We're back!

Our move was a long one, 3 days in the car with a 2 1/2 year old, driving thru snow, rain, sleet, high winds, lightening. All while listening to the sweet sounds of "The Wiggles", "Alvin and the Chipmunks" and non stop "Mommy, are we at California yet?" (she literally said this an hour into our drive), oh and a lot of whining, crying, screaming and a bit of dodging clay being thrown at me - oh yeah paradise! And I wasn't the one driving the 26 foot truck, I'm sure that was difficult but I would have traded for that in a heartbeat!! Anyhow, long story short, I was long and we are here in sunny California now!

Papa Don came up and drove a car load down too - what a trooper he was!! We also had a lot of family come and help us unpack into our temporary little apartment - thank goodness for family!! That was a big job, and we couldn't have done it without all the help we got!

The kids are loving the sunshine, they both had a week or so of adjustment - plus we traveled over Thanksgiving to see family - which was great, but I'm sure a bit of a stressor on the kids!

The first week we were here, Sarah would announce loudly "A palm tree!!", she was so excited.

We had some rain when we first moved so the kids didn't get to go to the beach until Thanksgiving - well Jakob had a day with Mark the day before that for just a look.

Jakob started Kindergarten at his new school yesterday, he is doing well. I almost cried I was so nervous for him being the new kid, he was pretty nervous too, but did make a couple friends. His teacher is very sweet, she let Mark and I stay to watch the class, it is really different than his little class in Portland. He is in the pm class - it's only 3 hours and he has 29 kids in class - really different than his all day class with 15 kids. It will be an adjustment, good thing he is super smart!!
We are still working on finding a preschool for Sarah, she had a trial day yesterday at one, and really enjoyed it, I know she will love getting back into that environment, now if she would just get control of her potty habits, we'd be on the right track!! :)

Jakob in the big moving truck - he looks sad here, because we had just picked him up from school and literally got right on the road. He was a bit sad, also tired but had a great time in the truck! He was always the peppiest of the whole bunch of us - wide awake at 9:30pm when me, Mark and Don were all getting coffee!!

Kids in boxes!
Sarah enjoying her bathing suit time - she talked a lot about wearing her swimsuit right when she "Got at California!" It was cool this day, but she was adamant on wearing it! And those that know Sarah, know that she does not get cold easily!
Beach fun
Jakob's first day of school
Ivey Ranch Elementary