Early morning of Sunday Feb. 12th we pulled the kids out of bed, loaded up in the packed van to depart one Atlanta headed toward another.  Kinda funny when you think about it. :)  The kids were zoned out or back asleep until Tulsa, OK.  Stopped there at a loyal QT to fuel up and help secure daddy's job by grabbing some donuts. :)

Kids were pretty chipper the whole trip.  DVD player helps with that!! Aidan won the prize for number of times asking questions such as "are we there yet?"  "when will be be at our new house?" He obviously had no idea about the whole hotel livin' we had in ahead of us.

I drove through most of Arkansas.  Our short trip though Tennessee was my favorite.  Total travel time was maybe 10 minutes! :)

Driving over the Mississippi River was cool.  Emma could see the cargo ships in the water.  Boys were impressed with the bridge.

One day on our trip we will have to stop and get a better look...kinda like I wish we had done in places through NM.  It was also interesting to watch the rail car "loaders" work.  Fascinating to think about who stuff gets from one place to another through various forms of transportation.

One state after another.  Odd to pass through so many states in one trip.  KS to AZ was so dreadful at time b/c you drove the full distance of OK, chunk of TX, allllll.the.waaaaay.across NM and a hefty distance through AZ.

Started to see these green things popping up.  Very much reminds us of the trees in the mountainous areas near Flagstaff.

The trip went great.  I would say the last 4 hours seem to take an eternity.  Kids were more restless, we were tired and it was pushing supper time, yet we didn't want to make another full unload stop to eat.  A short 15 hours 11.3 seconds later we were "home".  I must admit it's a bit better than the 20 hours to the SW. Verdict still out on if this is a trip I could do solo with the kids straight through.

Monday we slept in a bit.  Ran into Matt's work and had the Dr. in the clinic check Aidan out.  He seemed to be having some allergy/eye issue.  Lots of screaming later we walked away with some eye drops.  Monday afternoon started our pursuit of getting Emma enrolled.  Not so easy to do when you are new to the area and have no home address.

Finalized all that paperwork and turned it in on Tuesday.  Did a little retail therapy to ease Emma's nerves.  She got a new out fit for the first day of school.  Daddy didn't quite get it saying "Emma no one knows you so all your outfits are new to them."  Hello daddy...a new outfit can make you feel like you can conquer the world!! Duh!

I felt kinda bad dragging the boys around shopping for Emma & getting school supplies.  They were SO crabby and I was being SO NOT patient.  Then they did this...

and made me feel all bad and guilty.  Poor little guys were tuckered out!  My brother's comment "Posting pics of kids in a shopping cart... makes you look homeless. Oh. Wait.... sorry, forget I said anything."  Isn't he funny! :)

One of the best investments and necessary items in hotel living thus far- dust buster.  A.  It's great entertainment for the boys. B. They are finally fighting for something good- cleaning. C. It's the only way to remain the least bit clean when they are eating around a coffee table!!

Emma started school our first Wednesday here.  Gave her the chance to "get her feet" wet before having this week off for a winter break.  You can read more about her first day HERE.

We celebrated Valentine's Day with dinner out and a night here in the hotel.  Awful sweet of  me to get a hotel not only for the holiday, but the whole month.  It has many amenities...including 3 small, loud children.  The pool will be our saving grace.  Helps us ware them down for a good decent bedtime.

I've become a bit more familiar with the area.  Tried to prove to our sweet British GPS guy that I didn't need him anymore taking Emma to school on her first Friday sans GPS.  Well I was wrong! Not only did I miss our exit I missed the next exit.  Which then took us on a 10 mile trip to make it back to our exit!  Luckily we had left with time to spare and she wasn't tardy! Whew! So I have resigned to the fact that it will take me far longer to learn to get around here compared to the grid Phoenix sat on.  Here I can seem to make 2 left turns yet end up where I started going full circle!?!  I can at least find  a couple Wal-marts, a Target & a few QTs so that covers the necessities! :)

While Matt was gone we killed time at the Atlanta zoo. Their fav was the panda.

Browsing a local mall...

Once I was dressed for the day Emma changed to match me...we got lots of comments walking through the mall. :)

A ride on the carousel.

The sole purchase was Emma's fake glasses.  She was in love with the idea of glasses.  At first.  Then she discovered how they slide off your face, get dirty and get misplaced. :)  She looks so much older when she wears them and giggles when we go out in them b/c I think she thinks people know they are fake.  I told her no one would be able to tell.  She said "REALLY?? They think they are real!?!"  Aidan had fun while sissy was picking out her glasses...

We played with playdough & swam A LOT.

After a very rainy Friday stuck in the hotel we drove to the airport to get Matt.  We were all so glad to have him back.  It had been a long week with lots of move arrangements being made.

Today I was filled with the most...anxiety I guess you could call it.  Maybe 2 weeks here and Matt gone all last week got the best of me.  I probably should have insisted on getting out alone today. The space seemed to close in on me.  Matt wasn't feeling well.  Didn't make church. Kids were cRaZy.  Isaac is desperate for his naps. He still seems to want/need one each day, yet it's almost impossible with us on top each other.  He did snuggle up to me on the couch today and get one...which makes me feel better than what had been happening of him falling asleep from where ever we were driving to/from. Only left the room to swim downstairs. AHH! Ready for our daily "routine" with Emma in school. With only 36 more days in the hotel I am counting down every.last.day.

Cooking with our set up is getting better.  Plan to work up some good crockpot meals this week. That will be nice.  Hate the feeling that the kids are eating so much "junk" kid food.

QT has told Matt to look at other hotel options mainly b/c of the kitchen (lack of) set up.  But our research matches that of the relo company...nothing in this county seems to have a true kitchenette and we have to be in the county for Emma's school enrollment.  I really think we can make do. The biggest drawback is size of fridge & NO freezer.  It'll be an experience.  I figure I'll start making a list of the meals we are most craving that I can't make and that will be our menu for the first few weeks in the house! :)