The worst part about moving from Michigan to Utah is losing friends. I know, I know, in this day and age of electronic social media, are we ever truly lost to one another? No. However, as sad as I am to not get my daily fix of Angela and others, it breaks my heart that Eleanor doesn't get to play with her favorite little playmates. She still talks of them often. I made the mistake of mentioning Kinsley's birthday a while back and she sang the birthday song to her for nearly a month and frequently asked when we could have cake with her for at least two weeks. (Kinsley- we owe you some birthday cake). She asks all the time about Grant and Zach, Reagan and Lily, Ainsley and Emmaline, Katerbug and Ellie, and Nora, and Jaquie etc... etc... She can't see a school bus without thinking it is Josh's and any time I curl her hair she still says "Like Ellary's?" She also remembers all of her neighborhood friends even though many were much older. She has really good memories of all these people, but she's three. A lot of these memories will fade and one day the pictures of them wont mean anything to her. And that bums me out. Thankfully a lot of us all have family connections in Utah so we can hopefully see these sweet people through the years.
Anyhow, this post came up because I have a lot of pictures of Eleanor and one special friend, Liya, so I had to blog it. We saw the Bowles every week for nearly two years. The Bowles and the Johnsons watched American Idol each week for a year, but then they both dropped their cable, so I made them start coming to my house. That continued for the next two years. Kim, Angela and I were all pregnant with boys at the same time so we bonded for life. The results were Charlie, Winston and baby Bennett. Michael B. and Zach J. were the same age and best friends and Eleanor, Liya and Grant were the same age and became best friends too. Grant would often play with the older boys when things got too princessey, so I have a lot of pictures of just the two girls so indulge me here. The pictures are out of order because it's late and I haven't found a great way to space pictures on the blog since the formatting changed, so if the girls get older then younger, just ignore that.
They emptied all the toys out of the tv cabinet one day and enjoyed their little hide out.
Full on princess regalia, two princess baby-dolls and a sippy cup. That's how we roll.
Awwww...
Sweet Grant! They were often quite a trio, but here he got left out until the end.
Here are the cuties when Eleanor was just barely 2, Liya is a bit older.
Since Liya is older, Eleanor would follow her around and do anything she did. Liya sat down in the snow so Eleanor did too.
Much later, a few days before E's third birthday.
This one cracks me up with their psycho-stares.
They were big huggers. Maybe all kids that age are? I know Eleanor would hug all her favorite friends at church each week like they had been lost at sea and reunited after years apart.
Trying out face-painting to see if it would work for E's party.
Another flash back, here they are when Eleanor is about 2&1/2.
Noses!
Ooh, and smooches.
Finally some recent shots of them in their Dora pajamas.
And my favorite picture of them of all time.
