Goodbye Shadow!

Last week was a terrible week for us as far as mechanical things went! On Tuesday, I started the dishwasher and it didn't do anything! It has been really loud for a while now. I guess we now know why! So, we had to buy a new dishwasher. The bad thing was that I had planned to go out that same day to get a Wii so I could get WiiFitPlus to lose a little more weight before having surgery in December. Needless to say, I didn't get my Wii! We did some research and couldn't find anything that would last a long time without spending a LOT of money. We went with a Bosch by the recommendation of the repair guy. We went to look at dishwashers on Tuesday and ordered it on Wednesday. Then Thursday when I was picking up Jesstine after I worked, I got a call from Stephen saying that his car wouldn't start. So, Jesstine and I went to pick him up. It was really cold the next day, so we decided to let it sit for a day and see if it would start when it warmed up on Saturday. No luck. We left it over the weekend and Stephen tried to start it again on Monday. Still no luck, so he had it towed. Just after lunch, he phoned to tell me that it was bad news. It turns out the fuel pump was going out. We then started our car search. We had talked about it all weekend and decided that we would either get a cheep car for him to take to work, a nicer car that would last him a while to take him to work but would double as a family car if needed, or just go all out and get a bigger family car that I would drive and he would drive my current car. After doing research and discussing it, we decided upon the third option. The search began. On Tuesday we stopped by CarMax and checked out a few possibilities narrowing it down to two. We had also seen a used minivan at another dealership with very little miles. We decided to go and check that out as well. We LOVED it! We decided to go talk to our bank to get some financing. After doing so, we went on Thursday to haggle. They wouldn't budge past $450 on the van! We walked out to look at the other two options at CarMax. We started walking toward the one we had in mind to test drive and beside it was a similar van that had just come in. We decided to look at it first because we liked the color better! Little did we know, we had hit the jackpot! It turned out to be what we were looking for and more! Just to make sure, we test drove it and the other car we had in mind (which was identical to the car we tried to haggle on at the other dealership). So, we came home with this:

Already has the Cowboys tag and a WSU decal!

It is a Chrysler Town and Country Touring Special Edition. It has a dark blue exterior color and a gray interior. The seats are all leather with the front seats being electric and heated. It has a DVD player with a 6 disc changer. It has power sliding doors and tailgate. It essentially has all of the bells and whistles. We were willing to give up all of the bells and whistles on our first choice if the price were right. For the same price we were willing to pay for that one, we got this one WITH the bells and whistles! We unfortunately have already had our first mishap. Just bad luck I guess. On the way home from the dealership, it was hit by a large rock and the windshield was damaged.

Stephen's car, affectionately named Shadow, was able to give us one last little benefit though. CarMax was able to give us $500 to trade Shadow in.

This post is dedicated to the memory of a car that had a good long life! Stephen will miss you Shadow! Welcome to the family Blue!

In Him,

Lacie, Stephen, and Jesstine

P.S. If you are ever in need of a used car, check out CarMax! We had great service there! They are honest, efficient and easy to work with! It was a very smooth car buying experience. They even take care of the registration for you!!!! If you live in Wichita, Neal is a good salesman to work with! He is also a childhood friend. It isn't very often that you can walk into a dealership and hug your car salesman! It isn't very often that I don't have to spell my name out for someone! I still think it would have been a pleasant experience with out knowing him. Check out CarMax!

Trick-or-Treat!

I didn't think that I would be doing much for Halloween this year. Jesstine is only 14 months old and can't really eat much of the candy given out. I tried hard to find a simple costume that didn't cost too much. Stephen is not a big fan of Halloween, so I didn't feel right spending a lot of money on a costume for her especially since she is too young to really care....or so I THOUGHT! This kid (like most) LOVES candy! It quickly became apparent that she really liked getting dressed up and getting candy from people so she could put it in her bucket. It also quickly became apparent that I wasn't going to get many good pictures of her because she is SO wiggly! Here is what we came up with. She was as cute as a bug!

