OUR LAST DAY IN PEORIA

Tuesday was our last day in Peoria. It started out with doughnuts, cinnamon rolls and coffee from Starbucks.......what else were we to do with our whole kitchen packed in boxes? :)

The movers arrived early and worked hard loading all day until they drove away at about 10:00pm......

We spent our last afternoon playing and visiting with our friends in the neighborhood.

Jeff was in-charge of kid activities for awhile --

First, he arranged the races.....

Then he took turns spinning each of the kids by their ankles. This is Maleah going in circles while the other kids patiently wait in line......

Finally, it was time for everyone to rest -- on Jeff.....

I spent the afternoon wandering around saying good-bye trying not to cry.....

These 4 girls -Maleah, Allison, Rena & Madeillene - spent a lot of time together in the past year......

Along with Cameron also.....

We all had a great time with and will miss The Ortiz Family.....

Cameron also spent a lot of time with his friend Joey.....

And he spent MANY hours after school with Franco building with Lego's and playing outside.....

This is how John and Jeff spent many evenings in the past year (trying to ignore everything happening around them) - although they usually had a beer in their hands.....

After all of the fun of the day it was time to say good-bye. Everyone gave big hugs and kisses.....

And finally, we had to kick all of our friends out of the rental van so that we could head over to the hotel for a few hours of sleep before getting on the airplane Wednesday morning.

Our year in Peoria went by fast, but while we were there we made some great friends that will definitely be missed!!!!!

THE FIRST TO GO

The van was the first thing to get loaded and head towards California. It was picked up on Monday afternoon.....

.....and it's here already!! The van arrived in San Diego today -- with Rena's bunny safely inside!

Rena's sad bunny story:

Before the van was loaded Rena chose 2 things that she wanted to take on the airplane with her - her build-a-bear bunny was one of the things that she wanted to take -- which was fine until she fell asleep in our van while picking up the rental van and we forgot to carry the bunny in the house when we carried Rena in. Needless to say Rena was not very happy when we realized that bunny would be making the trip cross-country in the van rather than on the airplane with Rena.

Rena's other thing that she chose to take on the airplane with her was her new Koala bear that she got at her last dance class. Unfortunately when we left to get the rental car Rena left Koala at the house and the packers packed it up. They had no idea where it got packed and at that point we had way too many boxes to start opening them up looking for it. Luckily, Rena had one other bunny that was still out that she was happy to bring on the airplane with her -- we kept a tight hold on that bunny until everything was packed up and we were on our way!!! :)

HE'S BACK

Jeff made it back to Peoria yesterday to help with the final move. The kids were so excited that he was here and attacked him in the airport!

IT'S DOWN.....AGAIN

Today is day #1 of packing and the first thing to come down was the play-toy in the backyard. Luckily, we are taking it with us again!

Packing is going on today and Monday, Jeff is arriving tomorrow afternoon, loading and leaving is happening on Tuesday (of our things), leaving (of us) is happening on Wednesday!

RENA'S DANCE RECITAL

OK, so it wasn't the actual recital, but it was as close as I could get!

I have been having a really hard time with the fact that Rena is going to miss her dance recital because of our move to California. She has been in this dance class since September and they have been practicing for the recital pretty much since day one. So when we sold the house and found out that we would be moving 2 weeks before the recital I have been debating on what to do........do we stay for it? do we fly back for it? When it came right down to it - she wasn't nearly as upset missing it as I thought she would be. SO, they got their costumes in class today, tried them on and did their recital piece for all of the moms that were there. I was able to convince Rena that this was her special recital and that instead of being here for the real recital she would get to be in San Diego with her daddy.....she thought that sounded like a GREAT idea!

Their dance was to Puff the Magic Dragon......aren't they cute little dragons?!! :)

They were selling bears and koala's at class today that have the "Kim's Academy of Dance" name on their little t-shirts so I let Rena pick one out to take home with her.

Rena, her new Koala and one of her teachers, Miss Katie.

We even went out to celebrate a "job well done" after the "recital".......Rena shared her chocolate ice-cream with Koala.

Maleah got to celebrate also........after all she did earn it by sitting through class every week for the past 9 months.

Do you think I can convince Rena to be a dragon next Halloween???..........

FRIENDS, FOOD AND FUN

Last night the kids and I went over to my friends house, The Fernandes, that lives in Bloomington, IL - about an hour away from us here in Peoria. I had a great evening visiting and eating while the kids did lots of playing! Stephanie and I went to high school together, lived together for a while in college and now have kids close to the same age. It was a nice night and I was so glad that we got to see the whole family before we head to California next week.

The kids had a blast in the bouncy house in the backyard.

Time to eat.....Stephanie made us a delicious meal!

Stephanie and Stefanie!

Maleah, Rena, Amaya, Cameron, and Aiden.

Silly kids.....time to take them home and get to bed! :)

MY MOTHER'S DAY

My Mother's Day Celebrations actually started a day early when Peggy and Tami arrived to visit. After unloading the car and saying "hi", Tami had a talk with all 3 kids and had them each tell her something I like and something that they would want to give me for mother's day. After she had her list from the kids she headed over to the nearest store. When she got back Cameron just couldn't hold out until Sunday so he gave me part of his gift on Saturday night -- a red rose and a special hat that he made for me. Then, this morning I got the rest -- Maleah thought I would want a purple headband and Rena thought I would want a yellow one......(Tami did really good on these requests and found some cute headbands that the girls will probably wear a lot). They all said that I liked ice tea so I got 2 bottles of Arizona ice tea. I also got a box of junior mints and a new hair brush. Everything was great - I had fun, the kids had fun and I'm pretty sure Tami had fun.........Thanks Tami for thinking of me!

