Hannah's birthday gift

This year for Hannah's birthday we decided to do things a little different.  Her gift from us was a party at Wine, Paint and Canvas.  We scheduled a private party for 10 friends and arranged for them to paint Olaf, from Frozen.  

On party day we had two open seats, so David took one of them and painted Olaf too.  

Big Hannah and Billy, in usual form: non stop hilarity.  

Hannah and Vivian, birthday buddies from day 1.  

Vivian, and Jared and Kadence in the background.  

Here you can see Sara Beth, the little girl in the front left.  Beside her is Logan, beside Logan is Aria and her dad Paul.  On the other side of the table is Ashley, Logan's mom.  

Here you can see Aria and Logan again.  Across the table is Alayna, with her mom Karen.  

On the right side is Alayna and Karen.  Then Iris' head and her mom Ashley.  On the other side is Aria, then Sara Beth beside her.  In the far back, on the left, is Big Hannah, Billy and Grandpa Bob.

Hannah and her Olaf. 

Vivian and her Olaf.  Jared, fixing Kadences' Olaf.  My understanding is parental fixes were needed in all of the kids' paintings.  

Hannah, with all her friends.  

David said the party went well, but he thought the 2 hour time block for that age group was a bit too long.  He also said all the kids had to have some kind of parental recovery with their painting.  However all the kids had fun, and they all liked their painting, which is what mattered.  

New Years Eve

Josh and Leah decided to come in for New Years, and we also had Noelle and Jared over with Kadence.  It was a full house, with a lot of fun.  But I'm jumping ahead.  

The evening started late, since New Years Eve was on a Monday.  David and Noelle had to work, so they didn't get home until after 6 p.m.  And then the guys all wanted to go geocache.  They left a little after 8 I think, with a promise of being back before midnight.  

While they were gone, Noelle, Leah and I chatted over a bottle, ok maybe two, of wine. The guys got back, after having to give up on a cache so they could make it home in time to ring in the New Years.  

We had drinks, and played games.  We played Compatibility, and Loaded Questions.  

The pictures are blurry.  

We had so much fun, and laughed so much!  It was one of those nights where your abdomen hurts from laughing so much.  

Somewhere in their we also called my sister to FaceTime.  She was in the same condition as we all were.  Which made for some very interesting conversations.  

I don't remember who won the games.  I don't remember a lot of what was said but I remember the laughing.  

We somehow managed to stay awake until 5 am, which was quite the accomplishment for us all.  However, we weren't very productive on New Years Day.  

My Hometown: What I'll Miss

I'm saying goodbye to Fayetteville, again.  Except this time it's for Chicago.  I'm sad.  This moves hurts, it hurts to say goodbye, it hurts that we didn't make it work here.  I'll miss my family.  Pretty much my entire family lives within a 10 to 20  minute drive of our Hope Mills home.  On the other hand, there are things that I am very excited about living in Chicago for; museums and culture galore.  And 18 mile paved, running/cycle track along lake Michigan.  In honor of the city I call home, here's some other things I'll miss.

Arran Lakes has been my church home since I moved in with my Grandma when I was 4.  I have a very special relationship with church because my Grandma has been there since the church doors opened.  I know the pastor on a more personal level.  And I like that.  He preached my grandfather's funeral.  He was there the day  my Grandma was wheeled in for her mastectomy.  He baptized me when I was 12 years old and he married David and I.  He baptized David 2 years ago.  I have history with Pastor Jeff and the church.  When Riley was at Duke, they donated money to David and I, as well as countless, round the clock praying for her health.  Arran Lakes was our church home.  And they're doing things: http://www.dontgotochurch.org/.  I'm sad that I will not be here to witness this, because I believe it's going to be life changing.  

The doctor's at Fayetteville Children's Clinic are phenomenal! There are three doctor's there.  The practice is one of the oldest in Fayetteville and the founding doctor's son practices here today.  Dr. Iskander was the pediatrician for both girls.  I knew I liked her the minute she said "Honey is the only thing proven effective for coughs."  I like, and want, a doctor that doesn't push medicine on patients.  She found Riley's heart murmur, leading to the discovery of her VSD, while Riley was just hours old.  After telling this to many nurses, I know it's very uncommon for it to be found that quickly.  They are the only pediatric clinic to still round for their patients at the hospital.  

Finally, Fayetteville is becoming a city with options!  Sweetbottom's appeals to a more natural sense of parenting.  They sale cloth diapers, slings, and other products in line with a more natural approach to parenting.  They also hold classes for making your own baby legs, a baby wearer group and so forth.  

Hannah's preschool was run through the local YMCA and it's also were I went to the gym at.  It wasn't a fancy gym, but it was everything I needed.  I had a relationship with the employees and the teachers in the Prep program.  The Prep program is awesome.  I really believe the teachers; Ms. Faith, Ms. Pat, Ms. Rakia, Ms. Kat and Ms. Lisa, are there because they love working with kids.  Hannah had been there for 2 1/2 years, growing in the school with the same kids.  And Hannah loved her teachers!  I hated taking Hannah away from this program.  

The sparkling gem of Hope Mills, the owners here will help you out any way they can.  They helped orchestrate a blind taste test for us this past Christmas, which I just learned I have not blogged about yet!  Geesh, I'm behind.  

Another addition to downtown Fayetteville.  The owners are wonderful, helpful and incredibly nice.  They have a fantastic "tea time."

The Marra's.  We were together in Italy, and then together in Fayetteville.  She was always there; to listen, to help, and to entertain.  

Our small group at church.  The best group of people at Arran Lakes, or at least I

think so.  ; )

Josh and Leah.  While they don't live in Fayetteville anymore, it's where Josh's parents are, which meant that Josh and Leah will always come back to visit.  Now we're 12 hours apart and it's going to be much harder to see them!

Jared and Noelle.  These two very quickly became close friends.  Since Josh and Leah left for DC, we didn't have a "regular" set of friends.  Then we met Jared and Noelle, and they became our regular friends.  It wasn't "do you want to do something this weekend?" it was "what are we doing this weekend?" 

Dr. Miller with Duke Children's Cardiology.  This was Riley's Pediatric Cardiologist.  I love him! He was honest and took his time with David and I.  He never made us feel rushed or like our questions were unimportant.  

My backyard.  It was big and beautiful, with my flower beds and organic garden, my fruit trees and my birds.  

We had bbq's, cornhole games, vegetable and lots of water play in this backyard.  And now it'll offer someone else that same joy, hopefully.  My next backyard will be a re-creation of this one.