My first baby is now eight.  One can’t adequately explain or express how so very true the blue-hair-ole-ladies are that stop you in the store and say “enjoy them while they are young, the time passes so quickly”.

They of course seem to stop and say those things on the very day you’re ready to give your children away to the lowest bidder b/c they have been the naughtiest EVAH!! Or maybe that’s just me.

She is an eight year old little girl that I feel is SO very different than I was.  She is very outgoing.  Not afraid to be super social.  Very fashion forward and discusses topics of clothing, fashion & design like a teenager.  She spends most of her time crafting.  Anything with paper, scissors, glue, stickers, GLITTER glue, beads, fabric or string are her things.  She has a memory that is amazing.  Constantly singing.  Remembers lots of songs, and isn’t afraid to make up words to songs if she’s not sure of the wording…creates some laughs for us!

Any who.  We had her birthday party a bit early so her BFF who is moving back to TX could be here.  Wouldn’t be the same without sweet Aaliyah.  We had a great turn out for her late night OWL sleepover.

Here they are. (LtoR) Ameil, Aaliyah, Ashton April, Jewels, Ainsley & Emma.

Although most of the night they looked like this:

Sweet little girl faces!!  She has the sweetest friends with the nicest families.

I made the cake.  First time making chocolate buttercream.  Where had that been my whole life!?!? A 9x13 trimmed in an oval “owl” shape frosted with above mentioned sinful frosting.  Homemade marshmallow fondant made up the eyes, bow, beak, leaves, feet & tree branch.  All was free handed and formed as I went along, so no patterns for plans for you. *Side note- very difficult to make brown fondant rolled and shaped to look like a branch/log shape without it looking like something that would make a preschool boy laugh in disgusting  delight! Use your imagination.  I found the key was to roll out the fondant and jelly roll it similar to rolling dough up for cinnamon rolls.

Emma now personally owns all craft, bead, jewelry making, glitter gluing craft set that have been manufactured….and a $10 bill that is burning a hole in her pocket. 

Speaking of crafts we made an owl paper & hand printing paint craft…

and “crafted” homemade personal pizzas.

Eight candles blown out…half way to a drivers license. I shall go cry now.

And b/c no bday post would be complete without a trip down memory lane…

Here’s how the story unfolded for those curious…

Monday 12.5    Matt has an eval & meeting at work.  Casually mentions it when he called on his way home from work that night.  Said we would talk about it when he got home.  We didn’t b/c we were packing him for his business trip out of town early the next AM.

Tuesday 12.6    Text Matt during the day asking if we would get a chance to talk to him & commented I was sorry we didn’t get a chance to talk about his eval the night before. Attend Emma’s music concert. We chat briefly that night about his time in TX.

Wednesday 12.7    After spending the evening  with my friend Megan & her kids I have another late night phone chat following his meetings in TX.  I again mention his eval as I sensed there was something not right in his voice.  His response had me worried something was wrong.  I of course go worse case scenario and worry he’s  “in trouble” or something.  He keeps saying “we’ll talk when I get home, I’d rather talk to you in person”.  That was NOT easing my mind.  I don’t like surprises and don’t like waiting.  He asks several times “are you sure you want to know?”.  Uh-yeah!!! Duh!!! Then shortly before midnight he says it…

“I’ve been offered a promotion”

Now in .9995 milliseconds I can tell by his voice that location of said job promotion must NOT be in a distance I consider “close” to home.  I quickly knew if it was a job SIGNIFICANTLY closer to “home” he wouldn’t have waited to tell me!!

Atlanta.  No not his hometown in KS.  Georgia.  Land-o-Paula-Deen.  Peach state. Waaaaaay East state.  A state 2000 miles from where we are now.  2000 miles from where we JUST moved 17 months ago. Luckily several hundred miles closer to “home” state.

I was in shock.  All I could do was laugh and shake my head.  Honored for him that they offered him an awesome position.  Proud that he works so hard that they would even consider him.  Proud he started years ago mopping floors and working the cash register, never imagining he would be where he is now.

Thursday 12.8    (wee-hours of the AM) I start my praying & researching.  That AM I call a friend & prayer warrior to start helping double timing the prayers.

Later that morning I get a call from Matt’s lil sis.  We don’t talk on the phone nearly as often as we should.  I answer.  She’s calling to ask about my blood lab results from a few weeks back.  The ones that came back basically saying stress was causing lots of physical symptoms similar to early menopause/thyroid issues.  (Awesomeness…NOT)  She starts to reassure me by how the MOVE has been stressful.  Lots of changes with the MOVE.  I think she said MOVE about 10 times.  Or maybe not.  It seemed like it! Hehe.  So I bust out and tell her.  Poured it all out…then swore her to secrecy.  We were not going to get everyone stirred up before we could discuss and process it all.

