Fellowship

Kids have told us we have a boring house.

I have no idea why they say this. Surely it's not because we turn into Frank and Marie Barone, covering Mo in blankets before meals. Surely it's not the lack of ANY toys or gaming systems. Surely it's not the chorus of "No no, don't touch" sung by both parents as kids wander through the rooms looking for anything interesting.

Surely not.

Ahhhhh who are we kidding? We are boring non-parents, begging our friends to bring along an activity bag for their poor kids who are subjected to nothing but a hostile cat and her discarded toys for an evening of fun.

Despite that, we love having friends over and wish we had time in our schedule to do it more often. And this week, we were reminded of why we love company so much.

Last week I set up a photo booth in our pirogi, and Ryan's mom came over to take our pictures. It's an annual practice...fall pictures around the time of our engagement. I so loved the way the photo booth turned out, I wanted to invite the whole city to come over for pictures in the pirogi.

{Or at least those whose last names begin with S. Just kidding. We had an alternative wreath plan.}

On a whim, I called some friends...some new friends we just made at church. A family of six, which meant an entourage of four very potentially bored children. But I thought they might want a photo shoot...even though their last name didn't begin with S.

Much to my delight, they were eager for a photo shoot, and I braved asking if they might want to stay for dinner. Nothing fancy. Totally kid-friendly. Grilled hot dogs and s'mores at the fire pit for dessert.

They. Said. Yes.

And so we got ready! We set up the photo booth for a non-S family....

We watered the flowers to perk them up...and rearranged all the pumpkins...

Ryan started the grill...

...and we had a photo party. I climbed around on ladders and zoomed in and out...Ryan held tree branches out of my way and arranged kids in front of parents so I could snap memories.

They were great to photograph: no blinkers, big smiles, and non-protesting kids.

And that was just the beginning. Because after the photo fun, it was dinner time. Hot dogs and chips and fruit...

And a fire for s'mores...

And we had fun. So. Much. Fun.

We chased paper plates and napkins around the yard. We sat on straw bales and told stories. We caught marshmallows on fire and sipped coffee in the waning sunlight.

Kids piled on the hammock to talk and swing. They tried to see Braeya, but she was up to her hissing tricks, so that wasn't as much fun as any of us hoped.

But the night was lovely. New friendships formed, fellowship underway, and the promise of much more to come.

Ahhh fall. How I love the friendships you forge.