I Can't Help It

I had to share more pictures. What's an aunt to do?

What a sweet family.

Nephew Z has been practicing for this moment.
He looks so happy and proud.

Sweet kisses ...

and gentle hugs.

Those give me the warm fuzzies, and make me want to gush to everyone about how proud I am.

A is one lucky little girl. I can tell Z is going to be a great big brother. He'll be such a helper to his mom and dad.

• • •

My mother-in-law sent me some pictures yesterday. It was fun getting to look through all of them!

She laughed and said, "OK … it takes a while to get them developed."

So what if they're from Thanksgiving. I'm still glad to have them.

J's side of the family actually had a pre-Christmas get together. It was nice getting to see everyone.

This is my mom... in-law, Nelda,
with her dad, Tom (grandpa to me).

On the left is "Mimi", who is like a grandma to J
(she's really his great aunt). She raised J's dad,
Gary, who is holding his grandson Kade.

Grandma "Mims" Nelda got a chance to hold Kade.
Precious. His baby blues are from both his mom and dad.

Here's J talking with two of his cousins.

J's sweet cousin Keeley, teaching the kids a fun game.

J and I are truly blessed to have families full of such wonderful people. We have parents on both sides that love us and that we love dearly.

When we say our "in-laws", it's not a bad thing.

I still tend to say J's parents, or J's mom, because mother-in-law, and father-in-law have taken on a negative tone over the years. Neither J nor I want that to ever seem like the case.

As Forrest Gump would say, we're all like "peas and carrots". We still have bumps in the road like any family does. Some are small, others are bigger, but we manage to get over them.


I leave you with these.

"The family. We were a strange little band of characters trudging through life sharing diseases and toothpaste, coveting one another's desserts, hiding shampoo, borrowing money, locking each other out of our rooms, inflicting pain and kissing to heal it in the same instant, loving, laughing, defending, and trying to figure out the common thread that bound us all together."
- Erma Bombeck

"You don't choose your family. They are God's gift to you, as you are to them."
- Desmond Tutu

"It is not flesh and blood but the heart which makes us fathers and sons."
- Johann Schiller

"Families are like fudge - mostly sweet with a few nuts."
- Author Unknown