Tuesday, February 28

Birthday Take 2

Oh - I forget to mention on her other birthday post that while we were walking to the van after the Aquarium and Hard Rock, Shortie told me she wanted to go home and clean her room and our room because we made her day so awesome and special that she wanted to do something nice for us. After this birthday take two she told us it was the best ever birthday of her life.

We decided to have a birthday party for Shortie once we moved... honestly it was a bit of me wanting the moment of having my family all together for a special event in one of my kids life, which was one of the main reasons we moved to Texas. So why not start with one of these moments the first weekend we are here. We had my sister, brother in law, my cousin, his wife, their three children, my grandma, and my mom (my Dad was sick) It was the first time my family could all be together for a kiddos birthday since Shortie's second birthday! It really was amazing for me, and I know Shortie loved it too. We had only been in the house for a few days but it was joy to have everyone over for the afternoon.




my nephew, aka Roscoe Dog

Baby Grae had a cold in her eye, but she loved her orange cupcake

having fun!


Shortie and Dallas (they are only 6 weeks apart - we have a picture of these two around their first birthday up in Shortie's room and it amazes me how quickly they are growing up)

always having fun together

.love. 

I love both of their little grins :)

Uncle Collin made Ezekiels day by playing trains with him

she looks too old!

she flew in the air! she jump right as Mocha ran by and caught her legs - she flew and landed on her elbow and knee. poor baby! Auntie RahRah cuddles helped 
smores!

First Night

Our first night in the house and nothing was set up - except boxes. It made for a very fun adventure. 

super happy eating dinner on the floor

Grae eating her dinner on her own little table

Daddy gave this little girl a smoothie in the van... she went straight to bath time!

Moving Day

It was finally moving day (just under three weeks to get a family of 7 packed and moved across country really was as crazy as it sounds). We had very generous friends from our church at our house on Saturday morning to help load up our 26' Penske Truck (I really hate those trucks...  followed one on our last cross country move). We knew all our stuff wouldn't fit. We are a family of 7 living in a 3,300 ft house and those trucks really don't hold as much as they should. We had already taken loads of stuff to goodwill, but boy did we take even more on moving day! In fact, the only furniture that made it to Texas with us was my hope chest (it was my grandmothers and it is the only piece of furniture that we would never get rid of), our dining table and chairs, two couches (we had 5 originally), one tv (not really furniture but I'll count it, although the tv stand/entertainment unit didn't get moved) two library chairs, and two twin mattresses... sounds like a lot typing it, but our house right now is empty! 

Saturday evening my parents flew in to help us make the drive. My dad drove Jon's car, Jon drove the truck, and my mom drove with me (I didn't want to tag along with the big truck but going on my own with five kids and Mocha dog, and having to make bathroom breaks and what not did not sound like something I wanted to do on my own -- so appreciative for my parents help). We were planning on taking off very early on Sunday but we had severe winter weather warnings that including high winds and ice. So we pushed off our leaving time and were on the road at 10 am (7 hours later than planned). 

The first leg of the drive we made it to Nashville (love that town! Nolensville and Brentwood still hold a piece of my heart). We all piled into one hotel room for the night and left at 3am on Monday morning. (works so much better for long drives with the kids). My mom and I arrived in Dallas around 3pm, and my Dad and Jon arrived just a few hours later. The water wasn't turned on in the new house yet so we went and got a hotel for the night. Shortie was up bright and early on Tuesday trying to wake us all out because she was so excited to go move into the new house. She kept saying something about the sun being up and why were we still sleeping. It was great to see her so excited to be moving here!


12 degrees send off from VA! 

BRRR! our last goodbye to our VA house

all loaded up and time to go

the penske truck heading out!


Officially out of VA!!! Welcome to TN!!!  
Did I forget to mention we drove through snow, rain, ice, and just a tiny bit of sunshine!

going over the Mississippi River again... 

One state closer! Arkansas!

Ice on the antenna

ha- our welcome to Texas sign... it was snowing/raining so this is as good as we could get

eating salad at the hotel - she was so happy to be out of the car

Aquarium

We went to the National Aquarium in Baltimore on Saturday the 28th for Shortie's birthday (she still didn't know where we were going until we got there). The kids all loved it. There were sharks, rays, an octopus, frogs, birds, loads of fish... the list could go on and on. (this trip also sparked another future trip to the Aquarium in Atlanta --- one of the largest in the world with whale sharks, manta rays, and great hammerheads... hoping to go this summer for a weekend trip). After the aquarium we had lunch at Hard Rock Cafe. Our waiter got the whole packed restaurant to sing happy birthday to Shortie. She loved it but was also very shy and just stood there with a blank look of terror on her face. It was awesome! My parents were with us and I have realized that when my dad is with me I dont know why I bother to try and take pictures. He is a pro photographer and always gets the great shots, so I really didn't take too many pictures while out. I'll have to get his pictures and then I'll post them.






Shortie Turns Seven!!!

Back on January 27th our baby girl turned seven... SEVEN?! How did she become seven already? She is really growing way too fast and I pray that I can slow the days and weeks down to cherish and remember more of these days. I'm not going to say much on this because it will get me all emotional and turn into a long blog posting and I have lots to update on... I love my Shortie and I'm so proud of the girl she is becoming. We are honored to be her parents!


This year we had a surprise trip planned to New York City for her birthday - but the weather was suppose to be ugly and we knew we only had two weeks before the big move and lots to do. Shortie didn't know of the plans, only thing she knew is Gaw and Papa were coming in town and we had something big planned. Every birthday I make a birthday balloon wreath for the kiddos, and we started a tradition of decorating while the birthday person was sleeping - surprising them with all the decorations (that was Shortie's idea for the boys a few years back). This year Shortie didn't want to know anything about her birthday - colors, theme, anything. Since we had to switch her birthday plans we decided to go to the National Aquarium in Baltimore. I bought all sorts of fish/whale themed birthday stuff and different shades of blues. 

The day of her birthday was also the day Jon gave his two week notice (still crazy to think about!).

little sister helping to get the house decorated.

she is SEVEN!!!!

birthday wreath

working on fish themed arts 'n crafts

Shortie's finished with her picture frame

Grae getting some Gaw lovin'

our beautiful birthday girl


she was loving the night

cake time!

great night!

happy birthday girl 

Hanging Out

Days were getting so busy with packing boxes that there are few pictures of all the craziness. There were some moments were I ran for a camera to capture some memories --- here's a few 

little dare devil trying to get out of her seat ---  thankful those straps can hold this crazy girl in her seat

Making "Robot Zekie" out of messed up boxes... he also looks like an airplane

Sitting in a big girl seat for the first time!!!

Last Snow Day

While Jon was out in Texas doing his interviews we had one last snow day (really the first of the season where we could go out and play in it). Luckily I had just started to pack up all the snow clothes so I knew exactly where they were and we all got dressed as quickly as possible... which putting snow clothes on kids is usually not a quick task. It was such a joy seeing them play in the snow and enjoying it so much. For a few brief moments I did get a little emotional knowing we were going to be moving and saying goodbye to snow days (real snow days... Dallas gets some snow but not like the blizzards that we experienced in VA -- useless fact, Dallas is capable of freezing blizzards in the 1880s they were at -19 and had a week long blizzard)

as soon as Conrad got outside he went to every toy car and brushed off all the snow and ice

Shortie trying to make a snow angel

he was very excited

all bundled up

still clearing off all the ice/snow

trying to decide if he should take a bite or throw it

dough boy outfits

the kiddos and Mocha all playing in the snow and loving it

they all make me laugh in this one... all the different expressions