Here's me wearing the hat that Cameron made along with the kiddos and the red rose.....

Cameron and I and the rose.....

Rena and I and a card that she made for me at preschool.....

(In case you are wondering what's wrong with Rena - she wasn't feeling good today.....the poor girl could barely keep her eyes open for the picture.)

Maleah and I and a coupon that she got for me at gymnastics that can be redeemed for "one big hug"......

I REALLY HATE GOOD-BYES

We had a fun weekend!

Peggy and Tami came to visit us on Saturday night one last time before we move.

Peggy and the girls.....


Tami brought Oliver with her and Cameron thought he was great! He liked holding his leash and running around with him in the yard. He didn't, however, like it when Oliver ate his legos!

It was a little chilly, but we decided some fresh air at lunch time would do everyone good.....

And then, the weekend ended and we had to say good-bye.....

We had a great year being so close to Peggy and Tami. We will miss them in Illinois, but look forward to seeing them visit us in California!!

I HATE GOOD-BYES

Unfortunately we had to start our good-byes this past weekend......

The kids and I went to Naperville to see Peggy, Tami, Kari, Craig, Carter, Noah and Rylee before we leave for San Diego. It was another fun weekend with them, but not as fun as usual at the end.

We spent Saturday afternoon at The Naperville Convention Center watching Craig perform with his band at a Disabilities Resource Fair being held there. Kari and Craig own a music therapy business called Creative Exchange Music Therapy Clinic and Craig is in the band called The Naturals. The band has 4 members and 2 of them have autism. It was really great to see them perform and amazing and inspiring to see how these 2 people deal with and overcome the challenges associated with autism. The band even had a couple of the younger kids from the Clinic that have autism get up and sing with them. It was a fun afternoon and I was really glad that I got to see Craig "in action"! :)

The Naturals - Maurice Snell, Craig Christiansen, Dan Massey and Terry Bracey.

Peggy and Rylee were dancing to the music!

Tami, Rylee, Noah, Cameron and Rena wanted to perform when the band was taking a break!

Tami and Maleah were enjoying the show!

It was a long afternoon for the kids so during the show they took a little break, went outside and ran some races!

Noah, Rena, Carter, Cameron and Maleah outside resting after their running!

After the show we all headed over to Tami's condo for some pizza and some more fun.....

Rena, Carter and Maleah being silly!

Noah, Cameron, Carter and Rena still being silly!

The girls had to get in one more "hold" of Rylee before we had to say good-bye.....

Maleah and Rylee

Rena and Rylee

It was a long, fun day and didn't take long for the kids to crash in Peggy's bed! (Cameron got moved so that Peggy would have somewhere to sleep also!)

Luckily, when we got ready to leave on Sunday Peggy decided that she wasn't quite ready to say a final good-bye yet so she is going to come visit us next weekend here in Peoria. I was very happy to get to postpone one hard good-bye!

I LOVE YOU TO PIECES!

Rena's preschool had a special night tonight for the kids and their moms. It was really nice to get to spend some time with Rena and have her show me all around her school -- she loved it and so did I!

Rena and her teachers - Miss Jennifer and Miss Jill.

A picture of Rena and I that Rena drew for me at school.

CITRINE DRIVE

We have a new home............

.....and are ready to go to California!!

We are scheduled to be packed, loaded and on our way to San Diego on May 19th......(well, at least all of our stuff is going to be leaving on the 19th)......we will probably fly out of Peoria on May 20th.

We are looking forward to starting yet another chapter of our lives. We are excited about our new home, the neighborhood, the school district, the beach and the nice weather (and some yardwork)..........and hopefully many visitors!!

CAMERON'S NOTICE

Lately Cameron has been practicing his writing and spelling whenever he gets the chance -- especially since I got this new paper that he can practice sentences on. So over the weekend Cameron came up with this little sign for his bedroom door.............

He had to ask me how to spell a couple of things (like available - which I didn't realize he already had the "a" there -- which is why it says "a available" and tomorrow - which he already had the "to" there - which is why it says "to tomorrow". He did a great job on the rest of it and now I'm just trying to figure out if this notice was meant for me or his sisters!

(If you can't read it in the picture it says "Sorry i am not a available. Please try to see if i am a available to tomorrow.")

SPRING PICTURES

I've gotten into the habit the past couple of years of having the kids pictures taken together in the spring -- after the girls pick out spring dresses. It usually happens because I let Rena pick out a dress for her birthday pictures, then Maleah begs to get a pretty dress also and I give in.......because the dresses are so cute and "springy" - and I am ready for spring!!

So, here are this years pictures..........

Cameron - 6 years old, Rena - 5 years old, Maleah - 3 years old

I even got in one of the pictures this year. With Jeff living in San Diego right now I had one picture taken with me in it so that we could send it to Jeff -- don't want him to forget that he has a wife along with those 3 kids! :)