welcome to the henley house.: Goodbyes

Well, we have had to say a lot of goodbyes, to a lot of special people. We are a very lucky family to have had all these friends in our lives, they have all made an impact in a big way. There are so many more we will miss, but I do have some pictures of a few. Of course, in this most important time of our lives, our camera decided to quit working, so all these pics are taken with my phone, not the greatest, but still pretty good.
It all started with Will's preschool:

This is Will and his teacher/owner of preschool, Jackie. This woman was a god-send to Will. I couldn't have imagined a better person to have his first experience with preschool, she's got an enormous heart.

This is Will and his teacher, Miss Maria. I can only hope and pray that he will love all his school teachers as much as he loves Maria. He had such a connection to her, I was so worried about severing their relationship, it healed my wound just a little bit when I found out she wouldn't be teaching at the school next year, b/c she was moving too, so her and Will bonded even more while talking about their moves together.

Lastly, this is his 3rd teacher, Miss Lee. He is one lucky boy to have THREE wonderful teachers. He had so much fun with Lee and was always so sweet and kind to her.

Mira...oh Mira. I'm not sure how to spell her name, but this is "Mirror-a." She's a tad older than Will so she's in the other class at Will's preschool, but they were always together in the summer and on the playground. Mira was the very first friend Will made at preschool. He was very nervous to start and she took him under her wing and hugged him when he cried. B/c they were in different classes I didn't hear much about her through the year...but just like the first day of school, there she was on Will's last day of school. They were laying together on the floor reading a book...she will always have a special place in Will's heart.

Next comes our precious playgroup: Thank goodness for playgroup. I'm so happy Katie asked us to start coming for the weekly play dates. Will absolutely adores all these girls and boys and I am so thankful for having a group of woman to talk to each week about all the woes of motherhood. The group began with our eldest and we all added our youngest within a couple months and some a couple weeks of each other. I can only dream that I will find a group as fabulous as this in our California neighborhood.

Sara and Ellie

Syd, Jack and Cole (twins)

Will with Jayden (they HAD to take the picture while they were drinking at the exact same time) Will always had a special connection to Jayden...to illustrate: On this day, a girl asked Jayden to play and Jayden said, "I'm playing with Will. You can play with us." and the girl said, "I don't like boys." And Jayden said, "Well, here, play with this girl then (pointing to a random girl on the playground), I'm going to play with my friend Will." I was SOOOO proud of her. :-)

Another picture of Sara and Ellie but with Will in the middle this time...right where he belongs :-)These girls loved Will and Will loved them.

Stephanie with Lauren (Sara is big sister).

Katie with Andy (Ellie is big sister).

Sheryl with Cooper (Jayden is big sister)

And last but never least, our precious friends, Matt, Amy, Luke and Drew Flinn...Like I said in my previous post, I hadn't really gotten emotional about our goodbyes, but when I hugged Amy goodbye, I said, "short and sweet, right, short and sweet." B/c I knew if I said anything else, the flood gates would open. Amy also PROMISED (I know you're reading this Amy) they would visit. I said, "yeah everyone says that." And she said, "no I really we will. We actually visit!" I will hold her to that.