New events

Each season (or at least at a twice/year minimum) we try to encourage our children to pick a sport or activity. I asked Dreyton if he wanted to play soccer again or try football. Dreyton decided to go with football for the first time (his father tried not to jump with joy when he heard this). He really didn't know much about the sport and was very nervous. He is on the Newberry Panthers football team, and he seems to be enjoying learning and playing football. Donovan is a little excited too! Go Gators and Go Panthers!!

Yep, we bought a brand new Toyota Sienna. This is our first brand new car. Donovan and I had a talk with our kids about the van. We wanted to make sure they understood not to scratch or do foolish things in the minivan, or we would freak out! The kids are so excited about the DVD in the van and power doors. I have found Jasmine in the van serveral times messing with all of the switches and gadgets (but then again, Donovan has found me doing the same thing!). It is a novelty to the children. We were hoping to get a different mini van in Aug. or Sept. The air-conditioning was not working properly in our old Caravan and we had an oil leak. The brakes were also having troubles. It is very hot here in the summer months and to not have air-conditioning in a car can make people very cranky. And as you who know us are aware, we are already WAY ahead of the curve when it comes to crankiness in even temperate, mild temperatures, so you can just imagine us in hot humidity. We took the Caravan to the repair shop in June and decided to wait to fix the van. Since we had been discussing buying a new car now for a year, we decided to buy a new van rather than pay for the Caravan's costly repairs.
Dominique wanted to make sure we took a picture of the spoiler. I didn't really care if it had a spoiler or not as I was hoping for cool hydraulics and low rider rims and wheels (ha, ha). There weren't many 08's on the lot to pick from, but we were happy with our pick. We are officially a Toyota family. Donovan drives a Toyota Corolla and I drive the Sienna. I know there are some that would never own a minivan (maybe John Bauer for one), but it gets ok gas mileage and is very nice to travel in. I would prefer a toyota Sequoia, but that is a little out of my price range. When we have our next child (which will be a boat), we will have to worry about getting something to pull it like that.Jasmine started her first week of piano lessons. Her teacher said Jasmine seemed very excited to learn and was happy to have her as a new student. We hope Jasmine will continue with her enthusiam towards piano. I would like to take lessons again myself. My mom let me quit my freshman year, because I was involved in other extra curricular activites. I wish I would have stuck with it. Maybe my mother-in-law will give me some free lessons when she visits in November as an early Christmas present...:)