Right next door is a pretty little house. It’s old and charming like mine. They are really close to one another, share a wrap around drive and some pretty great trees. For the last eighteen months, it has sat empty. We were blessed for several years to live next door to my aunt Heather and her three wonderful children. They were such an important part of our lives and we were so sad when they moved on to bigger and better things. Ella has been pretty depressed about the empty house for awhile and dreamed of having neighbors, especially if children could be involved.
We’ve known for several months that it was very possible some very good friends might move next door. Parker & Ella are the same age, Conner & Ella are in the same class at school and Carson & Sophie are two peas in a pod at Heidi’s. We were so worried about getting her hopes up, so we waited as long as possible to share the good news.
Almost three weeks ago, these three sweet boys moved into the house next door.
and our life has pretty much looked like this ever since.
Ella goes straight to their house in the afternoon and if she manages to come inside first, we’ll hear a little knock at our back door. They are exhausting themselves after school each afternoon and crying for each other on the weekends.
My doors have been open, front and back, and it has been wonderful to watch a stream of little people (and Beemer, of course) run straight through the house on an adventure.
They climb trees and “build” fences. They navigate play houses and swing sets. They jump on the trampoline, play board games and make believe. I have never seen my littles so happy. THAT makes their momma so happy.
