I am so thankful that I've managed to find a core group of mom friends to hang out with. We connected through an online mother's forum (Charlotte Mommies). Each of us has at least one preschool aged child, so we get together with our kids regularly. We also get together without the kids for movies, drinks, book club, weekly coffee, etc. We've been especially busy with multiple birthday parties and play dates the past week and a half.
Jack's friend B turned 5. We celebrated his birthday with a lego themed party at the park.
It was a gorgeous day!
Next up was W's 3rd birthday, which was celebrated at his house with a small gathering of friends. Jackson loves going to friends' houses because all of the toys are new to him. I especially appreciate when friends open up their homes to my family, since the triplets have a talent for rapidly making huge messes.
A few days later we all gathered for our awesome airport tour (which I previously blogged about).
Some of us met up at the rec center on Monday for open gym.
Today I invited everyone over to paint pumpkins and make cookies. All of our kids are in preschool on different days, so we schedule most things at 1:30 pm. Thankfully the weather cooperated and the kids were able to pile on the deck and paint away.
I still have plenty of paint and paintbrushes from my days as a classroom teacher. I saved a few egg cartons and cut them in half so the kids could have their own paint set.
Cookie baking went smoothly. I had mixed a large batch of sugar cookie dough in advance. The kids rolled the dough out in between two pieces of wax paper so I would not have flour all over my kitchen. They used cookie cutters to make various pumpkin shapes. While the cookies baked and cooled, they ran around the backyard and played upstairs. Jackson requested candy corn, M&M's, and sprinkles to decorate the cookies. I whipped up icing, dyed it, and put some in a ziploc bag with the corner cut off.
Of course, each kid's cookie was piled high with mounds of icing and sprinkles.
Some of the moms had fun decorating, too.
It's silly, but it's so, so nice to be comfortable around other women (who aren't related). I texted a friend a few hours before the pumpkin party to ask "Can you bring some wax paper?" I've always been stubbornly independent and never wanted help, so it's a big deal for me to be comfortable enough with someone to request something. I'm finally at the point where I trust these people and realize they aren't going to pass judgment. I didn't even mop before everyone came over. Friends arrived, shuffled things around in my fridge so the apple cider would fit, got a knife out to spread icing, washed paintbrushes in my sink, picked up my kids, etc. It means a lot to me that we have a level of comfort and familiarity with one another's children and in one another's homes.
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