…when my neighbor said, “i saw ali walking in your house the other day. how is she?” nope, that was definitely me you saw. but thanks for the compliment!

…one of my “mother of the bride” this year job shares with julie’s mom. as i got in my car i instantly wanted to call you and tell you about that. instead, i called you in my mind. when i told you, you replied, “oh really? that’s cool, what’s her name?” i could really hear you. so clear, wish it wasn’t just in my mind.

…when nori stood in front of me in the hallway laughing up a storm. when i asked what she was giggling at, she said, “ali’s staring at me! she’s up there!”

…watching the value city furniture commercial. those were our favorite to watch. I remember you posting a link to vcf commercial on my fb wall. Hilarious.

…as i for no reason thought, today was a good day to down a tub of cotton candy!

…when nico let out the loudest and longest poop/toot ever. (gross, right?) i thought about how you, ben and i would laugh until we were crying listening to my iphone app, “iFart.” remember when we took a bus to disney world with 40 some high school kids and we got bored so we played the farts over the microphone. hilarious.

…when we were filling out paperwork for the new “mother ship” (our minivan), the sales guy had to offer us life insurance with the extended warranty. (strange.) he said, “this is silly to even offer you because you’re so young, you don’t even need to worry about life insurance.” siiiigh. if he only knew.

…when nori got in the “mother ship” for the first time, she glanced forward and backward and said, “fancy fancy new car!” i wanted to be able to call you over the bluetooth and let her talk to you over the speaker. you would love this van. it’s so cool. you would have loved driving in it to hilton head this summer. ugh, i hate that you’ll be missing olivia’s first trip to the beach.

…not sure how this happened, but somehow nori has figured out which things are yours around my house. it’s kind of creeping me out really. a pair of your shoes, “those alis mommy!” your scarf thrown over my chair. “that’s ali’s scarf mommy!” your necklace resting over a picture of you on my dresser. “that’s ali’s pretty pink necklace!!” seriously, i’ve never told her these things are yours. how does she know?

…when ben showed up with olivia for the superbowl at britts, she was wearing overalls, and a tshirt. while she did look adorable, i know you have flipped. lol. he did put a flower in her hair, which helped. i imagined me looking at you as you trailed behind them walking in. i raised my eyebrows and gave you wide eyes. you replied, “yah, i know. i don’t even want to talk about it.”

…watching the news and the reporters questioning school closings. i chuckled to myself and remembered when you and olivia still celebrated snow days, even though you weren’t teaching anymore.

…when i was taking the kids on a walk i had this “holy cow, where did the time go??, moment.” seems like just yesterday me, you and adam went on a walk the morning we took a pregnancy test to find out i was pregs with nori. i remember i was bursting at the seems to tell you but i wanted to wait til the fam was all together that night. and there i was walking the same route we did that day with TWO kids, and only one sister.

this image was from our friend kevin’s wedding which adam and i were shooting. we were annoyed because the dance floor was empty, so i put down my camera and we had the dj turn up some michael jackson. i was 7mths pregs with nori at the time. 🙂

happy st patty’s day. peace, mel