Sequoia's New Car

After our beautiful blue wagon was totaled (Dan was rear-ended) this week (everyone is perfectly fine) we got to have the interesting experience that is car shopping. We did a lot of research online, checked KBB, Edmunds, and Consumer Reports, and had many advisory phone calls.



The traveling from lot to lot was exhausting and Sequoia really didn't care for it (except for the one place that had a little playroom and the one place that had giant balloons). We looked at about nine cars and test drove about five. We ended up going back and making an offer on the very first one that we test drove. I knew that we had decided on the right car when they had a mechanic take the car to replace the defroster light bulb and Sequoia started yelling at him through the window: "Hey! That's my car! Come back with my car!"

It is definitely very different from our wagon, but we really like it. I absolutely love it! It is very fun and easy to drive. Sequoia likes it because the back seat is up pretty high so she can see really well out the windows. We just ordered a stick figure family bumper sticker, so we just have to pick up a new UO sticker and a Oregon Zoo decal. We're not sure if we want to replace our coexist bumper sticker since the fire chief thinks that the SUV was just trying to coexist with our car, and we don't want to encourage that behavior with the new rig. We're looking forward to trying it out on our California Christmas trip! So here's Sequoia's new car, which she is generously allowing Dan and I to use to drive her around to her various destinations.

It has been awhile...

Hello all and sorry that we haven't updated Sequoia's blog in awhile! It has been kind of crazy up here in Oregon. Dan has just finished up Fire Academy and is now an official volunteer firefighter!! I've been working many evenings in the pharmacy and getting home kind of late. Sequoia is just as cute and wonderful as ever (as seen above). So now that I have a moment, let me fill you all in on the latest and greatest Sequoia adventures.

Sequoia has been attending a gymnastics class every week (thank you grandma and papa!) and she absolutely loves it. She is very good at doing somersaults and walking across the balance beam. She loves the trampoline and knows a bunch of great stretches that go with fun narrations. On top of all that fun, she gets animal stamps and glitter lotion at the end of each lesson which she thinks is just the best!

Sequoia has also become very into make-believe play lately. She loves dressing up and she loves playing with her dolly and baby. She has been carrying her baby around the house constantly for the past week. Sequoia likes to "hold her like a baby." She has also been pretend vacuuming. She has been begging to do some baking this week, so I think we'll work on making some cookies tomorrow. Daddy found the train set (shown below) at a local toy and hobby shop, and it fit with some pieces that we already had. This has been a big hit in our living room. (I'm not sure if Sequoia or Dan likes it more).

We have also been doing weekly arts and crafts while Daddy is out at the fire station. This week we made a hand and foot turkey to decorate the window along with a set of pilgrims and a turkey which Sequoia colored all by herself. She finally has the patience to do some coloring and is quickly picking up the concept. We also made a Thanksgiving/Christmas countdown garland which she gets to remove one ring per day for the countdown. She thinks it's really fun--she doesn't quite agree that she should only remove one ring per day, but we're working on it.

Lastly, I must say I love the show "Word World." I must say that it (along with all of our library runs and reading) has really gotten Sequoia into language. She loves to point out what letter starts a word when she hears it (sometimes on new words which floors me every time). Being hooked on phonics is really working for her!

That's all for now. I know I've left out a ton of stuff, but hopefully I'll have time to start updating this more and we'll catch up a bit better. Oh yes, leaf and puddle stomping is also a favorite activity right now--and in Eugene there are a lot of large piles of leaves and big puddles!

Here are a couple of links for the picture galleries from October and November. Enjoy!