Girl Time

While I was in Mom's living room chatting with her, I kept looking at her pictures on the wall. She and my stepdad have all of their grandchildren's pictures on a wall in their family room. Between them they have ten grandchildren. Mom has six, Dave has four. I'm very close with my nieces and nephew (my brother's and my sister's children.) Although I do spend more time with my sister's girls, I love my brother's children very much.

My sister only lives 4 hours away from my mom. Since I was already nine hours away from home and had a few days before I had to return home for work, I decided that I HAD to see my nieces. Seriously...who can resist this face:



...or this face:


Aubrey unloading the dishwasher

So, I called my sister to see if they had plans for the weekend. She said, "Hmmmm, let me check my schedule...ARE YOU KIDDING??? GET DOWN HERE!" hehe Mom was planning on heading down after my visit anyway, so we decided to leave on Friday. Then, Dave suggested that we leave on Thursday, pop by my aunt's house on the way and visit with her and my cousins. So, after visiting with my friend Cheryl on Thursday, Mom and I packed up our cars and headed South.

My aunt is my mom's baby sister. She is only three years older than I am and we grew up like sisters. I was very excited to see her and her boys. She lives in the town where I went to college, so it was exciting to head to my old 'stomping grounds.' Pam had to work on Friday, so we only got to stay for one night, but we packed in as much visiting as we could in that one evening. I thoroughly enjoyed my time at her house.

We were up bright and early the next morning to head to Margie's house. We decided that she wouldn't tell the girls we were coming. We wanted to surprise them when they got home from school. I don't know who was more excited...Mom, Margie or I! When we pulled up in front of Margie's house, Mom forgot to turn off her car, so I had to jump out of mine to tell her to turn off the car! :)

Margie greeted us at the door and we were screaming and hugging and just acting crazy as usual. It was so good to see her! She and I moved our cars to a cul de sac in her neighborhood that wasn't developed yet so that the girls wouldn't see our cars when they came home with their dad.

Mom hid in Allison's room and I hid in the playroom. When Margie told them that she had something in Allison's room for them, they raced upstairs and I heard them screaming, "Gaba!" and laughing when they saw my mom. Then, Margie told them that she had another surprise in the playroom. When they walked in, I started screaming and Aubrey jumped into my arms and Allison gave me a huge hug. It was so much fun!

We did silly things like take self-portraits:



Um...I had the zoom on and didn't know it!



Much better!


Aunt Dawn and Allison


Mom and I


Margie and Dawn...sisters by blood...friends by choice

The girls worked on crafts with 'Gaba' while Margie and I prepared snacks.


Al and Gaba making a pillow.


Aubs painting

Our snack...


I got this idea from a dear friend of mine...spear 1/2 cherry tomato, a half of a basil leaf, and a cube of mozzarella cheese....and then drizzle the entire dish with extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Very tasty and addicting!

We talked, laughed, and just relaxed. It was a wonderful visit! Oh, and when my sister couldn't find her iphone? All she had to do was find one of the girls because they usually had it playing with one of the apps. ;)


Al playing with the iphone. :)

When it was time for me to leave to come home, I hugged each girl and Allison said to me, "I hope I don't have to wait a year to see you again!" and I assured her that we'd NEVER let that happen...EVER!

I love you, Girlies!