Cuz you gotta have friends...

As we recover from fireworks and sunscreen and s'mores from the weekend, I've been in a reflective mood lately. If tomorrow was Thanksgiving and my dad was doing his usual "pass the bowl of mints around and take 1 (or 7) and tell people what you're thankful for this year" I would say I am thankful for this being the year of friends. Ever since I've had Fin I've been praying for friends for both my boys and I for this stage of life that we're in. I didn't know any stay at home moms when I became one and felt like there was one big giant club of moms that already knew each other. This year though I've really seen the Lord bring sweet friends into my life, allowingboth Fin and Cole to have playmates and me to have people to talk to who don't throw tantrums or ask me for a snack constantly :o)

Fin's forever friend from the get go has been his cousin Emma. She lives down the street and they are one week apart. Emma is stinkin hilarious with her little (big) personality and comedic flair. Her mom Kerry is pretty funny herself and Fin and I both love playdates with them. Kerry is someone you can be so REAL with about parenting and she never makes you feel bad for venting or being honest. A real life text convo we had recently was I texted her saying "Is it bad that I want to throw myself off the deck after hearing Fin cough every other second?" She replied with "Is it bad that everytime my daughter sniffs I want to blow an airhorn in her face?". Love it. Love her

Annie and her parents live two doors down from us and we've just gotten to know them the past 6 months. We love having sweet Christian friends so close and enjoying hanging out in each others backyards and joking around together. Annie calls Finley her "Fin friend" which makes her sound like a Quaker. So funny.

This is Fin on a lunch date with his friend Zeke. Zeke's mom Jess is someone I went to highschool with. We never had many classes together in school so were never very close but have reconnected recently and I'm so glad we have! They moved back to this area and Fin considers Zeke his little buddy.

What you can't have friends when you're 9 months old? Coley LOVES him some Dash, Emma's dog. He follows him around growling with excitement.

Lastly is the friend to all of us. The friend that is always there for you with free kids cookies and beautiful clothes and decor to drool over. This friend is Target. Don't my boys look thrilled to be looking at sheets with me?

But really, does anyone need a friend when you have this sweet face smiling at you like you hung the moon? Yea I didn't think.so.