kisses from aunty karen

oh hi. remember my blog? remember the time i wrote regularly instead of brainstorming potential blog posts between date nights and work meetings and playdates and meeting new babies at hospitals and .... wait what? yes. a new baby. big week for aunty karen and truth to the saying that great things come in threes:

1. my curly haired nephew grady turned two. but wait. there's more.
2. my less curly haired sister went into labour literally as the clock struck midnight and brought her beautiful eight pound eight ounce daughter into the world one single day after her son's birthday. audrey marian clare shortt. she is healthy. wonderful. perfect. and thanks to a narrow window, she helped my big sister avoid being able to claim the title of two under two from aunty boo. and speaking of aunty boo ...
3. my gorgeous niece charlotte turns two today! my goodness this will surely be an expensive week for grandparents for years and years to come won't it! three of four of my nieces and nephews are all born within one week. amazing.

i am so thankful for these awesome kids in my life. our kids are so close in age and will grow up to be close even if an entire ocean divides us. my sisters have had four kids in two years and one day  and at some point i plan to go full circle and bookend their wonderful wee ones :)

so here it is. a short list of the raddest reasons that i love being aunty karen:

1. remember when i got to meet baby james over the summer? okay he is not in this particular collage because it was all about the birthday kids [seriously there's hardly a glance of my own marcus up in there.] but remember that? meeting each of them for the first time and making that connection is something i have cherished all four times.
2. one day charlotte and audrey may or may not fight over aunty karen's fancy handbag collection. i can't wait. unless i sprout a daughter one day but let's blog in the now.
3. as an aunt, you get to love the you-know-what out of these awesome kids. play with them. rile them up. spoil them rotten. then hand them back and head for the suburban hills :)
4. grady, baby james, charlotte and audrey are all perfect extensions of their parents. which is pretty amazing to watch unfold as they grow into their personalities and you see the different qualities from each parent come out.
5. aunty karen and marcus got to leave an obnoxious rendition of 'happy birthday' to charlotte on aunty boo's mobile this morning which i think we ONLY pulled off because we are blood related :) otherwise she may have blocked dear aunty karen's phone number!
6. four nieces and nephews means four more incredible family members to be thankful for.
7. four nieces and nephews means four more reasons to celebrate year round.

happy birthday today, charlotte.
happy birthday last saturday, grady.
welcome to the world, baby audrey.

love aunty karen and your older cousin marcus
xo