I'm not sure if I've ever delved into the subject of our neighborhood. There is no other way to describe it, but that we are so incredibly blessed to have ended up here. We have tons of kids up and down our street with amazing moms and dads who have all become like family to us. If memory serves, our house was either the 1st or 2nd house to be completed on our street....a street that now stretches from one side of the subdivision to the other. The first summer we were here, we could watch the fireworks at the high school from our front porch. Now there are tons of houses blocking the view.

Summers around here are especially awesome. Every day we hang out with our friends in the back yard or along the front of the houses. I can hardly get the boys dressed with teeth brushed before they are running outside to see if their friends are out yet. We moms were actually joking that we need a code system that we can text to each other because sometimes we need NO ONE to be outside so we can drive up the street and go into our houses (to make meals etc) while there are other times when one of us is outside thinking "where IS everyone!?" Logan has now grasped the concept of the telephone in all its glory and is constantly asking me to call the other moms to see what his friends are doing.

Just today, I was cleaning up the back porch because it looked like rain. I waved to Ella and AJ at their back door a few houses down as I ushered the boys inside for a little milk and a snack. I was kneeling down and talking to Aiden about something inside. When I stood up and turned around, there was AJ with his little face pressed against the sliding glass door, looking in to see what was going on. I just started dying laughing. Simultaneously, the phone rang...I knew it was Anne (his mom). She half asked, half stated, "is AJ over there?!" But of course! He just ran down...as my kids would do if they saw him or his sister outside. She sent Ella down next and then came over with baby Matt for a few minutes before they had to rush off to gym class.

The way things go around here, it's often easier to just feed the kids in one yard, where they are all already playing and can be happy together. This past Monday, for example, we had playgroup at Anne's down the street, but the kids all ended up migrating to my yard near the end. A few had to leave, then Susan went to pick up Mackenzie from school and met us back at my place. Instead of making them all cry and scream as we dragged them off to various houses for lunch, we threw some hot dogs on, Susan went to get buns and pretzels, I cut up a watermelon and they all climbed up into the clubhouse for an impromptu picnic. This used to happen with almost clock-like regularity on Friday afternoons. All the moms and kids would end up gathered together outside. The dads would come home, grab some beers and then we would all start scrounging for food to feed ourselves and our kids outside in someone's yard. This year we made an official schedule and have a Friday afternoon moving party that we call TGIF (thank you Karen...I think you inspired that one!) Anne put the schedule together and the rules are as follows:

the host family makes a meal for the adults and a weekly fun summer beverage
the host will publish (via email) what they are making and everyone else signs up to bring various side dishes, desserts etc
it's supposed to be byob and byos (bring your own sippy cups)
we were also supposed to go as a group to buy mass amounts of burgers and dogs for the kids, but that's turned into a host-purchased item as well
Long story short, it rocks and now we all REALLY thank God that it's Friday!!!

Now for some TGIF shots plus other happenings from the hood

These pictures are from about 2 weeks ago when it was warm, but not THAT warm. The kids really wanted to get the baby pool out. I swear that I'm the crazy house. I always feel like the other parents must be worried every time their kids walk down my way...no doubt they'll end up messy, sandy, wet or all of the above. I honestly think I have a hard time saying no to any activity as long as it doesn't involve: hurting yourself, hurting anyone else, hurting any kind of property or making a mess to big to clean up with towels, more water or a squirt of stain remover. That's quite a lot of stuff that I let go on hu?!! I question my sanity!!

Aiden heads to the play set.

Chad and Anna's set has this cool, twisty slide. I wanted to take a picture of Brady playing in front of it, but one of the kids saw me and yelled "wait!!" He climbed up the ladder, slid down the slide and waited for the picture...then another child did it, then another and another....

This is fairly close to all the kids...I think we're missing Connor, Ashley and Kate here.

Mayhem - too fun! After these pictures were over, they all formed a line and started rapidly climbing up the ladder and going down the slide for a while....it was pretty cute!

Our boys get very excited around their friends and most of these gatherings involve at least one little "chat" with mommy and/or daddy. Logan looks remorseful at least (not even sure what they did anymore....but I think it involved playing rough together).

So...back to this Monday's playgroup and the mass exodus from Anne's place down to mine. After lunch, the boys were all getting hot as the day warmed from the 60ies into the 70ies. They were running around outside playing starwars and needed to be calmed down a bit before naps....so we put on the starwars MOVIE inside and let them chill for a minute (check out the boys with no shirts on...I swear, one of them decides to go shirtless and the next thing you know, they're all 1/2 naked!)
I have to smile because this thought occurred to me today: in my life, you just NEVER know what the day will bring. I used to get up, go to work, get off of work, go home, sleep and repeat. Now....now I get up, get the kids ready for playgroup and end up a good handful of them on my couch a few hours later after a quick picnic lunch (which includes MY good friends too!) Like....how lucky am I?!! I have a pretty cool life!!

P.S. Dear Nana and Papa, We received the requested Buzz Lightyear pajamas on Monday afternoon. Logan wore the shirt with his pants to the gym that day, then quickly changed into the full set as soon as we got home (to play outside with friends before dinner...see picture below...that's Checkers in his shirt). Then...Logan slept in them that night and got quite upset the next morning when I told him that he couldn't wear the shirt to school...even WITH jeans. He got over it...quite well in fact, but I quickly put everything in the laundry so he wouldn't try to wear the shirt again once he got home that day. Monday night, in honor of the new PJs, Aiden wore the Buzz ones Logan outgrew and Brady wore his NEW Buzz jammies as well. I wanted to take a picture, but couldn't find my camera. We love you and we thank you for aiding us (read: Logan) with our emergency night-wear situation!