childhood bff

sometimes things work out perfectly.  in early december i learned that my childhood best friend would be at her parents' house in georgia over christmas.  we-he-he-he-hell....we just happened to be spending some time in the north atlanta area so we were able to see each other!  part of the reason why this is so amazing is because, as you know, we live a 6ish hour plane ride away from the east coast and her family lives a 6ish hour plane ride in the other direction...in london!  the stars aligned for robin and susan.

here we are with the gang.  susan has four, that's right, four beautiful children.  sam, lucy, lauren and ben.  funny thing, the baby was actually named dan by susan and her husband john, but apparently the kids rebelled and named him ben.  i guess susan and john knew they were outnumbered - literally- and named him ben.

here is cashel and the mobile kids.  on the left he's attempting to kiss lauren, she's only two months younger than him.  in the top right he's and lauren (on the right) are playing piano while lucy (on the left - she's three) is bossing them around.  and the bottom right is cashel mesmerized by sam and his game.

i asked susan to describe each of her kids in one word and this is what i got: sam - he's unstoppable, lucy - she's in charge, lauren - she's sweet (ok, i actually don't remember what she said about lucy - sorry susan - but lauren is sweet so i'll go with that), and ben - he's easy.  he's an easy baby and smiles a lot and loves the attention he gets since he doesn't get as much as the others when they were babies. understandably, no?  there is nothing cuter that a three year old girl being bossy with a british accent.  adorable miss lucy.

jason and i were able to spend about four hours with susan and her family.  i was able to see her parents, who were my summer vacation parents and her older sister, joy.  it was so, so great to see them.  jason and john really got along well and i think we all realized that if we lived close together we would see each other all the time.

susan helped me grow up in lots of ways.  we spent at least two weeks together each summer from the age of 5 until about 17.  even when my family stopped going to the beach (holla! cherry grove and the harford motor c) i was invited to go to the beach with them until my parents arrived.  susan was like a sister i never had (along with my cousins, wende, emily and dana).  i love her wittiness and still remember silly ways that she would make me mad.  we once got in a fight because, you know the shampoo by st. ives?  well, i realized there was a long accent mark over the i so i called it st. ives while susan kept arguing that it was st. eeeves.  we got in a big fight over that and i think the whole time susan knew what she was doing - that she was wrong - but just enjoyed seeing me get mad.  we used to write in each others year books which is hilarious because she grew up in new jersey.  one other time she did all she could to convince me that she could feel the earth rotating....while we were in a moving car.  oh susan, thank you for helping me learn how to put in a tampon.  i remember you not letting me out of the bathroom until it was in.  you yelled at me and i thank you.  

i have such fond memories of susan.  we met when we were five running around the motel - literally - we ran into each other and realized we had the same gown on!  we were inseparable from that moment on while at the beach.  here is a picture of little versions of us:

we also had two other fun friends at the beach - megan and kelly.  here's a picture of teenage versions of all of us (yes i am wearing my brothers' frat shirt):

while we all have gone our separate ways, we've all reconnected to come extent thanks to facebook.  maybe some day we can all have a big reunion!

in the meantime, i'll just enjoy the time we got to spend together this christmas.  we chatted and chatted and chatted and could have gone on forever.  we joked about ditching the kids with her parents and the four of us going out for margaritas.  maybe one day down the road.

 lylas susan.

christmas: part 2 of ?

this year we decided to fly in and out of atlanta.  we wanted to visit family there and close to there, and it was a (come to find out) super easy direct flight.  we attempted to drug our boy with benadryl (come on people, he really did have a cold), but because of a 1 hour delay he ended up dozing and waking before the wheels left the ground.  he still did great.  in fact, he was a daddy's boy all day, so i got a break and read and played games on the flight!

kelly and molly picked us up from atl and cashel took right to both of them.  he warmed up once i asked him how high he could jump and to show molly.  from that moment on, cashel was in love with molly and was soon in love with emma.  this boy really, really, loves his cousins.  to this day he still brings them up daily. 

cashel:  want to go to molly house, want to go to emma house.  see moxie. 

i caught him, last week, drawing a picture and talking to himself.  he was saying, "uncle kelly, aunt mary, molly, emma, moxie." 

we were there for 3 day and 4 nights and had such a wonderful time.

us at the lake lanier christmas light spectacular.  mary is the photog.  you'll see her in other pics.

during this part of our trip we took a day trip to visit jason's grandmother, granny, in hiawassee, georgia.  it was a pretty drive, but all the twists and turns going around the mountain made me a little car sick.  ugh.  we spent about 3 hours with her at her home and this lovely lady took us all out to eat for lunch before we had to head back for another family gathering that night.  it was great to see granny and special to see cashel with her. 

we love you granny

christmas: part 1 of ?

wow!  christmas was much, much different this year than last year.  first of all, jason was around for the prelude (yahoo!).  this made life so much easier.  second, cashel wasn't sick - well, i take that back - he was sick and out of school the last two days of school, but there was no ear infection so no doctor visit, our favorite sitter was in town, he went to school with me the last day, but all in all, it was much better than his illness of last year with me also getting sick and me having to fly solo with him!  whew!  the night before we left we had christmas with nana and uncle brian.  cashel loved "ripping" the paper.  both nana and uncle brian gave cashel some great gifts - books, legos, an easel, puzzles, stickers, etc.  we also exchanged gifts but who cares about us?  we're not as cute. 

thank you nana and uncle brian for making cashel's christmas so special!

nana and cashel before we left for the airport

hiney

maybe...just maybe i shouldn't tell this...

but it's too darn funny not to!

we've always called our and cashel's back ends (butt, ass, whatever you call it) a hiney.  not a northern accent hiney with a short i but a southern accenty hiney with a long i.  it's rather cute to hear cashel say it.

not that he's not in charge around here but lately he's really been in charge.

we've always played the "grab mama/daddy/cashel's hiney" game when one of us is getting ready for a shower or bath.

lately even when we're not, in cashel's own way, he instructs jason to touch my hiney.  not just over my pants, but by pulling down my pants. 

really, if you can get past an awkward feeling you may have at this point, it's quite hilarious.

i think it's his way of getting back at us for always pulling down his pants in the back to check to see if he has poop.