Everyone likes a new toy [edited for more info]

We finally decided on a vacuum yesterday, after months of hemming and hawing about which one to get. The winner: Kenmore Progressive 28614 canister vac. So far we love it. And the surprise bonus: Kate loves to vacuum. Yes!

*[edit]* I, too, grew up with a dreaded canister vacuum, and I hated it. Dragging the canister around everywhere I went, banging it into things, getting it stuck around the corner - it was such a pain. The reasons I love it now mostly revolve around the fact that the actual vacuuming part is easier; the vacuum is lighter and the hose is 7 feet long, so I don't feel like I'm dragging it around every 2 seconds. It's also about 20 years later than my first experience with the canister vac, and this vacuum is brand-spankin'-new. Maybe they make them better now? Maybe I'm just bigger and have less trouble pulling it around.

This one sits upright if you want it to, so you can reach ceiling fans with the hose and attachments (Tim swears by vacuuming as a form of dusting, and although I disagree on its effectiveness, he does the dusting so I can't complain), and it has this little lip that 'hooks' the canister onto stairs when you are vacuuming them. Which is also a huge reason we got the canister - stairs. We have 17 of them in a row, and let me tell you how often I vacuumed those suckers with my upright: twice. Gross, I know. That vacuum was such a pain to haul to each step, though, that I never did it. Now with this one, I can just carry the vacuum part to each step and it's so lightweight. I can reach (theoretically; I haven't actually tested this out, since my belly would protest greatly) about half-way up the stairs from the bottom, and then put the canister at the top and reach the other half from there. Voila: easy stairs.

Other nice things: the noise level is very good - much quieter than our old upright. I can vacuum under beds and sofas (cheerios, anyone?). The brush on the vacuum goes all the way to the ends of the vacuum (I've seen plenty others where the brush stops an inch from each wheel, so you think you are vacuuming up against a piece of furniture, but you really aren't). There's this toe-lever thing that you push with your foot to extend the handle - awesome for tall people who don't want to bend over (why don't strollers do this??) or if you want to reach something way under the sofa. An easy on/off button on the handle of the vacuum so you don't have to bend over (can you tell this is an extremely difficult task for me right now, this bending thing?). A bag-full light (haven't tested that one yet). A toe-lever to easily suck the cord back into the canister. The vacuum part self-propels, so as if it wasn't light enough already, it's now easy enough for Kate to use. See above.

Home again

It was a long trip, in terms of the amount of driving and whining we experienced. But it felt like a short trip in terms of family time, especially since a good portion of time was devoted to car stuff.

The girls did okay on the way up to Oregon. We got up early and were actually on the road just after 8am: a record for us, and possibly anyone with small children. It still took us more than 2 days to get to our destination, but we survived, and didn't even encounter any bad weather. Kate and Claire decided it would be fun to not nap in the car on the way north, and they also apparently thought it a good idea to not go to sleep until approximately 10pm each night, so they were good and crabby by the time we reached Oregon.

A rare nap.

Surrounded by princesses.

Not a new look for Kate, but an old favorite: underwear on the head. At least it's clean.

A short run-down on events, to be expanded upon later: we bought the Mazda CX-9. LOVE. Love love love. Even after (gah) 1200 miles of driving it. Super comfortable, super luxurious, super pretty, super super super.

We spent almost all of our free time with family, soaking up every minute. The girls had so much fun with their cousins. We all had so much fun with everyone. We had a family birthday party for Claire and Aunt Donna, and a baptism ceremony afterwards for Claire. And we sadly drove away the next day to return to Las Vegas. We are glad to be home, but we miss everyone!

Update!

Drove approx. 1500 miles with 2 pre-schoolers through CA and OR. Finally reached destination. Bought new car. Been spending time with family. Enjoying rain. Kids beginning to nap more regularly, but still going to bed at ridiculous time. Kids also sharing air mattress on floor, so should be happy they are sleeping at all. Organizing Claire's baptism/birthday party. Hoping for actual family/relaxation time now that car stuff is done. Not ready to leave on Monday.

Woooo boy

I just signed up for my first half-marathon, scheduled to take place in December in downtown Las Vegas. I munched on coconut chocolate chip cookies as I tried to figure out how long it would take me to complete the race. I settled on 2 hours 30 minutes. I have no idea, really, as the farthest I have ever run is a 12K, and the last one of those I ran was at least a decade and 2.5 children ago. I am pretty much completely freaked out right now, and hope that my attitude changes once I can see my toes again. If not, I will be talking smack about Elizabeth for ages. She swears she will mentally train with me (?) and will fly out from San Antonio to run the race by my side. Or maybe really far in front of me, but at least she'll be in the general vicinity, thinking good thoughts.

We test-drove more cars yesterday. UGH. Someone tell me we are done already! We started with the Honda Pilot, which we both crossed off the list almost immediately. I love Honda, but I don't love that vehicle. There are too many things about it that I don't love, so I'll just leave it at that.

