Wednesday's Halloween Adventures

We started today in Arkansas with lots of candy and junk food.  This wasn't a typical Halloween for the kids, so we tried to make it super fun even though it was different!

Hayden loved playing with his food!

We stopped in Tennessee to stretch our legs.

Daisy Mae has been the best little traveling dog.  I just love her!

She doesn't like the bat costume we dressed her in.  She was not a happy Trick or Treater.

We had a fun dinner in Kentucky!  The kids wore their costumes and we had a fun time!

The kids even Trick or Treated at our hotel room door!

Happy Halloween!

Tuesday - Our travels begin

Today was Layla's last day of school in Texas! It's a bittersweet day.





We are leaving our house! We are all a little sad, but excited about our seeing our new house too!





Saying our goodbyes was the hardest part. I cried my eyes out while saying bye to one of my best friends. We also said bye to both Gary's mom and my mom. I didn't want to say any goodbyes. I much prefer 'see ya later!'






The carpet cleaner got a late start this morning and that put us behind schedule, but we are still hoping to get to Little Rock tonight.





Oh ... these are some sleepy kiddos! Daisy is sleeping too. She is the best traveling dog ever!



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Moving day Monday

The moving truck arrived today!  We are all packed up and ready to leave Texas for Ohio.

Hayden had his last day of school today.  Layla's last day will be tomorrow.

We will be hanging out camping here at the house until we head out of town!

Everything is gone and I have cleaned the entire house!  It's kinda fun for the kids.  They have been running around with a long lost beach ball.  Kick ball is super fun in an empty house!  We are making some fun memories this week! 

Silent Saturday ~ Packing the attic

boxes boxes and more boxes

A little cold front just came through our area and it feel amazing outside.  Earlier today it was around 75 degrees and humid.  Now it is a glorious 63 degrees and breezy.  

The kids are outside playing in the fall air.  They really don't have a choice because I have pretty much packed away almost all of their toys.  It's either watch TV or play Wii and thankfully they prefer the backyard.  I am sitting here in my polka dot chair with the windows open listening to their jibber jabber.  The only thing that would make this moment more perfect is if I had a cup of coffee, but all I have is regular coffee.  I'm finally getting good sleep again at night, so I don't wanna risk a caffeine high messing that up. 

This is pretty much what our house looks like right now.  The kids playroom has been overtaken with boxes.  Our home office is full of boxes.  My bedroom has lots of boxes in it too.  I'm seeing all my hard work paying off as the house gets more empty and the boxes are multiplying.  Every day is a day closer to our move!!  Eeeiikkkk!  It's all just so bittersweet!

Hayden has been such a good boy these last few days.  We haven't gotten out to do much like we usually do during the week.  He doesn't seem to mind and as you can see he is really good about creating his own fun.  I don't think jumping from boxes to bean bags is all that safe, but I have to give Spiderman points for creativity!  

Jump rope addict ~ Wordless Wednesday

(Can you tell she is singing while jumping?)

trees and fall

I'm so excited to be able to move soon enough to see fall in Ohio!  

We don't have many trees in our neighborhood right now, so I've missed seeing fall over the years.  I grew up in a small town in Texas and we had tons of trees.  I'm excited about being surrounded by trees again!

I want to rake a huge pile of leaves and watch my kids jump in them!


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weekend fun

We enjoyed another fun weekend outside.  I am thankful for the weather we are having.  I'm not for sure exactly how cold it will be in Ohio and how soon it gets cold, so I'm thankful for outdoor playtime right now.

I packed lots of boxes this weekend.  I cleaned out my dresser and packed all my shoes into boxes. It's not too bad to pack the playroom and all bedrooms.  Knowing the movers are packing my entire kitchen makes packing other rooms a breeze.   I'm so thankful!

I enjoyed drinking out of my new cup today.  One of my sweet friends came by for happy hour on Saturday night.  We had a nice visit and I am loving this fun candy corn cup she gave me.  It definitely makes drinking water more fun!

The kiddos are getting so excited about our move.  I know I say that all the time, but we all are excited.  I looked in the fridge today and I realized we are finishing up our last gallon of milk here in this house.  We are eating all the food in our pantry and fridge so we don't have to pack it.  We are experiencing lots of 'first lasts'.  If that makes sense!

LK's thoughts on moving

Layla got to stay up a little later tonight since it's the weekend.  She is so sweet and I just love the little lady she is becoming.  

First I just want to say we have been very open and honest with our kids about our upcoming move.  We never sheltered them and we have always made them feel like they were part of the family when it comes to moving.  

While watching the Disney channel tonight we started talking about moving because they were talking about moving.  She said almost exactly what I feel.  She said, "Mom, I'm not really sad about moving.  I'm sad when I think about leaving my friends, but I make friends so easily I know I'll be fine."  It's like she jumped into my brain and said what I feel.  I feel like I have done my job as a parent after hearing her say this.  I know moving is hard and can be scary, but I also know that having confidence is so important as a child.  I think she is going to be just fine.  I feel like Gary and I have done the right things so far to make her comfortable with the idea of moving.  Hayden is just so young, I know he will do great.

I know we haven't left yet and we have lots of goodbyes to say.  Hopefully she will continue to feel this way in the weeks to come.  I think we will all adjust just fine to our move.  The internet has made it so easy to keep up with our friends and family.  

