Our Crazy Car Carousel!

If you have been following along the last month+, you will have noticed a few changes in our automobiles!  The last 2-3 years we have been driving a 2008 Pontiac Grand Prix and 2008 Dodge Magnum. These were really great cars, fit our family very well, and were in great condition.





This really should have been a blog post on it's own about a month ago but I'm too lazy, so here we go: The past 2 years, Jeff has been fully self employed and working at home, so having 2 cars was really unnecessary on most days.  So we decided to sell my Grand Prix and just be a 1 car family!  It's a much longer story than I'm sure you want to hear, but it ended up being more financially beneficial to us to sell both of the cars and get a new 2011 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited!

Taking a ride on the open road!

Jeff had a fun yellow Jeep before Charlotte was born but we traded it in for the Magnum, had to have a more responsible "family card" right? Well, Jeep runs in his blood so he has always wanted to get one back.  With the 4 door Jeep option, it really worked out for us to get one at this season of life!  Charlotte LOVES her Jeep - she says that exact thing just about every day.  And she will correct you, it is not a car, it is a JEEP!  Charlotte loves having the top down, and enjoys off roading more than I even do!  Even better, we haven't really run into any major issues with having just 1 car. Yay - it works!

Enjoying the breeze!

Charlotte loves wearing her "jeep hat" and sunglasses!

Then comes Huntsville!  Not only will Jeff be working outside of the home now, he will be commuting starting Wednesday for the first 3 weeks or so of the job, so we are back to needing 2 cars!  I'm sad that our great experiment only lasted about a month and a half :(   We decided to get a nice, reliable car that can hold some miles, and have better gas milage too.  Jeff can use it for his work commute, and we can use it for our trips back to TN and KY (which will probably happen monthly!)  In comes the Toyota Camry!  We found a couple options, crazy enough 2 of them sold either right before or right after we looked at them, so when we saw the 3rd one that we liked, we felt like we needed to jump on it!  We picked it up last night, and so far have really enjoyed it.  It is an 06, has only had one owner that took great care of it so it is just about spotless. It reminds me so much of my old 93 Camry, it's almost like coming home.

It's so shiny! When we picked it up, they put it in a rooms with a disco ball and lasers - ha! Quite fun :)

So it's a long story, but I thought you might need a little help wondering why you have seen us driving 4 cars in the past 45 days or so!

Car Seats have arrived!

I was talking with a friend recently who borrowed my "baby bargins" book to shop for son's new car seats (he is 1 year old next week and just hit the height limit). Just for kicks I measured Charlotte and looked at the restrictions on her infant carrier... she was almost an inch too big! Nooo!!! My baby is getting too big! Here I was thinking we'd do car seats for Christmas or even Birthday, but no 8 1/2 months old and she outgrew her infant seat.

I went into furious research and looked online, in Target, and talked with friends about brands, features, all that Jazz. We finally settled on the Britax brand and found a seat that while semi-expensive, would last her til booster seat age and got rave reviews. We went ahead and splurged for 2 because one, they were on sale at amazon.com, and two, I did not want to have to swap it from car to car or end up forgetting to get it from Jeff when he left for work etc. Can you tell which one is mine and which is Jeff's? (hint: check out this post...)

I do lament the end of the infant carrier - it was so easy to just carry her into places, give her a bottle in a store or restaurant, and let her keep sleeping straight up to her room. Now we will have to get her in and out and use a highchair and stroller or cart where ever we go. I know this is the life you will live for years to come, I just didn't think we'd be at this stage short of 9 months! My skinny string bean of a girl... so big.

Anyway, they arrived today and I can't wait to put them in!   For now, Charlotte and I played with them and tried them on for size!  She enjoyed them - climbing on them, sitting in them, eating them... ah the joys.  (and don't forget the fun boxes they came in either!)

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Goodbye Jeep...

For those of you that know Jeff, know him also by his Jeep.  His yellow Jeep was always a dream of his and he was able to fulfill this dream soon after we were married.  We have 3 years of memories - trips, off roading, and summer nights with the top down driving along the country side. 

As wonderful as the Jeep has been, we knew its time was coming to a close.  Jeff's commute is 45 minutes and a soft top Jeep on the interstate makes it feel even longer.  The cold and the hot, the noise, and of course, the gas! As wonderful as the jeep is for fun, it is not as wonderful for a daily commute.  Now you add in Charlotte and you realize that this is no longer the vehicle for us. :(

So new car time!!  Jeff has had his eye on the Dodge Magnum for years - I cannot tell you how many of these cars we have test drove!  It is the perfect combination of family car and vroom-vroom.   Jeff found a 2008 White Magnum at Beaman Dodge in Murfreesboro, so off we go.  Mom watched Charlotte - her first babysitter!  It was strange being away from her, but it was good getting away from a couple hours. 

I have to admit, I shed a few tears for the ol' Jeep.  It has been so special to us and it was always a dream for him to have, it was tough to see it go.  But in with the new!  It was wonderful driving off in our new car!  It was so comfortable and has soooo much room.  I am able to sit in the back with Charlotte if I need to but we still have perfect foot room up front too.  It may seem like a little thing, but it is great for me!  And Jeff's favorite part.... an Aux input!  He is able to plug his iPhone in right into the stereo system and play away.  I love the peace and quiet of the car too - he can actually call me on the phone on the way home from work and have a conversation.  Beautiful!