Our Village

This is a picture of the other moms in our village.  You know, the village that it takes to raise our kids?  These are the key players, for sure.  These ladies have become some of my very closest friends over the past 8 years.  There are constantly emails going back and forth and around and around about car pooling, 'baby sitting' (although there are no more babies, and none of our kids sit for very long), and maybe best of all, Mom's Night Out.  We've been through a lot together.  A lot.  Some good stuff like birthday parties, huge group dinners (is our group really 31 now?), Back to School Breakfasts, Disneyland, and lots and lots of new babies.  We've been through some of lives really hard stuff together too- divorces, cancer, tough extended family situations, and times when we were just stuck on issues with one of our kids.

As time goes on I am reminded over and over again how rare it is to have a couple of super good friends- the kind you can count on no matter what.  But to have an actual village?  To have the list of 'emergency contacts' for your kids so long, you have to write sideways?  To not need to write notes to teachers about who can pick up your kids, because they know that everyone is this group is safe?  Unheard of!

So thanks, Friends, for being part of our village!  Our kids are so lucky to have all of you . . . and I feel pretty blessed as well!
(P.S.  I totally stole this picture from Allison's blog!  But she's part of the village, so I know she won't care.)