This was right before our first Trick-or-Treat event. When I was a kid, we went trick-or-treating ON Halloween. Not several times the week of Halloween! Well, I guess it is kind of a good thing that we had more than one opportunity since her costume was so cute! She decided to read a little before we left.

More reading.

Our first activity was with the Maize Parents As Teachers (PAT) group. We went to a local (3 mins. from our house) nursing home for some storytime, singing, and of course candy! The residents handed out candy after the stories and singing. This is her friend Remi. I think she is 2. We see her in music class each week.

Listening to a story.

My mom graciously watched Jesstine a LOT this week while we were trying to find a vehicle to replace Stephen's car (see later post). Jesstine picked out a thank you balloon for her. I think Jesstine liked it so much that Mom left it for Jesstine. We found a fun way to put it on her push toy. She wouldn't stand still in the Ladybug costume, but she is a ham in this picture.

She has really improved on her walking. It looks so effortless behind this toy! She had so much fun with that balloon!

This was taken at our church's trunk-or-treat. She had recently finished some chocolate. The necklace was a treat from one of the trunks that was decorated as a treasure chest. Can you tell she liked all of the hubbub?

Yes, that is a roll of toilet paper in my dad's hands! My folks had a fake outhouse in the back of their truck. The kids had to throw a roll of toilet paper (do a trick) to get their treats. No doubt one of the best pictures of the evening!

That is until we got this one. It would look pretty common place if Jesstine were a REAL ladybug! Such a cute picture! A good conversation piece for when boys try to date her!

After the church event, we decided to hit a few houses on the cul-de-sac. The next day was daylight savings time, so we tried to stretch her bedtime to try and adjust it to take care of the time change. This is one of our beloved neighbors! They have made it to Jesstine's birthday and have been SO supportive and loving to Jesstine. The little boy is a little guy that they adopted and has autism. He is so sweet! This was right before he asked Jesstine, "Do you know my name?" It was so cute!

This was the last house we went to. Just a really cute photo opportunity! I had to call out to Stephen to get a picture.

Overall it was a fun holiday for a girl who really could care less about Halloween! She was such a trooper all week while Mommy and Daddy were car shopping. I think she was just so happy to be spending time with us for a while without interruptions.

Be looking for the car post next!

In Him,

Lacie, Stephen, and Jesstine

Walking Tall!

Well, we reached a milestone at the end of last week. Jesstine now walks on a daily basis. Several times a day in fact! She still prefers crawling as her main mode of transportation, but she will at least try to walk first. She can take at least 8 steps at one time. She is just growing so fast! Here are a few pictures from the last few weeks and some captions to go with them!

So, before it got REALLY cold out, Jesstine and I spent a lot of time using her chariot (otherwise known as the bike trailer). We were getting ready to go out for a ride one day and she decided that she needed to look pretty. She tried as hard as she could to put her bracelet on, so I helped her. Then she tried to put her hat on. I helped her with that too! This was her bike riding attire for that day!

Humm, I don't remember leaving the bathroom like this. I usually don't have to worry about letting her loose in the bathroom. This day was different. When Daddy went to get her bath ready, this is what he found.

She confessed rather quickly! People keep saying that I don't REALLY want her to walk because she will be into everything! HA! She is so tall and was so mobile before she started walking. It didn't matter. She was STILL into everything! It is fun though!

Her new favorite game! She is tall enough and has learned to climb enough that she has discovered every child's favorite toy: a laundry basket!!! This one is on wheels.

Here she is with yet ANOTHER laundry basket (or in this case two). Hike that leg up there!

She made it!

And of course, there is the toy basket too! She discovered toys that she hadn't played with in a long time. They are now ALL on the floor waiting for Mommy to pick them up!

My sister gave me the idea to get bells for Jesstine's shoes since she has started walking now. When my niece started walking, my sister got some and she was proficient at walking not to much later. So, I thought I would give it a try! She loves them! She still can't figure out what makes the sound. She tries to pull them off, but luckily they are constructed so that she hasn't been successful yet! I don't even have to untie her shoes to put them on. They are great! We will see how long it takes her to be proficient now!

In Him,

Lacie, Stephen, and Jesstine