Neighborhood Block Party

In our old condo we had pretty crumby neighbors with the exception of Don and Kerri Mitchell below us, who we still love and adore to this day. Directly across from our door, we had a male neighbor who was nice enough but just a little odd. He was a dentist's assistant from what we gathered, with a licence plate that read "ORALFIX" on his broken down car that sat parked in the same spot for years. He rarely said hello, and when we did get a glance inside his condo it was PACKED! Like the kind of clutter you'd see in an old lady's house. Below him was a woman I only ever referred to as "Crazy Lady," although I highly doubt that was her real name. Psy-cho! She was home for years on permanent disability, and walked around our complex with a bird on her shoulder. Her pot smoking daughter would occasionally stay with her, and I'd have to close the window to Tay's room for fear of her getting high off the fumes in her sleep. And my least favorite neighbors shared a bedroom wall with us. A group of boys that I referred to as the "Cal-Art Freaks", who would constantly let their dog crap on the grass . The dog even escaped once, only to find me taking Tay for a walk where he proceeded to hump my leg. I kid you not. They blasted their music till all hours of the night, and I repeatedly called the cops after failed attempts at pounding on their door. Oh! But the kicker was when they'd have female guests over, and I'd hear everything. EVERYTHING! And believe me, when you're sleep deprived after having a newborn, the very last thing you want to hear at 2 in the morning once you've gotten the baby to sleep are the sounds of college love on the other side of the wall. I have no shame. My postpartum temperament often lead me to bang on the walls screaming for them to, "Shut the he** up!" and some other choice words that I can't type for fear of offending my morally pure readers. Oh, the memories.

Now that we've moved on up like George and Weasey, we live on a wonderful street with very nice neighbors. Almost everyone has kids, and we let them all play outside together in the afternoon. We threw around the idea of having a Halloween block party, and it actually came to fruition. Almost everyone turned out for a BBQ, games and of course candy. We decorated the street and almost everyone dressed up. We met a lot of our neighbors who we probably wouldn't have met otherwise, and found out we have 4 pregnant women on our block and two police officers. Two things I was happy to find out. Grandpa Bob set up his awesome rubber band gun gallery, and Grandma Diane decorated the garage. Nana and Grandpa Bruce brought over yummy chili, and my nephew Logan came over to trick or treat with Tay. Halloween fun was had by all. It's nice to have good neighbors. The kind that you can have fun with and call on for help, or just hang out with in the street on a fun night like Halloween. Nana dressed up as Tay's favorite TV character "Loonette," from "The Big Comfy Couch" show.