We met up with some college friends tonight…they live in the area, but for some reason it’s been several years since we’ve seen them! But we finally made it happen this evening. They have two girls who are older than J and a little boy who is six or so months older than C. (He’s almost the same age as my niece K.) J and their younger daughter got along swimmingly; I found a note in my diaper bag when we got home that said, “Hi J, Love Skye. I love you <3 <3 <3″

This picture cracks me up because there is so much going on…JJ is putting on a Cars backpack, Nate appears to be falling asleep, K is looking at me like, “oh my goodness!!!,” and my friends’ little boy is sitting on C. If only one of the dogs was in the picture, it would be perfect.

My friend M and her two kids came over today. Usually we’d have our moms group, but we had to cancel it due to scheduling conflicts. So in lieu of that, we got together anyway!

The first thing her son T wanted to do was play with PhotoBooth on our iMac.

I have to admit, I don’t always get the appeal of making silly faces in PhotoBooth, but it seems to be the Thing To Do. So here we are. I thought these would be cute for my Photo of the Day.

(Dear Future JJ, I’m sorry that your hair looks so crazy. It can’t really decide whether it wants to be straight or curly, so it tends to just end up looking crazy. Especially on days like this, when we aren’t going anywhere and you don’t want me to brush it. So I’m sorry!)

After my moms’ group today, some of our friends came over for a playdate. We ate peanut butter and jelly, drew pictures, and watched the babies crawl around and look at each other. These two little boys are only 6 weeks apart, I think. It’s really fun to see them experiencing each other and the idea of them being friends!

I also showed two of the kids how to use my camera. They actually took a couple of decent pictures! I was impressed for a couple of (almost, in JJ’s case) three year-olds.

(C’s hair is looking kind of poofy and is starting to hang over his ears. Hmm. Maybe he needs a haircut.)

5 years ago on this day, a family was changed forever. A precious little girl was born still, with no first cry or breath that parents take for granted. She was a beloved sister and anticipated daughter, a child who would have been cherished and loved every day of her life. But it wasn’t meant to be. She never took a breath on this earth, and five years later, there is still an empty spot in the hearts of her family and friends where she should have been.

I always think of the color purple when I think of her. I don’t know why. I don’t know if she would have liked purple or not, but there is a part of me that thinks she would. So after I finished making a gift for her parents tonight, I wrapped it in purple wrapping paper. I like to pretend that it would have made her smile.

We miss you, Catti, and we wish you were here. I wish you and J were best friends. Maybe you would be athletic like she is, and you could run around together and laugh like crazy. I wish you were here to see just how much your sister M loves you and misses you. You would be amazed at how kind and generous she is, and I know you and she would have a bond like no other. I wish you were here to see how much your parents have changed in the past few years. You would be so proud of them. They have done things that so many people only dream about. They have conquered fears, faced demons, and come out on the other side. They have turned their mourning into hoopdancing. I hope you can look down from heaven and smile at the life you could have had. And I hope that someday, we’ll join you in worshiping our Creator. Until then, we celebrate your short life and praise the One who created you. I’m so glad to be at least a small part in your life and your legacy.

We finally took down our Christmas tree tonight. Did I mention that we meant to do it a week ago? Yeah, well. Tom and I spent the whole week saying, “We should really take down that Christmas tree” to each other every night, and then we’d put on an episode of the West Wing and forget all about it. But after the Broncos beat the Steelers this evening and the kids were all snug in bed, we put all the ornaments away, carried the tree outside, and spent the next two hours cleaning up needles.

I love putting the ornaments on my tree – and taking them off, for that matter – because there are so many memories tied up in them. Tom and I like to buy ornaments from places we visit on vacation. His mom always gives everybody ornaments for Christmas gifts. My grandma gave us a box of angel ornaments the Christmas before she passed away. Those ornaments aren’t exactly my style, but I love that they remind me of her. Just the way I love this mitten, because my sister and her best friend Mel picked it out for me.

Mel is in heaven with Jesus now, so seeing this mitten on my tree every Christmas floods my heart with memories. It always makes me smile, thinking of Em and Mel finding that mitten and buying it for me together, because Mel thought it was the cutest ornament ever. And I like to remember her smile, her laughter, the way she made just about anything fun. How much joy she found in life. How much joy she found in that little mitten.

Maybe one of the reasons I’ve been putting off taking down the Christmas tree is because I didn’t want to pack all those memories back into the box. Or maybe I’m just lazy…