[andysandmikesmom]

There is much to be said, for neighborhoods, where everyone knows you and your kids, and your gadgets....

We also had three plum trees in the backyard in North Carolina, and they would be loaded...I would always let all the neighborhood kids take as many plums as they wished, to eat at our house and take home with them...

It seemed like during those lazy summer days in North Carolina, I used to wind up with all the neighborhood kids at my house, in my yard....they were all good kids, by and large, and they listened to me, and behaved...I enjoyed having them all over, and got a kick out of it....

I always used to bake a cake a day, most of it being consumed by the kids, and having enough left over for our desert at dinner time...I actually think that the kids behaved, in order to get some cake...nothing like food bribery to keep a herd of rowdy boys in line...but it worked...

[grannie9]

Sounds like our house when the kids were young.. All the neighborhood kids lived at our house..

In fact when I went to Lynn last week, my daughter Dyan's girlfriend came over to show me her new baby boy, (and he's adorable) and she said that I was her Mom and our house was her house for all those years.. She still calls me all the time to see how we are.. Nice girl..and we had a very friendly neighborhood.. That's why I hated to leave..

I also baked everyday, and always had at least one or more of my kids friends stay for dinner, just about every night.. I never knew what it was like to have only us..