How I fell in love with Smryna

We moved to Delaware in August of 2003. Found our house, settled and moved in at the end of September. Met our fabulous neighbors shortly thereafter and started a great friendship...but it was really the summer of 2004 that my true love affair with the town started.

By then we had really settled in and our nightly dinners in the backyard with the Klases and Smiths were so much fun. Then there was the night we heard the firehouse band playing -- and then marching right down our street! I was blown away! But the 4th of July sealed the deal -- I was head over heels in love.

This was the Mayberry I'd always dreamed of. A wonderful hometown parade that featured the firehouse band, the firetrucks, local politicians kissing babies and shaking hands and lots of area businesses too. The park was turned into a carnival with contests, live (local) music and lawn mover races. We were so impressed that evening too when the fireworks show exceeded our expectations for two small towns combining their efforts.

Each year it's been the same love story - one year we entered Francesca and her cousin Sophia in the cutest baby contest (they did great, each receiving a ribbon!) -- 4 years ago Joe Biden walked our parade shaking hands as a presidential candidate. This is what the 4th of July should be like everywhere. I'm going to miss it -- and I wish it had been about 10 degrees cooler so we could have enjoyed the carnival on the 4th - but we saved it for Friday.

My Independence Day Celebrations will never be the same. Thank You Smyrna for fulfilling my childhood dream of what it should be -- living up to the small town ideal.

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The Baby of the Family turns 11!

June 28th, 2001 was a Thursday -- just as June 28th, 2012 was!  Francesca Lee Baber made her way into the world at 9 in the evening at Basset Hospital on Fort Wainwright Army Base in Fairbanks Alaska.  She was delivered by our good friend Vince Barnhart.  Eleven years later I'm still in love with her.  She's not perfect (I just picked her towel off the bathroom floor), but she's pretty close.
I feel like I have this one last year to enjoy her "little girl" time.  Next year she'll be out of Primary and in the Young Women's program at church -- truly a pre-teen.  I'm so not ready for that.
On Francesca's Birthday, Francesca, Tori and I went to see "Brave" at the theater and had lunch in the food court.  We enjoyed the movie -- kind of a perfect movie for Moms and Daughters!  
A friend of ours told me years ago that in her large family they designated certain birthdays as "party" years.  When you turn 5, 8, 12, and 16 you could have a party.  I thought this was a fantastic idea.  So we adopted it as our own -- but Tori totally made out with multiple parties before its institution.  Poor Francesca on the other hand only had a party when she was 5.  The 8 year old party we moved back a couple of years -- never seemed like we got it all together in time to pull it off -- we often were on the road or had company during that time period (not that we didn't celebrate -- it just wasn't a kid party).  So finally she got her party this year.  I guess that means she'll get back to back parties next year -- with new friends -- but it's definitely going to be more low key.  Birthday parties are just so pricey even when you're trying to go cheap!!
So Francesca decided she wanted a Lego themed party.  She's our Tom Boy.  I did a Pinterest search and found some really cute ideas -- we didn't go as overboard as some but I think we had a really good time.  We had planned a couple of games centered around Legos but what transpired was everyone playing in the water outside.  It was total mayhem and they loved it.  We had two slip and slides going on and a baby pool with 20 water guns ready and waiting. There were a few water balloons but the night's previous storm pretty much demolished the small reserve we'd started.
We had a nice group of kids -- pretty evenly split between boys and girls.  Francesca received some nice gifts too.  It was a really fun day -- and playing in the water felt good with all the heat.  I was so beat afterwards -- and can't say I was disappointed when church was cancelled because the power hadn't been restored yet (more damage from the storm).
I'm glad to say she finally got a birthday party -- and with her childhood friends too.  We joked later that the only thing that would have made it better was if Dad could have been there and it ended with dinner at Old Mill for crabs -- sigh -- somethings aren't meant to be.  We're still looking forward getting to Old Mill before the end of the summer!

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Home Again Home Again Jiggity Jig

Well school is done... Francesca's last day at PCA was eventful. Sunday late night/early morning I realized the snuggle bunny lying next to me in bed was warm. Very warm. In the morning we took her temp - 101. She desperately wanted to go and say good-bye and of course it was field day which is always so much fun. So we took some Tylenol and it came down to 99 and I took her to school. I let her teacher know what was happening and that I'd be on standby to pick her up if she started feeling badly. The phone rang about 11:30 from the nurse. Francesca was sick and throwing up -- she continued the rest of the day with fever and vomiting. We talked about it later that perhaps this was a tender mercy. She'd been dreading the final good-byes and yet when I picked her up, getting home was all she cared about.

