Home Sweet Home: Frousins

ok, so here goes my first "guest blogger" post on Home Sweet Home! i am cindy, missy's sister-in-law. so, yes, that means i grew up as the little sister of the famous michael avant - the weirdest, funniest brother a girl could have (have you seen his dance moves??). clearly, missy and i are uniquely linked through this guy. sometime i'll tell the story, complete with pictures, about my first impressions of missy and how we became more than family, but friends.

however, today's post started with an after school conversation between me and my 3 kiddos last week. we were talking about friends. my 10 year old daughter tori said, "my very first friend in the whole world was haley". and i got to thinking, she's right!

as you can see by the pic above, tori and haley hit it off right from the start. as they got older, they started calling each other on the phone for long talks, and every visit was filled with LOTs of girl fun. missy and i love it when our families get together because it's so easy for us. the girls disappear and we don't hear from them again until they're hungry! here is a precious shot of T and H reading with papa.

lest we leave out the boys, let me be sure and mention that tate and lee have their own history. an adventure filled history of father/son campouts and many, many games - those are two gamer boys for sure. here is a cute little boy pic of those two. my how they've changed since then!

interestingly, my family and michael and missy's family consists of an oldest boy, followed by 2 daughters. and with their ages close enough to foster friendship, over the years, we have named them The Frousins. more than cousins, more than friends...frousins! it has been so fun to watch the group dynamic change, especially with the girls. first it was just haley and tori. then came julia. you might think the older girls would exclude the newcomer, but i have always been so impressed with the way haley and tori generously include the younger girls.

and the Frousins live on...now completed by emma, who has been welcomed with open arms by H, T, and J. i have heard talk that one day we will eat in a restaurant named Frousins. i've also heard that one day we'll go see a great chick band in concert: The Frousins. for now, i think we'll stick with frousin princess parties, frousin barbie marathons, frousin swimming, frousin mountain trips, frousin beach trips, and so on....but i for one am secretly hoping that the chick band thing works out too!