Johnson holiday party

Last weekend we headed to the Johnson's for their 10th annual holiday party. I can't believe it has been 10 years (and lots of kiddos) since the creation of this neighborhood get together. Since then, only 3 families still even live in the old neighborhood...the rest have all moved! It just goes to show the importance a neighborhood can have on where you choose to spend your time and who you allow to help you raise your children. What started as a few fun neighbors, solidly grew into a few great friends! 

Different neighborhoods couldn't separate these two.

None of us still live in the same house we did when we first met, yet we still come up with lots of reasons to get together. 

Making friends

Leaving our last neighborhood was almost as difficult as leaving our last house. We have made some incredible friends where we lived and though I had no doubts that the friendships would remain regardless of proximity, the girls were worried. Not only worried that they wouldn't get to see their friends in our old neighborhood enough but also worried that they wouldn't make any friends in our new neighborhood. 

The week we moved in was HOT. We were only in the house 5 days before we left on vacation and with it came a lot of unpacking, settling, repacking and preparing. It didn't leave much opportunity to meet new neighbors and given the heat, not too many people were out. The girls waited by the windows and bolted out the door any time they saw any signs of life under the age of 20. Grace was the most worried. Each day she volunteered to walk Hazel as, "no one can resist a cute puppy." One day she even returned home and asked if Norah would come walk Hazel with her as it would double her odds of someone saying hi to her since no one can resist, "a cute puppy and a cute kid." 5 days straight. Nothing but a few embarrassing encounters. [Grace will tell you a hilarious story of how she tried to say hi to someone but her shoelace was caught in her scooter so she couldn't get off...she came home changed shoes and grabbed her bike only to crash in front of the girl she was trying to befriend]. 

We left on vacation and though the girls loved the new house, they weren't sold on the new neighborhood. 15 days later we returned to find the same neighborhood waiting. They played outside all day hoping for someone to come by. No luck. Finally, I was out talking with the neighbor [who as luck would have it has a daughter Norah's age and they love to play together] and our sweet neighbor stopped a group of girls on their bikes and said, "that's Grace, she's new." Immediately they rode up our driveway, introduced themselves and asked the G&E to ride bikes. It was a huge weight off of this mama's heart.

Though I hate that they ride in the street and not a single one of them is wearing a helmet, it would be awfully hard not to see this huge group coming. Thankfully we live on a street where we only see a car every few hours.

Growing up in the country I never really had the chance to play with neighbors. However, I do think it made me a bit more of a "kids should spend the summer playing outside" type. I want my kids to come home dirty, climb trees, and be outside until the dark dictates otherwise. I'm excited for just one more reassurance that making this move was the right choice. I officially have no doubts. 

Our after dinner front porch view: couldn't ask for more. 

Bever park

Have I mentioned how much I love our neighborhood? This spring we considered moving. We painted, we de-cluttered, we cleaned, we searched. Our "next house" sold out from under us before we got our house on the market and we were pretty bummed. We told ourselves it just wasn't meant to be and continued the search, but to no avail. We love our house. We love our neighborhood. We hate our commute. 40 minutes in the morning, 40 minutes in the afternoon. Just think of all that could be accomplished with an extra hour each day!

When we found out we were having Will, we decided the reason we couldn't find a house we liked was because we needed to stay put until he was a bit older and we had a better handle on how to navigate life with 4 littles. Now, it seems like a blessing that it didn't all work out. I'm not sure any of us could handle one more "transition" at this point. 

Our neighborhood is a constant for our family. It is filled with friends we can count on, parents we trust, and kids that are awesome. We have spent a good portion of our summer playing in the neighborhood and I love that I really can let my kids loose on the block and tell them to be home for dinner. I love that when a kid in my front drive scrapes his knee playing ball, I can stick a band-aid on him, comfort him, and not worry that his parent is going to be upset that I wasn't "supervising" him close enough. Kids can be kids. I think that is getting harder for them to do these days without the worry and panic of helicopter parenting. I know when the school year rolls around and we are commuting again, I will feel the urge to relocate. However, right now, I am so thankful to be surrounded by great families and lots of opportunities for my kids to be surrounded by friends. 