Two days later we went to visit Barry in Ohio. We had a really fun few days with our Enon crew. We attended a flag retirement ceremony, sang karoke, went roller skaing, played putt-putt, registered at the new school - did some house hunting, and did a few chores too. On the way home we visited with the Carons in Lore City - Francesca enjoyed her day as a mermaid barely emerging from the pool long enough to eat. It was a jam packed week and a half.

Coming home to Delaware was bittersweet. We love this house and this town. I realized it was probably my last "homecoming" here - and the house was so neat and tidy that it didn't quite feel like mine. It took a little bit to feel "lived in" again - but the joy of sleeping in my own bed again helped a LOT! It was also wonderful to see Tori again -- she's doing great and loving her roommates and new home.

We've had a few showings but no offers yet on the house. I'm working very hard on letting go of anxiety and trusting that all will happen in the Lord's way and time. I know when I saw this house it was mine -- that I was lead to it and there was no doubt that it was prepared for our family. I hope that the next family who's supposed to live here is praying too -- for a special to call their own and that they too will feel lead here. I just hope they find it soon! Limboland is not my favorite place to reside but I'm learning to let go and let God. After a long prayer this afternoon I'm feeling much better! I know He's mindful of me and my anxieties, what I need to learn and how much we need to be together again as a family.

The Retirement Ceremony

How it looked before - 9000 flags!

Cesca singing karoke with Uncle Dave and Dad -- she sang quite a few with Sophie too!

David at Skyborn Skateland

Udders of Putters at Youngs!

Taking Time to Smell...the Azaleas!

Okay -- so Azaleas don't really have a fragrance but Francesca and I took time this morning to enjoy their beauty. Everywhere I've ever lived I've always been in a panic when I know I'm leaving...all those places to go and see that I haven't gotten around to. There are tons of places in this area that fall in that category. But today I get to check one off my list -- this home in Odessa. Here's an article about how it came to be: http://www.middletowntranscript.com/news/x876167045/Odessa-in-full-bloom

The Primary Song, "I think the World is Glorious" kept going through my mind as we were walking their yard today. What a wonderful thing to share with everyone -- it might not be Longwood Gardens but it was awesome to think that one family could accomplish this without charging admission!! We weren't alone this morning either - one lady I talked to for a second said it was her third time there this week!

Francesca told me that this was a testimony to her of how much her Heavenly Father loves her -- I couldn't agree more. So grateful for my sweet daughter who has learned this life lesson from her parents and grandparents -- to look for the beauty and feel the testimony. I sing and sing and sing and sing - a song of joy and love. I sing and sing and sing and sing my thanks to God above.

The Craft Room - sigh

Today I dismantled my craft room; my much wanted, often neglected, rarely used craft room. I'm frustrated with myself. It's a small room and so it was necessary to keep it organized in order to use it -- and there was the crux of the problem. I feel like any time I wanted to use it I would have to spend time making space (often due to my children) - organizing, organizing, organizing!! And that doesn't leave much energy for being creative.
So looking at all these supplies and memorabilia waiting to be made into fabulous scrapbooks has me frustrated and determined that in our next place I set up a room as "my space" -- no kids allowed and I set some "my time" aside -- no kids allowed either. I did really enjoy looking through the few things I have created.

I'm determined to graduate from a scrapbook supply collector to a scrapbook maker!!

No one blogs anymore!

Kind of sad to see that Facebook has been the nemesis of our family blog. Especially because Facebook is just tiny bits of info and doesn't generally tell a story. I think I'll try to resurrect our blog -- really tell our story, even if does take more effort -- it's worth it in the end.

Currently our family is preparing to sell our home in Smyrna Delaware and most of us are moving to Ohio -- Tori is electing to stay in Delaware at least that's the plan for now.

I'll post our journey here and snippets on Facebook.

Our last project was updating our kitchen -- took about two weeks (8 days of solid work). We're hoping the new owners will love it as much as we do. No lie -- I'm not happy that someone else is going to benefit from all our hard work -- lived in this house for 8 years and finally have the changes accomplished all to leave it -- not cool at all! But it is what it is -- and I'll get over it -- but you better believe I'm not going to wait 8 years in the next house!!!

1st day of 3rd Grade

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