two great nights in a row--wait, make that three

Seriously. Great. Nights.

Two nights ago--Spent three hours with Breanne and Janey while their parents went off and did some fun thing without their kids. Some of the highlights:

1. Jack and I have been trying to spend some time with the girls for several nights and Jessie said that when Jack said he didn't feel like going out and I told Breanne we wouldn't be over until another day and we said goodbye, that Breanne had a 'melt down'--"I wanna see gamma" so when I called back a few minutes later and said I would be coming over by myself, Breanne was immediately delighted.

2. Janey was napping when I arrived and when she woke up, I got to get her out of her crib, and she was delighted to see me as evidenced by her smile and blankie sharing.

3. We played catch (Breanne throwing two small balls at Janey and me while I kept my hands in front of Janey's head), read books (Janey, the baby board book about home, and Breanne, the 100 first words for kids book--and she knows every word and the order of each word on each page), Janey practiced standing on the musical sit'n'spin while I said, "Be careful, you're going to fall" (but she didn't), and Breanne warned Janey and me that we'd better come with her into their bedroom before the shark got us (accompanied by chomping noises and arm motions to match the noises).

4. Breanne shared her pincesses with Janey.

5. Janey demonstrated her absolutely adorable self by saying their cat's name over and over--"Ha-zel, Ha-zel, Ha-zel" (imagine her sweet, heart-melting voice).

And there was more even.

Then there was last night. Jack knew that I've wanted to see Madam Butterfly for a long time, so when I mentioned that Ballet West was performing Madam Butterfly (which I discovered while spreading out newspapers for JoJo from my mom, newspapers that were from the past week instead of 2006 like the ones she brought me earlier this week after she finished reading them). Anyway, good guy that Jack is, he bought tickets and we sat on Orchestra, left, row M, on the isle. There were two productions, a ballet from Colorado called, "Gong" that was all about the color and light and shadow and movement with music, and then we watched Madam Butterfly. It.was.so.worth.it. The music, the movement, the strength of the dancers, I could hardly clap without getting worn out yet they were so graceful and muscular. Amazing.

And then tonight. I arrived home to find a card and a valentine from Breanne--it had been mis-delivered to a neighbor, so it took extra days to get to me. But it was so worth the wait. And also so worth waiting for is the little blonde sitting near me as I type this--the delightful, nearly two-year-old Audrey, who is playing with the pincesses (don't tell Breanne) and the blocks and the puzzles and the tea set. And is a very good picker upper. In more ways than one.

How blessed I am.