The Continuing Saga of the Miller's Many Motors

About a year and a half ago, I blogged a list of cars that Jordan and I have had since we have been together. It was quite extensive. And it has continued to grow! So, here is the list again, with some new additions!

1. 1990 Toyota Camry (My first car. I loved that thing.)

2. 1986 Mazda 323 (Jordan kept willing the thing to die. It did.)

3. 1979 Nissan Z 290 (Jordan bought this right after we started dating, and sold it after just a few weeks. That should have been my first clue about Jordan's motor vehicle obsession!)

4. Suzuki Savage Motorcylce

5. 1989 Astro Van (Given to Jordan by his parents to replace a dead Mazda)

ENTER THE MARRIAGE YEARS

6. 1990 Ford Bronco (Because we didn't want a mini van when we had no children)

7. 2002 Toyota Corrolla (which is the only brand new car we have ever had)

8. 1972 Chevy (which didn't stick around long)

9. 1998 Ford F-150 (Jordan still whines to this day about missing his truck!)

10. 1998 Saturn SL(totaled)

11. 2000 Triumph motorcycle (Purchased without permission!)

12. 2001 Ford Windstar (now making the move to minivans for real)

13. 1973 Porsche 914 (The car that started the Porsche obsession)

14. 1990 Porsche 911 (Also purchased without permission. I think Jordan still cries in his sleep over the loss of this vehicle.)

15. 2004 Ford Freestar

16. 1986 Porsche 944 Turbo

17. 1983 Porsche 911 Targa

18. A boat (Does that count on this list?)1983 Checkmate

19. 1983 (or 1984?) Volkswagen Rabbit

20. 1990 Volkswagen Jetta

21. 2004 Mini Cooper

22. 2008 Buick Enclave (Done with mini-vans!)

23. 1984 Porsche 928 S

24. 1996 BMW M3.

Do Jordan's work issued vehicles count on this list too? If so...

25. Work van

26. New odd little squashed looking van he got a few weeks ago. This thing really is funny looking!

And the list goes on...

27. A 1995 Ford F-150- Jordan got this truck by trading our two kayaks! It stayed around for maybe six months before

he sold it.

28. 2005 Pontiac Montana (AKA the Golden Goose)- Remember when I said we were done with mini vans forever? I lied. When we bought our new house, the Enclave monthly payment was just going to be too much. We LOVED the Enclave, and getting rid of it was painful. But we knew it was the right thing to do.

29. 1996 Audi A4- We have had this vehicle for about 3 weeks now. Jordan found it for $800 on Craigslist. It was not running. Jordan went to check it out, and had it running in minutes. And he still got it for $800. We bought it because we needed a second car around.

Then, about a week and a half ago, a day after a big snowstorm, I was driving home from my inlaws when someone driving the opposite direction slipped on a patch of snow and slammed right into the Golden Goose. Luckily, everyone involved in the accident was okay. My van, not so much. It was totaled. The Golden Goose had laid an egg.
So that leads to number 30 on our list...

30. 2008 Dodge Grand Caravan- We plan on keeping this one for a long time. We'll see if that really happens! :)

Our New Abode

I've been meaning to make this post for the last month, but I just never got around to doing it. My brother Steven told me he would not send me any more pictures of my new nephew until I blogged about the new house, so here it is. :)

Last August, we put our home in Lansing up for sale. It was a wonderful place for us, but it was not where we wanted to be long term. Jordan and I both had things we wanted in our "rest of of lives" home. And since home prices were so low, we decided it was the time to try and make the switch. We did not actively search for new homes while we waited for our house to sell. We just looked at homes online. There was one house, however, that we really wanted to see. So this past January, we went and looked at a home we just LOVED. It had everything we wanted. It was rural, had lots of land, rooms for each of the boys, a big tub, a pole barn, a formal dining room. We had found it! But, our house wasn't selling. So we waited, and waited, and waited.

A few months after we saw the house, the owners said they were tired of trying to sell(I knew the feeling!) and asked us to write an offer that was contingent of the sale of our home. We were so happy we had a chance to get the home we wanted. But, before we could submit our offer, someone came in and made a real offer. We were crushed.

