Friends

Who is that girl? The girl reading the Pink Princess Cookbook and who has those gourgeous pink and purple nails?


Why, it's Nicole! For those of you who don't know Nicole, let me introduce you. She's one of my very best friends who I used to work at West Group with. I trained her 14 years ago, and now, here we are all this time later. If you knew us separately, you'd probably think we were an unlikely pair. She can't believe I wouldn't do my hair and makeup every day. And she believes everyone should have three sets of china (you know, winter, summer and Christmas). But she's really great. She's taught me a lot about what friends do for each other, and in so many conversations I have with other people, I often think "What would Nicole ask?" She's extremely inquisitive--which makes sense considering her master's degree in journalism and her current PR manager role at AAA Chicago! Anyway, Nicole's husband Dennis flies Blackhawks in the Illinois Guard, and has recently left for a year-long deployment to Kosovo. It's very difficult, but I'm lucky in that it means Nicole comes up to visit! She doesn't have any kids (by choice) but did a valiant job of playing with mine...

Here she is letting Abby do the beautiful nail job you see above while Nolan and Max look on.


And what good is beautiful nails without beautiful hair? (Nolan was doing my hair while Abby was doing Nicole's... you won't see the pictures of me!)


Here's beautician and client posing together, and then below letting the other kiddos get in on the action.



And, to end the evening, Nicole read a rousing version of SkippyJonJones, the siamese cat who wants to be a chihuahua, in her best Spanish accent. She was a real trooper!


This morning we got up and made Princess Wands (in Nicole's honor). The kids loved them, and they were actually pretty cute and tasty! (Pretzel rods in colored almond bark, for anyone wondering!)


THANKS FOR A GREAT WEEKEND, NICOLE!

And, since I'm on the subject of friends, I thought I would share some observations about the kiddos' friends as well. We certainly have great neighbors, which I know I've written about before. Here's a random day last week... Kyan, Rayva and Max hanging out with Nolan looking on.




Kyan, Max and Cody, again with Nolan looking on.




Rayva and Max enjoying some little kid time on the slip and slide.


Kyan with Nolan looking on...


Cody with Nolan looking on (what's with that kid???)...


And Max and Rayva in the little pool.


But one thing that I didn't expect from being at home is having the opportunity to meet so many new friends of the kids, good, bad or otherwise! Last week Wednesday was Andrew. Andrew lives around here and is Abby's age. He came on his bike down the middle of the road looking for Cody next door, but Cody's at daycare. So he came into our garage (we were outside) and started playing. Ok. I asked him if his mom and dad knew where he was, and his dad was at work and his mom was sleeping. Alrighty! They played for awhile and then Abby asked if she could go to Andrew's. Considering the sleeping mom and the boy riding his bike in the middle of the street, I said no. Abby didn't even argue. I can't believe I forgot to take pictures of him, though!!

Then there's Ziichiah. Ziichiah is a true sweetheart who's the niece of the family who lives up the road from us. She was visiting last week from her home in Milwaukee, and she, too, came over looking for Cody and I invited her to play with us since he wasn't home (she's been over before when we've all been hanging out). She's 8 and has great manners. I'm guessing the kids will learn more from her than just manners, though. After the afternoon with her, I was with the kids in the car and Nolan said "Not everyone has a daddy." Um, nope, I guess they don't. Then Abby said Ziichiah doesn't have a daddy because her daddy is out looking for a new mommy. Ah, I see. Then they told me that Ziichiah's mom yells at her if she has an accident. That explains why she apologized profusely when she droped some freeze pop on the kitchen floor. Those stories, along with her awe at my subway sandwich (she had one once with bologne and cheese, but she had to share it with her brother since her mom didn't have enough money for two), makes me think the kids will learn some life lessons from her!

What I thought was really funny, though, was that she knew how to Wii, and played all kinds of games with the kids!


And then there's Grace from Birchwood. We met her at the beach, and she was there with her grandma. She's also 8, and was going to Grandparents camp the following week. How fun! Here's Grace and Abby running into the water while Nolan looks on. (Geez, Nolan!!) Oh, and for anyone wondering, Abby's suit is not a bikini... it has a full front. But, doesn't she look old?


And Max is just a little to young for real friends yet, but I just couldn't pass up these too cute pics...



For all of my friends out there, thanks! From little to big, at all ages, friends make it all worthwhile!