Ski Babies... last ski pictures of the season

Grandma and Papa came for a visit this past weekend. Grandma hasn't seen the girls on skis yet, so we found a small patch of snow in the yard (that had a slight slope) and took the girls out one last time. Grandma was impressed. The girls did awesome. We let them slide down the little tiny slope all by themselves. Sydy was preoccupied with all of the treasures (leaves and bugs) in her hand and in the yard to pay too much attention to skiing. Sawyer on the other hand - she just kept sliding down the slope over and over! It was so fun to watch them both catch their balance and slide down without being held. Of course every time I try to take ski pictures of the girls it is harshly sunny in the mid morning. Not good light for pictures.

When Life Gives You Lemons...

...they still taste f$&#'ing sour!~

I think this will be my first real negative post. But life is real and negative things happen. We have had a string of bad luck with vehicles. Lets go back 3.5 years ago when we treated ourselves to our first ever "real" and new car. A beautiful black 2006 Dodge Durango with a big ole V8 Hemi engine. Right after Sydney was born we upgraded from a reliable crappy old Nissan Pathfinder that we bought for next to nothing. 5000 miles and a few months later that new, fancy and expensive Durango became a sour lemon. At least 5 trips to the shop for the same issue that couldn't be fixed. We lucked out when Chrysler/Dodge very willingly handed us a brand new fancy 2008 Durange with the same wonderful features at no additional cost. Just a transfer of title. So we landed a two year (in age) newer car without the added cost of the sticker price difference. Huge deal! Great deal for us. We are still so thankful that we didn't have to go through the process of the "lemon law."

Ok, crisis averted right? Nope, a year and a half ago we purchased a used Mazda Tribute with few miles relative to its old age. We paid $9000 for what we thought was going to be a fantastic car that would get me to and from work more safely in the horrible weather. My little tiny Mazda Protege was dying and needed too much work done to justify keeping it. Although now, we wonder if that little crap car would still be running if we had just decided to risk putting money into it. We would have been so much better off.

Not even a year later and the Tribute started to give us some serious issues. Jim got stranded on a Pennyslvania highway in the dark around the holidays. I was going to have to drive 1.5 hours from my parents' house to go find him. After that issue, we put over $2300 into fixes on the car over the past several months. The other day Jim called me on his way home from work to tell me that he was taking the truck directly to the garage because it was breaking down again. We got the horrible news that the Tribute needed a new engine - total cost for the process would be $6000. Even a rebuilt engine would be close to $4000. Not to mention that it needs a new exhaust system and another expensive fix (I can't remember). So, to get the Tribute back on the road would be close to $8000. We can't put that kind of money into a car that has proved to be such a lemon. We still owe money on this car. I want to cry every time I think about it.

So after realizing that we didn't want to buy another used car (they are so expensive now and with our bad bad luck), we decided to look into Honda. We thought we would be buying ourselves a Civic this afternoon, but then realized, as we sat there looking at the vehicles, in the long run, a Civic just wasn't going to work for us. After a short discussion, we stepped up to the mid level CRV (nice alloy wheels, sun roof, nice interior, power everything). A car that we hope will be reliable...come on, it is a Honda and please, we need a reliable car! So we plan to run this brand new CRV to the ground... 10 years baby! Please, give us 10 good years. I don't care if you look like shit after 10 years...we just need you to last!!

We are paying the Durango off tomorrow (goodbye basement playroom project money) and starting a new car payment next month. We are so sad. We planned to be car payment free for several years to save up for another car - that we had hoped to pay mostly cash for. It was a good plan. But plans get broken sometimes. In a few years when the Durango gets a little old and more sluggish, the CRV will become the family car and Jim will run the Durango until it dies.

So we have a great Durango that has many many years of life yet. The girls and I have a safe vehicle to travel in. Now we have a pretty little CRV that we hope will be a good car for us.

It should have been a happy day today when buying a car, but we can't help but feel very bitter for the $6000 (not to mention the wasted $2300 on fixes) that we now have to throw away on a car that is going to the junk yard. We don't have that kind of money to waste.

After I met Jim at the Honda dealer to finalize our plans, he stayed back to finish the paperwork and the girls and I took the Durango to our trusty garage. We have two tires that have screws in them and the one tire was leaking. We needed an oil change too. So my little ladies had to sit at the Honda dealer for over an hour and then we spent another two hours at the garage. The wonderful lady at the garage came out to the waiting room and sheepishly told me that the Durango was going to need rear brakes ASAP. Great. Ok. I told her no more bad news. We can't handle the pain. She and all of the garage have been amazing to work with during the whole Tribute disaster. They were going to loan us a car (for free) until we made a decision but since we decided right away, they very kindly offered to tow the defunked Tribute to the Honda dealer. We have one less burden to think about.

Anyway, after such a negative post, here are some lovely pictures of the cute little CRV. Please keep your fingers crossed that the paid off Durango and the new CRV will last us many years. We really wanted to be car payment free.

Sneaky girl

Some little girl is getting very sly. She stole a bag of fishy crackers out of the cupboard the other morning. Goldfish are not exactly my idea of a good breakfast! She disagrees.

Reflection

The girls love music and love to dance! They especially love to watch themselves dance in the reflection of the TV. One of the first things we will be doing once the basement playroom is done is to put a mirror on the wall so they can dance and play dress up. So sweet.

Beautiful Night!

The girls and I spent almost two hours outside last night after their nap! It was glorious!!! We climbed snow mountains, rode bikes, found treasures, threw snowballs, shoveled snow and best of all, we got to visit the chickens again! The girls were so excited to be outside for so long. Here are a bunch of photos from our evening.

