Oh what fun!

Well, we had a very fun weekend with Leslie's girls. Leslie was able to have a nice visit with Josh even though she was very tired and got food poisoning right before she headed home. I dropped the girls off to her on Monday night. The next morning, I found myself feeling like I was forgetting something but would realize it was just the girls not being there. It was a fun experience.
Having a 3- & 5-yr old around made me realize how big Kyrie really is. She's been quite independent in many ways for so long now that I forget how far she is from being a little girl. I love seeing her grow up and learn more things and develop that great sense of humor but it sure is bittersweet when I think of all the things she'll do again. Hatty kept showing me her "ninger" (aka "finger") which reminded me of Kyrie asking to "play with the lirds in the chicker" (aka "play with the lids in the kitchen") or how much she loved to show me her "bilbo" (aka "elbow"). She was such a funny & loving toddler who has grown into a weird, twisted little nut-job, just like we hoped. :-)
Leslie came out to visit a couple of days after her return from New Orleans. We met, as is our pattern now, at Culver's, our favorite burger joint that also serves great frozen custard. Leslie was telling me that Rea's decided it might be fun to live at Aunt Siouxsie's house. That was, of course, before she realized that choosing that would mean choosing to not live with Mom so she opted to go with Mom. :-)
Afterwards, back at the ranch (Stetson Ranch, that is, which is the name of our housing development for those who don't know), Hatty came into the kitchen to talk to me while I was chopping up some onions & tomatoes for a scout dinner. I said "Hi, Babycakes!" to her. She scowled at me and said: "I not Babycakes. I Big-Girl-cakes!" Ha, ha, ha. I laughed so hard. She's really been focused on being a big girl as Leslie's worked with her on not sucking her thumbs anymore and such. It cracked me up.
We tentatively have good family-location news. Josh, Leslie's husband, just went to San Antonio this weekend to interview for a job there. That would definitely be a much more ideal location that New Orleans for ever so many reasons, particularly the fact that it's still in Texas as well as closer. They've really been praying for direction on what to do job wise because it's very stressful having it in such limbo. Josh called her yesterday while we were shopping at Costco and said he thinks this is the job. He really liked the hospital and the people he would work with. The pay isn't all they hoped for but it's workable and comes with good benefits and opportunities. They'll still be close enough for easy visits over weekends and such. Whenever Rob goes down for more work training in Austin, I could go spend the day with her which would be too fun. While we'd definitely love for them to have stayed local, we'll smile and take this as a great 2nd option.
We're spastically excited about a second possible family move. My parents & baby sister could possibly be joining the populace of Texas as well. My dad's security job in Iraq will be ending quite soon so he's looking into other possibilities. They would prefer for him to have a job where he'd be home most of the time so would almost certainly be moving to wherever that job would be. Houston is high on the list of options right now. I can't tell you the spazzing that her email brought on here. I almost can't stand the idea, it's so exciting. With Terri & me here, Leslie's family in San Antonio and my parents potentially in Houston, we'll have a Texas Triangle. We may even design a logo and make shirts. :-) I'll keep everyone posted.
A quick update on our retarded ferrets...
We've had some serious concerns about Brody's health over the last few weeks. He keeps getting really lethargic and coughing, etc. We thought he was making having some intestinal blockage issues since that's one of the most common mishaps for ferts. We removed the source, or what we thought was the source. After careful observation, Rob realized that retard was eating bits of the carpet we have down to protect our real carpet. SO STUPID!! Hopefully this will end his health issues even though his brain damage will probably remain. :-)