Do your kids ever completely surprise you?

Avalon has been quite the challenging almost 4 year old lately. I sat on the couch many recent nights wondering how I'm going to make it through to the next day, because she is so strong. And independent. Both great qualities, except when she is using them against you in her toddler years. Some days it feels like she is winning.

But last night, at 6:00pm, we decided to go look at a new car for Rick. A few nights prior, Rick saw a certain SUV online, and said, "I better get something like this car because it is the sensible thing to do." He was not enthused about it at all. "No way," I said! You need to be excited about whatever you get. So, when he saw this certain car online yesterday afternoon and grinned from ear to ear, I knew we had to go check it out. Right then. Not later this weekend.

So, without dinner in our bellies, and no naps that afternoon, we all piled up in his paid off, older car, and headed across town to look at this new, exciting truck. When we arrived, we were told the truck was on a different lot 2 miles away, and since we couldn't put our 2 kids in the salesman's car without car seats, I stayed back with the kids while Rick went to look at it.

Anyone who has shopped for a car knows it is a long process. Anyone who has kids knows you pray your kids get through it without getting tired, going crazy or losing their marbles. And last night, my kids were amazing. We arrived there at 6:30 and drove off the lot in our new car at midnight.

The dealer had popcorn, a kids area, a TV lounge area, a play firetruck to sit on, and a lot of other kids, so noise wasn't an issue. The kids played with me, they played with each other, teased the salesman, and they went with me to In and Out at 9:30 for dinner, while daddy discussed price.

I was so proud of my kids, making a 5 and a half hour experience fun for themselves and in turn fun for me.

Even Avalon crawling into the vintage showroom car during our hide and seek game was entertaining.

The only sad part of the evening was when Rick and I grabbed everything out of the old car, Loudoun started crying about missing it.

It was the only car he remembers daddy driving. He cried the whole way home, and Rick and I felt so helpless. But when Loudoun woke up this morning, he said, "Can I go sit in your new truck, Daddy, so I can get used to it?"

I see a bunch of new memories in our future.