End of a era...

When Court and I first got married..

we decide one thing..

we would never own a van...

we also had a five year plan that involved us not having kids until we had been married 5 years.

We are going to celebrate our six year anniversary in January, and we have 3 kids. Yeah, we are awesome at plans.

Anyways,

we didn't want to be a van family.

But 3 kids and a new house later..

we decided 

we wanted to be a family that feeds their children..

so..

we bought a 16 year old van.

Swagger.

And honestly..

We LOVED that thing..

Her name was Yolanda Vega..

and she was a champ...

Even after we got in an accident..

and it looked like she was set on by an Elephant.

She was an awesome fam van..

But sadly..

Today we are saying goodbye to our Yolanda...

Court and I will miss her,

The kids will miss her,

(They cried for the first few days when we couldn't drive her)

The people at the stoplight next to us who always gave us strange looks,

probably because she sounded like she could explode any second..

will miss her,

So in honor of our Yolanda..

Here is the lady our Yolanda was named after...

 I warn you,

you will not able able to stop saying Yolanda Vega

after watching these videos..

You're welcome.

Random photo session

This was us at Old Orchard Beach last weekend..

Apparently if there is a camera..

and a brightly colored wall..

That translates into the kids wanting us to give them a photo shoot..

We had to bribe them to get them away from the wall..

And hamming it up for the camera..

Love those random kids..

Now the Holloways are even cooler...

We bit the bullet..

We became members of a wholesale club.

We are only a minivan away from becoming a true American family..

Because nothing says American like buying a half ton jar of mayonnaise.

The truth is..

We love BJ's.

The first time we went I was so overwhelmed

I felt like crying.

The kids had meltdowns.

(note the use of plurals)

And I was fearful we would never find our way out of the aisles of canned goods.

(again note the use of plurals)

But we managed to get out and every subsequent trip has become easier..

dare I say, enjoyable.

The only problem is now BJ's has made me aware of things that I never even knew I needed.

Make your own soda machine

I need that

Belt drive USB turntable

I don't even know what you are

but I have a coupon

and you are shiny,

so yes, I need you.

A Greenhouse.

Absolutely.

Inflatable Kayak.

Neither my fear of kayaking

or my fear that inflatable kayak truly doesn't sound that safe

will keep me from needing this.

$200 ice cube maker

It doesn't matter that I already have the ability to make ice,

If it sells for $200 it must make gourmet ice..

I think I like gourmet ice.

Metal Detector.

I am still trying to fathom how I made it 26 years without one.

Well, that is all for now.

I am going to drink a not home made soda with inferior ice.

Oh you BJ's, with your magical ice machines and tubs of peanut butter.

Sometimes you make it hard to live in the real world.

Hello randomness..

This is my family..

I wanted to take a family picture..

We ended up looking like we were trying to pose for a JCREW catalouge..

We are very random.

But I love them all, very much.

side note: This picture was taken right before one of the scariest Mommy moments I have ever had. But that is for another post.

Happy Weekend!