A Cool House

After school most every sunny day, my kids play outside with the neighbor kids. Our block is home to about 25 kids and it can be crazy. So, to say that they are not allowed in my house is an understatement. But, occasionally, if it is just one or two we invite them in. My daughter who will turn 7 next month has had her share of playdates. My son, who is just 3 is just learning the total funness of having a friend to play in his room with his stuff. In his total cute little boy voice he ran into ask me if the neighbor boy across the street could "come inside the house and pway". "Sure!" I obliged. So, I overhear him inviting the little boy in like this, "Yeah, you can come in my house!" He shrugs his little shoulders and opens the door for his friend and says, "It's a cool house, you wiwl wike it." He has a little trouble with his "L" words. At this point it is so cute, I don't correct it much. Anyway, back to the story.

The neighbor boy has been here before so it is not like he doesn't know our house and that is not really the point of my story anyway. I guess it just warms my heart to know that my kids enjoy having their friends over to their house. It makes me feel great to know they think it is cool. I remember growing up and the friends houses we would love to hang out at. They were cool because of a couple things.

1. FOOD - lots of great snack foods, fresh baked goods, plenty of Kool-Aid.
2. Cool toys or music as I got older
3. Warmth. A mom who interacted with me. A dad who joked with me.
4. Time to be alone and hang out.

I remember a friend, Heidi. She was my best friend from the 4th grade until the 9th grade when we moved away. We would play with Barbies for hours during when we were younger. As we grew older, we would take our cassette player loaded with Micheal Jackson or Def Leppard and we would sit in her big back yard talking for hours about boys, school, cheerleading, and God. She was the first person with whom I actually had conversations about God. These are awesome memories to me! I loved spending time at her house.

So, as my kids grow older, I hope I can remember what makes the house the one that my kids friends want to hang out in. A Cool House.