cold

The first morning here, Jolie and my dad were outside cleaning up the yard, so naturally, the boys wanted to be outside too. There were a million leaves that my dad raked, and Jolie pulled up all the vines.

The boys were (and still are) both SUPER excited to have a real backyard. BUT... Being used to Miami and the 79 degree weather we left, they were frozen here in Georgia in the 50's (it's been down to 27 on other days, but up until this particular day, 53 was the coldest weather EVER).

Thank goodness for auntie Jolie coming to their rescue with hats and mittens. :) All is well.

choosing the tree

Picking out the Christmas tree this year was fun. It made it feel a lot more Christmas-y in our house. Paul and I usually get real trees still in the pot (not chopped down). They're a tiny bit more expensive, but not by much, and then you can plant them afterward, hooray! :) I found a very pretty one, symmetrical, full, not falling to one side... but the boys found the one that they wanted and we decided to go with that one. It was tipping over and not as full, but they loved it. They were excited, but cold. Poor things were still used to Miami weather.

Bradley came with too. It was fun having three mobile kiddos (Lullaby stayed home with Jolie and my dad, she was already sleeping for the night). They were all very well behaved. I was really happy about that.

The next day, we decorated it. All three boys were very excited about that. Bradley had obviously done it before, and was a pro. Matix wanted to put all the ornaments on one side. Hawken wanted to play with each ornament before allowing us to force him to hang it on the tree. We stuck with the non-breakable ornaments this year... It may be like this for a long time.

When the kids were done, we had a little mini Christmas. Jolie and Bradley were going back to Wisconsin for the 25th, so we had a little celebration here with them before they left. The boys got Bradley a present and he got one for them. We also got Jolie a little something. It was nice, but I wish they could have been here for real Christmas. It's just more fun when there are more people. :)

cocoa

Drinking hot cocoa with Paul and my dad after the kids went to sleep... telling stories and jokes... and enjoying the season. I miss you dad. :)

hair dyeing

While Jolie was here, we dyed our hair one night. We both started with blond with roots of natural coming through. Yuck. She went even blonder, and I went dark brown-ish. Her hair is super long, and mine is super thick, so it took a long time. The before/during...

The waiting...

And I don't have any really good afters of me, but here are a ton of Jolie, refusing to pose with the mistletoe, but a smokin' hot blond, huh? Sorry, Jolie, you asked for it. :) Where are those Taco Bell pictures anyway? :)

moving to georgia

2 nights before we left, we had the missionaries over for dinner and packing. :) They were so helpful and we got nearly everything packed. Hooray!

Then 1 night before we left, the boys helped Paul a little... He ended up giving them rides on the dolly around the parking lot. Very helpful. Hawken and Matix were both very excited to move to Georgia. At one point Hawken climbed in the trailer on top of the boxes and said, "Okay, me go to Georgia now!", like he was going to be riding back there with all the boxes.

The boys and Lullers were demoted from beds to the floor for bad behavior... :) We had already packed their bed frames. I love how Hawken and Matix ended up snuggling, so sweet. And check out those dirty feet. Yuck.

Early EARLY in the morning we set out on our long adventure. Lullers was happy and ready to go. The boys were cranky, but ready to go too.

In true Southern hillbilly style, we ran out of room in our trailer AND car, so we had to strap the mattresses and trash can any place we could find on the outside of our car an trailer. Lovely.

All three kids in the car, Georgia, here we come!

Along the way we drank a ton of Naked juices. The boys thought it was the FUNNIEST thing when they found out they were called "Naked" juices. Love this video!

The juice mustaches were hilarious!

We had to stop A LOT on our way. 2 potty trained toddlers with bladders the size of a peanut and 1 nursing 3 month old make for lots of extra pit stops. :) The boys always took advantage of the stops. Exploring and gathering/hoarding sticks. So fun. (Can you tell we were still in warm Florida weather?)

The way the trailer was weighted made it so that we could not go any faster that 51 miles per hour. Every time we tried to push it faster, the trailer would start wobbling back and forth and it would move the car, enough that we were not feeling safe about it. SOoooo, we went the ENTIRE 690 mile trip going rediculously slow. We left at 4am and got in at midnight. We were so happy to arrive to family. Paul's parents got to Georgia that afternoon and my sister, dad and nephew got here that evening. Everyone had already cleaned the house, and unpacked the things they had brought. It was SO nice.

Hawken's big day

Hawken turned 2 on December 3rd. Paul put together his bike the night before, and when Hawken woke up he came into the living room to see it and a huge pile of presents. He was so excited!

Everything was a hit. He loved it all. :) Hawken is a very easy kid to please.

Matix was most excited about the gift from my dad, he sent one for Hawken AND Matix, so thoughtful.

The gift giving went on all week long. Hawken had cards and gifts trickling in from grandparents, friends, and great grandparents almost daily. He loved it. Thank you to everyone who thought about Hawken on his birthday. He had a very special WEEK! :)

Also on his birthday was his (and Matix's) friend Bruno's birthday party (another reason we had his party on the following Saturday). They had a bounce house in their backyard, and Hawken got in there with his cast and had a great time. Of course he did. :)

Matix and Bruno.

Matix tried out Hawken's new bike, and Hawken FINALLY got a turn on Matix's bike. :)

cold day

So, we are here in Decatur, Georgia... It's a suburb of Atlanta, and we are looking for things to do. It has been pretty cold the past week or so, with a few days on nice weather in between. On these cold days, I want to know what to do. I have found a few magazines that tell about the area, parks, etc. I want to find some place like this: (these were from back in Miami in October)

The children's museum in Miami was WONDERFUL, and thanks to a few free days, we went there at least once a month, if not more. The boys loved it. Here in Georgia, there are a few museums I had been recommended to go to, and a zoo, and tons of parks... But what do we do in the cold? I can't go to the museum every day (especially with how much it costs)... Ideas?