Laura Vegas

i’ll start with james. this past friday james had his last day here at our daycare. such a sweet little boy.

we have known for a few months that he was leaving. his dad got a job transfer out to georgia. most of their stuff has already been out there for the past few weeks. he was always so cute telling us that "my racecar is in georgia" … "my bed is in georgia" … "my truck is in georgia".  other moms that came to pick up would ask him where he was going … and he would reply in his sweet little voice "i’m going to georgia".

i have never really gotten too many photos of him since he’s been coming here … which i think has been about 9-10 months. any time i had my camera out he would give me these super serious, "what the heck are you doing" type looks. but i was determined last week to get some good shots of him before he left … going to have these mailed off to him along with some i took of him and all the girls. of course the look he was giving me the most the other day was this one … his "wink".

we will miss james. we will miss his never-ending questions … the ones he would ask over and over and over … even after you had already answered him. lol! it’s one of the things i would always laugh at. he would ask me something … i would answer him … he would ask me again … i would answer again … and on and on. i also loved when he told me he was sorry … even though he hadn’t done anything wrong. like when i would ask him to help me pick up the toys. and he would ask "why" … and i would tell him "because you made the mess, not me". and he would give me this super matter-of-fact "oh, i’m sorry laura". it was always so cute.

we took some quick pictures before he left on friday … with all the girls. and i actually thought to have one of the girls snap a picture of me and james together. of all the kids i’ve watched over the years … i have gobs and gobs of photos of them … but only a handful of me with them. so a total sidenote about the haircut. i had a spur-of-the-moment haircut on thursday. i asked my hair-cutter chick to maybe layer it some since it was getting all wierd at the bottom. she actually said my hair was looking really good … some good growth on it. after having lost so much hair, and then having new growth of about 4 inches … it has been coming out in big amounts the last few months again. but i couldn’t believe that she got it to look this good! all with a round brush and the hair dryer. although … it hasn’t looked the same since i washed it. in fact the hat has been back on … but i’m going to practice on it and see if i can do something similar. and like the color? yes, i did that last week. i got smart and went back to the color i always used for years … "cinnaberry".

and i know amanda will be missing james too … actually she’ll be missing his mom even more. james’s mom was actually one of her teachers at school. she actually had 2 teachers since they job-share. but she loved having his mom as a teacher … and always thought it was so neat to have her teacher show up at the house after school (even if it was to pick up her kid. lol!). and i have to say … this girl has been the most hilarious thing lately. she comes up with the funniest comments and questions. she has really been on top of it the last month or so … i swear she has us all laughing the entire time she is here. one of my other mom’s came to pick up her kid last friday … and amanda was still here … eating up the yummy dinner i had made. she asked if she had moved in with us . lol! i know i look forward to the kids getting picked up at the end of the day … but i have never minded much when amanda wants to stay longer and play. she’s just always so good … and does whatever the girls want to do. she just goes with the flow … never any drama with this girl!

and one last thought. i know how hard it is for me when one of the kids leaves us. but sometimes i forget how hard it is on my girls too. i think it’s sweet that alyssa has her cellphone (which isn’t hooked up by the way … she just uses it for the alarm and other stuff) background set to a photo of wes … who moved away over a year ago. every night she looks at the picture of him … and gives him a little kiss. too cute. then there was sarah tonight … just a little bit ago. she was tucked in bed trying to go to sleep … and then i hear her crying. i went to ask her what was wrong … and she told me that she misses ady and wes so much. breaks my heart. she’s been sleeping with a stuffed dog that has a recording thing in it. she happens to have a recording of ady laughing on it … from ages ago. makes me so sad when she presses the little doggies paw … and i hear ady’s little giggle.

i know how fortunate we have been to have had so many great kids come into our home … and our lives. most of them are still in our lives in some way … and i love that. always hard to say goodbye. but i know james is probably in heaven right now out in georgia … playing with all this stuff that has been waiting for him. lol!