Neighborhood outing to Bever Park.

Bever Park has had a great facelift, with people on staff caring for the animals more frequently and a much more hands-on feel, inviting kids in with the animals.

Loved picnicking and playing in the park with this great bunch!

Holiday party

The Johnson's holiday party was, as usual, a great time. In all the fun, the hours slipped away and I forgot to take many pictures, but we all enjoyed seeing our friends, indulging in yummy treats and celebrating the upcoming holidays.

Summer loving

I am sad that times have changed to the point that kids no longer go out and explore the world until the sun goes down or play with friends until the streetlights signal it's time to head home. Each time the girls ask to go out and play the initial panic of "where's the white van?" flashes into my mind. Grace wants to ride her bike to friends' houses and I feel the need to text those parents and ensure she arrived safely. Good parenting? Helicopter mother? Who knows. All I know is I am thankful that we live in a great neighborhood full of kids to play with, backed by great parents that we have a lot in common with. It has led to some great summer get-togethers and lots of memory makers for the girls. I am so glad the girls can grow up with memories of backyard flashlight tag, swimming with friends, riding bikes through the neighborhood and late night s'mores. Good "ole-fashioned" fun. Days spent with scraped knees, bug bites, dirty faces and tired bodies. 

S'more snack before a night of s'more fun. 

Mid afternoon snack for all the neighborhood before more shenanigans.

Popsicles by the pool.

Neighborhood pool party.

The cutest bike gang to hit the streets. 

Only stopping long enough for a little lunch in the sun.

Downtown Festival

One of our Advent Calendar activities each year is to go to the lighting of the downtown Christmas tree. With carriage rides, meeting Santa, and visiting his reindeer lots of people crowd the downtown. The line for Santa is always around the block, but we like to go just to see the tree and reindeer. We met our friends at Tomasos for some pizza and enjoyed the night walking around down town and then back the the Lakes house to play for the night. Such a great, relaxing night with friends. 

Facebook Fail

When we built our house, we had several desires. The location wasn't our first pick. Though I love our house...it wasn't a must-have. What we were searching for was great neighbors. Families with young children. "30 somethings" that we could connect with. Active people that we could become friends with. We hit the jackpot. We live in a neighborhood surrounded by all of these things. Like anything, it took time to meet everyone (7 years later we still haven't met everyone), and it took awkward conversation to break into the "comfortable." This past weekend, I realized I have found it.
Our neighborhood has a monthly "girls night." You are deemed hostess of this monthly soiree when a pair of hideous frogs end up on your doorstep. The frogs found their way to my pad and I fulfilled my obligatory duty to host.  I set up the party for 6:30 on a Friday night giving me ample time to feed the family and get them all set in the basement for a night of fun while I hosted upstairs. What I didn't realize (until 4:30 that Friday afternoon) was that though my invitation said 6:30, everyone else's said 5:30. Facebook apparently is a firm believer in Daylight Savings Time. It automatically pushed the party up an hour on that joyful weekend where we were relishing our extra hour of sleep. Turns out, the party guests beat us to the party. As my family scarfed down pot roast, I served up drinks, apologizing that the one night these women have to escape their child-rearing duties, now included my children. They didn't care at all. They were happy to be among friends, catching up, and sipping cocktails. Though I usually like things orderly and following the plan I have in place; I wasn't bothered by the fact that the food wasn't ready, there were dishes in the sink, or my children were crashing the party. I was with my friends, not my neighbors. People who weren't judging the cleanliness of my house, the disorder of the party, or the noise of my children. People that understand that if you want to "have your cake and eat it to" there are always still crumbs.

Trick or treat 2k14

It was a chilly Friday night for trick or treating, but lucky for us we were with good friends that made the chilly walk door-to-door seem much warmer. We couldn't keep up with the older 2 as they sprinted house to house, but it was fun to watch Norah work her way up to each doorstep and get excited about adding goodies to her basket. 

Mark had to accompany Norah to her first few houses. 

The Witchmonds were in good company with Thing 1,2, and 3. 

At the end of our trick-or-treat loop we stopped in for a great time at the neighborhood Halloween party.

The craft table was Emma's favorite...especially making spider webs!