See You in the New Year!

I'm taking a small blogging break. This will be the last post to go up until January.

Merry Christmas!

Goodbyes Are So Hard

One of my best friends moved to Texas. (It should be noted that this isn't the first close friend of mine to pack up her adorable children and move all the way to Texas in recent years!)

Before her and her family left, she randomly brought me this orchid.  It's tall and gorgeous, just like her.  When it inevitably dies (I've got a black thumb!) that means I'm going to be extra sad.

We have a funny story about the start of our friendship.  When it was my family's turn to clean the church building early on a Saturday morning, I sent all the kiddos and Hubby and stayed home with baby Quartus.  Friend and her husband were also assigned to clean the church that morning.  Apparently my girls really loved working with them, and Tertius already knew Friend because she was his Nursery teacher.

A little while later, I had all the kids with me at Walmart and we ended up in line near Friend and her husband.  My kids kept waving to them and telling me that they knew them.  I recognized them from church but I HATE running into people that I know when I'm shopping.  If I see someone that I know, I will literally duck down a different aisle.  There are only a few people that I don't do this for.  I know, I'm a nutcase.  So anyway, I pretended that I didn't see them and acted like I was very distracted and busy.  She thought I was either really weird or really rude.  Maybe both.

Eventually, I was called to serve in Nursery so we got to know each other a little.

When Quartus turned one, we had a big birthday party at our house and invited a ton of people.  Friend and her husband came and when they left, she thanked me for inviting them.  I said something stupid like, "Of course!  We basically invited everybody."

Later it hit me how ridiculous that sounded.  I'm so awkward!  Basically it sounded like, "You aren't special.  I was just trying to find warm bodies to fill space."  The truth was that in Nursery Quartus really gravitated toward her and I was really enjoying getting to know her, too.

I immediately texted her, explained, and invited them over for dinner.  That first dinner turned into many dinners and game nights.

For me, though, the connection between our two families didn't really cement until the day that I asked on social media if any of my friends would be interested in doing a regular babysitting exchange.  Her husband was the only person to respond with serious interest.  This was amazing to me considering we had 4 kids and they only had one baby.  And for a while, we used them more than they used us.  But they were so generous and kind.  They love our kids.  Friend and I got closer and I became a pseudo-aunt to her (now 3 total) children.

I will always cherish the memories of music class together, family dinners, and girls nights sans children.

A couple days before they left I took the two girls for the whole day so Friend could get some last packing and cleaning done. I picked them up early in the morning and we went to the zoo and played at my house. I fed them dinner one last time before dropping them back to their mommy.

Then that night we said our goodbyes. I cried buckets the whole way home.

I miss my friend, but thanks to the wonders of technology, we can still talk and keep involved with each others' lives (Love the Marco Polo app!) So saying goodbye to the kiddos was the hardest. Even though I can see videos of them and vice versa, it's not the same. They also have (real) family still in this area so they'll conceivably visit once in a while. But it's hard for little kids to maintain meaningful relationships with adults that aren't a part of their everyday life.

Despite all this sadness though, I am so excited for Friend and her family! This was such a positive opportunity for them and I can't wait to hear about all their adventures and new friends they make there.

To Texas: stop taking my friends!
To Friends: I love you and wish you all the best!

"Our children can either learn it from us or learn it from the streets."

Hubby posted this hilarious status on his Facebook.  Had to share it here!

"Shirley doesn't want to teach our youngest how to play the piano yet, because she believes he's too young to start. Unsatisfied, it appears the boy has started to teach himself. We've thus had to have another of those hard realizations that our children can either learn something from us or learn it from the streets."

 The thought of someone skulking around in a back alley, secretly learning piano reminded me of this classic Studio C sketch.

Kid-Run Newspaper

As everyone woke up and came out to the living room, we were greeted by this on a small table:

Apparently the girls created a newspaper.  There were enough copies for all of us.  The paper of course started with front page "news."

Inside is a comic (see detail below), an advice column, community calendar, and a Sudoku puzzle.

The comic is called Cruddy Kid.  

You'll notice that there was only a place holder and request for the advice column.  Obviously, they intend to publish another edition.  Right next to the newspapers was this box and index cards so we could write our questions.

The final page was a quiz.

I look forward to seeing what they put in the next edition!  These kids are so freakin' creative!