I had thought that day to call another friend who had been through moves with her husbands job and had counseled me though our move here.  Lots in common…and another strong prayer warrior.  I opt not to call.  Hours later I get a random text (as we don’t text often) from her asking for my address for Christmas cards.  I tell her and follow it with a “for now…”  We end up talking that day and she shares with me the prospect of them moving again soon.  Crazy timing!!

Matt comes home that evening.  We don’t talk about it a lot.  Although I was feeling pretty positive about it.  He doesn’t seem to press the issue which made me feel pretty good and at ease.  I don’t like to feel rushed.

Friday 12.9    Crumble.  I crash.  A hot mess all morning. Panic.  Fear and full of doubt.  Super critical and angry at Matt. (all in my head…he was at work and unaware of the arguments we had in my head!! Ha!) Does he even care how hard this is on us?  He doesn’t deal with all the massive amounts of details involved in a move.  He doesn’t play constant contact with the relocation company.  Would he ever say no to something QT offered??  Has he prayerfully considered this or just flattered by the offer?!?!

Hateful.  Mean. That was me. And I knew what I was thinking was not coming from a place of truth.

Prayed lots.  Scoured the Bible for answers, but feeling so flustered I didn’t know where to go.  Nothing seemed to make sense.  I mean we followed God’s prompting to come here and were happy…only to leave again?!?! Then I stumbled across a passage in Genesis. (46:3,4 to be exact) The study notes on the verse hit me.  Who knew Genesis had more than the creation story. Hardyharhar.

That last line was a kicker.  Thanks for the 2x4 across the head God. Why would I allow the fear and nervousness to overshadow ALL He has done for us in the last 1 1/2 years??  But I did.

I forced myself to go to the park with Megan & another lady in the neighborhood.  Kids played and it did me good to get out. That night Matt & I had plans for dinner & finishing Christmas shopping.  Luckily by then I had made up with him in my mind.  I did alert him that “we” had had a bad day.  I didn’t like him much and had exchanged “words” with him!  Pretty sure he looked at me like I was crazy…but he best be happy he wasn’t home for it!!

That night and at dinner I could feel a pull.  I could feel that this is where we were going.  I still kinda clung with white knuckles, clinched fists and stomped my feet like a tantrum throwing toddler.  But still felt it in my heart.

We had the chance to share our concerns.  He shared with me some of the doubts he had.  We talked about what course this could put us on.  We talked about what the course could be if we stayed.

On the way home I almost said “When are we telling our parents?” But then realized that meant we WERE doing this.  So I kept quiet.

Saturday 12.10   Better again today.  Teased that I couldn’t give him a YES. Still talked a lot of “what if, when, how,” and all those questions and theories.

Emma and I spent the day shopping for her bday party stuff.  Hard for me.  I’m not good at keeping something and my biggest fear and most dreaded feeling is how this will effect her.  As a person that NEVER moved I feel we are asking her to do 2 and probably another 3rd time down the road to do something I never had to do.  We had chinese food for lunch and these were our fortunes…mine on top, hers on the bottom.

Guess Budda is in on this too??

Christmas parade in town Saturday evening.  Took Emma’s friend.  Cute to see what sweet friends she has made in the last year.  Sad to think this could be our last Christmas parade here.  In weather that makes a winter parade enjoyable. Probably only in southern AZ would this be in the Christmas parade…

On the way home it slips out of my mouth…when are we telling our parents. AHH!! Noooooooooooooooo………….

So the process begins.  Telling parents that their grandbabies will be still away.  Actually a couple hours closer, but unfortunately in a location where Allegiant Air does NOT fly thus = more $$ visits. Boo.

Sunday 12.11   Church.  Man I’m going to miss that church. LOVE the worship.  Enjoyed our time spent serving there.  Many of our friends here now attend PVC. After church scoured the town for a laptop.  My life line during our last relocation.  Old one went kaput right before thanksgiving.  This is NOT the time of year to buy a reasonably priced laptop.  No luck. 

That evening went to a holiday tour of homes with my friend Megan.  So hard.  Hard to have this weighing on me and not tell her.  She had her finals for her semester of nursing school and didn’t want to hurt her focus on her exams.  SEVERAL times on the tour we were asked if we were sisters.  It has happened to us a lot. (Used to happen to a Derby friend & I too)  What do you think?

It stings when that night she posts on FB about our new Christmas “tradition” together. Boo.

