We rooted for Holland last night. And by “rooted for” I mean we went die-hard. We gathered with Dutch friends, wore orange shirts, ate orange food, painted orange toes and watched as friends scooped up Nella, made a Conga line and danced and sang…Hup, Holland, Hup!

They may not have won but we had fun none the less. The World Cup of Half-Full, Baby. And painted in our friends’ kitchen, in Dutch, were these beautiful words…Today is my favorite day.

Today is my favorite day.
Today, I clap and cheer as the bunny makes more victories in the land of sitting up.

And Lainey’s dubs herself “The Spotter.” She takes “spotting” very seriously, stabilizing her back and slooooowly withdrawing her hand, but quick as ever to guide her back to upright if she falls.

One-one-thousand, Two-one-thousand, Three-one-thousand has slowly grown to Eight-one-thousand, Nine-one-thousand, Ten-one-thousand until her little body gracefully topples and we all clap and cheer and “Yay, Nella, Yay!” until she smiles.

Today is my favorite day.
Today I look back at pictures of our week and smile. Today I remember how great it is to have Poppa here, stopping by to grab a cup of coffee, paint some grandaughter toes, sit at the kids table and draw pictures of dogs and cats and smiling little girls.

Today is my favorite day.
Today when Nella falls asleep, I have “Just Us” time with my little sprite. We lay on the floor on our tummies, stretch our legs and play another game of Memory. She wins most of the matches, proudly piling up her prized wins in an impressive stack. Two ladybugs. Two goldfish. Two pizza slices. She’s proud.

At nap, we lie all intertwined and she thumbs Puppy’s ear and asks me to tell her a story about Grandma Krissy. I know which one she wants so I tell her about when Grandma was little. When she and Aunt Karen rode their bikes to the doctor for their shots and on the way home, crashed their bikes into each other, leaving their sore legs throbbing. She laughs when I act out the crash. She listens intently and her eyes say “I love you.”

Today is my favorite day.
Today, we sit on hot pavement as the sun sinks behind the woods and I watch as my girl draws eyes on my octopus with fat sidewalk chalk.

Today is my favorite day. Today, after the sun sets, I dig through my basket of mud masks and scented bubbles and fill the tub with hot sudsy water. Today, I sink into its comfort and dog-ear magazine pages with 15 dollar wedges and candy-apple fingernail polish. I sip an ice-cold beer and listen in the distance as Daddy coos to little girls who haven’t realized Mama’s missing.

Today is my favorite day.

I like Fridays.

They are the movie trailer for the weekend. They get you all excited for the real deal. And, they go great with a glass of wine and a hot tub, might I add.

Hot tub, courtesy of Poppa’s Place, but in my imaginary house, I have one too.

We didn’t have bathing suits, so we improvised. She went naked; I wore a strange hodge podge of undergarments. She had juice; I had wine. But together, our glasses made a nice clink when we toasted to a fabulous weekend.

And, speaking of fabulous…

Brett and I set out for our anniversary date last night. He asked me all day where I wanted to go. I’m all for traditions…and this night has always had us chopsticking shrimp and sucking the last remains of the most delicious ginger dressing of all time off lettuce scraps (and I admit, I once tipped my plate and slurped the final puddle of dressing like a dog–it’s that good) at our favorite Japanese steakhouse. But last night, I wasn’t feeling it. I didn’t want to sit in a booth with people I didn’t know. I wanted to wear jeans and eat something fried and drink freezing cold beer belly up at some cool bar. So, that we did.

…and the combination of live music, fried mozzarella sticks, a cold beer and a chair where my feet could dangle and not touch the floor was just perfect. And who says grafitti-walled bars aren’t romantic?

Thank you, Dave, for the pic!

And because we are just a little bit sentimental, on the way home we passed the church where we were married, desolate that late and enchantedly lit up by a smattering of street lights, and we couldn’t help it. After one of those are-you-thinking-what-I’m-thinking glances, Brett pulls a U-ey, and out we jumped for this pic.

Aw. Sacred ground, Baby. Sacred ground.

And the best part? Coming home all relaxed and full to snuggly babies who were safe and happy with Poppa.

Insert another shameless opportunity to light candles and sing…because we love us some candles. This time…”Happy Anniversary to Us” is, I think, how it goes.

Just in time for my annivesary, this little package arrived.

My fingerprint necklace from Tina Steinberg. Its smooth silver pebbles are impressed with my girls’ little prints on one side and their names on the other…so they can hang close to my heart. I keep finding myself reaching up and grasping them, rubbing my fingers along those sweet impressions. Love, love, love.

And, today’s favorite moments?

What Nella sees:

What we see:

I used to call it “The Brett and Lainey Show” when Lainey swooned and smiled and went completely mush at that same age. And the ratings for Nella’s spin-off show are just as grand.

This weekend, summer calls.

