It's Christmas here too...

So we got here Dec 1st at 12:30 am.  The house was 50 degrees (the landlords had not left the heat on).  We had brought one space heater so we piled everyone into the same room until the house heated up.  I told the kids to go back to sleep when they woke up in the morning so they wouldn't be tired during the day.  Marcus looked at me like I was crazy and said; "No, I'm getting up and going outside to play in the snow!"  (Sadly there has been no snow since we have been here.) 

Mark didn't start work until Thurs so we had 5 days to power through as many boxes as we could, hit IKEA for some storage solutions and stock up on food.  Thursday Mark started work and Marcus, Addy and Jaxon got sick.  I succumbed a few days later.  It was a VERY long week and a half.  We didn't leave the house the whole time.   I finally found a babysitter and escaped Thurs and Friday for a few hours.

On the positive side; Katie started school and loves it.  That little girl can thrive in any situation. 

But Christmas did happen here.  I was able to get the Christmas tree and most of the decorations up.  We have the kids nativity out.  We haven't done anything extravagant but we have celebrated the birth of our Savior and enjoyed a little of what the world has to offer.  We have watched some Christmas movies and drank hot chocolate.  We went to see Santa and his reindeer. 

 We made some Christmas cookies.

The kids got a little hyper after the cookies...

Friday I went to Katie's school and made ginger bread houses with her.

 

 

 Nothing to do with Christmas, but cute nonetheless.

Marcus sharing Uh-uhs with Jaxon

 And finally Christmas Sunday.  Do they get any cuter?

 

 The outtakes...

 

Merry Christmas to all, I hope the peace of our Savior is with you this Christmas Day.

Going, going and gone...

I hate saying goodbye, seriously, I would just up and leave if I could avoid the goodbyes.  Leaving Charlotte was probably the hardest move on me since leaving highschool for college.  I did say goodbye, but I didn't tell anyone about it until it was 100% certain we were going.  

My kids on the other hand, left without looking back, Mark had promised them snow and they were so excited.  They found our cold weather stuff and insisted on putting it on.  It was probably 65/70 degrees outside.

Random funny shot, Mark and I come home and left a sleeping Jaxon in his car seat.  We were packing and came back downstairs to find the kids "trying to help" us with him by pulling him halfway out of his carseat.

 My friend's had a baby shower for Jaxon, which pretty much was a goodbye party with all my church friends.  Sarah and I took the kids to Tiger World as our last hurrah.

The tiger was stalking the kids

Addy was so excited to finally find the bear, she stood there for the longest time.

This bird was talking to the kids.

 We got back from Florida on Saturday night and the movers came on Tues.  I was on auto-pilot, moving forward with what we had to do, but in a daze because things were happening so fast.  Sunday night we got together with my two closet friends from the neighborhood for dinner.  Then Angela had us over again on Tues night, so we didn't have to dirty the kitchen.

Angela and Amaiya enjoying Jaxon

Wed morning I headed to my parents house.  Flossie and Crystal met us up there.  Bryan also came to hang out.  We had a blast with my parents, siblings and cousins.  Thursday evening my parents rented out the local roller skating rink.  The kids were so excited.  They had some slow rollers for the kids to put on. 

Even the cool kids put on skates

Addy cried pretty much the whole time, she had a hard time staying on her feet.

Marcus stayed up most of the time

Seth

My mom and dad put on skates to relive their glory days

Joey made an appearance

Gabby and Baylee

Within the hour Katie had moved up through 3 pairs to get the the fast skates.  She still fell some, but I was so proud at how hard she was trying.

Friday morning we got up, and with the help of my mom, got on the road.  We met Mark, who had stayed in Charlotte to oversee the movers, and headed to CT. 

Thanksgiving

Post reserved for Thanksgiving

Halloween

Post reserved for Halloween