My Kiddos.

If you go here, here, and here, you will notice that there are six (so far ~ two more on the way!) rather special people in my life that I'm privileged to answer to the name Auntie Anne when they call. Bein' an auntie has become a great joy and even now I'm listening for the little pitter-patter of footsteps as a 2 1/2 year old boy runs through the hallway making sure that Auntie Anne is still where he left her.

How could this little boy who is full of wiggles and bounces steal my heart? When did my little peanut of a nephew charm his way into Auntie's heart and wrap me around his finger? My sweet autistic nephew brought tears to my eyes when he said, "we go hide Auntie Anne". My rough-and-tumble 10 year old nephew excitedly exclaimed, "Auntie Anne! Watch this!" and I cheered him on. How could I help but applaud his accomplishments? That 15 year old niece of mine became more of the little sister I never had and I thrilled in the times we had pillow fights, tickle fests, and wrestling matches (oops ~ am I admitting my maturity in that last sentence?!?;). Just when I worry I won't love the "new" baby as much as the older ones, that sweet bundle of joy smiles and this auntie is a goner! I find my heart doesn't have a love quota; rather, it expands right along with our family!

What Are Little Girls Made Of?

Girls are made of sugar 'n spice,

Everything sweet, & everything nice,

Girls are ruffles, bonnets, and bows,

Dimpled smiles and dancing toes,

They're tears and giggles, dolls and curls,

That's how it is with little girls.

What Are Little Boys Made Of?

Boys are made of chuckles & grins,

Tousled hair and banged-up shins,

Things with wheels & frogs in pockets

Questions, baseball caps, & rockets;

They're joy & mischief, fun & noise-

That's how it is – boys will be boys!

My experience leans more towards the chuckles and grins, tousled hair and banged-up shins rather than sugar 'n spice, everything sweet and everything nice with 5 nephews compared to 1 niece and yesterday reminded me of that. My sister and nephew from Florida stayed with my other sister in Philadelphia since Tuesday so Friday morning at 6:15 (!!!!) Andrew, in all his pajammaed glory, let me know from his royal throne that sleep time was over and that the games were to begin immediately! Apparently having another boy in the house presented a great challenge to both Bayley and Andrew:o).

Since Bayley's middle name is Andrew, he got pretty confused when my sister would say, "Bayley! Andrew!" because he thought he was in trouble, so he came up with a creative solution for Andrew: "Nathan! Naaa-than!!". I don't think Andrew was bothered either way, whether he ignored "Andrew" or whether he ignored "Nathan";).

My kiddos are spread out all over the place, but they all manage to come home every once in a while; just in time for this Auntie's heart:o)...

These three munchkins hang out in the northwest corner of Indiana and maybe, just maybe, are coming home for a week in March!

Mr. Bayley-boo resides in the sun-shiny state of Florida and makes it up here about 2-3 times each year. We're hoping that they're going to come join our happy bunch up here permanently within a year or so:o). (Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of Mr. Bayley-boo's older brother, Jamey Jr., on this computer:().

Andrew is the one I get to visit each week! He is the closest one for now, but that's going to be changing within two months when another boy makes his debut:op.

These are my kiddos and are the ones who call me Auntie Anne... one of the sweetest names I love to hear!