Cheers to that, Baby. More to come.

For now…Enjoy.

And this song so makes me want to run through a field of daisies, barefoot–waving ribbon wands and leaping into blue skies. Summer anthem, Baby.

…and check out our quick little ditty about blogging over at Nickelodeon’s ParentsConnect HERE.

Four years ago.

…and I will never forget it.

The way he looked at me at the end of the aisle…waiting.

The way we held hands so tightly coming back…

The way he scooped me up and twirled.

It was the most perfect day ever, and I will never ever forget it.

I will never forget the way my entire family was together. Aunts and uncles and cousins who I love. Friends who are family and family who are friends. I will never forget the magic and the tears.

On that day, the clouds parted and the glory of heaven escaped. And it landed on the dancefloor where we hugged and held hands and clapped as kids breakdanced and adults shimmied and we threw our hands into the air and screamed when the D.J. played Numa Numa.

There was freedom and love and a fanfare of fun that weaved through that place and touched every soul in that room. Love that was so real, you could touch it.

I remember kicking my shoes off and hoisting tiers of satin to dance–dance so free, I didn’t care if the hem of my dress was scuffed or if my bobby-pinned curls fell.

It was a surreal kind of happiness–a love for not only each other but for life and family and the amazing opportunity to have everyone who matters to you not only in one place at one time, but there to suck the marrow out of life with you.

We sucked the marrow alright. And they were not sips, oh no. They were big, hearty gulps and life just kept flowin’.

We join in the cheesy anniversary traditions of mankind on this day…traditions like leafing through our wedding album that’s normally tucked away in its velvet bag hidden in the coffee table drawer. Except, this time, we have to push away peanut butter fingers while we’re looking.

And we watch our wedding video together on this day, but now we watch with frequent pauses, to fill up a juice cup, change a diaper, dig through the toy box for a set of plastic keys to dangle in front of a bored little baby.

We set out in the evening to repeat our first date, a dinner at the Japanese steakhouse and a walk on the beach–except this time, we call home in between to ask Poppa how the girls are doing and if Nella took her bottle.

Life has changed so very much in the past four years.

We’ve welcomed two babies…

…and have found so many new ways to love each other.

I found our wedding program this morning and looked through it to find a reading by Thomas A. Kempis. In it, he says, “Love alone lightens every burden, and makes rough places smooth. It bears every hardship as though it were nothing, and renders all bitterness sweet and acceptable.”

…and I thought about these past several months and how having Brett and our family and this rich, rich love really has made everything so smooth. And I’ve thought how destined everything seems to be–as if the planets aligned on that day four years ago so beautifully because this was all in store. And yes, our hardships are though as if it were nothing, and all bitterness has been rendered sweet and acceptable.

And for all the crazy fun we’ve had…

…there is so much more.

For all the tears we’ve shared…yes, I’m sure more of them too. But for the trillions of this-is-it moments–moments when the world seems to slow for just a bit for us to feel it, when we look around at our kids and what we have and how far we’ve come…yes, there are so many more.

This picture is, by far, both Brett’s and my favorite picture of the two of us. It was taken a couple weeks after our wedding at Isle of Capri on the most perfect day ever, and we were just bathing in happiness.

We don’t have the perfect marriage, no. We forget to communicate sometimes or get snappy or forget to invest in just the two of us. My Hansel-and-Gretel trail of messes annoys him, and it drives me nuts that he is late to everything. We don’t always agree on things, but we know that. We say sorry and we try harder and we continually perfect our battle of struggle and repair and struggle and repair and, in doing so, are building something bigger that slowly gains more strengths and less struggles.

Overall…we love. We love deeply and, in four years, we’ve added to the things we love and, consquently, have become happier.

And, we know what’s important…

…and invest in it like crazy.

So, here’s to that happy day, the four years in between, and the many more on the way.

And the Giveaway Winners are as follows:

Bonnet Winner, Comment # 825, Hannah: Oh Kelle, you always say the right things, the things I feel and can’t seem to put into words myself. I have a beautiful 16 month old daughter with special needs and I really believe I have never been to Holland, ok maybe, for a week, but that’s it. I also happen to be an occupational therapist and I am always so impressed with how amazing Nella is doing. She is truly an inspiration. Love your birthdays tradition! The dollar store rocks!!

Adult Flip-flops Winner, Comment #64, Amy: I love the birthday card. That is the best idea! Lainey has great taste.

And baby bling flip-flops Winner, Comment # 392, Anne: And I thought I couldn’t love the dollar store more! Thank you for giving me yet another reason 🙂 I was seriously dying laughing when you revealed the card selection….just priceless. Oh – and you definitely have my vote!
Anne in Minnesota

Winners, please send me your contact info to: kellehamptonblog@comcast.net so I can pass it on to the giveaway providers. Thanks!

Now, we have some celebratin’ to do…