Monday 12.12    Preschool for Aidan.  Dr. apt for me.  Matt at work long enough to do payroll and accept the job.  Then home sick.  Dread all day knowing I would tell Megan and my mom the news.  Hard to share news that will effect others when you are cursed with the middle child peacemaker roll and allow others reactions to effect you like I do.  

Megan asks the boys and I to come over while Emma (big ears) is at Brownies.  Thanks God for the perfect opportunity to talk to her.  It was hard.  And sad.

Then the evening rolls on to the call to my mom.  She is understanding and supportive.  Thank goodness!

Tuesday 12.13    It’s official.  QT announced the move.  Matt’s first work trip out there around Jan. 16th.  Our first trip for house hunting…around the 2nd.  In 3 oh-so-short weeks.  Ohmyword!

And that’s that.  In a matter of 6 days I go from a content AZ resident to visions of boxes, house/insurance/packing forms & time with my new BFF (relocation agent).

Now to figure out when & how to tell Miss Emma…….ugh. Prayers please.

Last weekend when we were all among the land of the healthy we went to the Phoenix Zoo.  The kids & I had been several times, but Matt had never been able to go with us.  He LOVES the zoo. Probably his favorite thing to do with the kids.

The giraffe/African exhibit is really nice.

Isaac wanted to consult the map at all times and used his hands on his eyes to search for animals as we walked. :)

 

I found this old palm tree trunk to interesting.  It was like an apartment complex of bird holes/nests.  This relative of a baboon had very unique coloring on his face.

Our attempt at a group shot. Between these 2 photos you can see the personality of my kids.  1st find my drama queen.  2nd find my lack-of-attention-span. 3rd find my one ready to move and find his next dangerous adventure. Seriously kids.

The Phoenix Zoo is the same as the Sedgwick County zoo in one regard…the tortoise exhibit.  Oddly enough one of the slowest animals is consistently the most active of all animals in the zoo.  Luckily I took photos at the first exhibit, because the male/female pair in the 2nd exhibit were putting on a show that I felt like a perv to take pics of. OH MY!  The kids are all “they’re playing”.  Some guy walking up to the exhibit (unaware of what they were doing) says to his kids “hey look they’re moving!” Oh.yes.they.were!  Matt was all “you see how long they live honey…they must know a key to a long life!”

Speaking of the Sedgwick County zoo found this at the Komodo dragon enclosure….

Aidan was VERY unsure of this statue…

We followed a beautiful day at the zoo with an oh-so-yummy lunch.

One of Isaacs favorite things to play involves weapons, wrestling or hunting…I suppose you could say anything to do with “violence”.  His new skill is dying…or playing dead…in dramatic fashion…

The rest of the weekend was full of relaxing.  Isaac also loves to play dress up as super man or HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUULLLLLLK (as he says it). 

Aidan our perpetually difficult pooper showed that a mans “library” starts at a young age.  Silly boy!

I had the pleasure of going to Aidan’s Fall Harvest party at preschool. I joined another mom in keeping 4 rowdy boys entertained.  They had LOTS & LOTS of different carnival games & activities for the kiddos.

Decorate a pumpkin.                                                    Color their pumpkin w/verse.

Even Isaac joined in on the party.

Aidan played a couple games with tooooo much enthusiasm.  He would listen to us to toss the bean bag LIGHTLY, underhand to put it through a hole.  He was all about the overhand-fast ball!! :)

Same story on the ping-pong ball toss. Whew!  As you can see by the blur of his arm in the photo!!

A couple days later was time for trick or treating!! :)

Emma’s version of a “rock star”.  Mind you it’s all clothing straight from her wardrobe. :)  I suggested she carry her microphone to which she replied “mom-don’t get carried away!”. So, to make it a bit more “special” and not appear that she was dressed to go to school I applied some make up.  She actually complained how long her lashes are!!! Silly little girl!!

        

My lil’ angry birds. :)  Aidan who snatched the pig & Isaac with his little birds that launch to fight the pigs!! :)

Kids with our neighbor kids that we went trick or treating with. He was Iron Man and she was Wow-wow-wubbzy.  Isaac LOVED the idea of the older kids saying “trick or treat”, him getting the candy and all he had to do was say “shank shoe”. :)

Halloween marked the anniversary of meeting our neighbors.  Last year their house was the very last house we stopped at and the kids hit it off right away.  They (well…she) is from the mid-west so we have that in common.  The kids are the same ages…boys are into the same things, and well their little girl and Isaac have a love & hate relationship!! :)  We love to visit, but seldom get uninterrupted  time without screeching children!! :)