A Vantastic Day

Today has been a great day so far, and it’s only early afternoon. Why is it go great, you ask? Since you asked, it’s only fair that I tell you.

First of all, we drove the minivan today. Ohhh, so exciting. But it IS exciting. Why? Because I’ve only been in it ONCE since November. With all of the snow and the ice and the AWFUL WINTERNESS, we’ve been driving the 4Runner because it has 4WD. I love my Runner, but three kids in the backseat is squishy what with the huge car seats. Add to that the fact that Graham weighs about 100 pounds (give or take 50 pounds), and the fact that I have no muscle strength in my spindly arms anymore, and it takes all of my wimpy might to lift him into his booster seat…you can understand why I love my van.

We’ve been sitting at a balmy 5 degrees above zero for about a week now, and the roads are bare. They are brown and dirty as well, but they are free of ice. Finally. So, we moved the kids’ seats into our roomy, smooth driving, sporty van.

The second part of why this day has been great is because we got to see my Dad. He’s a bus driver and has taken a charter bus of basketball players to a city only an hour away. You might think that this is the part where I regale you with horror stories of travelling with three kids. Especially since it was only a month ago that I told you about Emily’s relationship with her arch enemy, The Car Seat.

But no!  It wasn’t as bad as it used to be!  Emily has made peace with her car seat, thanks to a couple of factors:

1. She’s become Grabby McGrabbypants. She grabs everything within reach (toys, my shirt, MY HAIR) and holds on with a grip that rivals mine when I’m holding a Diet Coke. I hang those interlocking rings on her car seat and she gums them as only she can.

2. HER THUMB. She’s a thumb sucker, and I love it because it keeps her quiet makes her happy. When she gets tired in the car, she pops her thumb in and drifts off to sleep. Thanks be to God for thumbs. If she was a soother lover, I’d be thanking God for the inventor of those. Maybe I’ll thank Him anyway, since so many parents rely on soothers to keep them sane. Whatever it takes, folks.

There was no screaming, crying, or fussing. Yep, I was on my best behaviour. The kids didn’t do any of that craziness either.

We’ve got a busy weekend planned, but it’s a good busy. I plan on doing more stamping on top of all the work I have to do.

Speaking of stamping, the UPS guy just dropped off my goodies while I was typing that last sentence. I’m off to open my boxes.  The day just got even better.