1/19

Oh my goodness, I registered Cole for Kindergarten this week!!! Yep, seriously, that's how the week started Monday morning - 8:30am. Went to Eli's school with all the appropriate paperwork and got the Cole-man registered! Tuesday I had an orthodontist appointment. Sooooo close to being out of my daytime retainer. Woo hoo!

We had a pretty low key normal week that led to a super fun weekend! Saturday was the craziest busiest day. Hard to believe all we accomplished in one day. Eli and Tim had a Scouts work day to work on their Pinewood Derby cars so while they were doing that, Cole & I met a friend of his from church, Andrew, at Monkey Joe's. The boys had a great time playing and running around. We ended our fun playdate with ice cream from Dairy Queen - YUM! I even treated myself to a blizzard. Can not think of the last time I had one of those! Tim and Eli worked on his pinewood derby car. They used the equipment to get the body shape cut out. Eli was quite proud to have his car cut out. I think he used the "wedge" shape. Tim cut his a little fancier.

Later Saturday afternoon, Henry came over to stay with the boys so Tim and I could go to CarMax to test drive the vehicle I had transferred up here. And spoiler alert....MOST EXPENSIVE DATE NIGHT EVER!! Seriously. We got to Car-Max at 5:30pm and literally drove out of there at 7:30pm with a (new) 2013 Toyota Sequoia. I was pretty certain when I requested the transfer that we'd end up with it but wasn't 100% positive. I'm not one to just go test drive cars and I had been looking for quite a long while for something with a 3rd row seat and when I saw this amazing deal, I had to go for it! And, of course, when I drove it, LOVED IT! So they appraised the 4Runner while we drove the new one. We got back, into the little "make you a deal" office and looked at our options. Tim and I talked it over and made the decision to sell / trade my truck and get the new one. As soon as our sales person left, I started crying. I really did! I had no idea I was so attached to that truck! I think I kinda surprised Tim but man, so many wonderful fun memories in that truck. It was the first (and probably only) brand new vehicle I ever owned. I drove her off the lot with 44 miles on the odometer and when we said goodbye, she had over 218k! Oh my goodness, what a super awesome truck she was. I also joked with Tim that that was the last part of "Independent Evia". Now I have a Mom-mobile. =) But seriously, my 4Runner really was awesome and I know it would have lasted much longer. It was sad to say goodbye to her but the Sequoia welcomed me with big open arms and a nice comfy seat. We joked with Rafael, our sales person, that this was his easiest sale of the month. He lucked up getting assigned to my transfer and we only took 2 hours of his time to complete the deal. The boys were super excited. They absolutely love the new truck and really love the 3rd row. It was be so great for traveling and camping and now we can travel with the Grandparents or friends since it seats 8! We are still getting used to how big she is. When talking about it, we said she's as big as a whale and that's when we affectionately named her 'Beluga'. Perfect.

Tonight, Cole called a family meeting. It was a very serious meeting. Apparently "Rock, Paper, Scissors" was used to determine between he and Eli who was taking a shower first. Well, Eli lost and then didn't keep up his end of the bargain. Cole called a family meeting and we all met on mine & Tim's bed. Cole explained the situation and Eli was still being bratty about it. Cole then negotiated with us for more tv if he took his bath first. I agreed to that so off he went running up the stairs. It was exactly what I want for working through stuff as a family. I sometimes call a family meeting to decide what we're going to do, to run through the plan for the day or whatever but it was absolutely precious for Cole to call his own family meeting!