2 Year Anniversary

It is our 2 year anniversary for living on Mack Ave. As a parent, most of you know that moving is a hard thing. Will we have good neighbors??? Will there be kids on our street??? Will there be member of the church close by??? Is this were we are supposed to be??? I can answer YES to all of these questions, and I was able to answer YES even 2 years ago when we first moved in.

We moved from a great neighborhood with lots of friends, lots of kids, a big grass area right across the street, and I was a little nervous to move here, even though we were SURE this was what we were supposed to be doing.

Our neighborhood started out a bit quiet at first. We became fast friends with our only next door neighbor. (We are the end house.) We are so lucky to have them as neighbors. They have 3 kids also. A boy who is a year older that Kylee, a girl Kylee's age and a son Kruz's age. We spent day after day outside playing. The 4 older kids would play, the 2 babies would be napping and De Anna and I would sit in our chairs in the driveway and just talk. I think everyone that drove by us everyday wondered if we did anything as moms. This was our DAILY routine. It was perfect. De Anna is amazing and I know they were meant to be our neighbors for the next however many years. We think a lot alike, and I am glad to have her as a friend. She is kind enough to let Kylee walk to school with them everyday since I have to leave for school, and it is such a peaceful feeling to know that because I can't get Kylee to school, that someone else is walking her there and she is getting there safely. I am grateful for them as a family and grateful that our children will be friends for a long time.

Slowly the other kids started coming out to play and soon the moms did also, however, it wasn't all at once.

Trish started coming out next. She lives across from De Anna and has 3 kids also. A boy that is in 4th grade, a girl Kylee's age, and another little girl that is 3. Trish is amazing. That girl can bake, cook, bake, garden, bake, clean, bake, bake, bake, she is just the nicest person and would do anything for anyone, at anytime. You hardly ever see her without an apron on and if you can believe it, she doesn't eat most of the stuff she bakes.

Gina lives a few doors down on my side of the street and has 4 kids. They are a busy family, into sports, sports, and more sports. It has taken us a bit longer to get to know them, but they also have a son in 4th grade, a daughter Kylee's age, a boy Kobi's age, and a 1 year old boy. They seem so far away being 4 doors down, but are glad when they do come out to play.

Ruth lives next door to De Anna. There house sat vacant for a long time. She has a son Gregory. It took them awhile to come out once they finally moved in, but we are glad they did. Ruth works for a home builder and is the smart one of the group that teaches us about the market and what it is doing and what the price of our home is now worth compared to 2 years ago. ( We have all committed to stay here for a VERY LONG TIME!!!)

And then there is Kelly. No one knew this family for quite some time. We knew they had 2 young boys, but we didn't know how old they were, and they never came into the front yard. I had another friend that knew her and she would tell me that she was really nice, but we just never were getting opportunities to talk to her. Finally, it was the middle of last summer and I was thinking about Kobi and preschool and trying to fit something into my school schedule. I know Kelly took her boy to preschool up the street and I was leaning towards that also. So I took a chance and went to talk to her. She said she could pick Kobi up everyday and I could bring them home. It was a little bit scary to let someone I didn't know do this, but we had that mutual friend, so that made it better. IT HAS TURNED OUT GREAT... I think that finally broke the ice. We would talk at preschool when we were picking up the kids, her son and Kobi got along great, and they started coming out more. She is a regular in our daily play times and we are so glad. She just had a 3rd child, and she is still out everyday.

So did you keep track??? There are 10 houses on our street and right now we have 17 kids 4th grade and younger. Who has that?? We do, we do. We are so lucky. And not only that, they all get along. Yes, there are tiny squabbles, but for the most part, everyone gets along and plays together. Boys and Girls.

And to make it even better, all of the moms get along too.
I love our afternoons. I love that as we sit in our circle and talk each afternoon. We have plenty to talk about, and we are just a comfortable group of friends. We all have different personalities, and some less in common things than others, but it doesn't matter. We are all staying here for a long time. We watch out for each others children, and I feel so blessed to have these ladies on my street and as my neighbors, no, as my friends. I don't regret for 1 second moving here 2 years ago. Change is GREAT!!!