My darling Hadley left this morning for Seattle. Tay's mom, Lori, flew in from Seattle to pick up Miss HJ.  She was so excited and I was grateful. I think the saddest part was how upset Finny was when he figured out sister wasn't coming back home with us. He bawled all the way back to the car and kept saying "I miss her, Mama! I want Hadley!" It occurred to me that he's never been away from her.

I have such a mixture of emotions. On the one hand, I am elated for her. My little rare bird is spreading her wings! This is my job as her mama, to help her spread her wings and that is so exhilarating. I want her to be confident and independent and bold. On the other hand, there is a sadness to her being "big". It's only a little sadness though. Mostly it's excitement. 80%/20%. Oh wait, throw in some jealousy too because I want to be in Seattle playing with Taylor! Have fun with the girl, Emmertons! (And Dave!)

It is so quiet around here without my little chatty drama queen. She is my Sarah Wood. My dad used to call me and my sister "Sarah Wood - Holly Wood's sister."

I've also been noticing today that Finn is so different without her. He doesn't have any competition so on the whole he just seems less "scrappy." We went to this fun center called Mr. Biggs on the way home from the airport and Finn had a blast. I played with him on everything: mini-golf, this HUUUUGE ball pit, video games, skee ball. He loved it. I plan on doing something special with him every day.

On a totally unrelated note....how exciting is this healthy vending machine?? Love it. I can't wait to see one in person. (Yes, I am that big of a loser.)