Sunday with the Fam

This will have to be a short post because I am about to have a tea party with the nieces before we head to the airport.  Trying to post every day, though, so here you go.  Went to church this morning and got to worship instead of preach and preside.  I wore the shoes I bought myself for my birthday last year:

 

I have my tiara on and must now join the queen and other princesses for our tea party.  Hope you are doing something equally fun and whimsical.



Giggle Endorphins

Today was a fairly laid-back kind of day.  We had brunch at the Bistro with the parents (joined later by AA, The Bean, Laughter and my brother-in-law).  Later we went to The Bean's softball game, where we alternately sat in lovely sunshine and shivered in horrible wind and rain.  Then it was up to my sister and brother-in-law's house for dinner.  The hubby and BiL watched basketball and my sister and the nieces and I played a game called Pandamonium that was absolutely hilarious.  We all giggled a ton.  Everything just kept getting funnier and funnier.  But then again, I have highly witty and hilarious family members, so what did I expect?  AA won twice, but only because she cheats. :-)  After that I went to the movie again, this time with AA and The Bean.

 

In shoe news, I let Flower choose the shoes she wanted on the blog since I hadn't taken a picture of her feet yet.

 

 

I wish you could also see the fun, pink flowers these shoes have for a lining.  Flower was very cute with the choice.  She picked 2 pairs and then had me pick the one to wear for the picture.

 

Then we took a group picture of feet:

 

 

Starting with my pink tennies at the bottom and working clockwise, we have:  Flower, my seester, Laughter, AA, and the Bean.  Seriously, where does The Bean get all of her adorable tennis shoes?





Meet the Nieces

The nieces solved my naming problem by basically giving themselves nicknames.  So, I'm still not going to show pictures of their faces, but I'll show pictures of their shoes, some of which you've already seen.

 

First up is DJ (a nickname her uncle, the hubby, gave her at our wedding).  DJ is 16 and lives with her mom in another city so we only see her on the weekends.  She was on spring break this week, though, so we got to have her Monday-Thursday.  DJ is turning into a lovely young woman.  She is funny in a fun and sarcastic way, and I think she's really figuring some things out for herself after some rough years.  Her birthday was a week ago and she is soooo ready to get her drivers' licence.  Eeek!  I somehow managed not to get a picture of her feet this week, though.  Sigh.  Although, you might recall this post where she sent me a picture of shoes for my collection.

 

Next up is Double A (nickname also given by the uncle).  AA is 12, soon to be 13 and is the middle child of my brother's family.  This means she can be laid back to the point of being a pushover, but it also means she is sweet and incredibly patient.  She is awesome with her young cousins, and has always been a good little mama.  She has recently discovered drama and done several plays at school.  She is currently in rehearsals for the spring play and having a marvelous time.  These are her Easter shoes:

 

 

The brother's 3rd child is The Bean who is 9.  She cracks me up and always has.  She is a combination of both her parents as well as both of her sisters.  She has a crazy sense of humor, and is a lot of fun.  She is usually the one who is up for any kind of spontaneity.  She also kills me when it's time to go because she frequently sobs her little heart out when we leave.  Oh, sentimental baby.  She is our athletic one, and is pretty awesome at softball, which she is playing again this year.  You saw her tennies the first day I was home.  These are also her Easter shoes (a girl after auntie's heart...I love stripes!):

 

 

On to my sister's oldest, Flower, who is 7.  Flower was born in China (her name means Flower in Chinese) and came to us when she was 8 months old.  She is very literal and practical, but also very dramatic and goofy.  She is our inquisitive one, sometimes asking questions to the point of driving us crazy.  She's also our most snuggly one.  I can always count on lots and lots and lots of snuggles from Flower.  Other nieces frequently have to fight for lap time when Flower is around.  Oh man, I just realized I haven't taken pictures of her cute boots, either, and she's not here right now.  You might have to see them tomorrow.  Sheesh, auntie.

 

And finally, we have Laughter.  Her name means laughter, but it is also an apt nickname as the kid cracks herself and us up.  Laughter is 2 1/2 and just giggles and giggles.  She has an amazing imagination, and continually impresses me with the depth and breadth of her made-up worlds.  Laughter was also adopted, this time through Lutheran Social Services in MT.  Now that I type that, I remember that only AA and The Bean are biologically related.  Doesn't matter to us, we love them all, and love that our family has grown in other ways.  You already saw Laughter's boots, but here they are again.

 

 

Speaking of children who aren't biologically related, but whom we claim, well there's a lot of them, ranging in ages from mid-twenties to teeny tiny.  I'll only tell about the 2 who are around right now.  First up is Pippi, who Mom started babysitting when she was 3 months old and I happened to be living at home before I got my first call.  She is now almost 6, but Pippi and I have been fast friends ever since, and we did almost everything together that year.  She is hilarious and adorable, sassy and smart.  At some point, around the age of 2, she decided I couldn't shower alone and has been inserting herself into my showers every time I come home.  We generally sing Single Ladies while Showering.  You saw her awesome boots already, but here are the slippers she came in this morning.  The ears are down until she walks, and then they pop up.