Stawberries

Sydney loves to eat stawberries with the stems on. I usually cut Sawyer's into smaller pieces but the other day she decided that she wanted to be a big girl like her sister and insisted that I keep the stem on. Ok. Look at that face!

Baking with my girls

When Daddy is away, we have to think of things to do to make the time go faster. We decided to make cookies. Pink, pink, pink as Sydy now says (too many Pinkalicious books!). So we made pink cookies with pink icing. Yummy.

Just realizing that all of my winter blog posts look the same. There are only so many pictures I can take inside our house. I can't wait for spring so that I can take pictures of the girls outside!

Sawyer covered her face and said "no takin' my picture." I kid you not! Great, now I have two kids who despise having their photos taken!
Taste testing the dough is the best part. We were going to make choc chip cookies but I realized we were out of choc chips. Then I realized we were out of vanilla extract. Luckily we had almond extract and that makes for delicious cookies. The girls agreed!

Baby Shower for Jen

Jen's baby shower was so beautiful. Mom and Sharon did an amazing job with the decor and touches. Yellow and ducks. Jen's favorite. Sharon made a beautiful garland made up of baby onesies, booties and bibs. It was adorable.

Candle party favor. Mom and I put them together the night before as I didn't want them to get crushed on my way to PA. Dad isn't a big fan of candles and this scented candle was strong! He kindly put them in the car for mom and I the next morning as the house smelled very strongly like lemon!

The centerpieces were so sweet. They got a lot of comments from the guests.

Jen had fun opening her gifts. The kids helped, of course!!!

Now we are just anxious to meet our newest family member. Can't wait!

Baby in her belly

I can't tell you how many times Sydney talks about the baby in Aunt Jen's belly and our friend Karyn's belly. She goes one step further and says that she has a baby in her belly. I tell her she can have a baby in her belly someday!!

Here are a few photos of the girls loving up their baby cousin. They love to hug and poke at the baby. It is so sweet to watch.

Excuses

At least I have an excuse for slacking on the blog. Jimmy's been gone since Friday and I was really sad to come home to an empty house on Sunday after my trip home. I shouldn't complain because the girls have been fantastic. They are both sleeping past 7 am!!! LOVE spring forward!!!! We had swim lessons Monday night and they both had fun playing at the pool. I took them swimming last night since they had so much fun the night before. It is easy taking them swimming in the evening since they both love taking a shower at the Y now. I don't have to worry about coming home and bathing them. I bought them some special shampoo and conditioner for their swim bag and they think that is just so cool! They spend as much time in the shower as they do in the pool!

We have a playdate today with a couple of friends. Thanks Julie and Sasha for taking care of me! Thurs Sydy has school and then the last few days should be relaxing before Jim comes home. We talk every morning (my morning, his night). He is doing well. He told me yesterday that it was requested that he visit the UK for more meetings the week after next. Lets just say I am not looking forward to another international trip. Luckily he doesn't really want to have to travel so soon after this big trip, so he is going to try to get out of it! Keeping my fingers crossed!

Blog slacker

Life has been a little busy, memory cards have been a little full with some recent photo sessions and did I mention that life has been busy?

All good, just busy.

I am looking forward to heading home to see my family for a long weekend. Can't wait to celebrate with Jen and the family. Baby shower, here we come!

Jim is heading to India on Friday. I want to cry, cry and cry some more. It will be a very long and lonely (and exhausting) week without him. Wish I could stay in PA the whole time he is gone, but Syd has school, the dogs are better at home and I have lots to catch up on. It is one thing when he has to go on a quick business trip, it is another when he has to go international! Makes me want to cry, cry and cry some more. Hopefully the girls take good care of me as I will take good care of them! Hopefully I can sleep ok out in farm country with no one around! I sure miss having Amy and Mike next door! Poor Jim has to fly almost 20 hours to India. We bought him a set of noise canceling headphones. A much needed purchase for such a long trip.

The girls are doing great. Papa stopped by for a quick overnight trip last night on his way back up to Vermont. The girls love when he passes through. Sawyer asked to ski, but it was dark and cold!

Sydy is doing great at swim lessons. Daddy took her last night and they were both equally excited. Jim only took her once before, so he hasn't seen how much she has improved. He was really impressed.

Sawyer and I started a new routine that makes my heart melt. One afternoon we were playing and I picked her up to pretend like I was rocking her like a baby. I started singing Rock a Bye Baby and she was completely mesmerized. Now, before I tuck her in to bed, I hold her like a little baby and rock her while I sing. She loves it. She can even sing along a little bit. I love that quiet moment with her. Sometimes I will sing it several times. I ask her if she wants me to sing again and she always says "yes" while shaking her head. Then I tuck her in and rub her cheeks. Some night I will have Jim take a picture of she and I.

Last night we were hanging out in the playroom waiting for daddy to come home. I was so excited at that fact that it was 5:15 and we didn't have any lamps on yet. Another sign that spring is on the way!!!
Tea party please.

A little hide-n-seek too!

Don't see me.

Don't freak, I didn't chop her hair off after our playtime. But for a short moment when I looked over at her, I thought, maybe it would be nice to have her hair shoulder length again. Then I decided she looks like such a big girl with her long long hair.

I cannot look at this picture without thinking what a big girl she has become. I told Jim she looks like a child not a baby.

On another note, Sydney started her second round of swim lessons. I signed her up for two sessions so we go Monday night and Saturday morning. She is really doing awesome. She is now willingly putting her face in and swimming with her belt and noodle by herself in the deep end. I have noticed how much more fun she is having in the kiddie pool too. She puts her face in all the time now!!! Can't wait to see how she uses her newly acquired skills at lake george this summer!