To Do: Laugh Out Loud

Oh kids, they say the darndest things!  (Not Parker...not yet!)

Example #1 (Jude, friend, age 5)
You've heard me tell you funny stories from our little friend, Jude.  You may recall he was slightly disappointed that we didn't name our baby "Usher."  Well, his family came to visit us a few weeks ago for their final trip to Little Rock. When talking about us moving, he asked "Are you moving to Big Rock?"


Example #2 (Anonymous, nephew, age 4)
I asked this particular nephew (identity not being disclose to protect those involved) to leave the bedroom so I could put my pajamas on.  He looked at me strangely and asked, "Why do you wear pajamas?"  I told him I was putting them on so I could get ready to go to bed.  His reply: "Oh, my mom and dad don't wear pajamas...they sleep naked."  Oh my!  TMI!

Example #3 (Natalie, niece, age 10)
Where you find Parker, you will find Natalie if we are all together.  So last weekend we almost always had Natalie in the car with us.  This once shy girl has really come out of her shell.  On one particular car trip, she informed Matt and I that her family was "gross."  When asked why she said that, she proceeded to outline at least one feature for each family member (except herself of course) which gave them the label "gross".  She told us about mom's bad habit scratching her head, dad's daily bathroom trip (and when Matt asked her why...she was like "duh..#2), and something about Nathan's underwear.  The best part was texting my sister to tell her that Natalie was telling us these family secrets...and watching them sweat over what we had learned!


Example #4 (Cole, nephew, age 6)
While dressing Parker one day, our nephew Cole watched.  We told him that the outfit Parker was wearing came from Texas.  He asked, "Has he been to Texas?".  I told him that he had, but he was still in my tummy.  Matt then told him that Parker had been to Arkansas, Missouri, Alabama, and Illinois.  Cole, who has speech difficulties, then asked "Has he been to Boobie?"  (meaning, the small town of Boody that is just minutes from our hometown.)

Example #5 (Nathan, nephew, age 8)
So I saved my favorite for last.  If you have ever met Nathan, this story probably won't surprise you.  The setting: my grandpa's funeral.  Since my grandpa had lived 94 years (quite amazing), his funeral wasn't a boo hoo affair.  I had the pleasure of sitting next to Nathan during the service --no, not because he likes me, but rather, he wanted first dibs on Parker after the service.  Near the end of the service, the minister had people in the crowd stand and share stories about grandpa.  After a brief silence, she asked "Does anyone else have any stories or memories they would like to share?"  Nathan leaned over and asked me in all seriousness, "Does it have to be about him?"  Oh thank goodness he asked!  Who knows what he would have said!!

To Do: Move to Illinois!

It's been a few weeks since we had anything BIG happen in our lives.  So it's time to add more spice, don't ya think?

Ready or not...we are moving again!  Peoria, Illinois here we come!!

We've actually known about this for awhile (but surely childbirth is a good reason why I haven't had the chance to blog about it yet).  Matt was asked to consider a position at the Mossville plant (1 of 4 facilities in the Peoria area) in November.  In order to not get hopes up for our family/friends back home, we decided not to tell anyone until it was final, which was shortly before Christmas.  He even snuck back for a weekend to interview (just a few weeks before I was due--luckily I didn't go into labor!)

Peoria is about 2 or 2.5 hours from where we grew up.  (Looking at the map above, we lived East of Springfield, right in the middle of the state).  So while we will be able to see our friends and family more often, this also means we can sleep in our own bed at night too!  And honestly, it sounds crazy, but I really don't know the Peoria area very well at all--so I know adventures await!  Matt is really excited about his new position.  But, I think both of us sort of dread the winter months ahead.  We have LOVED the past 4 years in the south!  Maybe in a future blog, I'll share what we will miss most.  It's pretty likely that this will be our last move for awhile--awhile, maybe not forever!

  

It is without hesitation to say that Caterpillar has been so good to us.  We are especially grateful that they are still able to offer a relocation package.  We have just started the process of trying to get our house in Arkansas on the market.  We also have a quick trip planned to Illinois this week to do our own quick version of House Hunters (one of my favorite shows!).  Since this will be our 5th house in 8.5 years, we are kind of masters.  But maybe more like picky.  Oh I hope I am not one of those annoying people who hates every house!  

Matt starts his new position mid-April--so the next few weeks/months will be oh so crazy!  But we seem to like crazy.  Maybe Matt and I are just crazy!  We're not scared of change :)  Bring it on!

So we will see some of ya'll soon (and yes--I'm still going to say ya'll)