The People We Miss

The first few days of last week were spent making arrangements for the kids to spend time with their old school friends. Kate and Will disappeared for days at a time and I didn't see much of them at all. (But I didn't get a single picture of Kate and the three friends she spent time with - wah!) 

Monday was Will's best friend's actual birthday, so Neena (his mom) planned to have Will show up at their house as a surprise just as they were ready to leave for Knott's Berry Farm. Rithik didn't even know we were in town, so I got some great video of him freaking out at the door and then falling to the ground. (You gotta love ten-year-old boys. They can be just as dramatic as girls!) Here they are right before leaving. Rithik is to the right of Will, and his two other great buddies, Andrew and Alan, are on either end of the group. (Fraternal twins.) The other two boys were new to the school last year so Will didn't even know them, but Neena said they all had a great time together:

Elizabeth with one of her kindergarten buddies, Nick:

Rachael was old enough to stay and play with his younger sister, Taylor:

Elizabeth's other kindergarten buddy, Anna:

Tuesday night we got together with all the girls from church at one of their homes for a pool party. Here's Kate with Eliza and Rachael:

Man, I miss these guys (girls):

They're so dang cute and fun:

Elizabeth pretty much thinks she's a teenager when she's with them:

Will was the lone wolf male at the party:

Munch time:

More cute Eliza:

More cute Rachel:

Debbie was the president of the Young Women's organization when I was a teacher and we became great friends:

On Wednesday we went to the beach, making a pit stop at Trent & Laura's beforehand since they live in Santa Monica. They are both artists (met at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago), so they're apartment is covered in the stuff - much of it their own. Trent teaches art at Santa Monica College and Laura just gave birth to their first child and stays at home with her while managing their apartment building. This painting in their front room is part of Trenton's "Green Man" series, and that's Laura's brother in a bonnet on the top left:

That would be a cast of Laura's body, and when this was part of her graduation show, her belly was full of gum balls:

Ahhhh, the star of the show - baby Liv:

More green man:

This might be one of my favorite things in their apartment. Laura went dumpster diving for this after seeing a woman throw it out due to a nasty divorce situation. I love Laura for not being beneath dumpster diving. Especially for such fine photography as this:

I took even MORE pictures today, so I'll just keep plugging along until I get all caught up. Being the family historian is serious business . . .