Happy Birthday to Me

The girls and I made some birthday cinnamon rolls this morning with sprinkles.

Happy Birthday, Phillip!

Today is Phillip's birthday. The girls were so excited to make him a cake and have a party. I made the best flourless chocolate cake I've ever eaten (you can find the recipe in the holiday issue of Cook's Illustrated) and Hannah picked out everything on top. The party store didn't have Phillip's name in candles, so Hannah thought using his first name was the next best option. She just had to have these football plates and napkins. My memory card ran out of space before Phillip blew his candles out. I'll be 30 in 2 days!

Merry Christmas

We had a lovely Christmas. We had grand plans for Christmas Eve, including dinner and the family service at church, but I wasn't feeling well, so we ended up ordering Chinese.

The girls decorated cookies for Santa.

The kids opened their traditional Christmas Eve present from Nana: Christmas pajamas.


We made our first fire in the fire place.

Hannah was up at 5 on Christmas morning, but I asked her to go back to sleep until 7 since I had been up several times with George on top of being sick. We decided not to wrap the kids presents this year. Instead, we arranged them like a toy store display. Hannah wasn't quite sure what to think.

I put George in Kate's new baby cradle.

George loves his pillow from Grandma Bauler.

Sorry this video is so dark. We don't have much lighting in the formal living room.

Don't Worry

We're still here. We have so much unpacking to do and I want to be fully settled in by Christmas. Again, I have NO idea how all of this stuff ever fit into our seminary house. Tonight I am going to be the grim reaper for all the misfit toys to make room for new ones.
Both of our cameras have dead batteries and I haven't found the charger yet, so no new pictures. George looked so cute last night, too; he was feeding himself sushi rice and it was stuck ALL over his face and hands. I love to watch him try to feed himself. He has such a great time.
I promise to post Christmas pictures. We did hang some light outside on our palm tree, which the girls think is just great. We've never used the big bulbs before. Everyone here think bigger and brighter is better. We took a walk around the neighborhood last night and the kids LOVED it.

Decorating

We had a busy weekend: stocking the fridge and pantry with groceries, trying to find Hannah a school uniform in what-we-have-left-is-on-the-clearance-rack season, getting random stuff like a mattress for Kate and a broom, having Phillip's car serviced after it somehow got all messed up on the truck.
We went to the tree farm on Saturday to cut ourselves a tree. After climbing up and down and up and down on the side of a mountain, and Kate slipping more times that we could count, we went with our Carolina roots and took an imported fir. Our living room is open to the second floor, so we didn't bother with the measuring stick this year. We also picked up 3 giant avocados for a dollar when we paid for our tree.

The girls wanted their picture taken with a Charlie Brown tree.
View from the tree farm.

Hannah and I made a paper chain for the tree. I decided to make it a exclusive kids' tree this year, so all of their purchased and homemade ornaments are hanging on it.

Elf is one of my favorite movies and not just at Christmastime. Hannah begged Phillip to run and jump like Buddy to get the star on the tree.

I took Hannah for her first day of school today. She was so nervous, almost to the point of tears, and Kate said to her, "Looks like someone needs to sing a Christmas carol." That cheered her right up. She is seated right next to another Hannah H., so it seemed to ease her fears a bit once we got to her classroom. I'm anxious to hear all about her day.

Our New House

Well, here it is! I'll post pictures of the interior once all of the boxes are gone. We're only about halfway unpacked. I don't know how we ever fit all of our stuff into our seminary house. The kids love it. The girls can run laps and even George goes around and around and around in his walker since the bottom floor is tile.
Phillip checked in at the base today, but still doesn't know to which unit he will be assigned. He got his first taste of being a chaplain, though. He was at Starbucks on base with another chaplain and some random lady poured her heart out.
We went to Hannah's new school today to register her and found out that all of the elementary schools in Oceanside require uniforms. We shall have to brave the Christmas shoppers tomorrow and head to the mall. We plan on getting a tree this weekend, too.

These limes came from our back yard. This is avocado country, so I may try planting a tree.

We're Here

We arrived about 5pm pacific time. Our landlord, Kurt, met us at the house. He was so sweet! He brought us a poinsetta and an Outback gift certificate, princess coloring books and crayons for the girls, and a board book for George. He's a real estate/property management agent and had shown Phillip another house. When he was done, he said he had just moved out of his house and it was available for rent the next day. He showed Phillip his house and it was one of our top 3 until the very end. I love it! Phillip did a great job picking it out (with a little help from Jesus, that is). Kurt came down on the price considerably to meet our budget, so we knew it was a God thing. He said we can do anything to the house we want (i.e., paint).
We've had enough of the car for now. Phillip's dropping us off at the hotel, then he's going to find us some food. Our stuff is scheduled to be delivered tomorrow!

Pit Stop

We're Almost There!

We have 182.4 miles left and should be to Oceanside before supper.

A Light at the End of the Tunnel

Day 4: we spent the night just outside of Tucson last night. We'll make it to Oceanside, CA today!!! It's been a long 4 days. Poor George--about 6 o'clock every night, he decides he's had enough riding and cries, cries, cries until we stop and take him out of his seat. The girls have been really good, even though they are close to torture each other. We took out one of the captain's chairs to make room for Barth, so the girls are sharing the bench seat in the back. The Chipmunks Christmas cd has been our saving grace. They listen to that and the Polar Express soundtrack over and over and over. I saw the Charlie Brown soundtrack at Starbucks on our first day, but we've only seen one or two Starbucks since. When we stop there, we'll add that album to our collection.
Woohoo! We just saw a sign for I-8 to San Diego!
Our trip has gone relatively smoothly. The car and trailer have been problem-free. We've been staying in La Quinta and Best Western since they are the only hotels we have found to allow pets. The one we stayed at last night was actually really nice and the breakfast was great. Barth gets a gold start for being the best car rider of all.
Hopefully, my next post will be a picture of us standing in front of our new house!