Little Buddies

I'm not the kind of person who collects tons and tons of friends. I'm a friendly enough person, I guess, but good, true friends are hard to come by and should be appreciated as such. Derrick and I have the very best friends.

As just one example, I've had the good fortune in the past few years to reconnect with a old school friend, elementary school to be exact. Katie and I were in 5th & 6th grade together....kind of lost touch over high school and college....and then miraculously reconnected when she applied for an internship in my mom's agency while completing her Masters in Social Work (oh those social workers....). So, not only did we mix 18 kinds of soda in one glass while downing bags of candy in front of "Wayne's World," but we've attended each others weddings, made it through a pregnancy each, and are now both pregnant at the same time with our second "batches." Our kids now play together not totally unlike we did 20 years ago....(well, okay, we had a few more words and social skills but we were 10 and they're only 2).

Katie, expecting twins, and her wonderful husband Patrick & son Michael, stopped by today to thank us for a load of baby girl clothes Eliana was happy to pass on. They even brought us a gift certificate for a nice dinner out....totally unnecessary but so very thoughtful. We look forward to many more fun play dates and trips to the zoo as we now get to watch our kids grow up together.

The top picture is from Michael and Eliana's very first meeting. I promise they play together a bit more nicely now. Not a WHOLE lot better, but you know! They're sweet together and Elle just loves him in a very "hard-to-get-I'm-going-to-ingore-you-the-whole-time-you're-here" kind of way.

In other news, we had SO much fun bowling last night (well, Derrick bowled, I sat and ate...and talked) to celebrate JR's 30th birthday!! (Picture taken in Venice Beach on a trip we all took together last summer. Oh, just too much fun.) Thanks for all the entertainment, Danyel's "Sampler Platter" dance, JR's "Snuggie" fashion show and Funfetti brithday cake.

We appreciate all of our good friends for all they do and all the happy places they fill in our life.