Mommy's New Minivan (2.75 years and 14 months)

At the end of September, Austin and Brian bought me a new car and it was a minivan!  Brian and I have known for a while that we needed a minivan.  The Escape is too small with two kids on long road trips.  We had no room to sit in the back with them and if I had the two umbrella strollers in the trunk we really didn't have any trunk space either.  We kept telling Austin that he had to go buy mommy a minivan.  Brian did all the work online finding the dealership with the best price and then on Saturday morning we all went and picked it up.  He ended up getting quotes from 15 dealerships and working the pricing to about $4k below the average selling price ($1200 below invoice).  Despite the pricing set ahead of time, we were still at the dealership for 2 hours because of paperwork in financing.  We finally got the 2014 Honda Odyssey though!  As we were leaving the dealership Austin ran out screaming "I just bought mommy a new van"!  It was so cute!

Many people do not like/want minivans. I think with kids (especially two) you need a minivan.  It is an awesome vehicle.  I think it is my favorite vehicle ever!  The Odyssey is a great van. Our van has a moon roof, leather interior, heated seats, back up and right side camera, lane departure warning signaling, and Bluetooth (that actually works with my phone).  I love it!!!

We have continued to have illnesses in our household. Sydney got over hand, foot, and mouth, but then Sydney and Brian developed a GI illness.  It was about 5 days of diarrhea.  Luckily Austin and I did not get that really.  But we ended up with a terrible cough.  It has now lasted  3 weeks.  We are starting to get better but the cough is still there.  We shared it with Brian about 2 weeks ago.  He still has it bad and he can't sleep at night because of it.  Austin developed an ear infections 5 days ago.  He is now on antibiotics.  Then yesterday Sydney was diagnosed with croup and wheezing.  She now has the same cough.  She got a shot of steroids since she is a terrible medicine taker.  It is only the start of sickness season. Yuck!

Nana came up to visit with the kids a few weekends ago.  The weekend she came up I had already had tickets for our fall festivals.  The first one was at Patterson Farm with the local mom's club.  This was our first time to Patterson and it was great.  We had a beautiful day for it.  We went and picked apples and then the kids played.  We also went on a hayride.  We had a lot of fun.

After lunch we came home and Austin took a nap.  Sydney should have napped too but she refused.  After nap we went to our second fall festival at Luther Farms.  We went there last year and had a great time. This year it was about the same.  It had a nice long hayride. Plus they fire pumpkin cannon that goes for miles.  It is something to see.  Nana and Brian took the kids into the petting zoo. I can't handle that. I don't like to watch them touch gross things around the animals. We learned last year it is best if I wait outside and don't see it.  It was a really fun day.

Nana was able to stay with us on Sunday too.  We went shopping and then hung out around the house. She is going to make Austin a Mickey Mouse blanket.  Austin is going to love it. He picked out the material himself. We all had a great time. It was sad when she had to go back home.

Last Saturday night we went to Boo at the Zoo with our friends Keith and Lisa.  Austin and Kaitlyn are best friends so we decided to go together.  We had a lot of fun. The weather was a little cold but at least it wasn't raining. It rained all day but stopped around 5pm. It was perfect.  Austin ran around the zoo a lot.  This year he is Mickey Mouse since that is what he loves right now.  He is a very cute Mickey Mouse. Kaitlyn was Minnie Mouse. They looked so cute together.

Lisa let me borrow a lobster costume so Sydney wore that.  Sydney made a very cute lobster.  I also have a cat costume that I got at a consignment sale in the spring.  We have a lot of Halloween activities planned so it's good she has two costumes.  I love this time of year. It is even better with kids.  We are having so much fun!

The next week is filled with Halloween activities and then we are off to Disney World!  I can't believe we are going so soon.  I can't wait to see Austin's face.

By the way, we finished the playground.  Brian took a day off work and we sent the kids to school so we could stain it.  It took both of us about 9 hours to finish, but we got it done.  Now the swingset is complete and ready for winter!  Next year it just needs a roof.

Happy Birthday Brian (2.69 years and 13 months)

A week before Brian's birthday, he had to go to Colorado for a business trip.  He left on Wednesday morning around 10 am.  Brian decided to pack that morning which it was a little crazy since Austin wanted to help.  Austin helping meant that he would take things out of the suitcase that were already packed.  Brian finally got packed and he was off to the airport.

