Home Kentucky Home

We have officially moved in!

And thanks to a sweet new neighbor who brought over that gorgeous bunch of blue hydrangeas, it's feeling more and more like home every day.

What Day Is It?

I don't really know where to start since my last post.

Things have been a massive blur since the Niagara Falls trip.

Daniel didn't have any days off the last two weeks before moving out of Cleveland.

Which meant I had the unfortunate job of doing the majority the packing.
With a five-year-old and two-year-old at home.

There was a certain little munchkin who loved unpacking my finished boxes, popping all the bubble-wrap, and writing on the hardwood stairs with a giant Sharpie (praise Jesus for Magic Eraser).
I won't name any names, but I will say she looks insanely cute sitting on the ramp of a moving truck...



Despite the total madness, e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g. got packed, and I only had 490,234 a few meltdowns in the process.
We all gathered in front of the house for a last family photo and even in that moment it already seemed so bizarre to me that we actually lived in Cleveland for a year.

What's even crazier is realizing just how much has changed in these past five years of residency and fellowship.

Father's Day Weekend 2009 moving to Oklahoma ---- Father's Day Weekend 2014 moving to Kentucky.

It's been the fastest and slowest time of our lives.
I'm exceedingly excited to begin a new chapter.
Even if it has already started out like a nightmare episode Seinfeld.
More on that later...

The Unexpectedly Spontaneous Memorial Day

The original plan was for Daniel to take a trailer to Kentucky filled with his old childhood bedroom furniture. It was supposed to be a quick 24-hour solo trip, but then we decided (on a whim) to load up everyone.

There was a moment, I thought to myself, "Are we really doing this!?", which was also around the time I thought, "Why did I just hand them juice during an 8+ hour car ride?!"

 

The ride went insanely well, and the girls were crazy good.
Before we knew it, we were in Kentucky!
And the next morning I was holding the cutest nephew in the world...

And Aubrey was riding a bike down Grammy and Pop Pop's driveway...

And Mina was running through a cold sprinkler in the backyard...

 It was such a unexpectedly memorable Memorial Day weekend!

Coming Up for Air

This poor old blog.
So neglected.
I had to look back to see what the last post was about -- how sad is that?

So.
Time for an update!

We left Oklahoma the first week in June and went to Kentucky to visit family.

Wait, let me back up a second...

I had one last Mom's Night Out with my best friends in Oklahoma.
They gave me a scrapbook that they had all filled with pictures and favorite memories of us together.
I cried (hard) right there at the table at Othello's.
These ladies were sent straight from Heaven.
I miss them so much my heart hurts...

The day before we bid adieu to Oklahoma, Aubrey was going to see her best friend (Lauren) one last time. That morning her mom let me know that Lauren woke up with the stomach bug. When I broke the news to Aubrey she was beyond heartbroken. She had been working on a special photo album to give Lauren filled with pictures of the two of them since they were 1-year-old. We decided to go to her house and let them say their goodbyes through the window. It was the most heart-wrenching goodbye I've ever witnessed. Aubrey (and I) cried the entire way back home, poor Mina even started crying because of us! Best friends are so special -- it's devastating when you have to say good-bye.

Here was the front/back cover of the album (notice the broken hearts), and a snippet of what Aubrey told me to write on the inside. My favorite line: And I hope that you know I love you more than rainbows.

Goodness...it was such an emotional time!
That afternoon we packed up a trailer to take to Kentucky and unload long-term storage items (we really didn't want to bring EVERYTHING to Cleveland for one measly year!).

The LONG drive from OKC to KY has never been easy.
This was our first time to travel a long distance with BOTH girls and a 12 foot U-haul.
It was...an adventure.

And in case you're wondering what was going on in the photo above...

After over 13 hours of (delirious) driving, we rolled into Kentucky just in time for a gender reveal party!

My sister is going to have a baby boy! I'm going to be an aunt!
We don't have many boys around our family, so this will certainly be a fun change!

The rest of our time in Kentucky was crammed packed with visits and trying to find some time to just relax!

 

Before Daniel drove back to Oklahoma to finish up the rest of the packing, I wanted to have a celebratory dinner in honor of his completion of residency. To say we are proud of him would be a massive understatement. 

Because of timing and logistics, the girls and I stayed in Kentucky while Daniel officially graduated from residency. A fellow resident wife sent me this pic of the graduation. Daniel also won the RSNA Research Award. Seriously...the man is a stud!

There were five graduates in Daniel's class, and they each had a slideshow to chronicle their life up to this point. Here was the slideshow for Daniel...he's come a long way! :)

Dan Riherd from Ashley Riherd on Vimeo.

We kept ourselves busy while he was gone by going to Holiday World, for starters...

Aubrey and Mina had a BLAST. They each rode every ride that was available for their age/size.
I didn't take any pictures during the waterpark, but they both cried when it was time to leave. The true sign of kids having fun! :)

We also made our way to a nearby zoo...

