The most wonderful time of her year

We took our baby girl to "Meet Your Teacher" night last night.  I refer to my 6-year-old 1st grader daughter as my "baby girl" bc she will always be my baby girl, even when she's a mommy herself (Let's hope I live long enough to experience that, by the way).  Well, God smiled really big on her and gave her the best teacher, Mrs. Babelay, and made sure that her friend and neighbor, Braden, is in her class, too, which makes her world nearly perfect.  The only thing missing in her 1st grade class is Caroline, her bff in Kindergarten.  Caroline is the sweetest little red-headed ball of energy that I've ever seen, who reminds me of myself about 35 years ago.  But Hannah told me last night that it's ok, bc she can play with Caroline in after-school care, "when you don't have to be quiet or do any work, you can just play". 

Let me insert a prequel here.  See, we live in a subdivision full of young families, and six out of seven of the homes on our little cul-de-sac lane have kids between the ages of 2 and 10.  There are eight kids on our street, to be exact, plus two more who live close enough to be a part of our cul-de-sac family.  I was pregnant with Hannah when we moved into our house more than six years ago, so Hannah has "grown up" with these kids.  We birthday party together, garage-sale together, and congregate in the street chatting while the kids play until past everyone's bed time several nights a week, weather permitting.  We are as close to family as you can get. 

So last night was an impromptu celebration of sorts for the kids.  They told each other what teacher they got, who's in their class, and how excited they are to go back to school on Monday.  They rode their bikes and scooters, played camp, and shot some basketball.  It was fun to watch their blissful little faces as they played, and one of those moments that I believe I'll remember for a long time. 

It's nice to enjoy life's priceless little moments unfold, knowing you didn't have to pay a dime for it, and no amount of money could buy it anyway.