thankful thursday: friends like these

This Thankful Thursday, being St. Patrick’s and all, I wanted to write about how lucky I am. Lucky and thankful.

We moved to this neighborhood in 2006 from San Francisco. Thanks to our neighbors, Patty & Bruce, we immediately met a bunch of our neighbors, but at the time there weren’t many with kids at our age (or so I thought). Since BigBoy has gone to kindergarten, it’s like all of a sudden lots of school age children have appeared right around the corner from us. And what makes it even cooler is that there are lots and lots of boys. And what’s even awesomer (yes, that’s a word)…I like the moms!  C’mon, tell the truth, you don’t love all the women you meet?

Pilar, Tanya, Me, Michelle, Lucky Dame & Therese

Relationships with other moms warrants a blog post all on its own. It’s full of land mines and missteps. I feel so lucky and thankful to have connected with the lovely ladies of my block. One of them is even a blogger, Lucky Dame, so we have that in common too. All the ladies live within two blocks of each other and our boys range from 18 months – 9 years old (2nd graders). There’s enough of a spread that someone always has a playmate (well except for when BigBoy decides to quiet his mind by himself). Jelly Bean is the youngest so we really have to keep our eyes on him when he’s out of his high chair, but he’ll be running with the big boys in no time.

Often times, we extend an invitation to other friends and MOBs (Moms of Boys) who are outside our block. Sometimes, the lovely Therese joins us. You want to hate her, but can’t help but to love her.  She’s the friend without kids that we jealously hear about her great trips and glamorous life. She adds a touch of class to our group and always brings great wine.  Damn her flat belly, but then again tiny Tanya doesn’t have one either.

Every Friday around 3:00, you can find us at one of our homes. Sometimes we play Rummikub, but mostly you can count on us hovering near the food and wine, handing out juiceboxes. The big boys generally are outside playing tag or soccer while the littlest boys (BabyD and Juice Box) are playing with trains in another room.

Food, wine, exercise tips, body image, professional advice, sanity support, and marital advice are just some of the things we’ve shared.  Trouble and unexplained bruises generally occurs when Pilar is the afternoon’s mixologist, but we’re not nearly as crazy as you might imagine (okay maybe a little).  Mostly it’s just good clean fun.  We have shared so many great laughs, supportive words, kind hugs, and even dance moves. We all feel truly thankful and damn lucky to have found each other — a great group of women and their boys that all get along and play well together. It’s been so wonderful to have friends like these and right around the block. Thanks gals for the fun and friendship!  Cheers to you!

What are you most thankful for this week? Leave a comment and let me know and if you blog, feel free to borrow my button and link to your Thankful Thursday post.