Surviving the Holidays...

Where do I begin???  The past 5 weeks have been extremely hectic but tons of fun.  The movers arrived November 26th, which just also happened to be Carl's first day of work at his new job.  That left me outnumbered 5 moving guys to little 'ole me.  Mimi and Poppaw graciously kept the kids for us in Florida in order for Todd not to miss school (and Katelynn not to get into every, single box during the unpacking).  We learned our lesson during the last move, when we let the movers unpacked everything.  They unpack the boxes and pile everything on the closest flat surface.  That left us with piles and piles all over the house and took us weeks to sort through.  It looks something like this...

They literally pile everything!!!!

This time, we decided to have the movers put all of the big stuff together and place the boxes in their proper rooms - a much better option!  After the movers left, I was surrounded by literally hundreds of boxes!  And of course, the previous movers didn't label the boxes well, so guest room boxes ended up in the dining room and kitchen boxes ended up in the garage.  I began the lovely task of unpacking boxes room by room... by room... by room.  While I worked the day away, Carl finished his first week of work.  It's safe to say he absolutely loves his new job and enjoys going to work every day.

One really cool thing that happened during my first week in Houston was I was able to meet up with a fellow blogger whom I've followed and corresponded with, but never actually met.  She and her husband (one of Carl's colleagues) had just moved to Houston the month prior to us.  Due to unforeseen circumstances, at the last minute (and the most inopportune time), she had an extra ticket to the Andrea Bocelli concert.  What an amazing concert and awesome opportunity to make a new friend in Houston!

After a week and a half straight of nothing but unpacking boxes and setting up the house, I drove back over to Florida to reunite with the kids and help get ready for our little man's 6th birthday.  Carl was able to fly to Florida for the big Spiderman-themed party at Triple Play (the local bounce-house play center).  Friends from school and church all had a blast bouncing to their hearts' content.  It's hard to believe we have a 6 year old, but we're very proud of how he's becoming a young man.

Ready to blow out the candles 

Loving the ball machine at the bounce house

Katelynn and I finished out the remaining week in Florida and then loaded up the SUV and car topper once again and began the 8+ hour journey back to Houston so we could finish up the house and start getting ready for Christmas.  Todd stayed behind for one more week to finish out the semester at his school and to participate in his school's annual Christmas Night of Recitation.  Our ride to Houston was going fairly smooth until I heard a weird sound on the roof of our car.  A big truck drove past us and started honking his horn and pointing at the top of our car.  I pulled over to find our car topper popped open along I-10.  Meanwhile, cars are passing us at over 70 MPH.  I was panicked, wondering what I was going to do when I looked ahead and saw a van pulling over in front of us.  A kind, young man got out of his vehicle and miraculously had a ladder with him.  He was so nice to assist us in closing the car topper.  Needless to say, I was thrilled (and thankful) for the good Samaritan who helped us out and it did my heart well to know there are still kind people out there.  (Luckily, Carl insists we strap our stuff down inside the topper when we use it, so nothing went flying out - and this is one of those times I'm thankful for his meticulous ways)!

Katelynn and I had five days to finish getting the house set up and ready for Christmas before Todd and my parents arrived.  This is the first time we have had a "stairs house" as Todd calls it (a 2-story home).  Todd's been begging for a "stairs house" for years now, and since 90% of the houses in the area fit that bill, it wasn't hard to fill his request.  Todd also happens to have the coolest room in the house.  His bedroom is on the 2nd floor and is almost the size of our master bedroom.  The original owners finished a portion of the attic, so his room is extra large with two huge storage closets.  Todd's room has plenty of space for lego building and even room for a desk for his "office."  Todd was ecstatic to say the least when he finally got to see his room.

Once the whole clan was in town, we decorated the tree and did some exploring in the area.  We've discovered numerous parks within walking distance of our house, including two small lakes.  Christmas was a lot of fun this year, especially with Katelynn being more aware of her surroundings and ecstatic about Christmas lights and ornaments.  A few days after Christmas, Mimi and I took Todd to the Houston Ballet's Nutcracker.  It was an amazing performance!  We had so much fun and even took some pictures with some of the characters.  While Carl was off of work, we squeezed in a visit to the Houston Space Center, Downtown Aquarium, and even went ice skating one night. 

Todd's letter to Santa - complete with phonograms
(and Santa's cursive hasn't looked so good in years!)

Summit of the climbing wall at a nearby park (Katelynn calls it a big cookie)

Our Pretty Princess...

... complete in heels

Houston Downtown Aquarium - Near the Sting Rays

Doing their best Tiger Impression

Todd with a few characters of The Nutcracker

Fearless Katelynn sledding at a church we visited
(they had fake snow for the kids)

Todd's first snow ball fight

Ice Skating with Daddy 

Family Picture at the Ice Skating Rink

On the tour at the Johnson Space Center

A group picture 

A panoramic picture of a Saturn V Rocket

Overall, it's been quite an eventful several weeks around here.  We are still learning our way around the area and meeting new people.  My parents were here for the holidays and returned to Florida a few days ago.  We've been attending different churches in the area and found one we really like, so hopefully we've found a church home - time will tell.  Todd starts a new school next week and Katelynn had started showing more interest in potty training, much to my delight (with the help of M&Ms).  We are excited to see what the new year brings our family and hope to be completely settled in soon.