MJ SAVES THE DAY. Seriously.

Mary Jo is our dear friend/adopted grandma who I used to teach kindergarten with in Harrisburg. She is a kid herself, so she has knack for what my kids are thinking and what they are interested in. She came to help with the kids while Mat and I got moving underway.

Just over these two days they made up funny jingles about Bob Evans (a restaurant like Denny's for you westerners), sang opera songs about her dogs Buster and Ivan, and played a wickedly fun game of charades. Oh the laughter! It is fun to listen to their engaging conversations. My kids get spoiled with love and attention and have been for the last 7 yrs that she was sent to our lives.

When moving day comes, MJ along with her friend Jo Marie, are the perfect hands to put my kids into. They made moving seem so light and breezy.

1) a trip to Chuck E. cheese is always a good way to spend the afternoon



2) Dinner followed by gelato on High Street ---you can't go wrong





The random West Virginia zoo where rules and relations don't apply, is an experience. You can feed the bears whoopie pies through a tube, hold a baby tiger, watch monkeys in onsies with binkies, and find pigs on the loose after they have broken through the holes in the fence. West Virginia, wild and wonderful, that's what it says on our license plates.





A trip to Bob Evans was in order because of all of the little jingles they came up with, they just had to sing them for the waitress in person.



After all that, she even had time to make me a club foot to reach the pedals in my car. The motor in my seat has completely gone out and unfortunately it wont budge me closer to reach the pedals. With moving, we didn't have time to fix it so, we made lemonade out of ...uh cardboard.



She took loads of time to put together snack bags and surprise bags for the kids to open on each day of our trip. Complete with color codes and sticker labels. She even thought of a little tub of quarters just in case they wanted to pop them into a gum ball machine. She also got them glow in the dark toys for the hotel at night in case they needed something new to entertain them. Thoughtful and thorough.




And took them to breakfast, so we could focus on the crazy morning of moving day.








I think she has planted a whole bunch of charity, kindness, and service seeds in me and my kids. She's been a wonderful role model for them and I hope that they will always remember that. Dang i hope they never forget that! Maybe that's why they tried on her glasses, so they can always see what she sees, the good in people. Thank you Mary Jo, my eyes are weepy, so I am going now. (I can't sleep with stuffy crying nose.)