Mack Momma's

RUTH, DE ANNA, TRISH, SHANEN, KELLY & BABY JULIANA

I Love to watch people. Bad Habit from being a cop I guess. I watch my neighbors all the time, the mom's mostly.............Especially the ones I hang out with.

We are a quirky little group. We are all completely different. I love my neighbors. Almost everyday we sit outside, in our lawn chairs gabbing about, well... just about anything and everything that comes to mind. Sometimes it is just about our kids, jobs, cooking (ok, I might not have too much to contribute to that part of the conversation), life, love how we grew up... just pretty much whatever. Sometimes we don't talk about anything. It is actually pretty cool. We are from all walks of life with super different lifestyles and beliefs but we all seem to bring some really neat traits to our "proverbial table" in the afternoon. There are 13 children between the 5 of us and they all play so well together. (ok maybe not Juliana yet... she's only a week old so we are giving her a break!!!) Our kids are 10, 8, 7, 7, 6, 5, 4, 4, 3, 3, 2, almost 2, and newborn. CAN'T GET MUCH BETTER THAN THAT! Awesome playdates I tell ya!

I love watching them. I know.. I am strange...

You see, one of my neighbors is beyond sweet. I am not kidding. TRISH is the epitome of Betty Crocker. She almost always has on an apron (Jaxi always asks why I don't wear one of those "cover your shirt thingy'z"), she grows her own food...including banana's, watches a ton of other peoples kids after school and gives and gives and gives. Jax takes notice of her a lot. Every time she puts on lipstick to leave somewhere important and has dress clothes on, he never misses a chance to say how pretty she is. (I think this is great for an 8 year old to notice this) She never gets mad when Tigger jumps on her and she always, and I seriously mean always has a smile on her face. I love when she smiles. She has beautiful teeth.

Another one of my neighbors closes her eyes when she talks for long periods of time. I am not sure why this happens but it does. It is mesmerizing for me to watch her. I don't know if anyone else has ever noticed it. KELLY makes me laugh with some of the stories she tells me. She was pregnant when I first wrote this post.... and has since had her beautiful daughter. When she was pregnant she was one of those women that was a "stunningly BEAUTIFUL pregnant woman!" My favorite thing about her is the way she talks to her little boys. They are at a stage where sometimes only Mom knows exactly what they are saying and sometimes others may not. Watching her converse with them is cool. There is something so peaceful about her voice when she is loving on them or scolding them. Rarely does her tone change and she just is a great mom and fun woman to hang with.

Another neighbor is the single mom on the street. RUTH is busy. I used to think I was busy. I HAVE DECIDED I AM NOT. She has a lot on her plate. I love listenening to her talk about work and life and rasing her little boy. She is smart. I mean really smart. The kind of, "wow she is so intelligent," that I have had conversations about it over dinner with Tommy, kind of smart. I have learned a lot about life sitting and listening to her. It is a rare occasion that she gets to join our little group for some gab time but I always appreciate the times she does come talk! Last weekend we hung out on Sunday morning together and talked over coffee while all our kids ran around like crazy munchkins... having a blast. It was awesome! I am learning all I can from her when it comes to cooking with Mexican flair... because she can immitate Chipotle's hot sauce perfectly!!! I adore her and all the spicy food she makes for me.. (and no I don't share it!) ~ Don't be in such a rush to get back to work...... I love having you out with us in the afternoons!!!

The last Mack momma in our group is the one that I am probably closest to because of our daughters. We have a lot of the same background as far as competitive sports goes. It is really funny because neither of us needs to talk about our old softball days or anything. We can just hang out watching the cars race up and down the street. We get tired of hearing our girls fight like they are sisters and we readily ignore them... together. We can just sit and do nothing or get each others opinions on decorating or just vent about our middle children. We often joke that Jax and Kylee are becoming "closer friends" as they get older (hmmmmm.) We don't have to do anything and that is what is really cool. It is a common thing for her and I to text each other about a great deal at Wal-Mart or Fry's or when we are needing help with getting the kids to or from school! SHANEN is our part time P.E. teacher on the block and next year she gets to be a stay at home mommy with all the rest of us. YEAH!

I love our little circle of friends that we have grown into. We really watch out for each others' kids and families! We live on a wonderful street filled with wonderful people and I am so thankful for Tommy coming home one day...oooohhh so long ago in 2005... and telling me we were moving!!!