First Day of School-Take Two

On the day that our stuff arrived in Florida, we sent Noah and Xander off for their first day at their new school. This is our first experience with school uniforms. So far, so good. I like the collared shirt thing but it makes for some very boring clothes shopping-khaki or navy pants and blue, white or gold shirts. The kids also eat a free breakfast at school. It makes the mornings at home really easy-one less mess to clean up! In AZ, the boys caught a bus to school at the end of our street. Now, we live about a 5 minute walk from the school so I walk the boys with Meili in the stroller and sit with them while they eat and then walk them to their classes. I'm guessing that eventually I'll drop them off at breakfast and leave but the school is HUGE (1100+ kids!) and feels like a hs campus to me so I can only imagine what they think about it. I don't want them getting lost. So far they don't mind Mom tagging along with them in the morning. We'll see how long it lasts.

Here's Noah gearing up for class: And Xander with his new teacher, Mrs. Nicely. Isn't that a great name for a Kindergarten teacher?

After all this trouble, we better find a place to camp...

Our tent trailer made the ride to FL packed like a sardine in the moving truck with our other stuff. It was quite a feat to load it and the same feat in reverse to unload it. A flat bed tow truck was backed up to the van and the movers pushed it out with a dolly from the inside. Unbelievably, the thing is now parked in the garage, man nor machine injured in the process.

In Between Homes

From the 10th through the 16th of November we called a hotel our home while we waited for our belongings to arrive from AZ. We have made the discovery that everything is hard with five kids. Living out of suitcases and eating out at restaurants are now a few of our 'favorites.' Needless to say, we don't have many photos from the week but here are a few of us trying to minimize the number of 'I'm bored's' that we would hear on a given day:

Another trip to the aquarium-

We took the kids to see A Christm.as C.arol and came out famished. This was the first restaurant we found. Matt was sorely disappointed..:)

The Big Move

It's actually 2 months later as I blog this and still so sad to look back at the pictures and still so hard to process the whirlwhind that was our life in 2009. I can remember taking this picture and just thinking, 'This can't be real.' We're settled in Florida now and doing fine but we had a nice little life in Arizona and we're definitely going to miss it.

Matt's buddies pulled up with BBQ gear on packing day and treated us to a delicious lunch. It would be our last home-cooked meal for weeks and it was very much appreciated. The 'Matt-mobile' on top of the car mover. The suburban made it's way up there too but we had to run off somewhere so didn't get a picture. Wait till you see what they did with our tent trailer in another post!

3 of the kiddos in front of the van before it pulled away.

The girls on our cul-de-sac. Lots of fun memories with these girls!

And the boys. Lots of fun, usually with light saber in hand, were had by these guys over the years...

Saying goodbye to our house.

I just looked up our house online to see if it was still on the market (relo company bought it from us, thank heavens!) and it is. The relo company has painted the entire interior white. It doesn't look like our home anymore but it was and we have 6 years of happy memories there to prove it.
Saying goodbye to Tucson.

Meili's 7th airplane ride in 3 1/2 months...:(

Our friend from church, Randy, flies for Delta and was a passenger on our flight to Georgia. It was nice to have a bit of Tucson with us on our layover. The kids asked him why he was wearing his Halloween costume...:)

Got Your Tickets Yet?

I don't think anybody that knows me will be surprised to know that I already have mine. If any local friends would like to join me, I'll be at the theater at the Foothills Mall on Wednesday, October 28th at 10:45 am. I'm thinking of also getting tickets to the 9pm show the night before so I can see the movie baby-free. If you show up to either, it should be easy to find me. I'll be the one in the front row weeping silently into my tub of popcorn...:)

Yep, what the shirt says...

Trouble.

Well, we knew it was only a matter of time but baby girl has discovered the stairs. Life will never be the same, at least until she learns how to come down...

Am I in trouble?

All the way to the top!

So proud of herself.

Contemplating getting down...

Shall I take a header???

No worries, we had a brief 'feet first, belly scoot' lesson. If that doesn't work, we'll try the 'sit down, get down' method.

Refueling after a good climb.

That's my girl!

Playing is Serious Business

Meili On the Go

When we met our sweet girl in China, she could sit up but was too overwhelmed with all of the changes in her life to do much else. Now, all that is beginning to change...

She's been crawling for quite a while, but is now comfortable enough to crawl away from Mom for short periods of time-a huge development!

About a month ago, she began to do this trick which we refered to as 'downward facing dog.'

To our surprise, she was not doing yoga but was trying to stand up in the center of the room!

Now, she is taking steps-about 10-15 at a time!

Apparently, climbing will be her next endeavor...

I just love this little person!

Hey, Ann-recognize the dress? :)

Where's Your...

Hair?

Eye? (wish she wouldn't point to her eye BALL but oh, well)

Nose?

She can also point to her teeth and her belly button (our favorite.) She is such a smart little girl. It is so fun to watch her learn and grow every day!

Xander is 6!

Our brown-eyed baby boy turned six years old yesterday. He was proud to announce that he is the first kid to turn 6 in his kindergarten class.

Between the 3 boys, we are halfway through our second decade of Star Wars obsession in the Bouton household. All Xander asked for for his bday was the Star Wars dual action light saber. Just what I wanted was another weapon in the house but it looks like he wasn't disappointed.

Opening some more gifts-For years, Xander has been the little one into everyone else's birthday business. Now, Meili has taken over the role quite nicely. :)

The Birthday Boy with his cupcake tower.

The candles were supposed to look like light sabers but they were a little droopy.

Xander had a simple little Star Wars party (leftovers from Noah's party 5 months ago) with three of his best buddies. Here they are 'feeding Jabba.'

...and posing for the camera

Happy Birthday, Xanderbonie! We love you!!!