Kath: Kath is one of the first people I met when I moved to DC back in '91. We lived in a group house together, she taught me the finer points of coffee, we were in each other's weddings, I've attened the birth of one of her children, and am her son's godmother. We've been through a lot together and I trust her with not only my life, but that of my kids.

C: Kath's Husband. He and I go to Mass together every Thursday and then we either take the kids to "Playgym", which is 2 hours of total chaos, or else we come back to my house and make a mess! A Catholic convert, which means he's even more intense then the rest of us, making for some good conversation.

N'sauce and Baby B: Kath and C's kiddos. N'sause is 6 months younger then Precsious, and Baby B is about a year younger then Stealth Baby. I was present at Baby B's birth and Hubby and I are his godparents. Cool!

KK: KK never gets mentioned in the journal anymore, which is too bad because I see her every work day and she is one of my closest friends! Before KK got a car, I was useful to her in that I could drive her to and from "da Burg" and all she had to do in return was help me watch the kids in the car. (This way I could go to da Burg at will and not have to have Hubby along!) She is Serbian Orthodox, which makes her a wonderful spiritual friend as well. She is also very sharp, so watch your back since she doesn't suffer stupidity particularly well! PS - remember all those words you learned in high school in prepration for the SATs? She still uses them correctly in sentances and leaves me scrambing for the dictionary.

Waddick This is a great friend of Hubby's and a super sweet man. He and Hubby spend a lot of time swapping computer parts, taking apart various cars and motorcycles (this man can rebuild a transmission with no instructions!) and rebuilding various parts of each other's houses. So they think nothing of spending a weekend in Atlanta attending a Home Show, thus coming home with elabrate expansion plans (which will never get done at our current rate!)

Wes and Rach Our neighbor's grandkids, who are each one year older than Pumpkin and Precious. They come over fairly frequenly, especially during the summer, and we spend a lot of time sitting in plastic chairs at the ends of the driveways watching the kids try to kill eachother on their bikes and big wheels. (smile)

Da Burg Crew!

Mom and Buck: My mom and her husband. I love my mom about as much as anyone in the world. She's a GREAT person - who else takes her kids on a 10 day hiking trip through the grand canyon. . . at age 50? She's also a very beautiful and devout person, and a wonderful role model. She recently moved to a great house (in Cow Country) on over an acre surrounded by farms - needless to say this is Kid Central!

Dadsmo/Pap Pap/Captian Crusty and Nanna T/Muff: Dadsmo and Nanna and energy personified. They are always ready to do something, and think nothing of dragging 3 kids to the park without my help. Muff is the Kenkel family matriarch in training, so she cooks a feast with color cordinated place mats every time we see her. The kids love Crusty's Ranch because it is filled with marbles, tennis balls, and lincoln logs. Muff also has a FABULOUS and wicked sence of humor, and is often the first person I call with those not-politically correct stories.

Uncle T Peace, Powder and Pedals. He writes better than I do. Go read his amazing biking, snowboarding and my-car-is-stolen-again stories at Uncle Timmy's FunHause Timbo is also the idito that got me addicted to Lance Armstrong, even though I can no more ride a bike than fly.

Nannie and Gramps: Hubby's mom and dad. I get along great with Nannie, and she's the one that set Hubby and I up.

CYL and BL: Hubby's sister and brother-in-law. I'm blessed in that I get along with CYL REALLY well, and we have a lot of fun together. They live in Cow Country near my mom on about 3 acres, with horses behind the house. (Yeah man, the kids LOVE this place!) They built their house - FROM SCRATCH - and have been super helpful when Hubby and I do anything with our house. I mean, they came up to help with the kitchen, and while we were asleep BL laid out all the tile for the kitchen floor! I mean, they did shit we could never have done and they did it before Hubby and I had yet to have our morning coffee!

Kat and JM: yet another of Hubby's sisters and another brother-in-law. The kids love Kat because every time she sees them she gives them treats! JM is in medical school so soon they won't be part of Da Burg crew.

The Cinci Crew!

Aunt J and Uncle Ray: The Kenkel family Matriarch - a position to which I aspire, but will have to have go through both Aunt J and Nanna T to get there. A wonderful woman with a great husband who loves me like her own daughter and calls my kids her grandchildren. Thank god for e-mail, since I "talk" to her all the time, and very much respect her opinions on nearly everything. She's an awsome cook and takes cleaning (and decorating fore every holidy) VERY seriously. She came up after the birth of Precious and was appalled at my housekeeping, so she shamed me into having a cleaning person once a week.

Aunt Mary and family: Aunt Mary is awesome. She has 3 great kids of her own, and so I use her as a resouce on how to stay sane when you're helplessly outnumbered. She and her husband would give a total stranger every penny they had if he was in need - plus they are the real family glue of the Molleran clan, and think nothing of have 30 people sleeping in various rooms of the house (as well as in the camper in their yard) when we attend family reunions. Whenever I'm in Cinci (usually to see Aunt J) I always make time for a coffee visit with Aunt Mary to make sure I'm raising the kids right.

Totally Random People

Juli: One of my best friends from college; my roommate, bridesmaid, and confident. We still manage to see eachother once a year, and "talk" nearly daily via e-mail. She has two darling little boys and lives in Indiana.