Her paper heart

My sweet girl encountered a pretty tough life experience this summer.

Her best friend moved away.  Far away.

Geez, I'm already crying.

It has been painful to relive memories of my own difficult move 2 years ago, but of course, watching her deal with it just breaks my heart a little more.

They adore each other (of course, fighting and laughing just like sisters!) and the sadness of not having the other A around sneaks up on her when she least expects it.  Sigh.

It was extra sad for me too because A's mom was someone that I connected with and we shared the experience of having sweet baby boys just 4 months apart.  So essentially, B's little buddy moved away too!  :(

It's a windy tale of how and why they came and went in only 18 months.  One that ended on a sad note for us, and for them in some ways, but we know that all the grandparents are probably glad to have them back closer.

Before they moved, I took the girls out for a special date.  I took a bunch of fun pictures of them and then out to dinner.  We created a special photo book for the girls to have.

One of our favorite artists is Fransesca Battistelli.  A and I love singing her songs when they come on the radio and bought her CD herself.  For the other A's birthday, we bough her a copy and she was hooked too!

I couldn't find a video of My Paper Heart, but two of our favorite songs are Free To Be Me and       Beautiful Beautiful.

I am sad that my sweet girl has had her paper heart torn, but these pictures make me smile.

Hopefully, I will be able to pull off a very special birthday surprise come January! ;)

Stacey

New Digs-Part Deux, The Walk-Through

We moved in on August 3rd.  This is the sneak peek before all our junk messed the whole thing up! ;)

Standing on the driveway looking towards the front of house.

Office on the left of the entry

Standing in entry looking towards living area.

Dining room on right of entry

Close up of living area fireplace and windows

Standing in living looking towards breakfast area

Standing in living looking towards breakfast and more of kitchen

Standing in breakfast looking into kitchen

Standing in hall looking into kitchen from other side

Down the hall from kitchen; standing in hall looking towards garage door with mud room on left and laundry room on right.

Mud room-yea, color!

Laundry room on right-yea, even more color!!

Laundry room on left

Hobby/Craft/My Whatever nook!  Right middle pic. 

Hobby/Craft/My Whatever Nook-middle left. 

B's FIRST room!  It only took 15 months! :)  Looks towards front of house.

Looking toward L's and A's rooms.  I am sure you can't tell which is which!  :)  The wall on right backs up to bathroom between boys' rooms.

L's room-looks towards back of house.

A's room-looks towards back of house.

A's bathroom with shower.  This will allow our princess a little privacy and place for guests.

Coming back down hall looking towards living, dining.

Standing in living looking towards dining room and front of house.

Powder bath that is between office and our bedroom.

Looking into master bedroom which faces back of house.

Left side of master bath

Right side of master bath

Left side again

Shower and going into closet

Master closet-right side

Left side and back

Back and corner

Back porch from master door

Entry floor design

Standing at house looking towards front and driveway

I am too tired tonite, but I plan on doing a commentary on the results and the whole process later this week.  If you have any questions, I can throw in some Q&A as well.

Stacey