New Wheels

We bought a new car today. We have been talking about doing it for a while now and had planned to do it this upcoming spring. The only problem is that we were not sure what vehicle we wanted. I did not especially want another mini-van...though with 3 children, there is something nice to be said about having more seats than one has children. With 7 passenger seating we are able to keep at least one seat between all the kiddos...hence, less physical contact, hence more peace. However. There are not many SUV's out there that will accomodate a family wishing to have that extra seating...save for a Suburban. We had talked a lot about and researched online the Toyota Sequoia...which is a really lovely vehicle....but REALLY expensive. I mean, like crazy expensive. None of the other Toyotas were really practical for us...but as Chris pointed out....the Sequoia cost just slightly more than half of what we paid for our first home! Ouch! So we decided to think about it some and continued to drive on down dealership alley, when we came upon the Ford dealership. Now, we always said that we would not drive a Ford...but while we were vacationing in Montana the past couple of years we rented the Explorers with the 7 passenger seating and we really liked them and said that we would consider one of those when the time came. So today we considered it. Ford has the "employee discount" promotional going on right now and there happened to be a rebate on the Explorers as well. When we started running the numbers we just decided to do it now, rather than wait. So we are now the proud owners of a cool blueish with tan trim Eddie Bauer Ford Explorer with just about all of the options available. I have to take it back next week to have the DVD system installed....but it's a great car. The two best things about it are 1. It is not a minivan and 2. We will be able to tow a small camper which we are planning to purchase in the spring. That was another huge factor in our search. We knew that if we bought a minivan the camper idea would be out...so we had to havve a vehicle with enough tow power. The Explorer just worked out nicely for us. As part of the deal we got 2 season tickets to the Arizona Cardinals football games. They play in Phoenix. I doubt that we will go, but we know that we should be able to give them away easily enough! All in all it was a busy day....an unexpected surprise to come home with a new car. When we set out this afternoon, the only thing I had really hoped and expected to come home with was a jog bra. I still did not get that....but the car is great!

Clara continues to be so sassy. I am having to really crack down on her hard with her sassy mouth and rude actions. She seems really aggressive with the boys...especially when she does not get her way. Rudeness in children is not a big favorite of mine...so we are really coming down hard on her. It seems to be getting her attention....we aren't over the hump yet....but we definitely have her attention. The boys go back to school on Thursday and I really feel like if I don't have them around then she will get better on her own. They seemed to genuinely miss each other after long school days last year...and they are definitely NOT missing each other right about now! They all need some much needed time apart. Only 5 more days!

No other news right now. We had lots of good rain tonight. I suppose that is pretty good news! It rarely rains here and when it does it is usually just a lightish sprinkle. But it really rained and stormed tonight. Gotta love that! Life is good here in the desert!