306: the offspring of my high school girl friends.

This weekend was a girls' get together. There are six of us, loosely, who have stayed connected since high school: Kim and Mandy and Nikki, who have stayed in Green Bay, and Jen and Chris, who live in the Twin Cities, and me, not far from the cities. We all graduated the same year, have taken largely different paths in life, and I love them all dearly. I'm always reminded at how important it is to have girl friends in your life.

I miss them already. And I met their children:


Dyllan is nearly two, the daughter of my old, dear friend Mandy Kropidlowski and her husband Chris Charles. Her mannerisms were so striking, her face hugely expressive. She eerily resembles Mandy's sister Ali.


Above we have Wil, welcomed to the Burg family, who is four months old, and for that afternoon, one of the quietest babies I've ever seen. He looks just like his father, Mike: his nose in profile, his deep set eyes. Kim's an early reading specialist at an elementary school, so Wil is in for some patient parenting.


This is the Souvignier family: Jen, her husband Chris, their fourteen-month-old son Jack, and another on the way (due in January). Jack can hide toy trucks in his cheeks, shriek like a girl, touch everything in rapid succession, and give the sweetest hugs.

It goes without saying that I was smitten with each of these children. I can't wait to watch them grow up.