(Aubrey's perfecting her "wink")

We even squeezed in some fun time with friends!

This is Miss Aubrey and Miss Vivian sharing a sweet hug while they played on the most incredible playground I've ever seen! Miss V's mama and I are childhood friends -- I'm sad we didn't get a picture together! Then again, it was blazing hot that day and we were both puddles of sweat after chasing our littlest ones around all morning!

Then we had a fun visit with my bestest friend since preschool Sunday School! Aunt Lay Lay!!

And last but most certainly not least...(before Daniel left for Oklahoma) our dear friend Ann Wade drove ALL the way to Owensboro to see us! Daniel actually planned it (Husband of the Year Award) and had her bring her camera. Check out her blog to see some of the photos she took! I am absolutely obsessed with them -- she captured our crazy little family perfectly!

And lastly, both my sister and I were together to celebrate our Dad on Father's Day!
I can't remember the last time this happened!

In fact, we were able to spend so much time together, we all started dressing alike... :)

It was the perfect couple of weeks to get ourselves geared up for the big move to Cleveland!

A Double Scoop of Bittersweet

It's hard to prepare a 4-year-old for a 1,052 mile / cross-country move.

Especially when she LOVES her friends, her school, her whole entire life!

We've read books, incorporated her in packing up boxes, let her choose toys/clothes to donate, and talked about moving for awhile; but I knew we needed something concrete. 

A way to give her closure on saying good-bye.

A last Hurrah!, if you will.

So, with all the luxurious free-time we have before the big move (major sarcasm), I invited all her friends (playgroup and school) to an Ice Cream / Park Farewell Party.

We hired Roxy's Ice Cream Social and stamped FREE! on an ice cream notepad to hand out to our guests. We brought lots of sand toys, ice cream bubbles, ice cream cone sidewalk chalk, and lots of bottled waters.

It was the perfect, low-key way for Aubrey to see and play with each friend one last time.

{Maddox, Owen, Edie, Milan, Scout, Lauren, Evie, Sydney, Graham, John, Claire, Logan, Landry, Jack, Jake, Ellie, Nicholas, Andrew, and Gracie.}

The kids all had a great time.
And the ice cream was seriously delicious...even mixed with a few tears.

It was a memorable, bittersweet day.

Less Than One Month and Other Craziness

We will be leaving Oklahoma in less than a month.
Oh goodness...I cannot fully process that right now.

Another crazy factoid: this sweet little ball of preciousness has been home for almost four months.
She is like a giant bear hug from God.

The vehicle Mina was driving in the picture above was actually a truck Daniel borrowed to help us move into our temporary rental home here in OKC. Less than two weeks before we thought we were going to be living here, our neighbors down the street said their buyer fell through. They called us and offered their house for us to rent. Um, gee...let me think. YES!
In the midst of moving down the street, life didn't stop.
It actually didn't slow down one tiny bit, which would have been helpful!

There were end of school activities like Teacher Appreciation and the Big Wheel Rally!
Aubrey was kind of a rockstar. At one point she was lapping kids! I'd post video, but then it would just seem like I'm totally bragging (which I kind of am...) Some of the parents were asking Daniel, "So does she ride her big wheel at home all the time?!" and Daniel said, "We don't even have a big wheel at home!" The one she rode was one of the big wheels the school provided for those who didn't have one! Hilarious!
She also LOVED getting to see her teacher outside of school hours. Mrs. Gebb is incredible. We miss her already!


And then, a Derby Party!!
My friend Jennifer hosted this year, and it was amazing (of course)!
She even hired a bartender to serve Mint Juleps and other festive beverages!
It was SO much fun!

I'm sure most of you saw this on my Facebook page or Instagram, but here's Miss Aubrey all decked out on race day. She called herself a fancy Oklahoma cowgirl -- it broke my bluegrass heart.

Speaking of heartbreaking...Aubrey had her last day of school a week ago. 

When I started to get sad over how fast she's grown in 9 months, I compared the two batches of pictures from the beginning of the year and realized that she's still my sweet, quirky, hilarious girl...

Aubrey on the last day of 4-year-old preschool:

Aubrey on the first day of 4-year-old preschool:

Before Aubrey's last day of school, Mina and I met our sweet friends at a park.
I really love it when I can let Mina play with other kids her age. It was such a fun morning with just us girls!

And before Summer Break started, we were also able to meet a precious new friend, Miss Vivi Cate who lives a couple of hours away. She and Mina are the same age. Her Mama and I became friends through the adoption process and just missed being able to travel to China together by one measly week. These girls were so precious together. I would swear they were speaking Chinese the whole time...

Riiiiight before we moved down the street, our beloved friends from Las Vegas made a pit stop in Oklahoma on their way to Indiana. Aubrey was so excited to have a slumber party!
(Poor Mina was already conked out when we took this picture.)

This was the last time Carson and Aubrey saw eachother! Incredible how time flies!

See, life didn't slow down one bit!

And it doesn't look it will any time soon...

Be back when I can catch my breath again!