 

 

Last but not least is Seec*, who is 4 and Pippi's little sister.  I didn't see her much as a baby so we don't have the same relationship as I  have with Pippi.  She is going through a total sassy pants phase right now, which can be funny and frustrating at the same time.  She used to be really quiet, but then she just started talking up a storm and she hasn't stopped since.  She has a running commentary on quite a lot of things at Mom's house.  She didn't used to want much to do with me, but has warmed up to me since I started bringing the hubby around, because she thinks he is the bee's knees.  You've already seen her cute pink shoes:

 

 

So there you have it.  Nieces, nieces, nieces.  There is also a non-related nephew, but I think we'll make that an entry for another day.

 

*Edited:  Seec is now referred to as Tink.  Her oldest sister gave her the nickname, and it has stuck, is easier than Seec.  So now you know.











A Day in the Park

Today was a lovely, and very full day.  Dad, the hubby, and I drove to Glacier National Park.  It's about 2 hours from my parents' house, and not much is open yet because it's still early in the season, but the drive was lovely, and what we saw of the park was gorgeous.  We even got to wander around in some snow on a little walk.  It's not shoes, but here are a few pictures of prettiness for you:

 

 

We also drove all the way around Flathead Lake, and had lunch in Bigfork.  It was a lot of driving, but again, pretty.  When we got home we went to the Bean's first softball game of the season.  She is the catcher and plays first base, and she did awesome.  After watching her we went with Dad and my sister and 2 youngest nieces to the theater to watch our wedding video on the big screen.  Being the daughter and sister of the people who own the movie theater is awesome!

 

Today's shoes are my youngest niece's, who is 2 1/2:

 

 

More cute boots with a fun pattern.  I was going to try to get a closer up picture of the pattern, but trying to get the wiggler to stay still for one picture was challenging enough.

 

Man, I'm tired.  Isn't vacation supposed to be restful?





Babies Everywhere

All of the nieces and other children here are "babies" no matter what their age.  The oldest niece just turned 16 and while she might not appreciate it she, and the others, will always be my babies.  We did have actual babies here today, though.  A friend of ours brought her 7 month old twin boys to visit.  I've seen them on facebook, but this was the first time I got to meet them.  They are adorable, and so busy.  The crazy thing is that my mom started babysitting their mom when she was a little over a year old, so it seems strange to have her here as a married adult with her own babies.  One baby was wearing shoes and the other wasn't, so you only get one pair:

 

He was quite wiggly, so I couldn't really get a great shot.  These are his Easter shoes.  He was quite dapper in them.

 

The 5 year old was wearing boots yesterday when she came home from school:

 

 

I kept backing up to get a picture and she kept moving her feet closer to the camera.  Aren't they adorable?  Very girly and Montana-y!

 

The last couple of days have been wonderful and laid back.  My parents own the movie theater in my hometown, so last night we went with the nieces for a private showing of The Croods.  Tonight I think we might go watch the newest James Bond film.  Various babies come and go from the parents' house throughout the day, so it's awesome to hang out with them and play with whichever combinations of children are around.

 



Aaaah...

I'll start today where I left off yesterday:  I love being home.  I slept in a bit this morning, and then got up to play with the 4 year old my mom babysits.  Which brings up an interesting issue.  I have 5 nieces.  There are also many other small children who hang out at my parents' house.  They are all awesome.  So far I have avoided using names on this blog.  I'm not sure how to do that with all of the children who will be running in and out of entries this week.  I thought about nicknames, but I'm not terribly creative when it comes to that.  The nieces have nicknames, but most of them are variations on their names.  So far the only one I've used is "the bean," which we use to refer to the almost 10 year old.  Maybe I'll just used ages, but that seems kind of odd.  I'm open to suggestions.  I've read blogs where they use made up names for the kids.  I also read a blog where I thought the kids had made up names, only to discover that family just had slightly crazier names for their children than I would use.  Enough of that.  Please take a peak at what the 4 year old is wearing for shoes today:

 

 

She told me they are awesome because they are pink and have a flower on them.  She is correct. 

 

Well, off to take a shower.  The 4 year old just invited herself to join me.  This is not unusual.  I rarely shower by myself when I'm at the parents'.



Home!

Aaaah...it's the day after Easter and I am on vacation.  When I made our flight reservations, I was just thinking how nice it would be to get to my parents' house early in the afternoon.  What I didn't think about was that our flight time meant we had to get up at 3 this morning.  Ugh, that pretty much sucked.  Oh well...despite being April Fool's day, our flights were just fine, and I got some good naps in.  Another thing to add to the long list of things I don't understand: Why women fly in heels.  I love me a good pair of high, high heels, but I refuse to run through the airport in them.  I wore the ole, reliable tennies.  When I got home I discovered the bean also wearing cute tennies, so of course I had to take a picture:

 

 

We are opposites!  I think she's getting old enough that I might be able to start stealing her shoes...

 

Somehow I had the presence of mind to look at the shoe calendar before we left this morning.  I hope this is an April Fool's choice, but somehow I don't think so.  These are insane:

 

 

How would you even walk in these?  Wouldn't you constantly be walking on your pony tail?

 

Oh well.  I'm home in MT for a week.  I'm hoping to catch up on sleep and smooch on nieces and other various small children that hang out at my mom's house.  Today we celebrated my brother's and oldest niece's birthdays, so we had a yummy dinner and a yummy red velvet cake.  I loooove being home.