Noel's 4th Birthday Party - July 9, 2013

What a sad day for our family! Lucy's friend, Noel, who lived just two houses away from us had a farewell birthday party because her family was moving to Texas.

Noel's parents, Karen and Todd, are some of the friendliest people we know. When we first moved into our home, they were our first friends. When I was bored, I would often walk over to their house and hang out and always felt so welcome. And of course, it was so great that the girls were close in age and could play with each other.

Here is one of the first pictures of the girls together. This was probably just a few months after we moved in. I think my mom was visiting and we were raking leaves and we put the girls inside the leaves container. What a fun memory - the girls were just 1 1/2 years old. I love Lucy's expression in this picture. 

Fall 2010

And here they are just hanging out at Karen's house on one of our many visits there. Lucy always loved (and still does) playing with other kids' toys and eating their snacks.

January 2011

And this was Noel's 2nd birthday party at our local park. I didn't blog much during this time so it is interesting to look back at some of these pictures (I actually snagged these from Karen's facebook page).

July 2011

I don't have as many pictures recently. The girls did go to preschool together last year and we carpooled which was wonderful. Best of luck to the Heaton family on their new adventures in Texas. Karen is expecting baby number FIVE in December!! We will certainly miss them in our neighborhood! Lucy still often talks about missing Noel. What lovely memories she has of her first friend outside of family. At least there is facebook to keep up with the latest happenings. Thanks for the great friendship, Heaton family!