The sun came out

I wasn't going to post today (hundreds of email to catch up on) but this last anon comment made me laugh: "An update, please. Have the girls redeemed themselves with their loveliness?" Funny! The short answer is "mostly." We still had a few gritted-teeth moments yesterday, but for the most part things are back to "normal." (Just had to put that one in quotes, because our old definition of normal flew out the window on Oct 24, 2006, the day we met the girls. Nothing, and I mean NOTHING, has been the same since. And that's just fine by us.) The girls are in preschool this morning, and they seem to love it now. It took a few loooong, sloooow weeks of adjustment -- taking it at toddler pace, talking it up, reading books about preschool, staying at school with them if they wanted me to, driving by the preschool after hours so they could wave "Hi pee-kool!" and show the place to daddy, playing pretend preschool at home with all of their Nanni bears, and last (but certainly not least because it involves food) bringing different surprise bags each time I pick them up. But now the girls are loving it. It's incredibly restorative (and, to be frank, I'm a better Mama) when I have a few hours a week to run errands, grocery shop, attempt to shovel out the kitchen, do laundry, or (who am I kidding, this is my fave) just sit down and breathe. And the girls crack me up when they come home arguing with each other about which teacher changed their "bay-bays" (diapers) today or which teacher the other girl likes best (apparently a hotly contested issue, and one worthy of discussion numerous times a day). Anyhow, I guess that was a long, rambly way to say the weather's better today and so are we. And the forecast is looking positive on both fronts. Take care everyone, and thanks for the good thoughts and empathy about this weekend's meltdown madness.

Sharing a few recent smiles, including fun with Uncle Bobby and Grambob, more of the girls' Nutcracker obsession (I think the Christmas Nutcrackers have displaced the Nanni bears at this point), and using the trash can lid as a plate (yep I grabbed the camera instead of stopping them, better alert the social worker). See the pics all on one page or in a slideshow (click "i" for captions).