Remember Mark’s and my shaweet date night to P.F. Changs? Well, it wouldn’t have happened without our cool friends, the Hopples, who gladly take on our 3 kids overnight to add to their 3 (soon to be 4) kids so that we can take a deep breath (and dote on Lydia alone).

Well, Friday night was our turn to take on the troops. If you can take the sheer volume, it’s an awesome time. 7 is honestly easier than 4—for a night, at least.

And, just when we thought the weekend couldn’t get more exciting, we bought a new car (well, new to us. It’s a 2006).

But, I know Mark needed one. Apparently, having no air conditioning and a rusted out bottom so that your feet got wet when it rained was no longer making him feel like he had a decent ride. So, we said goodbye to the old Jeep Cherokee and said hello to a Subaru something or other.

You know what though–it’ll stay clean since the kids will primarily ride in my swagger wagon and throw all their twizzler wrappers, fruit snack bags, and leftover pretzel sticks (which they subsequently will step on) on my floor (not to mention the leaking sippy cups and gazillion stickers stuck to the window next to Drew’s seat).