Busch Gardens

This past Friday Ben took off work and we headed to Busch Gardens for the afternoon.  Sort of a celebration of the end of Madelyn's preschool year, and a day to have fun before we get down to moving and all the hassles associated with that.  We've been a few times this year and I know we'll go plenty more.  The girls love the Sesame Street area and seeing all their favorite characters.  We packed up lunch to eat when we got there, had plenty of snacks - but still ended up spending at least $50 on food and drinks.  I admit some of that was so Mommy and Daddy could enjoy a nice cold adult beverage!  Yes...Ben and I each had one beer, and we got one bottle of Gatorade for Madelyn - TWENTY dollars!!  But it was worth it - she was fascinated by her "blue juice" since that was a special treat for her - and we enjoyed our drinks while she was quiet with hers!!  HA  Emily loves to watch all the people, she can't really ride anything yet - but she loves to be pushed in the stroller and see all the different faces.  Not 5 minutes after we left for home, the girls were passed out in their seats.  It was a great day!!

Lunch in the truck before heading in...

Good-bye Dear Friends, Good-bye!

This was the final song in the end of year celebration at Madelyn's preschool - and if you know me - you know I cried as her sweet little hands waved good-bye and all the children sang farewell!  I still can't believe Madelyn has finished her first year of preschool, it's been so fun and she has so enjoyed it - we're so glad we made the decision to start her at Chester Presbyterian Preschool.  She loves her teachers and has made new friends, and so have I!  We're looking forward to a week of summer camp next week and then she'll start again in the fall.  I remember last year sitting through the orientation, feeling so nervous and wondering if we were doing the right thing for her - but it didn't take long to realize it WAS the right thing for her.  Here are a few pictures from the end of year performance and her last day...

My sunny, light filled dining room...

....in the previous post, has turned into a storage unit!!  The boxes are getting filled, there are stacks of "to be boxed", "to be donated", "to be trashed", everything is off the walls downstairs and the holes are patched, it officially looks like we are moving now!  ONE MONTH from today!  I am so thankful I don't have the pack-rat gene - while going through things and getting things wrapped up, I'm so glad we don't have a lot of STUFF!  It clutters my life and takes my focus away from the things that are important to me - my family!!!

We've finally gotten really excited about the move, there were a few weeks we were really stressed, and wondered when it would all be over...we had some repairs to make here for the new family moving in, some repairs we hoped would be taken care of at our new house, and of course - we've worked the numbers a zillion times - the scariest part.

I'm over my attachment to this house - it will always be so very special to us - so many wonderful memories, but we'll make many many more in our new home...and the next family that moves in will have wonderful moments here as well.  My friends have laughed at me when I called them crying that I was taking my girls away from their home, that I knew where all the lizards lived that Madelyn and I would hunt for, that we were leaving our favorite neighbors...I was an emotional mess!

One thing that helped me over the "attachment hump" was that I found out the couple moving in also has a little girl and I'm sure they appreciated Madelyn & Emily's rooms when they saw them.  I'm glad there will be another little girl running through the house with squeals and giggles.  It's been a great house for us, and it will be for it's new family as well!

Madelyn is in her last few days of preschool - only 3 days left after today.  Then she'll be in the preschool summer camp, which works out great since I'll be able to get some last minute packing done the week before we move.  Emily's session at Romp N Roll is about to end as well, it's been so fun to be with her there - special time for the two of us to play :)

Will post more soon!!!