Saying good-bye is never easy

They say that good friends are friends forever and I know that will remain true to the Baldwin family and ours. These last 3 years have brought our children and Becky and I as close as family. And since we all hail from the Seattle area, who knows maybe there is some blood relation there somewhere. Living the military life as a child was hard, but you knew you would always make new friends. Now as an adult, acquaintances are more likely and friends are harder to find. A friend is someone that can count on you as well as counting on them. It's not only listening but being listened to. It's telling you NOT to buy the turquoise top in The Limited because it has too many ruffles and makes you look bigger than you already are. It's being there when you have babies, have migraines, have melt downs and everything in between. Becky brought me one of the meals after my Mom passed away and I'll always remember how nice it was. It's coming over for dinner when our husbands are both away flying. It's stopping thru the Starbucks drive through and picking up an extra coffee for your friend who you know will smile when you surprise her. It's trying to stick with a one a month pizza night from Fatty P's and B's, where we tried grilling pizza and making home made dough. But, mostly it's about spending time with another soul who understands you, makes you laugh, encourages you, and shares common bonds. Life moves more quickly now that I am older and the friendships I make now, going through the challenging times in my life, are treasures. I always seem to look to the future all the time for something better to come along, a better car, a better house, a great vacation, a future time when the kids will all just get along and stop fighting, etc.... But I think it's important to stop and look at what is right in front of you and appreciate everything you have, b/c before you know it, the wheel of time has turned and 5 years are gone and so is the best friend you've had in a LONG time. On your trip north Becky, I hope you know how much you will be missed. I may not show it, but sometimes I have a gooey middle.

Getting used to the sound of freedom

This bubbly little toodle poof wakes up every morning when the 1st MD-80 of the day takes off from runway 1-7 on it's direct path over our house. Sometimes that flight is before 6am and so my day starts 5 minutes after she hears the plane. I hear the "Mom Mom" coming from the baby monitor( which we don't need since we now share walls.) I just hope the sound of the train for some people that they grow accustomed to, will be my daughter's jet plane.

Progress......

Well the move is complete. With the help of three neighbors, my Dad and Uhaul, we have now gotten out of Sundial and into wallpaper world. The new people are in our home and already repainting. Ahh sadness. Who knows what is being painted over? As for us, my Dad and Annette drove the 10 hours down from N. Carolina to help transform the 90's wallpaper into the year 2000. We chose light steel blue and sand colors to use downstairs and are really happy with the results. Now that the boxes are gone, comes the deciding where does everything go? We have lost 100 square feet, so everything has to have a different place, or goes to goodwill. Emma lost space where Adeline gained some. There are still 4 rooms upstairs with wallpaper and those will be tackled with time. I'm just happy it is starting to look like we live here. And that I was able to pull my car in the garage after only a week. Last time it was over 2 months. We still have an extra room and lots of backyard space and our giraffe pen(pictures will come) so anyone who wants to visit is more than welcome. Parents can stay inside, kids in the giraffe pen.

When the painting is finished I'll post more pictures.

Busy Birthday Month

Both Rick and Emma's birthdays fall within the first week of June. So as May ends, I'm always scrambling for last minute cool things to do for Rick's birthday or trying to find friends to invite to Emma's party that are not on summer vacation or off visiting grandma. Rick will never let me live down the "fun" birthday I planned for him when we lived in Corpus Christi. I thought it would be fun to spend the day horseback riding. Rick said this was MY idea of fun, NOT his and since then, always says " So, are we going horseback riding tomorrow for my birthday?" Since a jet ski is not a horse, but does have horse power, this was the perfect way to spend his birthday. Although after a half hour of doing 60mph squeezing the throttle so hard, he claims he suffered monkey paw syndrome.

Emma was 7 this year and WOW does she look like a mature girl now and nothing like the toddler of a few years ago. She wants to brush her hair every morning til it is puffy, she likes to coordinate the colors of her clothes, she loves to surf the Web playing Webkinz and Barbie.com, and she wants me to pick her up late in carline after school, so she can chat with her BFF's. But even though her toes are getting close to the end of the bed, she still loves hugs in the morning, comes in our bed during thunderstorms, listens to bedtime stories while holding her raggedy blanket she's had since birth and loves to have her hair pushed gently behind her ears at night. She may be growing up, but I can postpone it as long as possible.

Disney World Here We Come......

Rick's first vacation in over a year, saw us heading back to the Happiest Place on Earth. We stayed at the military hotel Shades of Green and packed our days full of magic, mini tantrums and Mickey Mouse. We did one character breakfast at 1900 Park Fare to see Alice in Wonderland, Mary Poppins and the Pooh bear characters. The kids favorite ride was the new Toy Story 3-D shooting gallery in Hollywood Studios. Very cool! Now begins the birthday madness while in the process of moving into our new home. Yes, I feel like I can finally speak out loud about it. We close on June 9th and are FINALLY moving into Pensacola. It's not the home of our dreams, but it's less than a mile from St. Paul's and with gas prices soaring, what more can you ask for. I'll send pictures of it soon.

Bibbidi Bobbidi Blast!!

This stop in the new Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique kicked off our lastest trip to Disney World. This was an early birthday present for Emma. Let me just paint a picture for you of this "boutique". Emma was the oldest girl in there, she hated the entire experience, wiped every bit of makeup off instantly, kept asking the stylist if she was finished yet and ripped the hair piece out the first hour out of the salon. We paid the cheapest amount for the littlest package, but let me just say there were 30 chairs in this salon, all filled with shell-shocked young Jean Binot Rameses roughly around 2 years old having the full package costing $150 to have hair, nails, make-up and dress. No one was smiling, they were all just sitting there letting these women glitter them, pull their hair as tight as it goes and then teasing and ratting the hair into a Disney Diva as they refer to it. This being said, it all comes off completely in the pool less than 2 hours later. So you might as well just forgo the entire torture and just pay the $50 bucks and throw your kid in the pool immeadiately.