Adjustment

‎"No Misfortune is so bad that whining about it won't make it worse." Jeffrey R Holland

I've learned a few things over the past week of travelling and moving my family to N.Dakota.

- Kids don't mind moving as long as adults make it sound fun and exciting.

- Ellie hates the water even in a swimming pool. But the adage "just pull off the bandaid" is so true. We took off Z's life jacket at the pool. After months of unsuccessful swimming lessons and after 5 minutes she was swimming around!
- Kids can make you laugh even when you feel like crap and are having a nervous meltdown!

- Siblings are better than anything money can buy. Especially on long car rides.

- Kids don't need practically any toys. Emmett played with his little cars with paper roads that I made for him for two days straight.

- We have WAY too much crap.

- AND: After whining a little to a lady I met about being stuffed in our apartment, she kindly told me that she has been in a FEMA trailer with three small children since June. That's only about 600-700 sq ft...in the winter. Oh - and they are living there because their home is destroyed. Zing. Life is all in how you look at it. Let me tell you it humbled me up pretty dang fast!! Even the cable guy who came to the apartment said he was surprised at how much "space" I had in this apartment compared to others.

Christmas Time

I posted a million pics of our Christmas adventure. They are hilarious!!

Zoë's reaction to finding Aladdin and Jasmine from Santa. What she wanted!

Emmett's much more subtle reaction to finding his Spiderman scooter.
It all changed when he found an AMAZING CANDY CANE! (why do I buy presents?)

Zoë being so adorable and playing with Ellie

I have no idea why Alison is laughing.

Zoë can't wait her turn to open presents so she slowly unwraps a present while we are going around the circle.

Literally can't hold in the anticipation
Alison and John got him a football helmet and jersey. He was practising his football pose.
He wore it all day!
Ellie getting excited about finding a present to rip open.
Dad and Mom looking at a calendar Alison and Whoop made.
Laughing super hard about something.
Alex helping Emmett with his first Lego set. So cute.
After a few days of shining off my Dad, Ellie finally let him play by her.
She LOVES her Grandma.
A typical facial expression for her.

Zoë saying goodbye to John and Spankie.

A series of photos that did NOT go as planned. I just wanted a group shot with them but Emmett wouldn't get off his scooter.
Which made Zoë mad.Barely holding back in a tantrum. John isn't helping. Emmett is gloating.
Trying to get both to look at me and smile.
I gave up.
Getting the special kisses from Grandma. Ellie is SO squishy :)

Birthday Girl

Zoë decided to have her birthday a month earlier since we are moving and she wanted to have a party with friends. She had a pinata and painted with spin art. So fun!

Thanksgiving

Sunday in new dresses

Ellie with her piggies
The kids made their own Thanksgiving Turkeys. I decided I needed to step up and do something crafty for the kids after all their friends had fun stuff around the house! They loved making them and Z got a few feathers writing her own words and got tired. I loved their random stuff they came up with!

Halloween

Despite me being a total lame-o for Halloween this year, we DID do pumpkins. Ok, we didn't gut them out - but instead we painted. Can I just say I like this WAAAAAY better??? Less mess, less clean up. Except my little perfectionist Zoë. She was very upset it wasn't turning out the way she envisioned.

She picked ARIEL! Seriously.
Emmett thought this card was the coolest/funniest thing ever. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa.

Zoë wanted to know exactly when she could eat the entire marshmallow cookie.

Ellie has been sick for a few days, so she and I hung out during the craziness.

At the last minute she decided she wanted to be the Queen of Hearts for school. Of course I had 20 minutes to sew up all the holes.

The succession of pictures is hilarious to me. They were supposed to be the three little pigs with Alex being a wolf. But Zoë only wanted to be something pretty, Ellie was sick...Emmett didn't care. So we took one picture.Ellie was just about to freak out.
Then she saw Zoë and totally freaked.So back to their costumes they picked out 5 minutes before Trunk or Treat. Zoë is a Rodeo princess, Emmett is a cowboy and Alex is a....a...pig vampire???Our Friend Dr. Love.
Notice her pink horse she carried around the entire time.
Emmett has a hate/love relationship with Halloween. He does NOT get costumes and doesn't like people in his personal space.