CHICAGO | When class lets out for Michelle and Barack Obama's two daughters, their grandmother is there to pick them up.

When 10-year-old Malia needs her hair done in the twist style she likes, a family friend brings a beautician to the Obama house.

And when Michelle Obama and her husband both recently campaigned out of town, their girls stayed with another friend who regularly shuttles 7-year-old Sasha to ballet class.

Like countless other working parents, the Obamas rely on a close group of friends and family -- especially Michelle's 71-year-old mother -- to help juggle home life and work.

The Obamas' jobs may be more high-profile than most, but those close to them say many of the everyday challenges are the same as when she worked as an administrator at a Chicago hospital and he was just another U.S. senator: shuffling the girls to play dates, piano lessons, drama, ballet and soccer games.

Michelle Obama is "you and I, she's the woman next door, she's the woman down the street," said Yvonne Davila, who has been friends with Michelle Obama since the two worked together at Chicago City Hall nearly 20 years ago.

The Obama girls stayed with Davila, a single mom, the weekend after the first presidential debate when their parents were out of town campaigning. Davila, whose two young daughters are good friends with the Obama girls, stuffed them full with breakfasts of french toast and waffles.

That was a rare weekend away for Michelle Obama, who tries to organize her campaign travel so that she's home on the weekends and gets home during the week before her daughters go to bed -- lights out is promptly at 8:30 p.m.

Even when Michelle Obama is away, she's not out of touch, checking in with Davila, owner of a communications and marketing firm, while the girls had a pizza party.

Barack Obama, for his part, calls home every night at bedtime, and he hadn't skipped a parent-teacher conference, Michelle Obama said earlier this year.

Michelle Obama is like an air traffic controller when it comes to organizing her daughters' activities -- she puts everything in motion but Robinson and others, such as Davila and family friend Kaye "Mama Kaye" Wilson, help make sure the girls get to their destinations.

"She handles all the scheduling, and all I have to do is do it or Yvonne will do it or Kaye will do it. ... And if she's home, she'll do it," said Robinson, who lives in her own home near the Obamas.

It's Robinson who picks up the girls every day from the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools where Malia is in fifth grade and Sasha is in second. After school, Robinson takes the Obama girls to play dates or other activities.

"That's my responsibility, gladly," she said.

Their grandmother also will bring the girls to school if their mother leaves early in the morning to go out of town on the campaign trail.

Wilson and the others know how important it is to Michelle Obama to have a group of people she can turn to.

"I don't think she could do her life without it," said Wilson, a not-for-profit consultant who lives in Olympia Fields.