Farewell for Now, 'Nati :|

[#backdated.entry]

Did I mention it's amazing to be visiting back home? Well, you should've gathered by now that it's incredible seeing familiar faces, going to old favorite hangouts, venturing into new places that didn't exist when I last lived there, and above all realizing that I am still home in Cincinnati.

We visited our old church for the service this morning, not realizing it was a baptism Sunday. Andrea Jones and one of the youth girls made their show of faith with Pastor Poe today, and it was a blessing for us to be witnesses to the event. Congratulations!


baptisms @ new harmony!
congratulations, andrea!!

Another thing I dearly miss about New Harmony is hearing Julie sing each week. There are some people who can "sing" [I sometimes fit into that category], and then there are people who can SING. Julie is the latter, among the ranks of say, Trish here at Towerview. She picked a great song, too; definitely not a shabby Sunday to be at New Harmony!


julie singing - beautiful!

After church, we made a quick stop by Mindi's, who was our full time in-home daycare gal whenever we still lived in Cincinnati. Since Sydni is scheduled to stay a week with Joe's mom, she'll be spending the weekdays at Mindi's while Sandy's working. It was incredible to see them again, to catch up, but ultimately to know that Sydni is going to in good hands all around while I'm back in Illinois. 

love love love & LOVE her.

It was then off to It's Just Crepes downtown to rendezvous with Jimmy & Mo -- WAIT A MINUTE! Aren't you in Cincinnati still?! -- << I know, right?! As it so happened, Mo's sister lives up here, and she got married yesterday, too. That put the Prescotts on our turf on the same weekend we were scheduled to be here, so of course we wanted to show them around some of our favorite spots. Oh, and I did their maternity pictures, too! I can't show you those just yet, because they've still not seen them. Nothing personal, and don't worry, I'll have them up soon. I can however, give you a glimpse of the best photographer's assistant, ever... Haha.

*sigh.
So obviously this is backdated, but the good news is, I'm back safe and sound in Illinois and getting ready to take on the week sans husband and child. Holy smokes.. I may actually get this place clean after all! ;)

And
heeeeeere

we.... GO.

xo | cmd

Easter 2012

#back.dated.entry,yo.

It's technically Monday right now, but since I hear it's bad safety etiquette - or something - to blog while driving, this is the best I can do.

Easter girl!

So Easter itself pretty much flew right on by. It started early when we were up and at it, en route to our old stomping grounds at New Harmony Baptist Church for the Easter service. It was such a welcome refresher seeing all the familiar faces from our time there; it blew me away at how grown all the smaller kids seemed. Since we'd left, a new pastor has taken the reigns, rendering not only a beautiful service for everyone, but the baptism of little Ashley. As a sidenote, seeing the little kids get baptized, while such a warming feeling, makes me feel all that much older. Given the reason, though, I don't mind one bit! We were blessed to be present for it! My parents joined us, and the lot of us headed to lunch afterwards before trailing back to the apartment and undertake the process of switching everything from our car to my parents' for Sydni's weeklong vacation with them. Since distance is now a small obstacle with us living in IL, it's less frequent that they see her, so a week at a time now is the best conducive solution. Plus, it'll be a small breather for me since Joe will be flying back to Atlanta in a day or two.

my family. love love love.

Anyhow, we changed clothes and headed over to Joe's Aunt Sis' house, where the annual Easter crowd was already gathering. We arrived to find the food already coming out of the oven, and while final preparations were happening in the kitchen, we spent time catching up with family members we hadn't seen in quite some time. Chrissy and I got to talking about her upcoming endeavor of hiking the Appalachian trail, starting at the south end and completing the entire thing. She looks fabulous, and I envy the adventure on which she's about to embark. If I had 6 months of spare time, I'd be all over it. We all sat down to eat mid afternoon, on an invisible schedule centered around the egg hunt. We stayed on track.


three generations of ladies of joe's family: sandy. nicki. katelynn
[joe's cousin] chrissy & me

kiddies getting ready: katie & billy | sydni

dad & joe

This egg hunt is a big deal. Not only do they stash over 225 eggs in their backyard for the findings, they fill those things with everything from the standard chocolate [which is usually half-melted by the sun by the time we get to it, making for lovely kiddie fingers!] all the way up to $20 bills. I happened across one of those golden eggs this year, and am proud to say I finally beat my husband at something: egg hunt earnings. Hahaha. It doesn't take much, I know.

$$$ money eggs! $$$

cousins :)

The next almost 7 hours following the egg hunt can only be summarized as travel time. I made the trip alone back to IL, and after getting caught up in some late night road construction and a carwash to remove the blanket of black bugs plastered on my front end, I'm here, now, just shy of 12:30AM.


gorgeous sunset

It's back to work, tomorrow. Needless to say, I'm out :)
xo | cmd

BUBBLES!!

Visiting our old church today was a bit bittersweet. We are moving our membership to our new church in Belleville, but not because we don't love New Harmony. I'm pretty sure everyone understands, but it's still a little sad to know that we're no longer "official" members of this church.

Today was apparently polka dot day for all the little girls: Charli and Sydni had on the exact same dress, while Ellie and little Sadie were both sporting different colored dots. Everyone had bubbles, which is a huge hit with little ones.

What I know I'm going to miss the most about New Harmony are the people that attend. Our pastor there [Pastor Jeff & Katrina] have been nothing but open and helpful to us, and we wouldn't have been able to make a lot of our hardest decisions the right way without their guidance.

Not to mention, the kids always have a good time together, and it was our pleasure to have Sydni spend the wedding night on Friday overnight with them.

mcclain kids | dills kid

After church, we made a stop at KP's mom [&Pete's] new house out in Batavia. The place is enormous, and absolutely beautiful. KP hasn't seen it yet, but she's in for a nice little treat. From there, we swung by Goldstar and headed back to Joe's mom's to spend some good quality time with her before we hit the road back to IL.

Now here we are, back in the Land of Lincoln, unwilling but ready nonetheless to head back to our jobs tomorrow.

I wouldn't trade this weekend for the world.

xo | cmd