Playgroup!

The Fall after Sissy turned 1 (so, EIGHT YEARS AGO), I received a phone call from my friend Andrea.  We had been in birthing class together, and her son was just a couple of weeks older than Maddy.  She said that she and some friends were putting together a low key play group, and would I like to be a part of it?  I remember she said, "No snacks, no activities, just an hour of kids playing and moms visiting."

I had just gone to part time teaching, and we'd recently bought our first home in McMinnville, (I had been communting from Newberg), so it sounded perfect to me!  Thus begun years of weekly playgroup- which usually included the host child ending up in tears at having to share with all these other wild kids.  What started with 6 kids, is now this:

As soon as we said, "Ok, you're done!", the kids scattered!

When the first round of playgroup kids were 2, Andrea and her family packed up and moved to the East Coast.  We've all kept in some sort of touch with her over the past few years, especially once most of us started blogging, and this weekend she and Tyler came out to visit the many friends and family they have in the PacNW.  Lucky for us, it worked out perfectly for the original playgroup crew to meet up at the park, and even the weather held out!  It was such a gorgeous morning, and so remniscent of the playgroup days all those years ago.