I miss my Sabrina.

Remember back in March when Julia-from-Germany came to stay with us? Sabrina is participating in the German Exchange program, and they matched Julia with our family. What a lovely, sweet girl Julia was (is)! 

She and Bean were great friends right from the start. (Thanks to modern technology, they had gotten to know each other over Skype visits and Facebook.) One of the cutest things about Julia was that when she found out Sabrina's nickname is "Bean," she always called her that – and in a very serious tone. (We all just sort of bark it out at her: "BEAN! HEY BEAN! GO CLEAN YOUR ROOM, BEAN!") Julia would say quietly, "Bean?" and then ask her a question. (I tried speaking quietly to Bean like that for a while, but she never seemed to hear me when it came to the cleaning her room part.)

Five days ago, it was Sabrina's turn to visit Julia's family. The exchange group (I believe there are about 20 of them, plus chaperones) arrived at the airport, and Sabrina and her best friend Katie were extremely excited. 

Since Sabrina had packed so many gifts for her host family (including a 1-pound bag of Reese's Pieces for Julia, which she requested), she was 4 pounds over the weight limit for her suitcase. Since Katie was 2 pounds under the limit, they did what all besties do and switched over some things to Katie's suitcase. 🙂

Here's part of the group looking over their itineraries…

Bye, Dad!

Bye, Sophie!

Breanna was at home, but Sabrina said that when she crept into Brea's room early that morning to say goodbye, Brea grabbed her and hugged her warmly and told Sabrina she loved her. This almost caused us all to have to skip the airport and take Brea to the ER. After all, my girls are no different than any other quarreling, snippetting sisters on any given day.

The group was ready to leave, and Katie and Bean were the last ones to say goodbye. I lost count of how many hugs I got from my girl!

And then she was off…

The last time she was at this airport, it was to pick up a new friend…

This time, it was to visit an "old" one…

We'll miss you so much, Sabrina! Come back to us with lots of souvenirs soon!

Every year for the past 6 years Breanna has been participating in the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life event. This year she's planning on being on the Collegiate Crew (again!), which is a team organized by one of Breanna's very first playmates, Alex. (They've been friends for a really long time! Alex is the one in the olive green t-shirt, and Brea is the second person in from the right – the one holding her RFL shirt instead of wearing it, bc she had just gotten off of work…)

I don't normally post things like this, but I thought I'd share with you Breanna's RFL webpage, just in case anyone has any interest in helping her achieve her goal of raising $100 for her team. (She has no idea I'm doing this, and Brea has always had an extremely hard time asking people for money – which is great from a parent's point of view, but not in the case of a fundraiser!)

I definitely understand that money can be tight these days, so please don't feel any obligation whatsoever. I'm just asking for donations to this cause if you feel you can help.

http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR/RelayForLife/RFLFY10PL?px=10997296&pg=personal&fr_id=23924&fl=en_US&et=df-01WzsjBel9I7Vv0pKRg..&s_tafId=451134

Btw, if you click on the link and are startled at Breanna's "new look," don't worry – that's not Brea. :) I believe it is another team member?

Thank you so much.

Hi, Friday-boy!

Guess what! You get to go to the groomer today! Doesn't that sound like fun??

What's wrong? Why won't you look at me? Is it something I said?

Don't worry, boy. You'll smell dirty-doggish again in no time. 

I promise.