Being Aunt Holly

This is by far one of my favorite jobs that I get to do the least amount of time in a given year. I arrived here yesterday and am staying through Sunday. I wish I had paper and pencil with me wherever I go with these kids simply to write down some of the things they say and do. I see so much of Tim and Procita traits in them. As always though, I'm floored by their honesty and innocence. This was one of our first adventures with me alone with the kids overnight on their turf. We built a HUGE fort in Zeke's room and have played countless hours of Army (shoot each other with Nerf Dart Guns and throw ball/bombs at each other). Jasmine's job was to protect Bear (Zeke's bear that he's had since birth). We watched the movie Enchanted and played again some of our favorite parts. We also watched some of the bonus features too to put off going to bed.

We've had some interesting meals while we've been here. Last night Jenn had put a pot roast with carrots and potatoes in the crock pot for us. When the timer finally went off we were all STARVED for dinner. Jasmine proceeded to inform me that they needed "something else" to go with dinner. I told her we had enough. I was then informed that she was "GOING TO STARVE TO DEATH!" Being the mean aunt, I said fine and put her plate at her seat while she went off to cry and starve. She came back and when I offered bread and butter all was right in the world and no one was going to starve. Breakfast was uneventful simply because we all had our own cereals. I tried Double Chocolate Cookie Crisp this morning and would recommend it.

Lunch deserves it own paragraph simply because of the conversation that we had. The kids are finally old enough (well Zeke is) to put together that Tim and I are brother and sister. I spent some time telling some stories about when we were little kids like them. The other line of conversation came out of nowhere but will stick with me for awhile. Zeke looks at me and says "Aunt Holly, I'm glad you're not married." My response was "OK?" (I knew there had to be more to this comment or at least I was hoping so!) He then proceeded to tell me that all of his aunts and uncles have made him get all dressed up for their weddings. He's had to carry a pillow with rings on it for EVERY ONE of them. I asked him if he doesn't want to be in mine when I get married. He said he would do it for me and of course Jasmine wanted to know her part too. We talked about Joe and April's wedding because they were both pretty young and didn't remember too much. I told Zeke about how he laid down on the alter with his ring pillow during the ceremony. I told Jasmine about how she crunched her lollipop for the whole church to hear during the ceremony. Somehow in the conversation I told Zeke about how he had fake rings on the pillow and that someone else has the real rings. His response to this was "Then that makes it even more stupid for me to have to dress up to carry fake rings!" So wise at his young age...

One more favorite of the day and then I'm off to fall asleep to March Madness. Jasmine and I spent over an hour reading together this afternoon. Zeke took time out of his busy schedule to read to us too. He made it through about half a book before I took over. I got to read some of my favorites from my childhood. First grandkids get first dibs on the old toys and books of the siblings! I'm having a great time being Aunt Holly. I have pictures of the kids and our fort but don't have my camera's computer cable here. I'll get those posted soon! I hope you're having a great day!