The Happiest Day of Our Lives

I know I have SOOOOOOOOOOOO much catching up to do -- what with our road trip and all the OTHER summer stuff that's been happening -- but tonight's post is a tribute to a new {and glorious} phase of life.  Ethan is officially a licensed driver!!!

Getting his license taken care of was Ethan's top priority upon returning from our trip on Sunday morning.  So yesterday afternoon we trucked over to the DMV (where I decided I should ALSO get my driver's license for our current state) and after waiting a mere hour and a half, he got his official card.  To say he was excited would be an understatement.  After adding him onto our insurance today, he was chomping at the bit to go for a joy ride, so I put him to good use and sent him to the store to buy some freezie pops that Grace was begging me to get.  I think he also got gas while he was out and he was even so kind to take Jane along with him for the ride. Hahahaha.

 Pulling out of the garage for his very first drive without a parent.

And THEN, when Grace asked this afternoon if her friend Emma (who lives on the other side of town) could come over, I happily told her to ask Ethan if he was willing to go with her to pick her up.  As you can imagine, he didn't need much convincing.  Hahahaha.  All in all, I think I'm almost as excited as Ethan is that he can now drive on his own.  ;)

We bought an old beater about a week before we left for our trip.  It looks a lot nicer on the outside than the inside.

Thankfully, Ethan is a really responsible and good driver and he's not one to be risky or reckless.  I really couldn't ask for a better first kid driver in the family.  Hahaha.  My only real worry is that he will soon grow tired of running my errands for me and then I'll have to go back to doing them myself.  ;)  Hahahahaha.

 The inside panels on all the doors were a bit decrepit, but Ethan and Grace spent an entire day of contentment searching Pinterest for some DIY options and then implementing them in the car.  Which they've named Stanley. 

 Essentially, they duck taped it off and then mod podged some fabric on top of it. 

 I think they used a putty knife to stuff everything nice and tight into the seams and then used an exacto knife to get rid of the excess fabric.

 They were quite pleased with the results.  :)

(And I'm entertained by the fact that none of the doors have matching fabric.)

Stay tuned for summer catch up and then an epic series of posts documenting our road trip out west!