I hate this part

Miss and Hannah came down for the weekend, and as has been the case with the past few weekends, it was absolutely wonderful! Being alone here has helped to drastically decrease my frustration response. Unfortunately, a truth about me is that I have a low tolerance for frustration, and I can have an ugly response at times. The past times I've seen my family, NOTHING has frustrated me, which is such a blessing, because it makes the whole weekend relaxed and enjoyable. I can't think of anything that bugged me this weekend; even Hannah's temper tantrums are a-ok with me, mostly because she's here in the same room as me. :) 

The crappy part is that (shocker) people eventually have to go home. I hate that part. I don't cry or anything, but I have this ache for about the first hour or so. I miss my family, and I have to admit it's hard when I hear Hannah talking in almost full sentences and having new mannerisms. She is so expressive. For example, now when you get her smiling, she'll try not to smile, which is painfully cute. We were singing to her Disney Princesses book on Friday night, and I sang the word smile in the song, and she said, "Lookie Tia, I smilin'." Aagh. Cute! She will say no thank you or apologize on her own now (for the most part), she can use longer sentences like, "Hannah lubs [loves] Mommy." I wish I could remember more now that they're gone, but it's okay. It's hard worrying that I am missing these little milestones and that they are so commonplace to my family that they don't always come up in conversation. 

When people ask me if I'm homesick, I say no, and I genuinely mean it. I'm not homesick, I LOVE my job, and this place is becoming my normal (not ready to call it my home yet ;)). The part that's hard is not being a daily part of my family's life, not being able to spin with Hannah or chase her around the house or cuddle with her or watch her tilt her head and point and say things like "Ollie's seeping [sleeping]." I'm so thankful that they are willing to come down and visit and that I can get home to see them, too. Next weekend is my first visit home since the move, and I'm really looking forward to it. 

This weekend, we had such a good time. We went to Cedarville to see my office and look around for a bit. Then we went to Udders and Putters, a mini-golf place at Young's Dairy. Young's is very cool because it's a working dairy farm that Mr. Young (I presume) decided he'd also turn into an ice cream shop where he makes his own ice cream in a gazillion flavors. It's really good. So we putt-putted and then had ice cream. Hannah wasn't so into the putt-putting at first but got there by the end. She smoked us with a score of 7 (mostly because she played 7 holes and got holes in one on all of them by strategically placing her ball about an inch from the hole and then pushing it in with her club; other times she just dropped it in while holding her club, which we counted and engaged in much celebration with her). Then we went shopping; Miss bought some decorations for her house, some shoes, some books, and used gift certificates. We went to Olive Garden for dinner (yum!) and then rented movies at Blockbuster (Untraceable, No Reservations, National Treasure 2, and Juno). We watched the first two last night and enjoyed them. Today, Miss helped me with my budget, we went to Longhorn for lunch, and they headed out. It was a wonderful weekend. Thanks for coming, guys! Love you!