Twenty-Five Hours in a Day, please!

I'm trying to upload the pictures from the past two months, so I can share them with you. If I just did it once a week, it would take fifteen minutes. But, since I can't usually find fifteen minutes, I put it off and put it off...and now the "time remaining" message is so awful I can't even look at it!

I'm relying on these pictures to form an outline of what I need to write. My "list of things to write about" post last month is a start...

I'm hoping to find plenty of time during this long week to post some of these memories. All I know is that we have had so many sublime moments, where we look at each other and say, "I hope I never forget this moment."

Like tonight - Vi was standing on a chair, eating peanut butter from the jar, and declaring it "sticky" with her mouth full. She was rinsing it down with grape juice from a wine glass - her favorite drinking vessel. She turned around to see Riley staring up at her - possibly begging for the PB. She proceeded to say something very deliberately to him, but we have NO idea what it was. Something about how she was up there, and he was down there, and she was eating, or..oh, I don't know. But she meant every word of it and it was oh so cute.

Or, when I wanted to try on her winter outerwear - hat, mittens, boots, and coat - which I had just found at Lots for Tots. (A total steal - IF they fit!) I should add that all she was wearing was her underpants. She put on the hat, and said, "I like my hat." She put on the mittens, and mumbled happily about those. She let me put on the boots, but refused to wear the coat. She pranced around for a while wearing this silly ensemble. I still haven't gotten her to put on the coat. Hmm...

(Still trying to upload those pictures. Technical difficulties...)

In other news, I had my first weekend off last weekend! I took a half day on Friday, and drove to my sister's in NJ. No Vi, no Dan, no Riley, no Mitten, no NOTHING. I EVEN SET MY OUT OF OFFICE AUTO-REPLY. Noelle had a hen party on Saturday night, which was great. She, of course, has a collection of dynamic friends who were also so happy to have a night off! Smart, funny, independent women. Cool moms. Not that I'm surprised - birds of a feather, right? And Noelle certainly fits that description. We had ALL DAY SATURDAY together! Just me and my sis! It was such a huge treat for both of us - it's like we haven't seen each other in years! Plus, I got to hang out with her kids some, and enjoy them without distraction, in their own environment. Do I need to mention how amazing all of the food was? I need to get (and share) the recipe for Cowboy Caviar - it had black eyed peas, cilantro, celery and a light vinaigrette. The owner of Ciao Bella Gelato was at the party, with plenty of gelato to share! Yum.

One of the treats this fall has been all the extra time with Dylan, Vi's best buddy at school, whose dad lives across the street. He is completely renovating his house, so it it open to the weather and very cold at night. On the nights that Dylan is with Adam, they slumber party over here. Vi and Dylan were feeding each other last night - making choo-choo noises and all - and they love bathtime together. Tonight, I told Vi that she was going to take swimming lessons with Mumsy in a few weeks, and she replied, "No, I don't. I swim in tub-tub with Dylan."

That's just the sort of thing she says lately. Like, sentences. That make up paragraphs. THAT MAKE SENSE. She's constantly asking "What THAT?" or reminding us of something that happened, or trying out new phrases. She can count to twenty, sing ABCs, Happy Birthday, and Twinkle Twinkle all by herself, and does not put her baby doll down.

Unless, of course, she is throwing herself to the ground in a tantrum.

She is totally, wonderfully, hilariously, infuriatingly TWO.

And we hope we don't forget a single moment.