Macie and I started school at Murdoch Elementary and were equally excited. I still enjoy posing for pictures each morning,
but Macie has become a little too cool for Mom and her morning photo shoots. Mom is lucky if she manages to get Macie to slow down long enough to take a picture.
Nixon celebrated his 3rd birthday in California. He was super excited to get a suped up 4 wheel drive off road truck! Him and Presley spent the day tearing through the yard throwing up dirt and having a blast.
Mom didn't know whether to laugh or cry when they came indoors. I guess its a good thing our house is currently under construction. She would have died back home if we walked inside looking like that...
When Macie and I came home from school that afternoon our family celebrated together.
We are so very grateful to have Nixon as a part of our family. He is a sweet, considerate little boy.
Halloween arrived before we knew it. My class got to decorate pumpkins for school that day and I chose to make mine fancy and dress up as its twin.
I won first prize for most creative at school that day!
In the afternoon we dressed in our costumes and drove down to the beach to trick or treat with Grandma Judy. Before we could set out on our hunt for candy we had an obligatory photo shoot to thank Mom for working hard to customize our Descendants costumes.
The four of us chose different characters from the movie, and each of the characters we chose suited our own unique personalities.
I chose to dress up as Evie, the clothing designer with a flair for over the top glam. Mom worked endless hours adding studs, zippers, and extra bling. I LOVE how it turned out!
Macie chose to go as Evie's best friend Mal.
Mal is the edgy girl with an attitude. Mom made sure to keep Macie's costume more "bad girl."
Macie definitely fit the part...
Nixon went as Harry Hook, Uma's trusty side kick.
We had to work on his pirate face (he is a little too kind hearted).
Presley chose to be Uma, the bossy bad girl. Honestly it was the perfect fit for her. Mom had the most fun making the hair for Presley's costume. Despite the long hours studding and braiding, the end result was well worth it!
Presley definitely did her character justice and loved dancing and twirling her hair.
Halloween was a big success for all of us, and we each came home with a full bucket of candy!
Getting up for school the next morning was difficult, but since it was pajama day we got to sleep an extra 20 minutes in lieu of getting dressed and doing hair!!!
The remainder of the week was business as usual for the four of us, while Mom and Dad worked tirelessly on the house. Even though they are working non stop Dad still manages to have a good time (he listens to 80's metal and hair band radio and stops sporadically to play air guitar. Yes, he is a big kid)!
She even caught him painting the Van Halen logo on the inside of Macie's closet...
I am grateful that my parents can still have fun!
At the end of our first week in California the family gave our new home a big thumbs up. As much as we miss our old house, neighborhood, school, and friends, it is great to be back with Dad and surrounded by family.
Nixon loves spending time with Pa and is getting used to all his antics...
And we love being able to have surprise outings with Dad!
That weekend our school had its annual fall festival and our family enjoyed some down time together eating junk food and playing games.
In honor of Veteran's Day we had the day off of school. Macie and I were thrilled to have a day to relax until Mom told us we had to get up early to run errands around town. We WERE NOT THRILLED. With sulky faces we got in the car and pouted as she drove downtown. When we reached the airport we began to question what we were doing. Mom replied with "we have to pick something up at the airport"...
By "something" she meant the KETCHAMS!!!! When she pulled up to the curb and we saw their smiling faces our whole car lit up with excited shrieks. Macie and I jumped out of the car and immediately ran to hug Dean and Graham. We were in shock and beaming. With tears in her eyes Macie said that she "was so happy that she started to cry." Apparently Mom and Miss Andrea has been planning this surprise day trip for a week.
That's right, day trip.
That's how amazing our friends are. They flew out for a day to perk up our spirits and give us some love.
We spent the whole day at Sea World and couldn't have had any more fun. It was honestly a day we will never forget.
We enjoyed running, climbing, chasing, and riding coasters!!!
While we were on the big rides Mom took Presley and Nixon on the sky ride.
Presley was just as excited as she was the first time.
At every chance she got Presley made sure to let Graham know how much she had missed him.
We ended our day at Sea World with a ride on Elmo's flying fish.
Miss Andrea couldn't help but laugh as she captured the absolute excitement on Mom's face while she rode around in circles with Nixon...
Saying goodbye to our friends at the airport that night was difficult but we were so incredibly grateful that they came out to visit. After 8 years of friendship, despite moving two separate times and living in different states, we are still able to pick up right where we left off.
Inside the stadium, while Macie and the guys watched the actual game, Presley and I focused more on the cheerleaders and dancers.
It was a fun night and we can't wait to do it again soon.
One of the perks of living in San Diego is being able to go to the beach ANY TIME WE WANT. The weather has been unseasonably warm this November so we have taken advantage of our early release days at school and gone to the beach.
Before Thanksgiving Uncle Will flew down to spend time with our family and it was really awesome to have him with us again.
The rest of the month we spent time playing at home and settling in.
Being able to see our family all the time is fantastic. Mom is grateful that we are able to grow up knowing our cousins and extended family. They are lots of fun to be around!
Life is flying by and before we know it Christmas will be here. Between school, sports, and working on the house, its hard to slow down right now and enjoy the things going on around us, but we are trying. Mom is afraid that when we finally slow down too much time will have flown by. I guess she's worried that I will be a teenager before long. I think this picture is to blame...
Maybe that's why she began insisting on morning pictures as often as possible.
We have a busy month ahead of us and look forward to the holiday season with family in our new home.