We also drove the GMC Acadia, which is flippin' expensive. I think they quoted us $44K for the one we drove? It was crazy talk. It was the nice model, but still. It was no Acura MDX, I can assure you. So, unless they can come up with a significantly better price and ditch the whole "we're getting a bailout so we don't need to lower our prices" attitude, we will not be buying one of those.

We then re-tested the Mazda CX-9, because it's my fave. I still love it. And it's waaaaay cheaper and better equipped than the GMC, so it's sort of a no-brainer. The only thing I realized, as I rode in the 3rd row, was that there are no ceiling vents. So if you are unfortunate enough to have to ride back there in the nose-bleed section (I'm looking at you, Claire), you have to rely on your older sister to not cut off your AC supply (located in the center console in front of the 2nd row) in the heat of summer. Also, there is no option for captain's chairs in the second row, which is so frustrating! That car would kick ass if it could have captain's chairs. And vents. Those two options are really why the Saturn Outlook and the GMC Acadia are still on the list.

After naps, we also drove the Toyota Highlander. I was in love and ready to walk down the aisle with it until we got back to the dealership and found out that the 3rd row doesn't split. So you either have the whole back seat up or the whole back seat down. I would have to choose between leaving a child home alone (a surprisingly appealing alternative, actually) and piling groceries in the front seat, because where am I going to put all my stuff? Unfortunate design, Toyota. You almost had me at "super comfy leather seats and a flip-up hatch window".

I think we are done test-driving, though, as I can't think of any other vehicles that appeal to me that we haven't already driven. I refuse to drive a mini-van because I will end up buying one of the damn things (see also: captain's chairs, good gas mileage, space space space, and sweet entertainment packages).

More consumer stuff

I bought a hard-surface vacuum! I ended up getting the Dirt Devil Accucharge, and so far it is great. My favorite part about it is that IT HAS NO CORD, so you can take it anywhere, like in the pantry and close the door. When's the last time you vacuumed behind doors? For me, that was never, because the cord always got stuck or wasn't long enough and it was a royal pain. Now, I can vacuum my whole first floor with ease. And this particular vacuum held the charge for the whole cleaning, although it was dying a slow wheezy death at the end. I'm hopeful that the next charge will last longer (since I might have cheated a little on the first charge just so I could turn the thing on and make sure the noise wasn't going to kill me, which it did not). Next researching job: carpet vacuum. Anyone have one they love? Hate?

We also went car-shopping again yesterday. Joy. We drove the Hyundai Veracruz and the Chevy Traverse. Tim also drove the Acura MDX. I avoided driving it because it is way out of our price range and I didn't want to see the model house and have to buy the starter one, you know? Plus, I am pretty sure I drove one a little over a year ago, and fell in lurve with it.

Hyundai: not that memorable. The warranties are crazy good (one of them is 10 years, one is 5 and one is 3, I think, and you get all of them on your new vehicle), but the car itself doesn't stick out in my mind. It drove fine, had a good turning radius, was comfy, and the back row was fairly easy to access. It drove sort of like a truck, and I felt that the road noise was significant (possibly because I started out in the 3rd row, where it was very apparent).

Chevy: meh. I didn't like it that much. Tim liked it a lot, but he just rode as a passenger in the back and didn't drive it. For me, it was very squirrelly. I felt like we were driving in high winds, when the weather was pretty calm outside. Also, the heater/radio/accessory controls killed me. They were totally not intuitive at all; why would a car manufacturer do that? Why make things more complicated? Tim has told me about how they changed a couple of things from the old A-10 to the A-10C, and now you have to press 9 buttons to get the airplane to do something it used to take one button push to do...and that is what I thought of when I looked at the dash. When Claire and I were in the second row together, she pushed a button on the center console and turned the heat on full-blast. It took me nearly an entire minute to figure out how to turn it off. In the meantime, I accidentally turned on the radio (from the backseat! I hope the driver can disable that feature!). So, I'm pretty sure we will not be purchasing a Traverse.

Torn

I found out about this dollhouse from Katie, and am in love with it. The question is, will my children fall in love with it like I have? It's marked down to $63!! With free shipping! That seems ridiculously cheap to me for such a product, but I hate spending big money on one toy and then having said toy sit in a corner collecting dust and cat fur. Also, it's sort of big, so it's something one has to really want in their toy room.

Also, does anyone have this Dirt Devil Accucharge stick vacuum? I am in desperate need of a (preferably cordless) vacuum that I can use for the daily under-the-kitchen-table cleaning that must be done. This one has good reviews on amazon, but I am concerned about the noise level. Do you have any insight or recommendations for me?

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

We spent Christmas Eve at Jessica's house, and Kate got to open her first gift. We'll see how the rest of today goes, but I think it's destined to be her favorite Christmas toy. She pushes it around everywhere, putting things like shoes (she's starting early) and her bunny in it.

Jess and Mike and Dad are on their way over for brunch and dinner later, and gifts. More stories later.

How big is Kate?

This is the best!