Sometimes people wonder how we do it so far from home and family. Our mothers will often tell us they either wish they were closer so they could help or bug us to move close to home so they can help us out some.
It definitely has its hard moments. We've definitely considered packing up and moving back home for those extra pair of hands. Lucky or not lucky for us I guess we've never experienced any other way than raising our daughters so far from family so we truly don't know how much easier or harder one way is verse the other.
Even though we do miss our families and nobody could ever replace them, we are not alone out here. In fact, we've found ourselves a third family we'd hate to leave behind. We have many great, close friends here and back home, but sometimes you have friends that are just more than friends. As anyone hopefully knows we all have many friends but even so they all have their own particular role in our lives.
As the years have gone by, we just continue to grow closer to these friends. We tend to spend at least one, if not two or three, weekends a month together. We celebrate our birthdays and even holidays together. We've taken trips together through the years, and in many ways they've become our family too.
These people have come to mean so much to us. The girls love them and think of them as family too.
Our family consists of our dear friends, Dave and Jess and their two kids, Benjamin and Gemma. As I tell Jess they're so much like family anymore I don't even feel need to play hostess anymore when they come to our house it's like having one of our siblings over. And Benjamin. Well, the girls love their Ben. The three of them have grown up together, and it always so much entertainment to watch the three of them together. It's the same with Sarah, who again is like having another sister around. She's so much like an aunt to the girls as they look forward to Sarah time when she takes them occasionally for us, and she nor us think nothing of her correcting or disciplining the girls. Then there's Aunt Jo Ellen who even though she moved three hours away for now (we think she may come back :) ) she's like the fun aunt that thinks conformity and following rules is way overrated and buys them cool stuff.
Then in Virginia we have our two friends that we unfortunately don't get to see as much as we like but over the years have spent a couple weekends a year together. That's Uncle Mike and Daphne and Tony and Sandia with Little T and now Mikayla. Again, these are people the girls, as well as us, look forward to weekends with as often as we can.
These are friends that over the years have become like family to us. We are not here alone. These people know the real us and accept and love us despite all our flaws and craziness. They aren't a replacement for the families we have back in Missouri and Pennsylvania, but we love them like family. So we're okay; we still have our village. I'd say we have a pretty damn good village. Our village expands from Maryland to Virginia to Pennsylvania to Missouri so I'd say that makes us pretty lucky.
Couldn't find many pics of us adults but here are some of the girls with T and Ben.
The holidays are coming. Be sure to check out Gymboree, Crazy 8, Little Passports, and Shutterfly for holiday shopping deals. Also Moms, Monsters, Media & Margaritas is on sale for $8 through the holidays. The book is also now available on the Amazon kindle for $3.99 and the Barnes and Noble Nook for $4.99. All sales through the holidays are going to a project for a child in need this holiday season.
It definitely has its hard moments. We've definitely considered packing up and moving back home for those extra pair of hands. Lucky or not lucky for us I guess we've never experienced any other way than raising our daughters so far from family so we truly don't know how much easier or harder one way is verse the other.
Even though we do miss our families and nobody could ever replace them, we are not alone out here. In fact, we've found ourselves a third family we'd hate to leave behind. We have many great, close friends here and back home, but sometimes you have friends that are just more than friends. As anyone hopefully knows we all have many friends but even so they all have their own particular role in our lives.
As the years have gone by, we just continue to grow closer to these friends. We tend to spend at least one, if not two or three, weekends a month together. We celebrate our birthdays and even holidays together. We've taken trips together through the years, and in many ways they've become our family too.
These people have come to mean so much to us. The girls love them and think of them as family too.
Our family consists of our dear friends, Dave and Jess and their two kids, Benjamin and Gemma. As I tell Jess they're so much like family anymore I don't even feel need to play hostess anymore when they come to our house it's like having one of our siblings over. And Benjamin. Well, the girls love their Ben. The three of them have grown up together, and it always so much entertainment to watch the three of them together. It's the same with Sarah, who again is like having another sister around. She's so much like an aunt to the girls as they look forward to Sarah time when she takes them occasionally for us, and she nor us think nothing of her correcting or disciplining the girls. Then there's Aunt Jo Ellen who even though she moved three hours away for now (we think she may come back :) ) she's like the fun aunt that thinks conformity and following rules is way overrated and buys them cool stuff.
Then in Virginia we have our two friends that we unfortunately don't get to see as much as we like but over the years have spent a couple weekends a year together. That's Uncle Mike and Daphne and Tony and Sandia with Little T and now Mikayla. Again, these are people the girls, as well as us, look forward to weekends with as often as we can.
These are friends that over the years have become like family to us. We are not here alone. These people know the real us and accept and love us despite all our flaws and craziness. They aren't a replacement for the families we have back in Missouri and Pennsylvania, but we love them like family. So we're okay; we still have our village. I'd say we have a pretty damn good village. Our village expands from Maryland to Virginia to Pennsylvania to Missouri so I'd say that makes us pretty lucky.
Couldn't find many pics of us adults but here are some of the girls with T and Ben.
The holidays are coming. Be sure to check out Gymboree, Crazy 8, Little Passports, and Shutterfly for holiday shopping deals. Also Moms, Monsters, Media & Margaritas is on sale for $8 through the holidays. The book is also now available on the Amazon kindle for $3.99 and the Barnes and Noble Nook for $4.99. All sales through the holidays are going to a project for a child in need this holiday season.
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