Taylor's 9th Birthday

A little late but here it is, my sweet little Taylor had her 9th birthday.

 Since we were homeless as Chris lived in Washington and we were still in New Mexico, our best friends Sonya and Faith let us invade their new home. Not only did we invade, we pretty much took over. Sonya moved out of her huge room with a ensuite bathroom and massive walk in closet, we moved in:)
Taylor and Hailey were delighted to have the closet as their room. Faith and I waited up late to decorate the room/closet so Taylor would wake up to her normal crazy birthday tradition. Oh the fun Faith and I had, how they slept I don't know. We were dropping stuff, giggling and just having a blast. Love my girl Faith:)

 Taylor was spoilt, she had two birthdays!! Here she is on her birthday talking to Nanny on Skype.

 Taylor loves Zero from the movie Holes. Trying to get her anything with him on it was a challenge!! I tried and failed, Sonya tried and failed..... She tried again and her sweet little trouble has a Zero wall sticker and a mug with his picture on.

 Here we are with Bruce the dog, oh how she wanted this dog so badly.

 Where did she want her birthday dinner? Texas Road House of course!

She had a "fake birthday" with her BFF during the week, we went to the park and out to dinner at Taylor's favorite Chinese place.

We lit the candle on the cake on top of my car, how fun!!!!

I just love these girls!!

Ummm, yeah, this did happen.

 Happy birthday Squidgy!!

Almost two Weeks Later

 

We have been here for almost two weeks now and we are settling in really nicely. It was a big shock when we arrived and everything we have known as normal for the past 8 years was left behind.  We dove into the deep end and didn't allow ourselves to get caught up in any of the sadness right away. The very next day after arriving the kids were in school!! One of the best things ever, being a military child myself I know its easier to go right away.

 We quickly found the girls were going to struggle a little, the standard of teaching and requirements are amazing. Im so in love with the way they are being taught right now. My girls are going to go far!!! Masie being the eldest is having the most trouble settling in, she misses her friends and has been a little sad. Her class is over run with boys, she does have a few people to hang out with now but I have signed them all up for girl scouts. They are so excited and they will be busy having fun making friends.

 I have signed up to volunteer and have been in about three times now, I just love it!! I have also done an application for subbing in the schools, my finger prints are done and I found out today that I am all good to go, I'm just waiting for the conformation in the mail and then I can start. I'm nervous, really nervous. I wanted to get out there quickly, this will help me feel more at home.

Last weekend we went to a mall in Spokane, it was so big!

It had an amazing river with viewing cars that took you fir a close up, it was so fabulous. The views were stunning.

Our first family picture in Washington.

The next day we went to a little town near by called Medical Lake to check out the fishing sites.

Absolutely beautiful doesn't really cover it.

I really do think we are going to be so happy here.

Masie doing her homework, she was very upset after a few days of school. She wasn't used to the amount of work. Also in NM they dont care if your spelling is wrong, they don't correct it or try and fix it. Now she has 30 spelling words a week and gets points deducted for miss spelt words in assignments. Its tough but I think its awesome!! After the melt down and a little harsh parenting she started raising her standards and is excited to learn and loves the challenge. I'm so proud of her.

I have made some dairy and egg free chocolate chip muffins, OMG fantastic!!

Oh one more thing, Masie has a boy in her class that is deaf, he has a translator with him. From the very first day Masie has been learning sign from a Kindle app to speak to him. How adorable is my girl?!

Well On Our Way

So our extremly emotional goodbye is over, we are leaving such wonderful people behind. We are looking forward and so excited about our new adventure. The girls will get a tour of their new school this week and then will start Monday. They cant wait to be new students:)

We have been driving for about 10 hours and almost at our halfway stop. Then we do it all again tomorrow.

I can not wait to be home! I cant waot until it feels like home.

Allergic?!?!

Im known for my allergies, seriously there are too many to count. From food to trees you name it. BUT i get a surprise twist last weekend. A cat! I already thought I was allergic to cats, but I had a reaction that did not just give me itchy skin. My throat closed up! My tongue was two sizes too big and of course the ER says "Take a seat". That through me into panic and they called me in minutes later. After many colorful liquids pushed through an IV and oxygen taped to my face, I was good to go. Only now I carry an epi pen with me at all times. The next day it happens again and Taylor gives me my shot and saves the day!
There is my terrifying story, hope it never replays!

Goodbye New Mexico

Here is a huge kiss goodbye to our home for 8 years, Alamogordo New Mexico.

 After a lot of tears we have all decided to move up to Washington on March 14th.  It feels like the right decision, but boy are we going to miss our home.

I'm not going to lie, I cried for almost a year when I moved here, I hated it. I grew to love it, I started a business that was successful and then started working in the public school system. I have changed, I am more confident now and ready to take on my next challenge.  My husband is my soul mate and I couldn't ask for a better man in my life, my girls are wonderfully awesome and I am just plain happy!! I have some amazing friends, some a little crazier than others Sonya.

To be able to move into a friends home with 3 kids, 2 dogs, 2 birds, 1 bunny, 2 guinea pigs and 3 frogs, that's a great, amazing friend. Told you she was crazy

Frog-Tastic, by Hailey

Hailey so badly wanted to do a project, so of course I tried to bribe her to not do one said absolutely.

 She loves frogs so we decided this would be frog-tastic.

 We started with 6 tiny embryo's, after a little accident we ended with three fully grown frogs.

 Absolutely fascinating watching them transform.

 Only problem you ask?? Now I have bloody frogs!!!!

She won second place in the school and sadly was too sick to compete in the city. So totally proud of you Hailey.