Say Yes

Today was quite the social day for our family! 

I got to see two dear friends for a quick lunch out--my friend Sara (who lives here in GA) and my friend Laura (who is visiting from Oregon).  It was so nice to catch up with them and to get to hear some of the ins and outs of their daily lives.  You may remember meeting Malcolm on the bloggablog a while back when he was born, and now he is 4 months old already!  He's such a content little guy--he just smiled and babbled to himself while we lunched! And sweet Laura was so kind to make time to see us--it's a whirlwind to try to see all your family and friends in one visit!

Laura with baby Malcolm

Also today, Flannery and I went to our first neighborhood playgroup for our road.  It was just lovely--kids of all ages running around in a neighbor's back yard while parents of all backgrounds chatted and laughed.  What a charming group of folks!  I'm so happy to have gotten to meet them, and glad that I made myself push through being tired at the end of a long work day.  I had to tell myself to be bold and, "Say Yes" and join in, even though we didn't yet really know any of the families yet and it had been a long day already.  But I'm glad I did.  Turns out the parent were very kind and laid back, and they were planning Halloween festivities, which you may know is my very favorite holiday of the year, so yay!  Anyway, Flanna very quickly warmed up to some of the little girls and can't wait to play with them again.  She is such a friendly and outgoing little thing! 



What did you "Say Yes" to lately that brought you happiness?

Little Monkeys

Our neighbors are really the best.

Climbing trees in bathing suits is just more fun.

Oh, my, my heart was in my throat at times during this tree climbing experience.  But the kids loved it and didn't get a single scrape, of course.  They really are little monkeys. 


Do you know and love your neighbors?  If not, make a point to get to know them!

Walking Home from Preschool

Yesterday afternoon, we had the best walk home from Flanna's preschool.  The azaleas were in full bloom, so we stopped and talked about which were our favorite colors.  (I like the purplish-pink ones best.)  Then we ran into our neighbors who had happened upon an amazingly tame baby squirrel!  It was so sweet and kept wanting to sit on our shoes.  Finally, it seemed to go back to its mama (thank goodness!)  I had never seen a squirrel that close before, and it was so cute to hear our sweet little neighbor saying, "Baby skurl!"

The tilted head pose is getting a little out of hand.  :)

Please excuse the blurry iPhone pics.  It was too exciting to focus!

I'm so glad we walked home from preschool that day.  Had we been driving home from preschool, we would have never made the wonderful connection with our neighbors over the tiny squirrel.   So many times when I'm walking somewhere, I'll stop and say hello and chat a bit, and actually make a connection with the people I'm passing.  But when driving, I'm much less likely to do so.  I usually just wave and keep on driving.  When I consider the friends I've made during our time here, I realize that most of them are folks I saw regularly during walks to and from the park or school.   Walking places is such a superior experience in every way to driving for me, and I'm so hoping we won't give up our "walkable" lifestyle when we move to the big city this summer.    


What do you love best about your lifestyle right now?

Friends Rock

As you can see, we had quite a day today. Flanna's BFF from school came over for a playdate. We spiffed up our pool from last summer, which was in amazingly good shape! (hooray for garages!) And then we spent most of the afternoon outside hanging with the neighbors. I love those all day outside kind of days! The kids even had their snacks outside--a spontaneous picnic. And we moms sipped iced tea and, later, iced coffee. It was such a treat!

And the best part was getting to watch Flanna with her three little friends, while I got to chat with my neighbor friend of my own.

All in all, I'd rate this day as stellar.

Friends do that. You know, make things stellar.

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By the way, I'm really enjoying this blog about friendship. Being kinda new in a new town, and anticipating moving again in a year or so really makes me appreciate the gift of good friends.
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Are you intimidated by the thought of making new friends? If you had to move and leave your best friends behind, would you actively search out new friendships, or just try to let them develop naturally?