Saying GoodBye to Friends

Dearest Sarah, Hannah, Julia and Joshua,
Tonight you said goodbye to your best friends Emily and Abby Anderson because they are moving to New Mexico tomorrow. For the past year you have gotten really close because I babysat them every Monday and Friday. It is so cute watching you play (and sometimes fight) with your good friends. You will always have sweet memories to look back on of being 5 year olds and 1 year olds with Emily & Abby. Memories like, super girls, MOPS, playdates, playing in our backyard in the hammock at our Merribrook House and on the swingset at our new home, Oki park, swimming lessons at the YMCA, ballet when you were 4 years old, Joshua marrying "Babby" when he grows up, Emily wanting to change her last name to Snow, coloring, dress up, make up fashion shows, etc... the list can go on and on. Thank you for being such sweet children and sharing your toys. I am sad that our good friends are moving. It's hard to fathom because you are so little now that one day each of you will grow up and move away. I pray that you will put God first in all you do because friends will come and go but God is a constant best friend who will always be there for you to lean on and pray to. I love you. Always remember that Best Friends (like Emily and Abby Anderson) are truly a gift from God.
Love,
Mommy

Our Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day but Wonderful Evening

Dear Sweet Children, Our day Friday, May 7th started out bad when mommy went to the post office to mail Grammie's Mothers Day present and hit a parked suburban while trying to squeeze into a parking space. Luckily, nobody was with me and no one was hurt. Well, our van has a dent now... Then while I was trying to get everyone ready for Sarah & Hannah's Spring Choir Performance so many crazy things happened. I fed you all rigatoni and Hannah started crying because she did not like the "white dots" in it (cottage cheese). Joshua loved it so much that now he is covered head to toe with spaghetti sauce. While mommy is trying to clean Joshua up she made a mental note to herself not to get dressed first but last since my new brown skirt now had Joshua's little red handprint on it with spaghetti sauce and next time don't feed them spaghetti before a performance. While I stripped Joshua down to his diaper and was cleaning him up I hear Sarah crying very loudly in the bathroom. I quickly go to her and realize she has touched the curling iron I had plugged in to fix the girls hair pretty for their performance and realized she burned her hand pretty badly. So I told Sarah to put her hand under cold water while Hannah ran and got her an ice pack and I proceeded to fix her hair and still curl it. When it was Hannah's turn to get her hair fixed, Sarah sat down holding the ice pack. Next thing she says that blue is all over her dress. Sure enough, the ice pack leaked and her dress now has a huge blue stain on it. I took Sarah's dress off and didn't have time to wash it and dry it so I sprayed "Folex Carpet Cleaner" on the dress and wiped the stain right off! Folex is amazing! Maybe I'll start using that for stain remover instead hee hee! Daddy saved the day by coming home from work then and getting Joshua and Julia ready. Mommy made up a silly song about having a bad day but we were going to have a wonderful evening and all the kids laughed and laughed. Your cousin Michaela told me this quote when she was in 1st grade from her teacher and I try to remember it on crazy days: "When bad things happen, we can either laugh about it or cry about it and I choose to laugh". We made it to your choir performance on time and you did an amazing job. Sarah and Hannah you are both natural performers and God has given you both such a beautiful singing voice! Mommy is so proud of you!