In May, after about 48 showings of our Lansing home, we finally got an offer! We had a few places we were looking at online, but none of them struck us like THE house. We decided to call and ask if the sale of the house we really wanted was final. It wasn't. There was a hold up, and we were told if we could make an offer within the next couple of hours, it could be ours.

Of course, we made the offer, and we got it!! We moved into our beautiful new home on the 1st of June, and we are so happy here! It is going to be such a wonderful place to raise our boys.

Notice the difference in the color of the grass in theses two photos. The one with the green grass was taken a few weeks ago. Since then, it has not rained hardly at all, and my poor grass is dying!!!! You usually don't have to water your lawn here in MI, and our futile attempts to water some of it have done little. There is just too much of it.

View from the road

Our very long driveway

Living Room

Entry Way

View from the stairs. Note the very 80's style chandelier that MUST go.

Kitchen

Living Room window

View into the dining room

4 Seasons sun room

Family Room

I love this little area at the top of the stairs.

Vance's room

Hallway to Mason and Miles' rooms

Mason's room

Miles' room

Master Suite

Cute little window in the master

Can you hear the angels singing? This is the big tub that I have dreamed about for years! It was my biggest requirement for our new home!

Walk in closet

back porch

Back yard

The angels are singing again. This time for Jordan. This was his requirement. This pole barn is HUGE!

Our property is about 5 acres. We love every bit of it. I sure hope it rains soon. I miss the green grass!

Miles's Seventh Birthday

My sweet Miles turned seven in March. I love this boy! He is awesome. He brings so much joy to our family. He is great with playing with his brothers, and always listens to Mom and Dad. He is becoming a really good reader, and I think he is going to be like his dad and have a very good math/science mind. He wants to be a chemist when he grows up.

Opening his birthday presents

This cake was my first attempt at fondant. I even made the fondant myself. It was fun! (and thanks Maria for all your help!)

Enjoying his Lego Harry Potter Quidditch set

Miles' Birthday Party

So, I have to admit that I am not the biggest fan of hosting birthday parties. Just not my thing. But, I try to be a nice mom and give in every once and a while. Usually, for my kids fifth and eighth birthdays. But Miles just begged and begged to have a party this year. I caved, and we actually ended up having a very fun army themed party for Miles' seventh birthday. Sorry the pictures are blurry. I REALLY need to buy a new camera.

The party soldiers (they all got dog tags to wear). Miles was the general.

Musical chairs

My old standby at birthday parties- Pizza!

Noah

Playing pin the tank on the battlefield

Presents

Cupcakes

See the guns and swords. All the kids would have gladly have spent the whole time playing with these than playing games. They were constantly running off to the basement to play with them.

The cupcakes were thoroughly enjoyed!

All Miles Wants for Easter is His Two Front Teeth

Miles lost his two front teeth yesterday. The have been loose for a while, and Jordan was having a grand time trying to get them out. Miles was afraid to go near him! On Monday morning, one of his teeth fell out while I was wiggling it. I left the other one in, so Jordan could have a part in the removal process.

This is how Miles' second tooth came out:

Miles and his love of hot sauce

So I meant to post this video months and months ago, but never got around to it. And as I watched Miles douse his meal with hot sauce the other day, it reminded me about it. This kid loves hot sauce on everything! And the more, the better. :)

Mm Mm Good

Vance was playing out in the snow yesterday, when he opened the door and handed me a big chunk of snow and an icicle that had fallen off the house. He told me they were for our dinner, and told me to cook them. So, to humor him, I put a pot on the stove, and put the snow and icicle in it, but did not turn it on.

When he came back inside, he was still insistent that those items were for dinner, and wanted them to melt, so I turned the stove on low, and started to melt them. But who wants just ice for dinner? Not Vance!

Next he had me add a few grapes. Then a bit of flour and sugar. Then a handful of crumbled potato chips, and bit of cereal that had strawberries in it. But his creation was not finished. Next came some milk, butter, nuts, and some oats. Then it was finished. But luckily he did not insist that it be consumed!!

Gross!!!