See ya later!

Tonight Madison had (indoor) soccer practice and then we met B&P, Michelle, Archie and Jade for supper at Chili's. Peyton came along too.
On the way to soccer practice Madison and Peyton were all animated about their lunch with Uncle Archie today at school. Lots to tell... which event should I mention here?? OK, the candy. He brought Madison a Snickers bar and gummy bears and tried to give them to her at lunch. Candy is "against the school laws" and so she told him she couldn't take them (what a good student). I guess later when she took off her snow pants in her classroom, she found the candy was hidden inside her snow pants! "How embarrassing!" Now Quinn and Nate on the other hand... happily accepted the forbidden candy at lunch time and hid it in Nate's lunchbox (such boys). It really is much more interesting to hear the girls tell these stories. I bet their lunch stories lasted at least 20 minutes. Peyton now has a good taste of Uncle Archie!!

Michelle and Archie are leaving for their big move to Kansas tomorrow, to Fort Riley. Michelle and Jade have been here since the beginning of October. Archie came about 10 days ago. It's always so hard to say good-bye. We long ago decided that "see ya later" was a much better way to part from family. Madison and Quinn had a few tears... OK, it was more like weeping, sobbing and difficulty catching their breath. Quinn basically bawled all the way home from the restaurant. This all makes me cry too so we were just one big mess! Quinn promptly ran up to his room and 5 minutes later came down for some tape. He had taken the poster on his door, turned it over and wrote "I will always remember you Archie" twice on it and then taped a little wallet sized picture of him on it and taped it back up on his door. He then laid down on his bed and bawled some more. It was just heartbreaking. I tried to put it into perspective but he was having none of it. Madison hugged me and just sobbed too. Unfortunately there have been some long periods of time in between getting to see him .... he's been on 2 tours to Iraq etc... We are hoping to see them again this next summer but that seems forever away for kids. We are going to pray that he doesn't get deployed again before then!!!! Jade has Uncle Tony wrapped around her finger and she had an especially long hug for him. Tonight we prayed for extra special blessings for their family as they start the Kansas chapter in their lives. Our Kansas family will be happy to welcome them to their neck-of-the-woods. They are only about 1-2 hours away I think.

Well, I didn't sleep well last night. Tony had to be in Indy overnight and I was restless with too many things in my mind. I better get to bed tonight!

Love to all, Leah