Friends are friends forever. If the Lord's the Lord of them.

And just think, Michael W. Smith didn't even know about Facebook when he wrote that song.

We missed our buddies! ISLA!

UNCLE DAVE!
KAYDEN AND AINSLEY! (and a.j. and avery)
NATALIE!
We interrupt this friend production for a quick shout out to cake pops. Red velvet. White chocolate. Life changing.
STEPH, STEF, MICHELLE, MICHELLE, KIM! (I like to pick friends with the same name so I don't have to think as much. :))
This picture makes my heart hurt. LOVE my book club friends!
LUKE! The best cousin in the (mid)west.
ERICA! She gave manis and pedis, because once we got our hair did we figured we should do it up right. I heart Ava's face in this picture, pride and excitment and just general real cuteness.
CHERYL!

A super highlight of our trip was getting to meet some new people that arrived on the planet after our departure. Sweet Baby CRUZ! Love this little munchkin already! He decided to make us wait 8 days past his due date to find out he was a he. Not seeing him was like torture. (And can I just brag on my friend Christina who NEVER, not one time, complained about being 41 weeks pregnant?! She's a role model of awesomeness.)
CHRISTINA.
PAIGE, WILL, and NATALIE.
AMBER, ALLISON, BREE, MEREDITH, KIM

KIM, MERE, BREE

BABY ANNIE!!! I'll tell you what-friends having babies without you there is torture. I've had a lot of experience with this. No me gusta.
APRIL! Met this girl 14 years ago. Love that we are still friends and she is holding my babies. (Truth be told, she is much more certified to be a parent than I will ever be!)

So thankful for special friends...a few of whom I missed pictures with. Love to all our Michigan peeps!

I am woman, hear me roar

I have always been a brave traveler. In third grade I flew to my sister's house in Boston with a friend, the summer after fifth grade, I flew to SWITZERLAND BY MYSELF. (As a parent, I cannot believe my parents let me do this.) I drove 7 hours back and forth to camp by myself in high school multiple times. Stuff just doesn't really intimidate me.

All those, however, pale in comparison to what I'm about to tell you. I flew, alone, with my 1, 2, and 3 year old to Michigan. With a layover. By myself.

We started off great. With some horrific in between. But we made it.
May God richly bless Mr. Dry Erase Marker.
We had to switch terminals which involved about 923 moving sidewalks, several escalators, and the land of swirly twirly gumdrops. Or something.
But it was all worth it to get to the land that we love with the Aunt that we love. (who i didn't take enough pictures of!)
Our first 24 hours had to include getting our hair did. We love you Michelle!
Kaiya's first haircut! We just evened out the mullet. A big thanks to Laurie for the chocolate chip cookies that helped sustain us through this landmark event.
And a little bit after the event, too.
Then we got to see our sweet family. We love us some DeKorne's.
They had a little celebration for Reese, complete with the Michigan classic-Bill Knapp's cake. (and the slightly creepy clown heads.) I love Reese's little look of excitement in this pic!
Precious Grandma Betsy.
Grandma and my girl. She is getting to be such a big girl. It makes my heart hurt.
They LOVED the snow! The melty, hard, crusty, snow. We missed it!

Deodorant

So one day I was driving through our neighborhood and took a quick gander to the left. The sight below took me aback, and I quickly threw the car in reverse.

There was an alligator. Just like, hanging out. IN OUR NEIGHBORHOOD. An alligator.

Now I realize we live in Florida. I know they are the Florida Gators, etc. But somehow, I just didn't expect one to be quite that close.

Ava promptly decided that we should name him the very appropriate, "Deodorant". Totally kidding about the appropriate part. Deodorant? I tried to suggest several other names that I thought would be perfect. But she was adamant. So now driving by Deodorant is a part of our daily routine.
For perspective, I wanted to show where he is in relation to homes. (Weird that first one is for sale!) You can see him down there on the right. We are one street to the left of the one you see. I don't think he's going to take an evening stroll by our house or anything, but still close.
There's the zoom picture of the fella.
See ya later, Alligator. Like, tomorrow.

A very happy birthday...to you

My girls sing that little diddy all the time and I don't even know what it's from. But it fits.

