Stop, Go, Stop, Go

That's my life, but I love it! Of course, I am feeling it this morning, but oh well. I am having a hard time keeping my eyes open!

Let's see....where do I begin?

We had so much fun this weekend! We had my nephew S stay the night Friday and attend our middle school dance. The kids had a BALL! Ruthie and Randy both ADORE S! Turns out, S has some MOVES! Saturday, we picked up my niece A b/c my brother J has been coming down to help out our parents on some weekends. This time he brought A! Ruthie was soooooo excited. A and Ruthie get along really well. Poor A was in the car all weekend long, but she was a good sport. We had my other niece A's, b-day party, just to leave that one and attend our friend J's b-day party. It was crazy, but so much fun! Sunday we attended church of course. We honored a man who is about to head back to the war. It was a very, very emotional service.

We had to drop of A after church b/c they were headed back to their house. A cried so hard and she made me cry. I miss having them close, but we will have to make an effort to visit them more often. A is such a sweet little lady and so much fun! We grabbed flashlights and as soon as Randy was asleep Saturday night, we snuck outside and we jumped on the trampoline. I sometimes think she only likes us for our trampoline!

All and all, we had a fun-filled cousin weekend. This weekend got me thinking about how much time I have off during the summer, and how little time I spend with my nieces and nephews. I really think that I want to try to do some sort of cousin camp......

See, cousins were a HUGE part of my childhood. I have 2 older sisters and 2 older brothers. My brother J was closer to me in age, so we were closer growing up. This might get hard, but I feel as though I need to explain what cousins mean to me.

We had a cousin named Eli. (You can read some about him here) See, Eli was everything to me. He was my favorite person in the world. I think J and I shared that. I used to think that if I was a boy like Eli, J would have loved me more. Cousins were a very important part of my life. I can only dream that Ruthie and Randy can have cousins like I did growing up. I truly think that I need to step up and be the aunt that always has my nieces and nephews over. I want to have a close relationship with them and I want Ruthie and Randy to have a close relationship with them as well. I had an awesome aunt teach me how to be an awesome aunt. I hope that I can be fun like she is. I could write on and on about how much Eli and M meant to me. I so want that for my kids.