I am home alone with the kids a lot so I wasn't too nervous about Brian being gone.  However I do like all of Brian's help in the evenings and knew that bedtime was going to be a lot more work for me.  It is nice to know around 5:30 pm every night Brian is home to help out.  This week I was on my own for 3 nights.  Wednesday night went fine.  I cooked dinner like usual then after dinner we went for a walk, stopped at Kaitlyn's house to play, then came home and got ready for bed.  I did what I do during nap time when I am alone.  Austin gets to watch his Kindle while I put Sydney to bed.  Then I am able to give Austin all the attention to put him to bed.  It worked well.

On Thursday, my mom came over and we went to a consignment sale.  I got some clothes for the kids and a few toys.  My mom was with me most of the day.  It was nice not to be alone.  Thursday night after we got home for a walk I gave both kids a bath.  They like taking a bath together so it works out.  After bath time was over, I took Sydney downstairs to get her dressed.  Austin ran into our bedroom and turned on the music.  Something didn't seem right so I went upstairs to check on him.  Austin had locked the door.  I asked him to unlock it and he couldn't for some reason.  Meanwhile he had turned on the music in our bedroom so loud it was hard to hear too.  Austin started to freak out.  I went downstairs to try and find the tool Brian told me to use if this happens. I found it but couldn't get it to unlock.  Then I tried a screwdriver to take the door handle off.  That did not work either.  Finally I called our nice neighbor Bill who came over and unlocked the door.  I was so grateful for him.  It was a complete mess!  I think Austin learned his lesson not to lock the doors anymore.

On Friday there were massive floods in Colorado.  During the conference they kept interrupting to update them on the weather and if they were going to make it to the airport.  Brian kept on texting me updates too.  Brian got on a bus headed to the airport with hope they would make it.  Then after driving for an hour, the bus was told by the police it had to turn around and go back because all the roads were closed.  Brian was stuck in Colorado for at least 1 more night.  I wasn't too happy but grateful that he was safe.  I felt bad for all the people out there that were loosing everything.

Brian's co-worker called him at 4 am and told him that they were leaving for the airport.  The rain had stopped briefly and the roads were passable, but more rain was coming.  They got to the airport early and Brian had already done research and knew which flights to try and fly stand by home.  He was the first one on the stand by list.  We were both hoping he would make the earlier flight so that he could get home in the afternoon before bedtime.  Luckily he did.

That day I went to a school picnic in the park.  It was crazy watching and eating with both kids but I did it.  We had fun but missed Brian.  Brian got home in time for us to go to The Little Gym open house.  We had heard about The Little Gym and wanted to check it out.  I want something to do in the winter with the kids and was hoping this would be it.  I found out they don't have a family friendly class.  Classes are all based on ages so Sydney and Austin would be in different classes.  All classes under 3 are parent and child class so that means I can't really do it alone.  It was fun to play there though.  The following week Kaitlyn invited Austin to her class.  She goes there every week.  We really got the full class experience by joining her.  We liked it, but it doesn't make sense for us since both kids can't be in the same class.  Maybe after Austin turns 3 I will sign him up.

Last year I did not celebrate Brian's birthday.  It was crazy with Sydney being born and Brian being so sick.  So this year I wanted to do something nice.  Austin made him a carrot cake and decorated it with yellow sprinkles.  Then I found some poems and the kids put their footprints on it and I framed it.  They turned out cute.  I think Brian had a good birthday.

This week Sydney came down with Hand Foot and Mouth Disease.  It is a virus common in children under 5.  They get blisters in their mouth, feet, hands, and Sydney has it on her thighs and buttock.  Sydney has been extremely fussy with a low fever.  I thought maybe she had an ear infection but it turns out she has Hand Foot and Mouth Disease.  She is getting better but I had to take off work today because she is still contiguous.   She seems to get getting back to normal so hopefully she can go to school tomorrow.

Sydney's new favorite thing to do is wave and say bye bye.  Bye bye is her favorite word.  It is so cute.  Austin is very good at riding his bike with training wheels  It has a handle for us to hold on to.  They are both loving this fall weather and enjoying a lot of time outside on the swing set.