I remembered one thing we have been doing quite a bit of lately: enjoying the company of new friends.  We were lucky to meet some families in our neighborhood, both of which are Navy families and both homeschool as well.  We are often running into one family on our journeys to the beach, at soccer practice, and on our walks through the neighborhood, and both families participated in the play Cedar recently performed in.  Both families have kids that are 6 and 8 (like us), one of which is a girl whom Ashton loves to play with.  It’s been such a long time since Ashton has had a girl her age to play with, and now I finally get to see the dress-ups being used again.  It is wonderful.  We’ve invited them on beach trips, walks in the woods, and fishing trips, and there is a lot of riding back and forth from house to house.  Being home is so much better when my kids are happy, and playmates make them happy.  Their lovely mothers make me happy, too!