Friends

One of my girls' biggest concerns when we first considered homeschooling was that they wouldn't have friends.

I am not going to lie.  It was challenging.  At first we kept in touch with their public school friends, but they grew apart.

We spent the first two years attending as many park days, homeschool museum classes, field trips, homeschool soccer and anything else we could find in an attempt to meet as many homeschool families as possible in an effort to find a nice core group of friends.  It wasn't like school where you just walk in and there are kids in your kids' general age range.

Finally, last year we hit our stride.  We found our core group, a nice group of kids that are Allie's age.  They email, they Facetime, they hang out, they have inside jokes...and you can see in this video, they are really silly and crazy and fun!  This weekend we were all at a party and Allie filmed her video for this week's 7 Cool Homeschoolers theme of Friends.



 We are fortunate that our neighbors homeschool their two girls.  Our girls are inseparable all weekend and several days during the week.  They have had some ups and downs and learned a lot along the way...and always ended up realizing their friendship was worth working for.  You can see the chemistry Piper has with Chloe in this video.

Party at the Lake!

 My mom is like a cruise director.  She wants everyone to have fun and she is always trying to organize parties and include everyone.

 This year she had a big party at the lake a couple of days after July Fourth.

See that guy in the white hat and t-shirt talking to Jason?

That's Susan from Learning ALL the Time's cousin (and his lovely wife).  He told me where he lived and I knew it sounded familiar.  I know the name of the library where Susan works so I asked if he knew it and...he said he was her cousin!  Small world!  I emailed Susan right away!  

Moms and girls

Sunburned friends

We played a little tug of war...

Girls versus boys

Wives...

...versus Husbands

There was some kind of egg on a spoon thing my mom came up with...

Jason filled up a hundred water balloons...

We did a wives versus husbands toss...

And a kids toss...

Then we just let the kids have at it with the water balloons and pummel the grown-ups or whoever they wanted...

Jason was supposed to take a group shot...but he didn't want to get left out...

Dork

Of course, when we were not playing games, the kids were in the water...

July 4th, 2013

I love the lake.

I love the boat parade for the 4th of July.

But the best part are the people.

We have friends that live a few houses down the lake.

We only get to see them a few times a year, but someday we will all retire at the lake and be all up in each other's grills when we are toothless with canes and walkers.

'Til then...we are reunited and it feels so good...just a few times a year!

Tara and I both like to have fun.  We both have a tendency to burst into song for no reason than we thought of a song.  We can also spend hours walking and kayaking and sharing our hearts.

Toot and Puddle ;-)

 These two just love to bust on each other.

They are both amazing fathers and great husbands who always put their families first.

Two goofballs

We had a blast getting ready for the boat parade and getting our inner Gene Simmons on!

Such dorks

patriotic kids

The BEST boat ;-)

Allie and my mom have always had a really special relationship.  

Allie really misses my mom when she is at the lake, so they spent lots of time bonding together.

Allie + My Mom

 I LOVE these people!

non-stop fun

Food + Fun
Tara LOVES my dad's cucumber salad and gets a little sad when it's all gone ;-)

There was only one Foster's Oil Can and Tara offered to share it with Jason...

Dorks!

Just after dinner we had a rainstorm, so we all crowded in the house for dessert and then came out to this beauty that my awesome hubby was able to capture with his camera...

Rainbows on the 4th of July

And then, when it got dark...there was this...fireworks over the lake...a beautiful ending to a beautiful day!

A Walk Around the Lake

 At home or away, I like to go for a walk or run every morning.  It clears my head, centers my mind and gets me ready for the day.

When we are at the lake walking is a special treat.  Sometimes Allie comes with me or Jason and sometimes my good friend at the lake comes for a walk with me--sometimes we even walk around the lake twice so we can talk more!

The roads around the lake are mostly dirt and heavily wooded.  It's so much cooler in the shade of the woods.  It feels so private and intimate, it's a great place to speak your heart with a good friend ;-)

 My friend shares my love of taking pictures and we both are always on the look out for cool details at the lake, like this cool iron scroll fence or barn siding or beautiful lilies.

 When I walk with Jason sometimes we talk, sometimes we just breathe it all in, drink in the peace and beauty of the lake.  When we do talk, we talk about retiring at the lake, maybe living there year-round.  They get lots and lots of snow, which sounds like heaven to me, just laying in bed under thick comforters with a cup of tea and a good book...

This is my dream house at the lake.  I take a picture of it every time we visit.  I am sure the people that live there think I am stalking them.  In my dream world, Jason and I would buy this house and live in it year-round in retirement.  It's my friend's dream house, too, so we may have to duke it out ;-)

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this LittleFreePublicLibrary!  Is that not the cutest thing?  There were all kinds of books inside from popular fiction to non-fiction.  It's new.  It's one of my favorite things ever!

There are a lot of older, cute cozy homes at the lake.  I just love the character and charm.  Jason says just looking at that picture below of the lake lowers his blood pressure tenfold.

Thanks for coming on a walk around the lake with us ;-)

Morning Kayaking

My beautiful friend took this picture of our kayaks at the lake early one morning.  We just drifted and shared our hearts, feeling content and blessed to be in a peaceful place with a wonderful friend.  We may only see each other a couple times a year, but she is one of my besties!  I am so lucky to have such a great friend!  I miss her now.

Tea Kettle Studios

When I was in college, I hung out with this group: Sean, Lee, Sian, Jen, Deb, the other Deb...there was a whole bunch of us.  We hung out in dorm rooms and off-campus housing.  We went to the same parties.  We talked late into the night or early morning hours about ideas and society and we solved the problems of the world.  We learned to drink together and we made mistakes together.  We even spent holidays off campus together--well, New Year's.  It was great fun with awesome people and we all cherish those memories.

After we graduated, some people moved to the city or Philly or went to grad school or law school.  Life got busy and though we talked on the phone or emailed (which was still kind of new at the time), we didn't see each other the way we had when we were all going to the same college every day, in the same classes, living in the same apartments.

Eric, Eric's grandma and Deb :)

My brother and I went to Catholic school through 8th grade.  When we started public high school, the first friend my brother made was Eric.  They were inseparable and Eric was always over our house.  I thought of him as another brother (still do!).

 In 1995, when I was newly graduated from college and working, my brother and Eric were still in college and were working at a frame shop in the mall.  And, unbeknownst to me, Eric began dating my college friend Deb.

Small world.

Fast forward 18 years (18? 18! I think I had a little heart palpitation at realizing it was 18 years ago!) and Eric and Deb have been married for years, have an adorable son and live a few miles away from us!

Even though they live only a few miles away, seeing each other has been sporadic.  Everyone gets busy with life.  Deb and Eric and their son came to see Piper sing at Rutgers Day this year and that really, really touched me.

Since then, Jason has stopped over there to help them with something and Eric has been giving Jason guitar lessons.  Deb and I have discussed books and crafts and motherhood and work and college memories on facebook and we are all looking forward to getting together for a barbecue in a couple of weeks!

Deb shared her etsy site with me and I was blown away.  She is an AMAZING artist!  She sells cards and watercolor paintings on etsy.   I love her work!  Each card is an individual piece of art and no two are alike.

I have put a button in my sidebar with a link to her etsy site.

I hope you will think of her next time you need a card or a gift.