Thursday

So after the initial shock and disappointment were over, Daniel and I were ok.... its not the plan that we wanted, but its what weve got, and its better than november, I guess.

But there are some drawbacks to going in October.... for one, there is a big trade fair over in China most of October, which means planes and hotels are more expensive... guess its good weve got a month to save up a little bit more before we go.

But the biggest letdown was that we are going to miss most of the halloween festivities that we go to.... I know that seems like not a big deal, but halloween is pretty much bigger than Christmas in our house.... Ive been working on our costumes since March..... March, yall!..... because we always dress up as a family - I even had Willow's costume ready b/c we thought she would be here.  We go to tons of parties and festivals all throughout the month, and the kids always have the best time (us too!)... so we told them the news earlier this week and they were quite disappointed - especially Emma, who said that if she couldnt do the family costume then she didnt want to dress up... poor thing... I finally told both that we would go through my costume boxes on Saturday and see what they could find and I bet we could come up with something fun for them to dress up as.... and we will just drive them around to a few houses and let them trick or treat.... Daniel, I and Willow will just stay in the car - Im pretty sure we are still going to be jetlagged and I think all of this may be a bit overwhelming for Willow as she will just have come home shortly before.

So I guess I have our costumes ready for next year already....

Anyway.... we are taking this month to really get prepped... things we need to do
- pack our bags, including stuff for Willow... and making sure its all under the weight limit
- pack the kids bags as they spend the time away with Daniel's parents
- make sure the dogs and cat are taken care of while we are gone
- get anything we still need to get for the trip
- clean the house... thoroughly.... its so much less stressful when you can come home to a clean house
- stock the pantry and fridge - we dont have the freezer space for a bunch of pre-made meals, but it will be alot easier if we already have everything we need to throw a few easy meals together
- get the girls' room ready
- get as much time (especially one on one time) with the kids as we can
- save up some extra money

Im sure there is a ton of other stuff to do, and hopefully we can get it all done in a month.... we are so super excited... :)

Any questions before we go?