I'm thankful for this blog so Layla and Hayden can look back someday on this move.  I know for sure that Layla will enjoy looking back though blog pictures and pictures on my Picasa account.  I have hundreds of pictures for years and years.  We love looking back and seeing our memories on a slide show.  Hopefully my addiction to taking pictures will help us through times when we are missing Texas and our friends and family,

thoughts on thursday

I'm excited to share a glance of our new house!  I can't wait to get to Ohio and get unpacked.

I am packing and cleaning and throwing away junk this week.  My plan is to just go ahead and pack everything in our house except the kitchen.  We will have the movers pack the kitchen and load the truck.  I have so many kitchen gadgets and several sets of dishes.  I'm thrilled to have my kitchen packed by someone other than me.

Hayden has been my little packing helper.  In this picture he helped me unload the load of laundry [from the dryer] while using his curtain rod crutches.  You know, unloading laundry made him injure his leg.  He had to use his crutches all day long.  As you all know, the imagination of a 4 year old is amazing!

Daisy Mae is my little puppy dog side kick.  She isn't really sure about what is going on with the move, but she is right in the middle of everything.  She has been sniffing boxes and chasing dust bunnies as I clean.  Every day for months she has been riding with Hayden and I to drop Layla off at school and pick her up too.  Every day she just gazes out the window as the kids leave the school yard.  I finally captured a sweet picture of her watching school dismissal.  Sweet pup!  I hope she will decide to like sweaters, otherwise she will freeze to death in Ohio.  I have some cute outfits for her, but she seems to hate them. When we dress her up she freezes as if she is paralyzed.  She isn't a fan of clothing. She is one silly pup, but I am so thankful for her.  

I am thankful for a feeling of peace in my life right now.  I know my house hasn't sold and that is wearing on me, but I'm at a place where I am good with it.  What will be will be.  The most important thing to me is moving and getting my people into a somewhat normal routine again once we are there.  We are normal now, but having a more present daddy will make life more whole again.  

Daisy Mae has no idea, but the school is a block from our house in Ohio.  She won't be riding with us to school for drop off anymore.  She will have to walk on a leash with me to drop Layla off.  See what I mean about the sweaters and puppy dog coats?  She will freeze her fanny off if she doesn't get over her dislike of puppy dog apparel.

Yogurt and shoes

The kids both had school today and I got some much needed alone time!  I had lunch with an old friend and it was amazing to spend time with her.  I miss my old work friends and I am so thankful I still get to see them every once in awhile.  

When I picked the kids up from school they begged for frozen yogurt and I thought it sounded great!  We had the best little date!

Layla just loves her little bro...can you tell? 

Cute heels huh??

After we ate our yogurt we decided to do a little shoe shopping.  Layla needed boots for our move to Ohio.  She picked out a really cute grey pair and also fell in love with a pair of tennis shoes and a pair of flats too.  She is just like me when it comes to making choices, but today she was all over what she wanted.  I took full advantage of her picking out her own stuff.  I'm so happy for her!  She also requested that we get her a pair of skinny jeans.  That SHOCKED me like whooaaa!  She was anti-skinny jeans for months.  She tried on a pair and loved them, so we got them.  She wanted a red pair of skinnies, but they didn't have her size.  I'm thinking I'll order them online for her.  She needs jeans and finally likes them, so I'm thinking I need to get her fixed up!

I can't believe how sassy she looks in this fedora.  I wouldn't let her get it, but I may have to go back and surprise her with it.  She looks precious!

She is very proud of her new cross-body bag.  She insisted she needs it for our upcoming move to Ohio.  "It will keep my things much more organized while we travel."  

I had the best time shopping with the kids this afternoon.  It was a really pleasant afternoon and the kids were great.  Sometimes after school they are really tired and grouchy.  I was a little worried shopping may lead to a few fits, but they surprised me. 

I think we are all relieved because Gary found us a HOUSE in OHIO!  Knowing we are moving soon has changed ALL of our attitudes.  We are so excited about it.  We are ready to start a new adventure in our new town.  We can't wait too see Gary more often.  Now ... if our house would sell.  We were going to live here in Texas until it sold, but it's just so hard to not be together as a family every day.  It seems like it took forever to find the perfect house for us in Ohio.  It was stressful.  I finally stopped stressing out about it and we found a house the next day.  Hopefully if I stop worrying about selling our house, it will sell.

Don't forget to bid on the silent auction goodies I posted!  

pumpkin patch field trip

Hayden and I visited the pumpkin patch with his preschool class yesterday.

I'm not even gonna lie.  Every time I think about Hayden leaving the preschool I could just bawl my eyes out.  Layla went to the same preschool and I have known all the sweet people from preschool for YEARS.  So yea, that makes me a little sad.

Let's go for a ride on the big green tractor.

I just love the Flower Mound Pumpkin Patch.  Not only do they have tons of pumpkins, they also have bounce houses, a hayride, and all these wooden characters.

He wanted to hold Perry's hand.  Awwww!

He asked me to take a picture with all the dalmatians.  He knew Layla would love it!

  

I just love this sweet little man!  

Hayden and all his classmates!

My little ghost loved this field trip to the pumpkin patch.  He has been looking forward to it for months.  I think we may have to go back one more time this year.  Layla needs to pick out a pumpkin too!