1. Birthday celebrations

2. 2 wonderfully behaved girls at a party after a, um, rough day without Daddy

3. changing out the sizes in the clothes drawer

4. Lisa’s sweet thought to share Sophie’s outgrown clothes- so fun to see new shirts for our Quail!

5. Panera

6. Lovey’s efforts to grow grass

7. mini-rainstorms

8. a fun night out with the girls

9.Skype

10. the frog’s song while I water the grass in the early morning

11. The spider choosing to make her web wayyyyyy above where my head passes on my way to water in the early morning

12. a garden of basil,mint, lavender, oregano, parsley and thyme

13 Mason’s mom for teaching Mason to tie his shoes,since he then got Zuzu interested in learning

14. Wondertime Magazine for making a bunny chasing illustration on how to teach shoe tieing!

15. a 2 year old being able to chew Chik-fil-A nuggets!

16. ant identification

17. Jodi Piccoult

18. the alarm that Momma accidentally set in the girl’s room when turning on the bird tweeting machine NOT actually waking up the girls at midnight!

19. Lovey’s home!

20. shrieking monster children

21. inspiration that comes with hormonal highs!

1. omens

2. gifts from Mother Nature

3. early morning thrills

4. girls coming home from school in delicate twists, braids, piggies and ponies

5.Trader Joe’s Chimichurri rice…mmmmm

6.Trader Joe’s green pepper and cheese tamale

7. coming home to the house filled with the smell of pie

8. Realizing your appointment was rescheduled and now there is time to go out to dinner

9. Little boo-boo’s staying little

10. the ability to comfort the owner of the little boo-boo

11. comfortable pants

12. passing up a cupcake

13. constructive criticism

14. good feedback

15. teamwork

16. Netflix online

17. family swimtime- even if it did end in tears and naughtiness

18. seeing Zuzu feel comfortable floating

19. a full feeling

20. good news on test results

21. sweet little baby’s born early but doing well

1. cool mountain temps

2. McFarlan’s Bake shop

3. A sweet children’s museum that allows for line of site monitoring when everyone has their own ideas what they want to play

4. a family swim

5. the wait

6. a new restaurant with a yummy salad

7. a house filled with tickle-monsters

8. rascalin & monstering

9. the nut-bar 4 year old who not only pretends she is having a baby as her favorite pretend game, but then pretends the treehouse tent is momma’s tummy and that she and her sister are being born.

10. said nut-bar taking the next evening to pretend she is shopping at the pet store and spies a sick monkey who needs her care and then proceeds to carry around the monkey, who intermittently throws-up and cuddles her, sleeps in a night-cap and is all better and ready for school the next day.

11. an ice-cream social

12 a new doctor

13. the part of the tooth I thought came out during lunch really just being a piece of grit- gross but good!

14. flattery

15. early preparation

16. a little 2 year old initiating hide-and-seek with a big grin when Momma shows up at school

17. the kind of hide and seek where the hider truly believes because they aren’t looking at you they are hiding

18. the tickle-monster

19. the verbal explosion of the 4 year old at the end of the day- I didn’t pull down Olivia’s pants today Momma! She wasn’t here!. Gee. Let’s try not doing that when she is here. Baby steps I guess

20. a 4 year old able to get and apply her own band-aid

21. listening to Lovey’s soft snores in the early morning

1. The Gift of the Food Maji- Lovey and I both bringing home dessert we thought the other would like!

2. Family movie night

3. Unexpected little treats from Lovey

4. Realizing seemingly new friends are actually old friends by now

5. The King’s Speech

6. new hope in a flower bud that hasn’t bloomed since we planted it

7. synchronistic plans to head to Alden Park!

8. the baby riding her trike!

9. the baby making the slide, climb, run circuit without prompting!

10. the big girl turning acrobatics on the swing!

11. little people in bagged in their collections

12.the soft padding of the Quail following on the quick heals Zuzu racing down the hall

13. asking the Quail- which is the letter A? She points. Asking then what sound does it make? she responds quickly, “Ahhhhhhhh”. Smart, smart, so smart that dear girl!

14. this family. they’re back. bless them.

