Introducing...the Freeman minivan

Brian found a great, great deal on a minivan and it happened to be about 20 minutes away. (The other runner-ups were about 200 miles away, so we were so happy about this!) I love it! I must say it is going to take some geting used to driving a minivan around. I feel like I shouldn't be driving a minivan until we absolutely have to (ie 4 children, not 3)...that is just our mentality right now while we're in debt...if it's not a NEED then we don't get it. It is a little nicer than I expected, that will take some adjustment as well. I'm used to having things simple, functional, and not fancy or shiny, etc. Anyways, I really, really like it and am so amazed at how good of a deal Brian got.

Mom Freeman said that hitting the deer was probably a blessing in disguise...Heavenly Father knew that was the only way we would get a minivan is if we were forced into it pretty much. She knows us too well!

Our new Chevy Uplander 2007...just under 20,000 miles, still under warranty, for within our price range. Such a blessing! So nice to still have one full day of vacation before Brian starts residency.

Talk about easier to load in...I love it! Let's just say it was hard to fit an infant seat, booster seat, and toddler seat into the back seat of our Ford Focus. It was so tight that when you closed one back door, the seats shifted and popped out the other door slightly. Jacob couldn't buckle himself in because his seatbelt buckle was underneat Blake's infant car seat base. The kids were practically on top of each other, and took advantage of the close proximity to each other to whack, scream at, or otherwise annoy each other...frequently.

So nice not to have to bend over to put the kids in! And my double stroller doesn't take up almost the entire trunk.

Jacob goes outside every day to check the garden and the flowers. Then if anything has changed from the day before, he comes inside and tells me to put my shoes on and come out..."I have something I really need to show you...you wanna see it." I always know what that means (at least 9 out of 10 times). I love his love of nature and appreciation for beautiful things.

When 9:30 rolled around and Brian was still not on his way home from mutual, I got Jacob out of bed and took him outside to catch fireflies. He loved it! Our firefly catching of the summer.