February 1^st – Waking up just before dawn to a snow-sprinkled fairyland.

February 2^nd – Watching Sophie’s baby videos with her and adoring her smallness—then and now.

February 3^rd – Taking a five-minute family walk around the neighborhood and being stopped by one, two, three cars of friends saying hi and offering a ride.

February 4^th – Giving up delusions of a productive sick day and snuggling into bed with Sophie to nap the morning away.

February 5^th – Discovering a wonderful e-mail from an old friend hidden away in my Junk folder.

February 6^th – Listening to Natalie spin elaborate stories about the princesses she was coloring all afternoon.

February 7^th – Spotting four perfect new buds on my red daisy plant.

February 8^th – Braving a couple of Old Testament chapters and finding only goodness inside.

February 9^th – Having a lovely, long conversation with a friend who’s taken years to open up.

February 10^th – Reliving the joy of marker on my hands and glitter in my hair as I helped the girls make valentines.

February 11^th – Hearing from two different long-lost friends out of the serendipitous blue.

February 12^th – Tasting snowflakes with the girls and getting caught up in their excitement. (S: “Hooray! Hooray! Sophie excited!” N: ::bubbles over with laughter:: S: “Sophie thinking about Missmas trees!” N: ::jumps up and down for joy::)

February 13^th – Getting treated to a twenty minute concert about tenniiissss, we should play tennniiiissss, but be caarrefuulllll when you play tennniiissss because of the bad bugs who like to plaaaaayyyyyy TEEEENNNNNIIIIIIIIISSSSSSSSS!

February 14^th – Playing LIFE as a family to wind up Valentine’s Day and giggling over the girls’ name choices. (Sophie christened her husband, three sons, and four daughters each “Sophie Bassett!”; Natalie chose “Prunes” for her husband and “Creams” for their son.)

February 15^th – Listening to thousands of birds chirp and giggle as they spun in circles outside, punch-drunk on sunshine.

February 16^th – Having a hug for dessert.

February 17^th – Starting the day with a family snuggle in bed.

February 18^th – Being in our ailing car with the girls as it breathed its last… right in front of our house… the same day we were finally able to get a bank account to buy a new car… and realizing God might have had a hand in all the timing.

February 19^th – Despite all our Valentine’s plans being derailed, having one of the best dates ever at the living room bar with Dan.

February 20^th – Enjoying every minute our family car-shopping day. (The girls’ favorite part? Careening around the biggest car lot in a golf cart. The parents’ favorite part? Finding the perfect car for the perfect price.)

February 21^st – Wondering over our future and feeling peace despite the uncertainty.

February 22^nd – Getting in and out of the post office in under a minute – a miracle!

February 23^rd – Beating the winter blahs with a personal concert by Natalie and super-speed Giro Giro Tondo* until we all collapsed laughing on the rug. (* Italy’s “Ring Around the Rosie”)

February 24^th – Grooving to ELO’s “Mr. Blue Sky” while hanging laundry outside for the first time this year.

February 25^th – Posing the girls on top of our old car for goodbye pictures just as the next-door-neighbor, who already thinks we’re crazy, walked outside.

February 26^th – Trying to teach “Jesus Loves Me” to Sophie, who very sweetly (and wildly out-of-tune) crooned, “Yeeeessss, Jesus loves you! Yeeeessss, Jesus love you!”

February 27^th – Taking our new car for a spin around Lago Trasimeno with the windows down and the stereo thumping.

February 28^th – Giggling our goodnights with two small girls who still love to be tickled.

January 1^st – Just after midnight, giving the girls a glow stick each and watching their faces light up in neon green and pink smiles.

January 2^nd – Grabbing a single pair of jeans off the sale rack and trying them on just as a formality because I already knew they were The Ones.

January 3^rd – Going to see “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs” in a nearly empty theater and sharing the magic of 3D glasses as a family. (Natalie: “Mommy, did you see that cat that came too close to me?” Sophie: “Sophie has glasses on! Mommy has glasses on! Daddy has glasses on! Natalie has glasses on! Wow, meatballs!”)

January 4^th – [Censored… ::grin::]

January 5^th – Seeing genuine smiles on the faces of our overworked friends as we played Perudo together into the late hours.

January 6^th – Sinking down into our soft bed after eleven days away from home.

January 7^th – Unpacking my baking supplies with a chatterbox Sophie who frequently stopped talking to give me pretend cupcakes and real kisses.

January 8^th – Doing an obstacle course on Wii Fit with Natalie who mostly ran in circles around me giggling and cheering “You can do it! Go! Go! Oh man, try again!”

January 9^th – Winning the Wii Olympic Winter Games championship with Dan and finding out the agonizing truth that we are great at curling.

January 10^th – Making myself a better-than-Starbucks caramel coffee, lighting a gingerbread candle, and plopping onto a pile of pillows to write.

January 11^th – Sitting down as a family to homemade sundried-tomato risotto and four-way conversation.

January 12^th – Being greeted by all the cashiers as Sophie and I walked into our neighborhood grocery store.

January 13^th – Crowding around the living room window with the girls to watch the sunset glow pink and orange on surrounding hilltops.

January 14^th – Realizing that I haven’t changed a diaper in over a week. (!!!)

January 15^th – Walking home from the bakery in the breezy, blissed-out morning sunshine—more April than January.

January 16^th – Hearing the entire theater cheer around me when beauty and wonder won over evil in “Avatar.”

January 17^th – Triumphing over the gloomy weather with a silly family Lego session involving swimming pants, noseless sharks stealing fried chicken, and the girls’ quirky imaginations at their best.

January 18^th – Flirting with Dan like newlyweds after the small ones went to bed.

January 19^th – Bouncing, sliding, climbing, crawling, diving, tickling, and giggling with my girls for three straight hours at our neighbor’s amazing indoor play place.

January 20^th – Filling the house with the magical scent of baking banana-orange-pecan bread.

January 21^st – Snuggling a sleepy-eyed Sophie in the rocking chair at nap time.

January 22^nd – Ploofing homemade marshmallows into powdered sugar with Natalie and licking our fingers with a delicious, guilty thrill.

January 23^rd – Indulging in an old-fashioned pancake brunch after a hopeful suggestion by Sophie.

January 24^th – Reading Winnie-the-Pooh in a dog pile on our bed with Sophie occasionally dive-bombing everyone and Natalie adding “tiddely pom” to the end of each sentence.

January 25^th – Watching Natalie fall over from laughing so hard when we all died in Super Mario Bros.

January 26^th – Sitting at my desk by 7 a.m. with coffee, candles, and a yummy burst of writing mojo.

January 27^th – Spying on my sexy husband as he rocked an apron and cooked dinner (an expat ode to Taco Bell!) for our in-home date night.

January 28^th – Joking with my ESL students entirely in English and feeling that warm sense of teacherly accomplishment.

January 29^th – Remembering at the end of a long, hard, poo-intensive day that I really do love these daughters of mine with every scrap of my heart.

January 30^th – Catching hail on our balcony for the girls to taste and marveling at the wild beauty of storms.

January 31^st – Closing out January with a family storytime, little fingers wrapped around big ones, big hearts bonding to little ones over Dr. Seuss.