This past weekend was one of the best I can remember in a long time. I spent the entire weekend doing fun things with my favorite people. I didn’t wash the first dish or even pick up around the house until almost 8 o’clock on Sunday night. It was wonderful to ignore all of the boring responsibilities and just soak up a beautiful weekend.
I mentioned before that my Jeep was on its last leg. I meant that pretty literally. Josh & I bought it on Mother’s Day weekend in 2007. Ella was 8 months old and I was so tired of snapping her car seat into the backseat of my little car. It was the second Grand Cherokee I’ve driven and I loved it with a capital L. I loved it so much that it had a grand total of 216,000 miles on it this past Saturday morning. We had been talking about replacing it for months, but I wanted to wait until summer when I was no longer paying for daycare. We had talked extensively about what to get and I reluctantly agreed to a car since I drive so far every day and gas mileage is a huge concern. I’ve been having transmission trouble since August and my check engine light would come on at least once a week. I kept driving it (even though I’ve had to pull over and restart her numerous times in the last few weeks) with no complaints, hoping I could coax her across the finish line. I joked with my mom that if Josh ever realized how bad it was he would force me to get a new car. Well, my prediction was pretty spot on.
The Sunday before Mother’s Day, a friend borrowed Josh’s truck to move and we drove the Jeep to church. I volunteered to drive because she’s testy and I didn’t want him making things worse. Well, we weren’t even out of the driveway when he gave me the first side-eye and by the time we got to church he was pretty adamant that we would be car shopping the next weekend. I spent the week doing research and looking at local inventory and we set out bright and early on Saturday morning to car shop. In the rain.
Even though I’m admittedly NOT a car person, I found myself pretty much in love with this car. It stopped raining long enough for us to shop the lot for a bit and we were able to test-drive the one I wanted before the storm blew through. We joked that the dealership must have known they had a sure thing in us because who shops for cars in a monsoon?! This was my third car on Mother’s Day weekend (my very first car was a gift from my parents on Mother’s Day weekend when I was only 16) and I’m gonna say I think this should be a regular tradition. I’m liking my odds for the future when it comes to gifts!
Although there are tons of new things I love about it (hello, Bluetooth, XM and heating steering wheel), perhaps the best part is that I drove the hour and a half home with no warning lights, bells or whistles. And I’ve almost DOUBLED my gas mileage, which will pay for over half of the car payment itself. The girls favorite part is the sunroof. Hands down. They keep thinking of errands we need to run so that they can joyride.
As great as Saturday was, Sunday was even better. I woke up to a bed full of little girls, fresh coffee and a bowl of piggies. They were super excited to share pictures they drew me the night before (why did I forget to take pictures of those?!). We spent the morning at church together and they even made me some fabulous treasures in Sunday School.
I had been super jealous of all of the “mom interviews” I saw on Instagram this week. Imagine my delight when both girls brought me one to big church on Sunday morning. Ella’s was pretty spot on — she said I was 34, loved to read, that my macaroni & cheese was the best and that I loved taking the girls to get their nails done. Sophie’s was also adorable, but not quite as accurate. Apparently I am 14 years old, weigh 45 pounds and I snuggle their daddy like it’s my job! We joked that our sometimes excessive affection for one another had not gone unnoticed. Ha!
After church, we had a yummy lunch on the patio at our favorite Mexican restaurant and visited our grandmothers to take them a little treat. I managed to sneak in a 3 hour nap while the girls helped Josh with yard work and then they grabbed takeout again for dinner when I finally woke up.
Despite how wonderful all of those things were, perhaps my favorite moment of the entire weekend is captured below. It is no secret that my people like to dance, but they didn’t learn that from me. Their daddy is the best when it comes to dance parties, especially impromptu ones in the car. I’m never up on current music, so it isn’t rare for Ella to know all about songs that I’ve never heard before. They decided to school me on this dance and I’m pretty sure I’ve never laughed so hard. The smile on Ella’s face is the most genuine smile I’ve managed to capture in recent history. Moments like this fill her love bucket up fast!
