Happy New Years Eve!

We are pretty low key here at the Schlueter household especially when it comes to going out for New Years. Vernon and I have never been the type to go out on the town and party like it's 1999. Tonight we ordered a pizza, we went to pick it up and saw there was only two people eating in the restaurant, so we decided just to stay there and eat it there.

It was our New Years family celebration.
It was nice getting out of the house for a little bit anyway!

We got to take a ride for the first time as a family in the new van! Yippie!!!

32 WEEKS = 8 MONTHS!

I am 32 weeks along TODAY! Happy New Years Eve! I thought I would go through and show what I looked like at 32 weeks with each baby.

Here is me at 32 weeks pregnant with Sophie.
Here is me at 32 weeks pregnant with Vollen.
Here is me at 32 weeks pregnant with Ronan.

Here is me at 32 weeks pregnant with Sophie.

Here is me at 32 weeks pregnant with Vollen.

Here is me at 32 weeks pregnant with Ronan.

What I see from above with Ronan.

Minivan Mom

It's official....I am a minivan mom.

We picked up our new ride tonight. We qualified for the financing and went to sign all the papers and get the keys to our new van. We got the 2008 Honda Odyssey in Nimbus Gray Metallic exterior and Gray Leather interior. I like how roomy it is. I have no blind spots, it feels like 360 degrees of windows. I had a very limited view out of my Envoy. It drives very smooth and I am excited to get everything transferred over from my other car and learn how to work everything. We now have room for all the babies!!! I am also relieved that we are able to fit more people in it. We don't always have to take separate cars to places!

Old and New

Sophie with her Princess helmet on that she got for Christmas.
Today I stopped by my mom's and picked up a box of my old barbies and barbie furniture. I brought it home to show Sophie. She LOVED them. For some reason she was really drawn to them. She didn't play with her princess barbies the entire day. She said my Barbie's hair was wild and their clothes were weird. It was hilarious.

Just tonight she busted one of their heads off accidentally. Well, they are over 25 years old! Woops!

She loves my barbie pool and kitchen too.

One last Santa shake.

Our new addition

Vernon and I were finally able to go out tonight and look for a van. We knew which make / model we were wanting but were not sure on the year. We needed to sit in both and check them out because the body style changed. The decision was easy. We liked the '08 model way better than the '11. So, it was way cheaper. They even had the exact color we wanted.

We test-drove it and everything looked great. Except....the car was not detailed very well. There was still junk in the console and gum stuck inside one. The sales guys was really mad, because this isn't the first time that has happened and he was sick of the detail people not doing a very good job. They are going to re-do it and he is going to personally stand over them and make sure they do it right.
Anyway, we decided that we couldn't beat the price (it was even less than the sticker said). So, we just need to qualify for the financing and it will be ours. We are going to go in on Thursday and finish up all the paperwork.

I really like it and am happy that they had everything we were looking for.

We were so hungry after being at the dealership all evening, so we grabbed a bite to eat. We were down in Bellevue and so decided to go Mexican. Vernon saw good reviews on this restaurant, so we tried it out. It was on 33rd in between 'L' and 'Q'.

Cool decor. HUGE and very open.

Decorated pretty for Christmas.

They brought out chips and salsa. The chips were excellent. Warm and salty. Yummm

The salsa had some heat, which Vernon and I are not big fans of, but it was still good.

Vernon got a steak burrito and 3 tacos. His burrito was good.

But not as good as the tacos. On Tuesdays they have $0.99 tacos. They were SO good. VERY FRESH. The tortillas were soft and so yummy. The meat was very flavorful and the toppings were also very fresh and crisp. They were really, really, really good. AND CHEAP! I had 3 as well.

We spent only $16 total for the two of us. It was very good and we will definitely be going back!

Heather watched the kids for us and she was so excited to have a pj party with Soph. She is silly. Soph had so much fun showing Heather all of her new toys.

Pool Therapy

Today for Vollen's physical therapy they got in the therapy pool.

Vollen was super excited.
Waving to mama.

Heather used this tube thingy to teach him how to blow and do bubbles. He only sucked in water a couple times.

Sophie was a good girl and brought her Leapfrog and snacks to keep her busy. She liked watching Vollen though.

They had this platform in the pool that Vollen could stand on and work on some core strength and balance.

The noodle was very good for balance and stabilization.

Heather was talking to me about making sure was really stress water safety with Vollen. Many Down Syndrome individuals are not afraid of the water and don't think about what they are doing and can get into trouble. She wants to maybe start up a water therapy/swim lessons/safety program. I told her I thought a lot of my other moms would probably be interested in it. So hopefully that gets up and going. I asked if there were any pt students who also taught swim lessons to maybe get a two for one (learning how to swim as well as working on therapy exercises). She said she was going to look into it. I thought that would be the best of both worlds.

He worked hard today.

Core and kickboard.

And got crabby and tired by the end.

You can hear him saying, "Mama" and a lot of griping because he is tired and done.

Rotator

The kids and I went to visit grandma at the orthopedic hospital today.

They liked the waterfall.

Grandma in recovery. She had torn her rotator cuff and finally got it repaired today. I thought she looked really good. She was in some pain, but went home and slept the whole day.

Sophie had slipped out the back door in this.

That girl.

Bubba playing with Sophie's dress up hat. I think he looks like Jason Mraz here.

Sophie and I were playing Princess dominoes in princess gear, tea and all.

Daddy joined us....and Raja too.