7 Quick Takes - New Van Edition

1.  Our old 1998 honda odyssey finally ran it's last mile last weekend.  So we spent all of last week shopping for a good deal on a newer van.  Behold, our new ride:

2010 Toyota Sienna

2.  We bought it last Friday (hence, no 7 Quick Takes last week).  Doug & I were busy driving to Peoria to pick it up.  We took the three youngest with us while the older ones stayed with Grandma Joanie.  They had an awesome time at Grandma's house...fishing, swimming, archery...every boy's dream weekend!

3.  Doug's brother and family live in Peoria so after we got the van I decided to head over to their house because Princess was desperate to play with some of her cousins.  We ended up spending the night and made the drive back home the next morning.  It was a nice playdate for the youngers and a nice break for me to visit with my BIL & SIL...thanks for hosting us guys!!

4.  Speaking of cousins, my sister's son has been here all this week and will be here next week too.  He's the same age as Princess and loves spending time playing with the boys.  There were a few arguments in the beginning while they were working out a "pecking order" but that seems to have calmed down.

We just don't get 2" hail around here.
Some of it is still in my freezer!

5.  I've been reading other posts on-line like Jen's about being too busy and it comforts me to know that I'm not the only mom out there who's summer has just gone off the rails.  It seems I was very "busy" this summer with things that needed to get done but nothing that I had actually "planned" to do back at the end of May.  So now I look at the calendar and I have three months worth of summer plans to fit into three weeks! There were endless visits by cable install guys (my calendar shows four different dates including one no show and you have to block off a 4 hour window for each one).  Then there were the multiple inspections for our roof and cars due to the massive hail storm we had this summer.  We had furniture and computer repairs, which also required multiple visits.  Add to that last week's unexpected van shopping and drive to pick up the vehicle.  Plus all the phone calls to make all of this happen!  Whew, I'm tired just typing all that!

6.  I'll be ordering next year's curriculum this weekend.  Yes, this is one of those things I had totally planned on getting done months ago that I am now realizing needs to be done NOW if we're going to start our school year on time.  We're switching our math curriculum to Teaching Textbooks for the older boys so I'm excited to see how that turns out.  Since we got our regular computer fixed (see last 7QT) I can now use our backup computer for the classroom.  I have plans to move it downstairs to our dining room where most of our homeschooling takes place.  What, you don't have a kitchen and dining room in your basement?  We live in a bi-level house, so I guess basement is sort of a stretch but yes, that is the heart of our home.  I'm itching to get it changed around and organized for our next school year.  Maybe I'll post pics?

7.  I just want to thank God for the busyness of the past few months.  In my own plans I would not have chosen to do it this way, but His ways are better.  I realize I could have gone through all the repair jobs and inspection visits during our school year, which would have been a disaster.  So I'm thankful that all of this took place in the summer when I have more time to deal with it.  And I got a new van out of the process, which we've been needing for awhile.  I'm off to get breakfast going and my day started...have a nice weekend!!


Go check out more 7 Quick Takes over at Conversion Diary!!