It is hard to believe that my second baby girl is FIVE! My-Oh-My time flies when you have kids!
Tori celebrated her birthday last weekend with her friends at The Little Gym. It was a great party. She had tons of fun playing with old and new friends.
We surprised Tori with an American Girl doll. She was so excited to get her very first AG doll!
Victoria Grace- Happy Birthday My Sweet Girl!
This morning we woke up to snow! I'm so glad we had time to get out in it before Alli had to be in school. And I'm so glad I held on to those snow boots!
What a great way to start off our day!
After being in our new home now for about three weeks, I am finally feeling pretty settled! Every box in the house has been unpacked and closets are now getting organized. The garage will get unpacked this weekend and all will be done!
I have to admit, I LOVE being here! Pete says I am on a Texas high! It just feels really good to be here. Familiarity is comforting and makes me happy! The first week we were here, I think we ate Mexican food at least four times. And the girls have already had more than enough Chic-fil-A.
The girls are in full swing of things at school. Alli has her first field trip this week. And Tori and Katie have a preschool Thanksgiving show next week.
Halloween was a lot of fun. We met up with some neighbors and ran into a few 2nd grade girls that Alli had already met. She was in her happy place!
Last week we celebrated my 35th birthday.......now that just sounds weird! Thirty five!
In just six days we will be making our way down to Texas for good. We will be leaving New Jersey, the place we have called home for the last two years. It has been a lot of fun for the whole family. We came here with the attitude of it being a big family adventure. And what a great adventure it was! We have experienced many things, things that we would not have done living in Texas. I look back on the past two years and am very thankful for our time here. I have always wanted to live in a state where I could experience seasons. I thought it would happen after college, before marriage or before kids, but it was so much better this way. I love that my girls will have memories of snow (maybe only through pictures for Katie). I love that we saw a bear walk through our front yard! (and I say love because we are all safe inside looking out the window!) I love that the girls have seen the trees turn from green to red, orange and yellow. And that they got to burry themselves in the leaves when they fell from the trees. And I love that we were able to drive to very cool places like New York City, West Point, Philadelphia and Washington DC.
Though I love that we were able to enjoy all of these things, I never felt at home here. Things are just different....it is hard to explain. Maybe it is an unexplainable feeling. A feeling of home that your insides just yearn for. And for me, the yearning never went away. It is not one of those feelings that left me sad and unable to get from one day to the next. It's just there. Some days it is stronger than others. And some days I barely noticed it, if at all.
People like what they like and they like what they are use to. For example, I recently had a conversation with a woman who visited San Antonio for her sons boot camp graduation. She said she rented a car but gave up trying to drive around because the highways were so confusing. WHAT!?! YOU THINK TEXAS HIGHWAYS ARE CONFUSING? I couldn't believe it. Because I love Texas highways. They are so not confusing! And we have access roads! If you miss your exit, no biggie. Take the next one and turn around. Can you do that in Jersey? Never! Because there are no such things as access roads. Another example, a conversation with another mom. She says, "You mean you put eggs in a tortilla? And it is a what? A breakfast taco? Sounds interesting...." From the look on her face, it looked as if it sounded more disgusting than interesting. But what Texan doesn't love breakfast tacos? I guess I just like what I like because that is what I am use to.
Goodbyes are never easy. Especially when it is, most likely, forever. My hardest goodbyes will be to my closest friends here. They were my saving grace. God just happened to plant the three of us, all new to the area, in the same Bible study small group. They have blessed me tremendously. And have made my life in Jersey all the more better. I will also miss our church. That is probably the place that felt most like home. Even though, I must admit, I wasn't sure what kind of church we would find here. But God Bless Jersey! There are Christians here! (Just Kidding!)
Top 10 things I will miss (not including friends- that is a given!)
The Pumpkin Patch
Alli had her class bear, LDC, for the weekend
Oktoberfest with our friends who live right next door.....for the next two weeks
A little German music
Pete joins the band
Face Painting
Bouncy House for our little ones
And Rock Climbing for our big girl
A little dancing with their friends
Katie and her boyfriend
We'll miss our neighbors!
The day has finally arrived! I think we were the last school in the country to start! Alli actually started last week on September 10th, but that still seems very late. Tori AND Katie started preschool today! For the first time as a mommy, I will have some time to myself three days a week. I'm not too excited about it because preschool, like kindergarten, is only two and a half hours long. I can not get too many things done in such a small amount of time. But I am very excited for the girls. They have been talking about going to school together for a few weeks now. All three girls seem to have very wonderful teachers.
In a few weeks, we will do this all over again. But that is a good thing! We will be moving back to Texas in just a few short weeks! We have a contract on the house and will close here on the 20th of October.
For our 11th anniversary, (which is this Saturday!!) we decided to buy ourselves a better camera. We, and when I say we, I mean Pete, have been having fun playing around with it and are amazed at how great the pictures look. Alli had her first soccer practice tonight. I think Pete took about 450 pictures. I hope that I will actually take the time to learn how to use it....
Here are just a few of my favorites from the new camera.
I love how the action shots come out!
We squeezed in a little vacation and headed down to DC this past weekend. Pretty soon the girls will go back to school and Pete will be commuting between here and Dallas. So our family time is precious and we are trying to get in as much as we can.
It was a great day! I was so proud of the girls because they did so much walking and so little complaining! I love DC. I think it is an amazing place. We hope to visit there again when the girls are a little older and can appreciate the history.
The night before going to see some sites, Pete and I went out with our great friends Pete and Jami. Our family time is precious, but so is our mommy and daddy time! We went to the Kenny Chesney concert and had a lot of fun hanging out with our friends. We will sure miss hanging out with them when we move....whenever that is!
