Sisters

The other special girl in our life is our little friend and "sister" - Olivia. She is the daughter of our very dear friends Jessica and Brian. Most of you know that Brian left us almost two years ago now. We miss him. But we still have Jess Jess and Liv Liv. And we love them so much.

Livi has always held a very special place in my heart. The first time I met her we just seemed to be instant friends. Like we had known each other forever. I remember asking her if she liked to color and she said yes but she didn't have her coloring books with her. So we asked her dad if we could go up to the store and get some new coloring books. And it was so funny because I had NO experience with kids...I went to get her in the car and she says "You have to buckle me in" - Well, I knew that one! We got to the store and she says "So now you have to buckle me out"...Oh OK. She gets out of the car and says "You have to hold my hand in the parking lot"... Oh OK. And on from there...LOL Thank goodness Jessica had taught her so well!!

It's funny how that's been our relationship. This cute little kid telling me how to do things, making me stop and enjoy the little things in life, and teaching me how to be a mom without my even knowing it.

I remember one Friday night being at Greg's house and Livi was there to spend the weekend with her dad. But Brian had to work that night so we were watching her. And I had a bad day at work and was feeling really tired. So Greg told me to sit on the couch and read my People magazine (LOVE IT) and he'd play with Livi. And I watched him that night...fix her mac and cheese and fish sticks that she loved so much, play computer games with her while she sat on his lap. And the conversations they had while I pretended not to listen. It was so cute. And I knew right then that I had to marry Greg and live with him forever. So we have Livi to thank for all of this really....

And here we are at a new chapter...and Livi is still such a big part of this too. Obviously we wanted to honor her in the best way we could. So we asked to use her name for Abby's middle name. And she was so excited! That first night at dinner I asked her if she wanted to be Auntie Livi and she said no that she wanted to be "Sister"....she and I are sisters and now she and Abby are sisters...and that makes the most sense to us! :)

Livi is going places in this world...she's going to be the greatest vet, rockstar, paleontologist, etc etc etc that she can be. And we're going to be her greatest cheerleaders. But in the meantime she's got lots of work to do with Abby...it's her job to make sure Abby's the best tomboy on the block!!!

We love you Livi!!!