Week ending 1-16-22 New van and winter storm prep

 I didn't take many pictures this week because all I did besides school and taking care of the kids and house is work on car stuff. It was a super stressful week. Last Sunday some people at church gave us a 2005 Honda Odyssey and I was happy at first b/c it had been stressful the week before suddenly being without transportation and having to buy a new van. I really wanted it to work out but unfortunately the tires were flat, the windshield cracked, neither sliding door worked, it only had 7 seats and 6 working seat belts for the 9 of us, the radio or anything electronic like the clock didn't work, and the engine light was on. It was dirty and I just didn't feel good about keeping it so instead of paying to title and register it I spent the week trying to sell it and buy a new Sienna. It pretty much consumed me but on Thursday I traded in the Honda and bought a 2013 Toyota Sienna that I hope will last us 10-15 years. Our '06 lasted us 12 years and we loved it and was hoping to have it another 3 years.

I took the 4 little kids to get the new van south of Charlotte, over 2 hours away. Used vans are hard to find and the ones I wanted kept getting sold the morning I would call about them. So I jumped on this one and was so happy to have this whole ordeal over with. We'd been borrowing a friend's truck (which obviously we can't fit in) and I really wanted to give it back to him and we weren't supposed to drive the Honda without registering it and the Sienna was totaled. So we had 3 cars but I was anxious to get rid of them all and just have 1 good van that is ours again.

Our new van! There's slim pickings these days so I had to grab the one that was the best deal. Luckily it also came with some fun features our last van didn't have like bluetooth, 2 power doors and a power trunk, sunroof, backup camera, and navigation system. We're pretty excited. I drove it home Thursday night but haven't driven it since. And now we're getting hit with a major winter storm so who knows when I'll drive next but I'm looking forward to it.

Friday a guy paid me $1000 and we said goodbye to the van I've had longer than I've had the last 5 kids. It's worn the license plate of 3 states. It's crossed the country 4 times, putting its tires in 31 states and been super reliable. I've put 100,000 miles on it the past 12 years and made lots of family memories going on field trips or just down the street to the library. 

We celebrated getting a new van and having the other 3 vehicles gone by cutting wood! I cut 4 piles and we hauled 6 loads from the NW woods across the pasture to the wood pile. Everyone was in good moods and had a lot of fun. I loved watching the 4 oldest take turns driving with a younger one on their laps and others running along side the lawn tractor.

We have 5 rows stacked up and are ready for the winter storm this weekend!

We also brought a lot into the house to keep us toasty if the power goes out.

Week ending 1-9-22 First snow and first car crash

 Not many pictures this week. Because of what happened on Monday I was consumed with that and didn't take many other pictures. That's ok though because it compensates for picture overload last week. 

Monday: It had been 70 on Sunday and then it snowed Monday morning. Our first snow! I would have loved to sit and watch it snow out the sunroom but I had to return the rental van in town, grab groceries, then cleaned out all the cupboards and drawers when I got home b/c we had mice while we were in Florida. I caught 3 mice this week and haven't caught any since so hopefully that's the end of them.

Samuel making a snowfort.

After our one last lunch together with all 10 kids they sang Christmas Cantata around the piano. Ten minutes later these 5 were in a car crash and I shudder to think that if somehow they all died this would have been the last picture I had of them.

They left the house at 1, heading for the Charlotte airport to drop Kylie and Spencer off. Either Madalyn or Alexis could have dropped them off by themselves but I loved that both wanted to go and Thomas did too, just to spend car time together. (It's 2 hours each way.) I thought I'd get the 5 little kids to unpack from Florida, put Christmas decorations away and watch a movie so that I could have some quiet time. But at 1:06 I got a call from Kylie saying they'd had a little crash.

I called my neighbor Ricky and he came and got me and took me down the road to the crash. Kylie took this of me hugging Madalyn. She was driving and the window shattered on her so she was pulling glass out of her hair and dabbing at the tiny cuts all over her hands. This was taken by the side of the road so that's how far off the road they went. 

They were driving around that corner coming towards us when Madalyn hit the brakes and started sliding sideways then went off the otherside of the road and through 2 fences that were perpendicular to each other. They hit a lot of those tall wooden posts and said it was a scene out of a movie.

They also hit this cattle gate and the lock was hanging in Madalyn's shattered window when the van finally came to a stop.

The officer came and was about to call a tow truck but Ricky pulled all the barbed wire off the car and sat on the glass and said, "Let's see if it'll crank!" He cranked it up and drove a big U turn around the field and drove it up onto the road grinning.

Driving it around the trees with both sliding doors open and Madalyn still sitting in it.

Some more bumper parts on the ground and pieces of log post they tore down.

The road is up there and they came through the fences down to here.

Hard to see all the fence they took down here.

Someone found the front license plate on the ground and tossed it into the car.

Pictures after we got home. Both mirrors are off along with several door handles, 3 hubcaps, both bumpers, the antenna, a taillight, and part of the luggage rack. Somehow all 4 sides of the van had extensive damage. The wiper fluid container had a gash in it and all the fluid ran out. There were dents everywhere. Our poor van! Ricky drove it home for us but the autobody guy said it would cost $10,000 to fix it and it still wouldn't look great. 

Talea was adorable playing with a bow and arrow set some friends gave us. I loved that she had a backpack and binoculars and hat on.

Sam and Andy

Thomas practicing his audition song for Seussical Jr.

Saturday: My favorite part of the week. Cutting, loading, hauling, and stacking wood. I love working as a family on our property. Madalyn's first time driving the lawn tractor.

The load looks small but it's just the angle. It really was big.