Is this seat taken?

Ah, the bucket swing. Where memories are made, friendships are formed, and two little girls named Abby get to swing way too high when they swing together.

Your standard bucket swing may be perfect for a two year old, but smaller babies get swallowed whole by the immense bucket-ness of this type of playground equipment. That's where teamwork (and a little mommy ingenuity) kicks in.

It didn't take Rebecca and I long to come up with this clever solution to thwart the collapsing of our babies in the too-big bucket swing. It seems that these swings are actually just the right size...if you bring a buddy to the park with you.

The Abbys and the other kiddos had fun on our little playdate, although it was a little colder than we would have liked and many of us came dressed for what we hoped the weather would be, rather than what it was. But because she loves her BFF, Abby Jean was happy to lend her extra pink sweater to Abby Mae.

Abby Mae's mom and I are sure hoping these girls grow up to actually like each other, since we've already decided they're best friends. "Yep," they'll tell their other buddies, "we've been friends since we could both fit in a bucket swing together."