The Kids....

I miss them terribly....

I would be happy to have them fighting with each other all weekend long, or to go back in time to when Nate just ran around the McDonalds acting shy the first night I met them, or to have Molly swing her arm around my shoulders (since we're close to the same height) and tell me she wants to talk about girls' stuff. Give me 2 hours some evening just to pick them up from their mom's and I'll take them out to dinner and then to Walmart so Nate can check out the latest games available for the Wii or any of his other game systems and Molly can look at shoes, makeup, etc. Put me back in May when I got to plan for all the stuff we would take with us that last weekend to open up the cottage, put me back in February when I was planning Molly's birthday slumber party and trying to find people who could help me pick up all the kids and handle them all for the weekend if Sam didn't show up. Let me have the chance to take Nate to that pizza place by the Ridge theater for his birthday like he asked me to do. Put me back in my old apartment for just a minute so I can go out in the living room and see two beautiful children that I helped raise, fast asleep on their respective couches with the t.v. still on. I promise I'd never complain about sleeping with Molly in the bed at grandma's and give her a hard time about how many times she almost pushed me out of bed with her wild sleeping habits. Nate riding in the backseat and giving us his best "one liners" that had everyone laughing - the bit about Molly throwing her gum out the window was the best part.... someone said the birds would eat it... and then Nate piped in with "Yeah, and then they'll die." He said it so deadpan, I think I was laughing so hard, tears were coming down my cheeks.

Molly and her wanting me to paint her right hand because she couldn't do it herself with her left hand.

Nate and his belly button that I used to tease him about until it finally did turn into an "innie".

Their beautiful faces, their smiles, their great sense of humor, their temper tantrums, everything from the diapers to giving medicine to taking them to see Candy Cane lane and letting them ride in the back of the Subaru.

My kids.... how I miss them. And how very much I love them. I would do it all over again for them.

Erin