Lovely Little Blessings: Visiting Zavitz Style

Kennedy took a short nap on the way to Alpharetta from Mall of Georgia.

Why were we driving to Alpharetta?

To see Aunt Kristi's parents- Bruce and Carole.

Remember Mommy and Kristi grew up in church children's choir and middle school youth group together in St Cloud, FL before Carole met the incredible Mr. Bruce Zavitz and moved up to Atlanta. Since we were little Kristi and I felt apart of each other's families.

When Mommy was in college she lived with Bruce and Carole for a little while.

They happily 'adopted' Mommy into their 'empty nest' when all their kids were away at various colleges. It was a rough time for Mommy, particularly being so far away from family.

What a huge blessing to have a new support system.

After a semester, Aunt Kristi and Mommy decided to transfer to University of Georgia to finish up school and live together as roommates.

We lived in a 3 bedroom duplex with another great girl named Erin.

Being pretty friendly gals so we quickly befriended our neighbors and started a group dinner nights.

6 of us took turns cooking for the group which included Aunt Kristi, her brother- Paul, and Aunt Kristi's best friend from high school- Emily.

We were all like peas in a pod.

Unfortunately, Mommy and Emily ended up having a pretty big falling out.

Pieces of the group fell apart, Paul and Emily got married and started a family....and a blog.

Mommy and Emily spent years trying to keep 'hating' each other.

Both secretly asking Aunt Kristi how the other was doing and 'blog stalking' one another.

A few weeks before we flew to Florida Mommy got an email from Emily.

She was the brave one. She emailed to ask Mommy to start over. We've both grown in our lives and faiths and neither remembered exactly why we stopped being friends so many years ago.

We have so very much in common now-just like we always did.

Thanks to Emily- we planned a dinner at Bruce and Carole's house Friday night- just the way it used to be.

The Shemenski's; Paul, Emily, Kailey Kate, and Luca Zavitz; Sam, Brian, and Cate Zavitz, and Aunt Kristi stormed the house, invading the driveway top to bottom.

It was just like old times....only better!

We are all married (except Kristi- eh hem), have children (except Kristi- eh hem) but we picked up just where we'd left off.

Bruce and Carole have a cool finished basement with toys for kids of all ages.

While the grown ups snacked on Bruce's yummy appetizers

Cate, Madison, and Kennedy played in the play house.

Kennedy found a phone and car- which, of course- prompted tons of comments from the boys!
Then Carole-Gram Z-put on Noggin for Madison, Cate, and Kailey Kate while Kennedy attempted to take a long overdue nap upstairs in the pack-n-play.

Before long the sun was low and the bubbles were flowing on the upstairs deck.

The big girls were beside themselves with excitement

Emily and Paul's daughter, Kailey Kate quickly befriended Madison and showed her the ropes

Before long Madison was trying to run the show

OK, not really.

After bubbles, the grown ups enjoyed more kid-free time with non-kid type beverages in the basement bar while Gram Z entertained the big girls.

When the dinner bell rang and Bruce's famous Bolognese sauce was ready, Gram Z began her favorite activity- bath time!

All four girls- Kailey Kate, Madison, Cate, and Kennedy piled in the big master bath for fun time while the parents enjoyed dinner.

Daddy fit in nicely with our sarcastic group. It was just as though he'd known the group for years. His big brother-little sister relationship with Aunt Kristi helped as all the guys have always liked ganging up on to pick on her.

After bath time the kids sat down to eat-not sure what's up with Madison's mean face. She insisted on sitting next to her new friend, Kailey Kate (she still points out KK and 'baby Wuka' on Mommy's computer whenever we read their blog)

Gram Z was happy finally meet her first California 'grand daughter'.

Daddy helped Kennedy discover a basket of toys in the family room.

Luca happily played with his Mommy after he finished his dinner.

He's going to be a heart breaker!

Aunt Kristi tried to show off her muscles 'double fisting' it with her two oldest nieces.

Then the girls had a funny photo shoot for more reminiscing.

Sam and Brian were friends when they were in high school, but they were not around when we were all in college and crashed the house for food and laundry. You never would have known Mommy and Sam didn't meet until our brief encounter at Downtown Disney.

Peas in a Pod I tell ya,

peas in a pod.

When the bigger 'little' girls finished dinner, they enjoyed mini drumstick ice cream cones on the patio. Aunt Kristi and Kennedy knocked from inside out at the ice cream girls.