YEAH! Finally!!!

DEEP sigh!  

I can finally share our news!!!

After weeks and weeks of looking.  And many, many, many trip here, there and yonder. We have done it.  We have found our families third vehicle!  

I was the first one to call...

We told the kids we were taking ANOTHER "trip to Home Depot"

it was kinda funny that we never came home with an anything

but the kids didn't ask.

It passed the test drive test.

Jack looked it over - ALL over and under, too.

Meet Eddie!

Yep, it has a name.

Jake was with friends and we asked him to come home - he thought he was in trouble.

We told Annie we were having a family meeting.

And we wouldn't answer any questions.

We caused a lot of anxiety.

tee hee!

We didn't really have a plan, so we walked outside and Jack threw Jake the keys.

Annie stood quietly - I think she's in shock.

Annie had asked Jack flat out a couple weeks ago if we were car shopping.

He had to lie to her and say no. 

Keys in hand...

"YES!"

so excited...

It's a 1997 Nissan Maxima.

with lots of miles on it,

in good shape,

very nice looking,

and it has illegal - too dark - tint on the windows.

We will be getting it taken care of soon.

Annie said, "that car is so Jake..."

and got really excited when I told her they would be sharing it.

Of course, she immediately checked out the radio.

And asked if we could put in a cassette player.

              

Yeah!

Calling to share his news with friends...

Jake checking out the backseat...

still a little shocked and amazed.

:-)

Oh, and I have something else to share!  Last night I went out with several friends from school - three of them are now doing other things but we agreed to get together and celebrate each others birthdays.  Sarah chose painting, so we ventured to a place called The Thirsty Palette.  Me met early for appetizers and drinks - which turned out to be M&M's, popcorn and pretzels.  ?  Very disappointing, for sure!  And drinks were not included, which was our understanding, so we sat around and visited for an hour.  It may have been a bigger deal if we hadn't seen each other in a month.  We got started right on time and each put our own spin on the task at hand.  We actually had a great time - even though we might have annoyed the teacher with our laughter and chit chat.  Here's a picture of us with our masterpieces.

According to the teacher

none of us did it right, but I think we did great!

Front row - Megan and me

Back row - Patti, Katie, Marena, Sarah and Mary

So fun!

I love these ladies!

We were all hungry so we went over to Houlihan's, only to be told the kitchen was closed.  So, we called next door and we were told we had 30 minutes.  I say next door, but the term is relative.  It was the closest restaurant - separated by an access road and two big hills.  We decided to hoof it.  The hill wasn't so big as it was steep but we made it.  We had lots of yummy food and much more laughter. 

We walked back to our cars and the hills were steeper and bigger than we'd remembered. Marena - my favorite friend with little to no filter - decided she just couldn't pass up the opportunity, so she rolled down the hill like a log.  Marena was wearing a skirt.  It was kinda short.  I think we were all in tears.  The funniest thing was Marena was stone cold sober.  She is such a kid at heart and loves life each and every day.  She's the speech-language pathologist who owns her own business and I hope to work for in the future.

I am so grateful for my good friends and laughter!  

xo