I think the reason people ALWAYS talk about how time flies, and where has the time gone, and "enjoy it! it goes so fast!", is because it's true. A year? Really?

This beautiful girl has certainly been a highlight of our last year. She is just a peach.

We were all alone on her actual birthday. (Well, it was the four of us. I guess that doesn't quite qualify as all alone. :)) But Marky was helping with a junior high retreat, my parents and Jill and Joel had company, and so the girls and I had our own private celebration. By that I mean: I stuck that hat on her and took a picture so we would know it was her birthday. And then I dressed them in their new $7 Costco pajamas and tried to take a picture that didn't work. (Thank you Costco and Carters for your partnership that provides cute pajamas for all my kids for 20 bucks!)
Sunday we had the real celebration. Cake Boss (Mark) iced our yummy strawberry Paula Deen cream cheese frosting cake. Yum. Unfortunately the birthday girl wasn't real excited about this picture!
Or the cake.
I mean, I'll eat it. Whatever.
Later Grandma brought over a few more treats. And we wore the pajamas again. And Kaiya sobbed on the floor. This is becoming a habit.
We LOVE our danger loving, thrill seeking, early walking, happy happy happy, strong willed, blue eyed girl. Happy Birthday sweet Reese!

Misery

Moving. I think it's the worst possible task. I'd rather do a lot of things, including-but not limited to: give birth, shop for a bathing suit, change a flat tire on the highway, I think you get the idea. This is why the Lord did not have me marry someone in the military. To my family and friends who did, bless you.

Luckily I had three helpers to make the process much easier. **

Playing in the covers after I stripped the beds.

**NOT EASIER AT ALL.
This was just the stuff we had for the apartment. The real fun was yet to come.
Our last picture in the apartment. A lovely shot of Kaiya being 2.
But it did come. (the fun)
First night in their new bedroom!
lOooOvE this picture!
One bright spot: My Fiestaware. One of the best choices I've ever made. These dishes make me happy and not one of them even has a chip. Which says a lot in my kitchen. Except for the fact that I use paper plates a lot. But I'm going to give credit to Homer. Thank you, Mr. Laughlin, for making my cupboards look so happy.
I mean really. Gross.
This was a couple weeks ago. I wish I could tell you I had eradicated all this mess, but unfortunately, I cannot. Pray for us!

Perspective

1. I've been AWOL from the blog because we moved and haven't had internet. It's like we're living in 1987. Our house has all white walls, we've had no on demand or DVR, and no internet. I did watch Pretty in Pink just to add to the vibe. Just kidding. But I should have.

2. I read this post today of this sweet lady whose story is profound. http://jodyferlaak.blogspot.com/2011/03/she-got-her-wish.html A FABULOUS reminder of how we should love our children. I can smell my babies anytime I want, so who cares what city we live in. So thankful to the Lord for today, and what it holds, and realized I sure need to worry less about the future, and what IT holds

3. Today I came across a post my sweet cousin by marriage wrote about me. http://lucystudek17.blogspot.com/2011/03/things-i-like-about-heidi.html Obviously she doesn't know what a mess I am-but how sweet. :) Thanks, Lucy, for making my day! :)

4. We came to Michigan for an eye appt. for Kaiya-it was kind of a bummer of an appt. Her vision is deterioriating in her left eye and has gone from being equal with the right, to 50% worse. She needs glasses. Which will be cute-if we can figure out how in the world to keep them on her. But-the sweet dr. who was there at the very beginning in the hospital, read over her hospital report in her file and said: "let's just keep this in persepective, if I read this list of things that happened to her and had to make a clinical guess on the outcome, I would not have guessed she would be sitting here at all." This makes any continuing eye problems very inconsequential. We were certainly so blessed.

5. Funny how your perspective can change. It's warm here, but this temp in Florida would be reason for sweaters and jackets. Perspective is intriguing. And changing. And a wonderful gift.

The turbo internet is all hooked up back at the ranch we call our new home so get ready for some real exciting updates. Things about Deodorant, and go-carts, and birthdays. And if you want to pray for my ride home on two airplanes with a 1, 2, and 3 year old I would welcome that, too. Certainly there will be a post detailing my plight. Or my opportunity. I'll keep you updated on my perspective on THAT.