I forgot hats. But I definitely remembered the milk!

History in the making. Rare is the opportunity when you can snap the shutter and capture a "first" moment. Here we were, having a lazy cookout at the Moores', when Lily spotted some kids playing in the park. Out of nowhere she laughs, babbles something in Lily-speak, then starts cruising over to check them out.

I've never witnessed her do something so brazen and adventurous towards other people. Of course, it was a long way and she never made it, but she was a good 30 yards away before she finally turned back. But it was as if she was just going to stroll over and partake in whatever sport they were playing. So cute.

Possibly the most satisfying moment of "logistical parenting" is when you can do something spur of the moment with the kids and have it work out. It's satisfying, most likely because it's a tiny glimpse of what it was like before kids, when you could do whatever you wanted.

Christy was going to come over today after work with Andrew and Matthew. Sometime mid-afternoon, the task of packing her life up for Seattle got the better of her, and she regrettably cancelled on us. No biggie. The plus: Chris and Emily had called and invited us over for a cookout. Hoo-ray! ...a boring night at home is narrowly averted.

Of course, I had nothing prepared for this, no diaper bag, milk, snacks, dinner...all the trappings of a normal night with the kiddos. (That I just called them "kiddos" was almost a subconscious and unintentional nod to David Carradine from Kill Bill) I really did not relish the notion of bringing the girls inside the house, getting stuff ready, then repacking them; I opted for the mad-dash of kid-preparedness.

I talked to myself the whole drive from day care to the house, listing off all the stuff I'd need to swipe: "Diaper bag, milk, tomato, eggs, spoons, pudding, teddy grahams, milk, water, sippy cups, camera, my sandals, feed the cat, turn on lights, toys, they'll need toys, no they won't, they'll have toys, yeah, but Abby really likes the cups, whatever, do what you want, milk, jammies, jammies?, sure, but we won't be there that long, *sigh* fine, leave the jammies, but don't forget hats, no hats their backyard is on the west side and the sun's going down, alright fine, then they'll need sweaters, oh for the love of god it's almost 80 degrees, milk, camera, dog, oh yeah, I definitely have to remember the dog. And milk.

I was in the house for 6 minutes. I would estimate that I looked out the window about 32 times, meaning I checked on the girls once every 11 seconds or so. At one check, I watched a guy bike by and unmistakably turn his head when he passed. What would I do if I biked by two toddlers in a car? Hmmm... well, the cops never showed.

My imagination played out just how loud they were screaming, left alone in the car as they were. Surely it was pandemonium. I bounded out the house and down the steps and got to the car and looked in the window to see: Lily, calmly working her pacimafier, not really caring about much of anything at all. Abby was on the other side, watching the sky pass by.

In the end, the whole event came together, and the Moores are awesome to hang with and all the kids were darling, and that's the kind of stuff I geek on now that I'm a parent. If I can only eat outside and drink a beer and have kids that are not crying for that entire stretch...then I've found a little happy place. And Emily, to no one's surprise, made killer burgers. I put no condiments on it, and it was just superb. mmm.

The one downside is that the sisters didn't get to bed until almost 8:45. Meh. Life is rough.

Day one hundred and nine.

Abby happy. Earlier, she did a little log roll down the hill in their yard, came to a rest on her side, and laid there looking at the grass for a good 15 minutes.

Lily found and kept sucking on this onion layer. These kids, they seriously eat almost anything. Little billygoats.

Making some kissy faces to nobody in general.