"Neighborhood hangout"

I have recently become a fairly avid reader. It's amazing that this came about after I had given birth to my third child! You would think that in the midst of all the craziness of our lives I wouldn't have time to read a book. But, I find that this brings me a little bit of quietness from the almost constant loud while I am feeding Jarrik or right before I go to bed. In the newest book that I am reading The Stuff That Never Happened by Maddie Dawson, I found a passage about the woman's children that struck me. She speaks of her home being the "neighborhood hangout" when her children were younger. Most of her children's friends would come to her house to hangout after school, before events, etc and she loved this since she was able to know just where her kids were and what they were doing, but also because the other kids felt safe there. As I read this, I found that this is something that I have always wanted. Mason is already at the age of inviting friends over. Sometimes I feel a little bad that he doesn't get to have friends over more often, but when we live out in the country and have 2 other small children in the house, it gets to be a little hairy sometimes! Our doors will always be open to anyone that wants to "hangout", whether it is my kids' friends or our friends.

Mason and a couple friends at his 8th birhtday.

Dressed up in hippy gear and a Jimmy Hendrix (thank you Holly!) for Homecoming.