December: Christmas and Moving

Well I think a 6 week hiatus from blogging is quite enough!  And what a 6 weeks it has been!  We are now in Maryland and slowly but surely getting settled in.  But before I elaborate more on that let me do a quick catch up.  Our time in Arizona was brief because we were there for a 6 month long school Garrett needed to complete.  About a month into the course we received orders that his next assignment would be here in MD and his report time would be the first week in January; so that Kayla could finish up her first semester of kindergarten in AZ.  This meant that we needed to make the cross-country move during the schools' winter break and find a new home asap to be able to enroll her here.  This also meant that we would be on the road during Christmas. :( .  But that wasn't going to stop us from having a proper celebration!  Christmas for us this year was on December 15.  My mom drove in for the festivities and we told the kiddos we wrote a note to Santa telling him about our situation.  Needless to say, they were pretty excited he not only got the note but ate his cookies too!!     

They also were thrilled with his gift this year!

We all had a blast opening up the rest of the presents.

Gavin examining the gift Kayla got him!        Kayla all ready for the

                                                                            chilly MD winter!

Then it was time for our Christmas cinnamon buns made from scratch!  YUM!

And the day wouldn't be complete without a little gingerbread house constructing!

The next morning was our last Sunday church service in AZ.  So of course we dressed in our Christmas best :)

The weekend with my mom also included trains and paints...

and snow!!  {ps.. that mountain straight ahead was the site of our great adventure in the last blog post...half of it is hidden in the clouds}

Kayla's little bff from her class

Five days after my mom left, so did we!  That was a crazy week.  It started off with immediately putting away the Christmas decoration.  Then pre-packing and organizing stuff for our u-haul trailer.  And weeding out items that we could get rid of {good will or trash}.  The day before the packers arrived I was feeling pretty good about our progress.  Then that evening I started to feel a bit....off.  By 10pm I was a semi-permanent fixture in the bathroom.  I thought it was food poisoning, but it turns out it was 'just' the stomach flu.  And it was FAST and Furious!!  Garrett felt so bad for me....until about 2am when it was his turn!  ugh. It was awful, and the next morning the packers showed up bright and chipper at 7:45 to start the job.  We felt like such losers as we laid out on the couch most of the day while the guys were busy running around our home, packing up our stuff!  That night Kayla caught the bug :( .  We had only one more day in AZ before we left and we prayed our hardest the Gavin would be spared.  The thought of him coming down with it while on the road was seriously giving me minor panic attacks!!  Thankfully that last day of loading the big truck went smoothly and Saturday morning we were off and running.  Gavin remained healthy the entire time!  whew!!

We were sooooo glad to finally be on the road!  Mostly because we just wanted to get it over with and be settled down.  Since we were there for such a short time, AZ never really felt like home.  Half of our possessions remained in boxes in the garage and quite honestly I found it hard getting plugged in anywhere when I knew it was just temporary.  I wasn't looking to make long time friends or get the kiddos overly involved, only to rip them away again.  So we are VERY excited to be here, in a place we can call home for the next several years.  

The road trip this time around was all business, unlike last time over the Summer.  It was cold.  And wet for a few days, so stopping for lunch at fun parks or rest stops wasn't happening.  We did once in Texas, but that was it.    

It was like my homing beacon....

Christmas morning we awoke in Mt. Pleasant, TX to a very cold, cold rain.  The kind of miserable rain that is just a degree to 'warm' for snow.  Our entire drive through Arkansas {all 330 miles/7+ hours!!} looked like this.. 

We made it to Little Rock by lunch time and since it was Christmas, literally, the only thing open was ihop.  So ihop for lunch it was!  It was such a relief to get out of that weather for a while and warm up with some hot coco!

That evenings pit stop was in Memphis, TN.  And we were exhausted!  Driving in that kind of downpour for so many hours was a major bummer.  After quickly checking in and unloading the car(s) of what we would need in the hotel we realized we were in the same predicament for food.  Nothing was open and we made the sad decision to once again eat at ihop.  Twice in one day...NOT recommended.  We all were feeling a bit better with some warm food in our tummies so we bundled up to make the mad dash through the miserable cold windy rain back to our car......and we find this.   

Oh my.  How depressing that moment was.  I know in the grand scheme of things a shattered window is not the end of the world.  The thieves didn't even take anything ~ there was nothing of value in there...all that stuff was either in our room or the other car back at the hotel.  The u-haul was also untouched.  But in that moment....on Christmas....after a exhausting day....in a foreign town....no one to call....snow imminent....it was depressing.  The kiddos were scared {and still talk about strangers breaking our windows and possibly taking them}.  After making a police report we finally brushed some glass away and drove to the hotel.  And that was definitely a low point as parents.  To see the kiddos bundled up in jackets and blankets as we slowly drove through the weather with no window....it was all very depressing as I said.  

The next morning our insurance company {USAA is the best} helped us locate a window repair place that could fix it up and have us back on the road only 1.5 hour behind schedule!  What a blessing because we wanted NOTHING more than to get out of Memphis!!  We had a twin size air mattress with a little hole in it, so it was sacrificed to seal up the windowless door overnight.  It worked beautifully; kept the snow out and once the glass was vacuumed up everything was good as new and we were ready to go!

For lunch that day we ended up in a dinky little town at Loretta Lynn's Kitchen, and that was.........ssspeciallll.        

At least the coffee was good!

After a pit stop in Knoxville, TN, our drive was through the North Carolina mountains.  Always pretty even if it doesn't look like it in this photo.

Finally, after 7 days/6 nights on the road, we rolled into Maryland and checked into our final hotel!  We were able to find a home to rent in the perfect neighborhood/school zone after 5 days and at last checked out of hotel living!  We've been in the new house for about 3 weeks now and Kayla loves her new school.  And so far, we love the area!!