We live in Hondaworld

Ever since we were expecting our fourth, I've been eyeing a new van. We got our first mini-van after Verity was born, in 2005. Before that we all fit into our Accord wagon. (We're somewhat fond of Hondas). (Ok, we're Honda fanatics). (Blame my uncle, he started it).

But when I had to ride squeezed into the 10 inch space between the girls' carseats in the back seat of the Accord, we realized we needed to give in and get a minivan. An Odyssey, of course. There didn't really seem to be any way we could afford that though. The Accord had come second hand from the aforementioned uncle who gave us a sweet deal. But I looked at the autotrader anyways. To my surprise and excitement, there were some old Odysseys out there that we could possibly handle purchasing. We went out to the Kitchener area to check out the cheapest. This 95' was going for about $3500 and once we got there it was obvious why. As I went to shift into gear during a test drive, the gear shift got stuck and wouldn't move. The salesguy nervously suggested that I just needed to really reef on it. Ok...buh-by now.

We ended up buying another 95' (earliest year Honda made the Odyssey) from some little place in TO for 5K. We were thrilled.

Now, this isn't actually our Odyssey. I realized when I went looking for a photo of big red, that we got our digital camera after that point, hence no pics of our first minivan. But google obliged me with this pic, quite close to ours. Except we didn't have a sunroof. Or those funky visors over the windows.

I'll bypass our unfortunate Hyundai experience...(You stray from the formula, you pay the consequences) and move onto the next Honda purchase, a little civic for James to take to work.

Unfortunately, we made the mistake of buying privately and that wasn't so rosy an experience. By now however, I would think you're starting to see our trend....

So back to the present. I got pregnant and we realized that our decision to buy a van with two bench seats was not so practical for 4 kids in carseats. Space overall became a bit of an issue, as the early Odyssey's were quite small. And I was having heartattacks in every parking lot with three kids trying out their independence on a four door (read: no sliders). So last week I started looking at Pilots. My brother had been razzing me that we should get a Pilot next, so I went to the Honda site to check them out. I clicked away, deciding that nope, I still liked the Odyssey better. On I clicked to autotrader and what did I find?

A mere 5 minute drive, over on Upper James, this 2000 (Yes!! Into the 2000's!!) Honda Odyssey was going for $5449. It wasn't red...but I didn't care...could we do it?

YES WE CAN!!

I want......this one.

http://www.trader.ca/powerpage/details.aspx?vlotid=95564&adid=6834267

Would anyone like to buy it for me?

Kentkids

I've recently made a couple posts on the kids' blog....

You should really hop over and see.

:-)

Kewl

These are taken by my friend Leanne. Very Ann Geddes-like, non? Thanks Leanne!

Say it ain't so

The other night I was at my moms, looking over her shoulder when she was checking her email, and my eye caught a news story on yahoo that made my heart sink.

Last Saturday, James and the kids and I spent a good portion of the day at a friends house, celebrating her youngest child's birthday with a BBQ. There were lots of friends over, and James and I met and spent some time talking with a couple who had two teenagers. We talked about all sorts of things, one of them being a discussion about our children's names, what they meant and why we had chosen them. Our new friend, who had a rather unique name himself-----Gideon--- joked that just as his daughters name----Hannah--which had been fairly uncommon when she was born and now is not, our children's names might someday be commonplace as well. I laughed and thought in my head about how completely impossible that was.

And then Jessica Alba had a baby. Do you know who Jessica Alba is? I think she might have started out as a pop singer, kind of like Mandy Moore, but turned actress and model. She's quite gorgeous. I remember her best from a fav movie, Never been kissed with Drew Barrymore. She played one of the stuck up popular kids, who dressed up as a Barbie Doll for the themed high school prom, and got in an argument with her equally popular and ditzy friends about which Barbie doll she was (Malibu Barbie? Disco Barbie? Truly mindboggling stuff).

I'm sure by now you're getting the idea, if you didn't see it on the news yourself.

Babies
Honor Marie 'Looks Just Like' Mom Jessica Alba
Originally posted Tuesday June 10, 2008 06:55 PM EDT
Jessica Alba and Cash Warren Photo by: Alex Berliner / Berliner Studio / BEImages
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Jessica Alba has passed on her natural beauty to 3-day-old Honor Marie Warren, according to the star's brother, Josh. "She is gorgeous. She looks just like my sister," Josh Alba told E! News of his newborn niece. "Jessica did everything natural ... It went really well." Born June 7 in Los Angeles, Honor Marie is the first child for Alba, 27, and husband Cash Warren, 31. In recent months, Alba has been in full nesting mode, and now that the baby is here, the Alba family couldn't be happier. "We are all just ecstatic," Josh said. "She definitely looks like an Alba to me."– Arnesa A. Howell

DO YOU KNOW WHAT THIS MEANS?!?!

Sure, she spells it American, but still, this spells death for the uniqueness I've cherished in my babies' names. Ach, I'm probably overreacting....but I guarantee there will be a few more Honour's out there in the next few years. Alba might not be a superstar like Julia Roberts or something, but a quick google tells me that she's got a significant following.

Sigh. Maybe she'll pop out 2 more kids in the next 2 years and we won't hear diddly about her...she'll slowly fade from the public eye......Is that an evil thing to wish? So sorry.