Bloggy Playdate *pictures*

**Pics added at the end**
**Not my finest photography**

Once upon a time last August, I had the good fortune to meet a bloggy friend.
We had such a good time and I know both Giselle and I had intentions of planning another get together.  We just haven't gotten around to it yet!  In truth, I've had a hard time getting together with friends who live 10 minutes or less from me.  I'm not sure what made this summer seem so crazy?

Somehow in the midst of this August, another bloggy friend (who I also went to college with so we've met IRL before) managed to nail down a date to get together.  Aimee was gracious enough to host me and the kids for a playdate.  She lives in the same general direction as Giselle but further north.  So it was about the same travel time for me, approximately an hour and a half.  Not a big deal.

Let me set the scene here...Aimee has six children so with mine that brings a grand total of NINE kids and TWO moms.  And of those nine children, SEVEN of them are age 5 or under...let that sink in.

In theory, it should have been chaos, right?  Sometimes my three alone cause enough chaos to send me screaming into the street.  And I tell you, it was so easy and so smooth.  Even lunch time was a breeze (of course, Aimee did the prep work so maybe if I had been helpful, I wouldn't be saying this?)

Aimee is the picture of a calm, relaxed mom.  I tend to feed off the vibes of others, so I felt very at ease the whole time.  Hanging out with Aimee and her children gave me an inkling about the benefits of having older kids in the mix.  Her two oldest were very helpful with keeping the little ones occupied and engaged.  So awesome!

While Aimee and I were not close friends in college, we definitely knew each other and also lived in the same dorm one year.  Because our college was rather small, it was easy to at least get a sense of many of the students, even those in other classes.  Aimee is a year or two younger than me but our paths still crossed from time to time.  I felt like I had just seen her last week.  From reading her blog, I have an even better sense of who she is as a person.  And it continues to amaze me how much my friends in the bloggy world really just are who they seem to be.  No surprises, at least none for me!

Our kids all played very well together.  Considering none of them have ever met before, it seemed like they all just jumped in, eager to make new friends.  Chloe and "Mopsy" (bloggy name for Aimee's second youngest, who is close in age to Chloe) were the only ones who seemed to need warmup time.  And I think that is par for both of them.

So the kids played and we got to talk.  Aimee had a lovely lunch with every option a kid could possibly want, including a yummy fruit salad and fresh-from-the-dairy chocolate milk.  We brought a dessert of chocolate chip and sugar cookies.  Aimee had a special lunch for the moms...a salad with chicken that I don't know the name of but it is the kind that has ramen noodles broken up in it...I'm not doing it justice, it was YUMMY and I couldn't stop eating it!  I should do more of these bloggy playdates just for the lunch options, as I've been spoiled both times ;)

I had the pleasure and privilege to hold Aimee's youngest, a baby girl, and she is just so sweet and so cuddly.  I could have snuggled up on the sofa with her and had a lovely little nap (not that I would do that on the first visit). 

The time passed quickly. The kids went from one thing to another, spent a little time outside, although it was pretty humid out, so we mostly stayed inside.  Aimee's oldest put together a bouquet of flowers for me to take home.  I have only two regrets from the day:
1. I did not get a picture with Aimee
2. I owe her older son a card game
(oh wait, and I was LATE...shocker...even though I tried to be on time...so that's 3 regrets)

Regrets aside, Aimee's children are just wonderful, very kind, very sweet and so friendly!  I loved chatting with them.  And Aimee herself is awesome as well.  She's really got it together, even though I know there are times she doesn't feel that way.  It was great to make a new friend and I hope that Aimee and her kids enjoyed it as much as we did.

Thanks for a lovely day!!  Hopefully we can do it again some time :)

Aimee has this toy out in her yard... a HUGE hit with my kids.
I'll be searching for one online soon...

Sally, Liam & Chloe
(Aimee uses blog names for her kids- I wasn't smart enough to do that when I started out!!)

Chloe, Sally & Michael

Michael and Fiver hanging out...

The group minus three...two napping and one grumpy!

We all had alot of fun :)