So many friends. so little time

Most days pass without phone calls or play dates, but today was different. My daughter wanted to play with the neighbor boy. I put the baby in the stroller and we headed over to pick him up with two buckets in hand. She is really into looking for ladybugs. We started to walk down the alley when we picked up another neighbor. I was walking around the neighborhood for an hour with 3 four year olds and a baby looking for bugs. We ended up back at the neighbor's house. All the children played nicely together for another hour and then we headed home. We were not even home 10 minutes when the phone rang. It was another neighbor asking if my daughter could come over and play for awhile. I put the baby down for a nap and took her over to play for an hour. Wow, what a day! As the evening went on, she became more and more defiant. I guess that her friends wore her out. She went to bed with no hesitation and was asleep before I turned the lights out. I like her to play with these kids because all 3 of them are only children and give her a run for her money. She tends to be micro manager, like my father, and these kids keep her on her toes. She does not get away with managing any of these kids, which is good for her. I would like to see her play with these kids more often. I guess that I will have to call them more frequently for play dates.