catching up part 1

so, it's 2/10.....and here in snowy NEPA, i'm enjoying a day off work. well, i had to in for 2 1/2 hours. i'm SO happy we got to close at 1! we NEVER get to close, so today is a very nice surprise!!

since i'm home, i figured i would try to start catching up. so here we go....back to june! sunny days & fun! a far cry from the blizzard outside today!

since the 1st parade was rained out, they rescheduled. and boy were we excited! 1 last milaca parade with our friends!! it was considerably smaller than the original would've been, but we still got plenty of candy!!

this is my favorite part of the parade every single year:
we got to see the kids' friend from daycare. she was the macaroni queen!

a few days after our last parade we had to say goodbye to the kids' daycare provider. i had been dreading this day ever since we decided to move. miss amy had raised rae since she was 11 months & beast since he was 10 weeks. she is an amazing woman in general & the most fabulous daycare provider EVER. we invited her & her tiny granddaughter to splash park with us that night so she could hang out with us a little longer. i grabbed some picnic food to take along & cried quite a bit. but it was time for some fun 1 last time with some of our best friends. (thanks cara for renting splash park for us!!)

when it was time for splash park to close, we stayed & played on the playground for awhile. i think we were all kind of trying to delay the goodbyes. being the emotional wreck i am, i cried when amy left. and forget about when my kids said goodbye to their friends! i think i cried the whole way home.

2 days later, the kids were on their last trip from MN to PA. they said goodbye to the house. (i cried, of course!). we drove to our friend nancy's & she took us to the airport. we grabbed some breakfast at the airport & headed east. the kids were fabulous & obviously VERY excited to find their daddy waiting for us!!

i stayed just a week in PA, but we all had a great time. mattie & i celebrated our 6th anniversary. we all went swimming ALOT! and we went to the monster truck show!

it was a fantastic visit. we spent the entire week as a whole family for the 1st time in 4 weeks.

unfortunately it was short-lived. a week after i arrived, i hopped back on a plane & headed west.

and yes, there was obviously LOTS of crying. i almost didn't get on the plane.