Mini Van!

We're officially all grown up now... we're the proud owners of a mini van - aka swagger wagon, aka mom mobile, aka.... thats all I can think of... hmm... I thought there were way more nick names for minivans when I started that sentence! 

I've had a few friends totally make fun of us for wanting a minivan instead of a midsize SUV but I'm not the least bit embarrassed! We started planning for a mini van last year when I was pregnant with Lilly because we realized we would need extra space. I'll admit, since I come from a family of 6 kids I used to judge people who had a mini van for only 2 kids wondering why they'd want to drive that instead of a cool SUV or even a car... I mean my family only drove around in minivans and suburbans because we HAD to in order to fit everyone in! But I now see the error of my thinking.

It's really crowded in the backseat of a sedan when you add carseats and next to impossible to actually sit between 2 carseats! Not to mention going on trips or even trying to take your dog with you to the park. Because even in the SUV the cargo space is taken up by a stroller!

But in a minivan?! 

Cubic space galore!!! 

Cup holders abound! 

Reaghan can climb in and out on her own!

Room for more babies eventually!

We've been searching for something for months! Even going up to Richmond on one occasion to look at a used van. We've worked hard to save a considerable amount in the almost 5 years that we've been married for a purpose such as this and so we were hoping to find a gently used van and pay cash. After much searching (the internet and our hearts) we finally decided to buy new with a huge down payment and very little financed after some negotiating and trading in my old car.

The Honda dealership actually gave us a great price as it was the end of their quarter and had a quota to meet and they had the model we were looking for on their lot in the color I really wanted. : )

We feel really comfortable that with a couple extra payments and being a little more conscious of our spending we'll be able to pay it off in only a year. 

And wouldn't you know? The night we came home with it from the dealership we had a massive storm roll through our area with tornado touchdowns and hail! AGH!

Good thing our garage was clean because we surely did pull that thing in there to save it from the hail! Obviously it can't be protected at all times from everything, but I'm pretty sure my husband would've cried if we'd ended up with a cracked windshield from hail on the first night!

I'm just throwing this picture in here because it was Reaghan's first time feeding Lilly a bottle. She loves being a big helper. Also proud mommy moment - these 2 were both at the dealership with us for 2 hours while we signed all the paperwork and they were fantastic! I came prepared with snacks and Reaghan was allowed to use her tablet thats saved for special occasions and they were great! We even got to practice our new "interrupt rule" that we learned from our parenting class and have been working on at home and Reag did really well with it. Love my sweet girls.

I feel a bit spoiled driving the new van around! It's my first brand new vehicle!
I'm extremely grateful for this blessing and the careful planning of my man over the years to make this a possibility. Hopefully this van will take us on many adventures, give us lots of good memories and even teach these girls how to drive one day. Unless, of course, we all have self driving cars by then. ;)