Going Away Party

A few weeks before we left, our Ohio friends hosted a good-bye party in our cul-de-sac. The Leslie's driveway was our home base and the kids ran from house to house and up and down the street. The Leslies, Bowles and Sphire families worked hard to put it all together and I think we ended up having about 50 to 60 people come throughout the night. The adorable chalkboard you see above ended up with more and more decorations throughout the night, as the kids signed their names and drew on it. I sprayed it with a sealant and it now hangs in our garage here in Arkansas. 

Denial was my coping mechanism leading up to the move. I just pretty much refused to think about leaving! We did all the "stuff", and there is tons of it, required for buying/selling a house and moving a family of 5 across the country, but in my day to day activities, I just did my best not to think about it. That strategy makes a good-bye party a little tricky. We just enjoyed the evening and when someone brought up moving, I quickly changed the topic. It helped that due to scheduling we had to have the party about 6 weeks before we actually left. 

I adore all theses families so much!!! The parents and the children. They made a mid-western state, that meant nothing to us, so special!!! Cincinnati wasn't exactly on the list of places we wanted to live, but we wouldn't trade it for the world. Our neighborhood, schools, church and life with all the people you see here were more than we could possibly have wished for or imagined when we arrived there 3 years ago. My girls consider themselves "From Ohio". Writing this post now, and looking at the pictures from just a few months ago, makes my miss them all like crazy!

Throughout the night we played basketball, jumped on the trampoline, played on Cody's playset, rode bikes and scooters and ate loads of junk food. The pictures make me laugh, because the grown ups are dressed for winter and the kids are barefoot. Clearly we operate on different body temperatures. They may have also been a little more active than we were.

We learned so much and grew as a family during our Cincinnati days. I know this place and these people will always be dear to us. I see many visits back "home" in our future.