Weekend Wrap Up

Blogging on a Monday.

I'm proud of myself.

Only a couple hours left of Monday, but still...

OK, weekend wrap up...

Friday evening Mom and Dad came over for pizza and to work around the yard a bit.

We've got a birthday party coming up in under 3 weeks now, time to make sure everything is ready.

JJ went to stay the night with Umi and Papa, Kevin worked down in the basement and I cleaned upstairs.

Exciting Friday night.

Saturday morning we were up early.

Kevin, Dad, and JJ were off to get haircuts.

I stayed behind and got ready.

Once everyone was back, we headed off to Carbondale.

Lunch.

Sams.

Toys R Us.

And some car shopping.

Let me talk to you about my history with cars.

When I was 16, I drove the Dudge.

It looked a lot like this....

A 1989 Dodge Ram 50 pick-up, stick shift.

But the "U" was partially rubbed off on the bed of the truck.

So everyone called it the Dudge.

It was kind of legendary.

When I graduated high school, my parents bought me a car.

A 1994 Dodge Shadow, stick shift, which looked exactly like this...

It was actually a cute little car that got great gas mileage. 

It lasted all the way through college, and beyond actually.

Mom inherited it once she started driving to work out at the power plant and had no idea how clean or filthy she'd be at the end of the day.

That's ok, because when I got married (6 months after graduating college) I started driving a 96 Ford Taurus, a green one, exactly like this....

It wasn't a stick shift.

That's about all it had going for it.

Kevin's grandmom gave it to him.

I called it our ugly blessing.

It was a free car.

It ran fine.

Cold air conditioning, working heat.

Just...ugly.

But, it got us where we needed to go.

As of Saturday, however, it's not my car anymore.

(I mean, I guess it is, it's still parked in the driveway...)

But, a new car sits in the garage....

It is the first time I've EVER had a new car.

And the first time JJ's ever sat up high enough that he can see everything that's going on around him.

I feel so fancy.

But when I went grocery shopping today, Kevin told me to be sure and park as far away from the other cars as I could. This thing has got to last us a good, long time.

I obeyed.

This evening, Dad came over to work outside a bit more.

Then we got to work on JJ's clubhouse out back....

It's completely charming, totally cute, and if I would have had something like it growing up, I probably would have never came inside. 

But, like I said, we've got a 4th Birthday Party to get ready for.

I'm not even sure how that's possible. 

We're doing our annual weiner roast and I anticipate the kids will want to play in the house throughout the evening.

I may even want to do some playing out there.

(Again.)