Super Bowl Sunday

Yes, today was the Super Bowl. Yes, I watched most of the game, paid slightly more attention than I would normally to the commercials, and paused halftime so I could put the girls to bed and not miss Beyonce. (Maybe should have thought twice about that last part.) My favorite part of the night, however: we watched the first half of the game down at our neighbors' house. The kids ran around and played while we watched the game. When we left to walk back home, Ava charged ahead of the pack, while Jocelyn and Ben were a few yards behind her, and Molly and I brought up the rear. Jocelyn had begun to yell and cry for Ava to slow down. Molly apparently found this humorous, and looked at me with a big dopey grin and started yelling, "Sister, wait! Daddy, wait!" and doing her little 2-year-old version of running after them. So Molly and I made a game of walking home: we would stand still, then yell wait and start to run toward the house. I kept looking down at this child, wearing her bright patterned snow jacket over a dress, floral tights and mary jane shoes (she is very into dressing herself these days), giggling and laughing while her thin little hair blew as she ran along. I felt such joy and love for this special little person and the time we were sharing. Those five minutes walking home were far more entertaining than any silly football game or commercial - and much more memorable, too.