It has been a week!   First, the (huge) young man who bullied Jayce last year apparently had not gotten it all out of his system and after many, many ding dong ditch attempts to irritate, he decided it would be a sly idea to dump a large amount of green goo onto my porch.  Solid idea dude.  Way to show me.  Would have been a good idea to not get caught by 2 neighbors and your own grandfather.  Hopefully, that will be the end of that.

Second (or maybe this was first...  It's a little blendy), after 3 days of thinking I smelled gas, I finally called the gas company.  Here's how it went down.  Brandon (the gas guy) shows up all ghost buster-like, wand in hand and after making a sweep of my house with it, informed me that we were not in danger of an explosion according to his wand readings.  Whew! Thanks for that.  After further assessment, his under control attitude developed a underlying level of panic.  His pace picked up as did his perspiration.  He told me later that he was trying to assess whether or not we should evacuate.  Seriously??  He had found a large gas leak in the attic next to the furnace.  Yeesh.  Smart man to recognize that the gas meter was running without the furnace or water heater being on.  Apparently, if you have to ask the homeowner (renter) to vacate, they have to call the fire dept.  After I saw him zipping to and fro, I took Flapjack outside with me. 

And Lastly, a little kung Fu gone awry.  I so badly wish I had the sense to have been filming when this happened...   Jared is the youngest, and by now I know that you cannot hinder a child's imagination by giggling at them.  So, when Jared asked me to come into the hallway to watch him, I had my game face on.   He started some karate moves, slicing, kicking, sweeping kicks,  it was all very fast and very intense.  He got going so fast that I was beginning to lose my straight face and encouraging tone, and just at that moment his front kick became his last, when it connected with his face.  It was really, really funny.   I'm laughing even now as I remember it.  Oh was he ever mad.  I could not get control of myself and the laughter.  I tried to pick him up and hug him to hide my laughing, no dice.  He was mad as a hornet.  He had quite a fat lip from it.  Love you little man.  Sorry, I know I shouldn't have laughed.  Hopefully, you'll laugh at it too someday.

 

Is this love, that I'm feelin'

Jared has a sweet friend nearby, and they play together often.   He and Hannah have been good buddies for quite some time, they are pretty well suited for one another in their equality for chaos, excitement, and joy.   Jared has recently bumped up a notch in his feelings for this little one.  Hannah, concerned, came to me to let me know that Jared had said those three little words to her.  I told her that yes, he does love her.  That they are such good friends.  "um, no he meant more than friends" came her response. 

In a chat with him later, I asked him about it, and indeed he was not talking friendship.  After a reminder about dating and the different kinds of love, I let him know that the kind of I love you he wanted to share was best kept until he is older.  To which he responded, "But mom!  I had to tell her, I was running out of time, we're moving! I had to tell her before it was too late!" 

Touché little buddy, touché.

Cuz I'm movin' out

The last 5 years have been pretty blurry as far as stability.  Not according to plan, well not according to my plan...  But an incredible journey tipping the scales with more happiness, friendships and growth than anything else.  See, I can say that in hindsight because I'm already through a whole lot of the crap that hit the fan.  I see the blessings that came out of it all. 

We landed here in this house nearly 2 years ago.  I LOVE IT HERE.  (In case heaven wants to change its mind, and I haven't been clear)  But alas, we are moving forward again.  This time, out of state.  Cedar City UT to be exact.  Yes.  Me.  Living in Utah.  It's beautiful and I love it there.  Most of the time I am filled with excitement and gratitude for the opportunity.   All of the other moments are filled with nausea, at the thought of leaving my sisters and so many dear friends. 

I am thankful my children were given the opportunity to learn how to accept change these past few years, they are such troopers.  We have spent some time up there already traipsing through the hills, hiking and exploring.  The kids were in heaven, snow and hiking?  They couldn't imagine why mom was grumbling.

So, Cheers to our last warm AZ winter.  I will miss you.