Portraits, vanity and vehicles...oh my

I've done very well taking Molli in to get portraits done each month.  I typically bring a coupon and resist the urge to buy something in every adorable pose.  Yesterday I took my sweetie in for her 5 month portraits (five months already!?!) and she did very well.  She rocked a dress that my friend/old coworker's mom bought her from Scotland.   My daughter has an international dress (and a Peruvian alpaca shirt).  She is so cultured. Anyway, of course I had to snap a couple pictures of her fancy outfit before we went in.  This one cracked me up!

If you have ever met Molli, or even if you've ever seen videos of her, you know that she is a bit of a wild child.  She plays hard and she sleeps hard.  She is either extremely happy or horribly unpleasant and angry.  There are very few in-between stages.  I managed to capture the turning point.  She very cooperatively sat on the couch while I took a couple pictures on my computer (seen on facebook) then waited while I got my camera. By then she was ready to be done, but still obliged, for the most part. This picture was just after the "OK, Mom, you do your thing and I'll just sit here," and right before the "AGHHHHH!  Pick me up, I'm done with this and SO ready for a nap!"  My sweet little stinker. 

Everyday Myles and I try to spend some time together in "couch time" to where we are enjoying each other's company and Molli is not our center of attention but she can observe us enjoying each other. We had her in her doorway jumper during our couch time/dinner time and I happened to glance over at her and couldn't help but crack up.  This girl was spinning herself around, straining to see her reflection in the little mirror attached to the jumper. She's so vain.  It's not the best picture, but it still makes me laugh...

On Valentines day we all went to Springfield to check out a vehicle that we had our eyes on.  We've been wanting to upgrade the size of our car because A.) the carseat doesn't fit super well in it   B.) We would like more kids someday and hope that our kids have friends, therefore more seats would be beneficial and    C.) Myles is big and doesn't prefer to crunch himself up to drive.  So we test drove a Toyota Land Cruiser and we both surprisingly liked it. Myles is one for practicality in vehicles, I'm all for practicality combined with aesthetics.  Let's face it, if I'm going to be driving something, I want it to look good, and of course I want it to be comfortable along with all the givens- runs well, is safe, etc. This vehicle met both of our hopes and we traded in our Tucson and financed the rest.  This is our first vehicle as a couple that has low miles, which is cool! 

(yes it does fit under the car-port, we just didn't pull it in)

 It dawned on me yesterday that we've already had 5 vehicles since we've been married.  The first we "bought" (super cheap) from Myles' dad and it crapped out on us in just a few months, so we replaced it with our beloved white truck.  At that time we lived in FL and since we both worked, we sought out and bought another car.  I drove the truck and Myles drove a little Saturn.  Eventually we made plans to move to IL, sold the Saturn to Myles' dad, drove the truck up and realized how impractical a 2 wheel drive truck is in real winters.  So we sold it (after a mishap on the interstate) and got the Tucson.  The Tucson was great for me, but hopefully this Land Cruiser will be good for our family for a good long time.