14 Birthday Candles

Today, my oldest turns 14. Every parent asks themselves "where did the time go?" and they take the time to reflect on all the things their child has done thus far. Me, of course I'm doing that exact thing. I also dread this day. My baby, my first born... he's now just 4 years and counting from being an "adult". This truly snuck up on me. As I was telling a friend the other day, "I feel like it was me who was JUST telling my mom that I couldn't wait to be 18 to do what I wanted."

Each day he proves that no matter what I have tried to instill in him, he'll do it HIS way no matter what. He's handsome. He's challenging. He's Silly. He's so very smart. He's my son.

I want for him to know so much and make good choices. I want things for him that he has no idea what they even are... or cares to know yet. I have tried to raise him as differently as I could from the way I was raised. Will it work?

Today my dear son is your day. Enjoy. Happy Birthday sweetie and I love you.

We've arrived!

Many of you already know the jist of all the goings on during our move as you were either personally involved and/or were following some of my texts.



We left Cypress on a Saturday night and made it to our home Tuesday afternoon. We drove as fast as our overloaded mini van would allow us to go. Our original plans included a longer road trip with several "cool" spots to check out along the way. Those plans went out the window being that we left almost a week behind schedule!! We chose to do late afternoon/night time driving because of the kids. It worked out well 'cause Ryan took his long afternoon nap in the car, as well as his evening snooze. By the time we got to the hotel, we'd check in, lay the kids right back down and they stayed out 'til morning!




Naturally we had to stop at the Welcome to Maryland sign....




So the weather has been great, the neighborhood/subdivision is really cute and the home is okay. We're only renting so there's not too much we can change about it but overall, it will serve our needs for the next year. Remember, we're staying on this side of MD to look for work and get more aquainted with the area. We're right on the water. Below are views from the pier just a few townhouses down. We have a 30 boat marina too that we enjoy walking to each night. There are picnic tables spread throughout and everyone so far has been very welcoming.





For several days, this is all our fridge had inside... do you need anything else?!



After arriving, we were worried about our truck showing up and the agony of having to actually unpack it. None of us wanted that duty. We tried to hire out the service but that didn't work out the way we had hoped. My brother and his wife came in from NY to help. 5 hours of unpacking and still having 10 feet left, we called some movers in one last attempt. 45 minutes two men showed up to help. 3 hours after that we were officially done!!! Everything is inside, but we have NO room anywhere! All that purging for 3 months and we still have too much!!!



Now we're spending our time getting the place somewhat organized and getting the kids use to their new home. I've been busy applying for work in DC and in Baltimore. We finally got internet 2 days ago and got the phone lines up and running yesterday. Keep an eye out for future updates.

xoxo