10. It handles like it is on rails! Okay, maybe not that great – but it is definitely so much better than the truck.
9. It has lots of space even though it doesn’t take up much space. (I can park compact spaces, now!)
8. The doors are short – when I open them, they don’t hit everything within 3 feet of our car.
7.  It has a Moonroof. It is almost as good as J’s convertible. Better in some regards – Emma doesn’t complain about it being “too windy.”
6. I have driven it all week (put on over 150 miles) and the gas tank is just below 1/2 empty!
5. It gets about the same “miles til empty” that the truck did, but it costs 1/2 of what it did to fill the truck. (Seriously! Cut my cost at the pump in HALF!)
4. My iPod hooks into the stereo AND it has a 6 CD changer. Laurie Berkner and They Might Be Giants can now peacefully co-exist with music Mommy wants to listen to.
3. Oh, did I mention that it gets great gas mileage?! I feel “greener” just owning a non-SUV vehicle.
2. It is so super safe. I love the ads that are out for Volvo right now – they are rated so highly in safety, this maybe should be #1, but really…

The #1 reason I love my new car is that it is easy to look cool in…even toting groceries and 2 kids!  Well, maybe it doesn’t look as cool as I think….but it feels pretty cool.

(Emma looks cute next to it, too!)

Sooo…I am so behind. The monthly challenge was supposed to end yesterday. But we did do it! Emma and I created a card (well, Emma created it) covered in fun stickers. It was actually a very rewarding and fun activity. I showed Em the picture of the little girl we “adopted” for the month and told her she was sick and Em said “Awww, I hope she doesn’t have to get any shots!” I didn’t want to open the whole can of worms about how sick the little girl really was, so I just told her that I hoped so, too.

I asked her what little gift she might like to send to the little girl and she really thought about it…and then said, “How about some of my princess coloring books? She might like to color if she has to be at the doctor for a long time?”

I told her I thought that was a fabulous idea and that it was very sweet of her to offer to give her books, but that maybe we could get her a nice, clean, new coloring book. And so we did. We got the Princess Color Wonder book and some markers. I thought that was a very thoughtful and sweet idea. I’m just a little (ok, a lot!) proud of her for that. I am really so happy to have these little “challenges” to do with her each month. This is one I think we may continue in for a while, too. Yeah, Beth!! Fantastic idea.

I haven’t heard from many of my friends and family about accepting the challenge. I did, however, talk with my sister, Michelle, and she found a children’s hospital dear to all of our hearts, Mott’s Children’s Hospital in Ann Arbor. And she has signed on to be an advocate for them – helping to write emails to legislators on behalf of the hospital, etc. Such a fantastic idea! I wish I had thought of that. Yet another small effort that will make a huge difference. Yeah, Michelle, too!!!

So on to this month’s challenge. And as Beth explained – we are making this one a 6-weeker to get us on a first of the month date. (Nice!) This month she is proposing:

…to make a sacrifice, just a small one, and donate the money you save to a children’s charity of your choice. Maybe the cereal for dinner idea works for you (it would be very popular with Mia), or maybe you could do pancakes instead. If not, do something else. Skip your Starbucks for a day and donate that three or four bucks to charity, or skip it once a week and donate fifteen bucks. Do frozen pizza instead of delivery, there’s at least ten dollars. Don’t buy those totally cute shoes that you really don’t need and give that money to needy kids instead.

The idea isn’t the amount of the donation, it’s the action behind it. It is a way to be grateful for all that we have, for all our good fortune (which most of us are so blessed with, even if we are not blessed with actual fortune). It’s walking the talk – giving up some small thing that we want but do not need to give something to kids who are in need. I think it is also a great way to set an example for our own kids, and to get the older ones involved. If they are old enough, talk to your kids about it and see if they are willing to give up dessert one night a week or some other small treat and instead donate that money to help other kids.

Another great idea. I’m definitely going to do giving up a Starbucks at least once a week – that is an easy $25 in the next 6 weeks. I’m going to have to do a little research and come up with a good children’s charity that I can get in with. If anyone has any ideas, please leave them in the comments below. We may do a weeknight (or two!) of cereal/pancakes, as well. Although that isn’t so much of a sacrifice since we all love those kind of dinners anyhow!

I also am going to ask Em something she might want to give up. She is (and I am, too) rather fond of “lunching” out a few times a week. That would be a good one for us I think. I’ll keep you updated.

Let me know if you are “in” on this month’s challenge, too. I’d love to get a group of “small changers” here and brag about you on the blog!

Wishing everyone love and happiness today.

How can this much sweetness (times 2!) create so much chaos in one household??

I am now a station-wagon driving, stay-at-home, soon-to-be carpooling, soccer mom.

We spent the better part of the weekend buying a new car. Our beloved Durango is/was making some crazy “suspension-like” problem sounds. So instead of putting yet more cash into the truck, we decided to call it quits. It has been a good vehicle, but it is starting to get to the point that stuff is going to start going on it and we’ll just be pouring more money put into it. Since we had already put over $3K into it in the last 6 months (and that was just air conditioning problems!) we decided to get out while we were still (kind of) ahead.

So we shopped online and Jamie negotioated a killer deal on a new Volvo stationwagon. I’m so very excited about it. We pick it up tomorrow. Emma still doesn’t quite understand what is happening even though we keep telling her that we are getting a new car. J. said it is kind of weird to be sentimental over a car, but it really is the only car that E. and A. have known.