15. a table full of pals to help eat chocolate cake on Lovey’s birthday

16. Strossner’s Bakery

17. an Irish fairy swooping in to charm the 2 year old with her accordian

18. visitors

19. early knowledge

20. subject lines of cake and beach

21. excellent therapy with resulting moooooooooos

1. a freezer full of pesto and berries

2. grown-up birthday parties

3. yardwork with your Love

4. the smell of your hands after deadheading the herb garden

5. a soccer net sort of put together

6. little arms reaching up for  a quick dance

7. stister panda bears

8. the feeling of being clean after a long afternoon of yardwork

9. the meditative rhythm of mowing

10. kefir & cups of O’s with Saturday morning cartoons

11. staying calm where previous explosions have occured

12. waking to early morning ponderings

13. basil flowers

14. removing those basil flowers

15. the capacity to tend

16. finding early morning computer wanderings boring and breakfast with Zuzu important

17. pretty much every thing in the Trader Joes frozen food section

18. breakfast catch entertaining the 2 year old

19. rain

20. keeping company with the characters in books

21. Wino Wednesday with buddies

1. Heather joining in

2. how the air makes me feel when I’m cranky and go outside to cool off

3. watching a day lily’s life

4. the flow of salt, red wine, parsley and lemon over my grilled perfection of a plate

5. realizing the children will never know we split the left over triple chocolate cheesecake

6. the anniversary of the kiss

7. when asked to choose between blueberry and blackberry as the base of the new chess pie; noticing that Lovey put both in the cart

8. feeling light-hearted

9. a memory of a grilled meal in Florence

10. Dancing with The Quail to this song

11. Lovey topping it with this song

12. yardwork done together

13. the sisters splitting a peaches & pecan waffle with fresh whipped cream

14. Fried cheese grits with tomato gravy

15. Friends gathering at a baby friendly hour to celebrate the 4th!

16. Lovey’s rebaking of the pies

17. letting it go

18. NO HEART SURGERY FOR THE QUAIL!!!!!!!

19. a simple childhood run-of-the-mill virus

20. sips of cool water

21. The Quail’s charm as she rushes around the waiting room patting little old ladies on the knee in some sort of blessing to them.

1. playtime

2. noticing

3. tiny hands around your neck

4. Cereal time

5. free coffee from the library

6. our new favorite pie- Rhubarb-Chess

7. last minute plans

8. fried gnocci

9. being the one cuddled into when the little one was scared

10. a secret path

11. golden sand freckling a 4 year old’s cheery face

12. pink-frosted donuts for dear Mattie

13. business as usual when it’s snack time for a 2 year old

14. a new prevacid Rx seeming to work

15. appointments scheduled

16. kindness

17. check offs on to-do lists

18. family playdates

19. praise

20. giving praise

21. bedtime

1. babies in bucket hats

2. pie birds

3. a clean house

4. pandora stations

5. craig’s list water toys

6. sprinklers!

7. The Starkey Pie Social Gathering

8. 42 of of favorite people coming over for pie & coffee

9. the loan of a coffee urn

10. wee ones in swimmies & piggies

11. sidewalk chalk

12. bubbles & balls

13. more pie than you can shake a stick at

14. homemade ice cream

15. a freezer full of berries & rhubarb

16. a tree tent

17. naptime

18. too much coffee

19. a shady yard

20. feelin smart

21. a happy belly & heart

1. 2 year olds running and shrieking with laughter

2. 4 year olds explaining their expertise in drawing

3. 2 year olds telling me precisely what they think of me

4. 4 year olds drawing their first flower

5. 2 year olds getting normal results from a liver panel

6. 4 year olds trying really hard to cooperate

7. 2 & 4 year olds having very full dance cards

8. Lovey taking care of business

9. everyone liking ravioli

10. Trader Joe’s

11. the ordinary looking extraordinary

12. laundry done.

13. a new-to-us water table & little kid picnic table

14. lavendar

15. a cousin coming out with just a scrape

16. an Uncle that’s going to be ok

17. a package with treats for the whole family arriving unexpectedly. Thanks Uncle Greg & Auntie Deb

18. a 2 year old saying Tur, when she sees a turtle

19. a 2 year old chasing a ball around the house

20. a 4 year old enjoying gymnastics

21. peace of mind

1. an extra “homeday”

2. seeing the cute after the fact in the girls scrambling into the crib together

3. appreciating a hot day

4. being asked to help with the Fairlane

5. shooting my secret garden

6. a magnolia blooming that I was told wasn’t a true magnolia

7. Trader Joes

8. the first fireflies of the season

9. Happy Hour with and without kiddos

10. a car being fixed

11. realizing how lucky I am that the car didn’t breakdown when I was an hour from home

12. feeling like cleaning up

13. giggling sisters

14. a new photo challenge

15. being prepped & ready

16. a new house to see

17. iced coffees & latte season

18. realizing that come on over friends rank right up there with drop by friends

19. what looks like hours of food prep really only taking 2 hours

20. extra desserts- sour cream rhubarb pie & the best ever brownies

21. planning the Pie Social