I’m sure as long as the DVD player and Nemo (Me-mo, Mee-mo, MEEE-MO!) make it into the new car the girls will be happy in the new car, too.

Ordinarily, shopping would bring me great joy and happiness. However, I am not only in the midst of preschool shopping, but it appears that we are now home shopping, as well.

Our first preschool visit this morning went very well. Emma is going to be a stellar student, I can tell already. She jumped right into the classroom like she had been going to school for years. I really loved the school, but it made me very antsy. There is so much depending on if they like us well enough to move us to the top of the waitlist – and I really, really want her to go there. So we need to register and hope for the best. We have a few more schools to tour also, but I am holding out hope for this one.

The home shopping is going to be much more difficult, I am afraid. Due to our situation here (with the new neighbor dog) we are planning on moving out. It breaks my heart, really it does. I love our place. I love our neighborhood and location. And I love most of our neighbors. Just quickly looking through the real estate ads was very depressing this afternoon. There just aren’t many places available that compare to ours.

To think last week Kimmer and I were shopping for cute little girl sundresses and flip flops, that was so much more fun.

My friend Kimmer has been here since Thursday and we have been having so much fun…I haven’t been able to post. But I’m back and I have a challenge for all of you…so, listen up!

I had been trying to figure out a way to do some sort of volunteering or becoming involved in something that would set a good example for Emma and help her on the road to becoming a charitable and concerned citizen of the world. A favorite blogger of mine, Beth, offered up this challenge to all of her readers and it was exactly what I had been looking for, so I accepted the challenge. I hope you will as well.

Beth is calling it “Small Change” and it is essentially just doing one thing a month for a child other than your own. Our task this month (before the 14th of February) is below. I will post our contribution by the end of the week, we are still working on which child (or children!) we are going to send something to.

Monthly Challenge
This month’s challenge is to send a get-well card to a sick kid. You can buy a card, make a card, sit your kids down with a pile of construction paper and crayons and glitter glue and put them to work, whatever. You can do this really easily through Make a Child Smile. Think you can do a little more? Send a gift instead of a card. Or, check out your local Children’s Hospital (you can search by state and get links to websites here) and find out if they take cards or gifts for the kids. (This was was “borrowed” Beth’s site. Click to read the whole blog about Small Change.)

What a cool way to make a difference, huh? And you know, it is for kids!

Hop to it…and send me an email or pictures of anything you might do if you accept the challenge so I can post them!

…and it happens to live across the hall from us. When we arrived back at home this afternoon he was snarling and barking at us from his window above the sidewalk.

My first reaction was “Ah….#%$* – this is going to be great!” Then I realized that there really isn’t a lot of complaining we can do since our two girls are louder than any puppy, any day.

Then I met the “dog” and his owner. And now I am so very unhappy about this dog and his proximity to my family. The owner proceeded to tell me that although the dog looks like the “Target” dog (you know the white one with the little black eye), he is very powerful and an “aggressive” dog! He told me their (English Bulldogs?) mouths are more powerful than a pitbull’s and sometimes he can’t even get his dog’s mouth open.

Um…ok.

And he asked me, “Do you know how to get a dog’s mouth open if it is clamped down?”

(At this point the hysteria is rising and my chest feels awfully tight…)

Apparently you STEP on the dog’s throat so that he will gasp for air and let go of whatever it might be taking a bite out of. Yeah, great. Helpful to know, I’m sure, if you aren’t so hysterical that you can actually remember that.

So, it gets better….

We exchanged some small talk and he asked how old the girls are and he brought Spot* out for us to “meet” it. I told Emma she was under no circumstances to touch the dog without me and it’s owner around. I did not like the looks of him. He is SOLID dog. And I mentioned something about not letting the cats out (we were in the hallway) and he said, “Oh, yeah. Don’t let them come over here. Spot killed two cats. Two cats that he had lived with for five years.”

At that point I hurried Emma back inside and felt like I was going to throw up. Spot’s owner assured me that he had never even tried to hurt a person and he is “great” with his son. And he will always be on a leash. So there is nothing to worry about.

BUT HE KILLED TWO KITTIES!!!

I mean come on…it is only a matter of time until something else may happen. If you know your dog is powerful enough that you need to warn anybody that comes in contact with it, then why bother having it?

I feel just sick about this. The more I think about it and complain about it (to our landlord and the downstairs neighbor who has outside cats!), the more angry I get. He essentially told me that I should be afraid of living next to this thing. And I am! I’m afraid to share the same hallway and the same stairs with it. I’m afraid to let the girls walk outside if I know they are around. Everyone keeps saying that he has been living next to kids and is just fine, but who is to say that my girls, or the kitties downstairs or some random stroke of bad luck is not enough to set him off?

You haven’t heard the last of this one, I’m sure.

*Name was changed to protect the, uh, innocent?

It’s that time of year again…to thank Debby for giving birth to James and Jeff.

I have known them for 20 years! How crazy is that?

I met them both my very first day at my “new high school” when I was a freshman at good ‘ol Leslie High. Cathy Hannahs invited me to sit with her at lunch and Jam and Jeff had me laughing so hard that I spit (blew?) chocolate milk out of my nose. They have had me laughing ever since.

Jeff is the best brother-in-law and an amazing Uncle Hef. We all adore him.

And Jam, well we all know how I feel about him. He is “the bestest” Daddy (as proclaimed by Emma), a great husband, love of my life, and my best friend. I could go on and on…

Separately they are both fantastic guys, and together…well, they are perfect.

Happy Birthday, J & J. We hope you have a great year.