Best Relatives Ever

Everyone has them, well, everyone should have them. Those relatives that you love to be around, the ones who make you smile and laugh and just enjoy life. These are those people. Aunt Eileen and Uncle John. You can't say one name without saying the other. They love each other intensely and go together like peanut butter and jelly, the other one bringing out the best in the other. Good alone, but so much better together. Aunt Eileen has always been such a great aunt since the tender age of nine when Ron was born. They all have fun Aunt Eileen stories. My favorite is the time they went to the drive-in movies and Ron was the back seat that the kids sat on since her VW bug didn't have a backseat. It was 70's and people did what they could to save money, even put blankets on their nephews and make them be a backseat. Uncle John can build you anything out of wood and will help wherever and whenever needed. He has a servant's heart and it is always evident. We were priveledged to have them stay at our house a few weeks ago and they were by far the best house guests ever. We loved having them here, spending time with them, talking with them, watching TV with them, o.k., anything with them. In preparation for them staying with us I rearranged Breanna's room so they could have their own room. She has a trundle bed so I set it up as a queen sized bed by pushing the two beds together. Well, in the middle of the night, Aunt Eileen had an issue with her insulin and Uncle John went to get her some coke. Unfortunately, the bed split apart and he came crashing to the ground. Being in a strange house, he couldn't find the light switch and stumbled in the dark. I felt horrible but at the same time had to stifle a giggle at the thought of him falling on the ground. Poor guy. It had to happen to them of all people. The ones who were just grateful for a place to stay while we celebrated the wedding of Lindsey and Adam. Not to worry, the next night they slept on the hide-a-bed in the living room and he stayed safely in his bed all night, I think. We love them and miss them and can't wait for them to come back. I may have to book them a hotel next time though.

Baking with my girl.

My boys used to like to help me in the kitchen but I know it was so they could have first dibs on the beater and then they discovered cookie dough. I don't like having little hands reaching into my perfect mixture of butter, sugar, flour, vanilla so I started spooning the dough into little cups and telling them that was all they were getting. It worked and since then they haven't wanted to help me bake. Except the girl . She keeps wanting to help. She wants us to have matching aprons. She wants to put in all the ingredients, roll the cookie dough, cut the dough and now she can transfer the cookie dough from the counter to the cookie sheet. That my friends is an accomplishment. I've been making sugar cookies since I was ten and the moment of truth is always in the transfer. You can mix the ingredients just right, you can flower the surface just right, you can roll the dough just right, you can cut the cookie dough out just right but if you don't transfer the dough just right it's an automatic do over and sad, very sad when you mess up your creation of perfectly formed dough. She did an excellent job and I revelled in my daughter's ability to do something that took me years to master. I love that her childhood will be filled with these memories of baking with her mom. She won't be able to remember not baking cookies with her mom. Baking is what I do and love and it comes easy and I love that I get to share that with her but most of all I love that I get to spend time with her and she wants to be with me.

She gets me.

Sometimes a girl just needs to go away and have some time away from the grind of life. This was one of those weekends. Alyssa and I packed up our overnight bags, loaded up the van, make sure we had the GPS and headed to Half Moon Bay. I don't even really remember the drive since we were talking the whole time, oh, wait, when were we not talking? We caught up, we analyzed, we complained, we laughed, we even teared up a couple of times but it was pure unadulterated girl time and of course we had to keep our bodies busy so we dutifully did what any girl would do and shopped, shopped, shopped. Luckily we scored at a great thrift shop and took our time going through all the treasures. To make it even better everything in the store was half off and no one was sitting in the car waiting with the engine running, no one was hiding in the clothes rack, no one was following closely behind us asking us how much longer, it was just us, two girls who love thrift shops. We had a delicious lunch at a hotel with a view of the ocean dotted with those crazy surfers who surf in October. The weather is probably the same at the coast any other month but it just seems wrong to be in the water on a cold, foggy day in October. I found out that Half Moon Bay is the pumpkin capital of the world and it makes sense. Pumpkins as far as the eye can see and the stores, oh, the stores. So many stores with their adorable Fall decorations. I don't really like fall decorations but now I feel completely inspired to decorate for fall. Pumpkins, black cats, leaves, birds, black and white...every store we went into was so asthetically pleasing and most of it could easily be recreated with some creativity and a little cash. So we did what any housewife who is a little strapped for cash would do and stopped at Joann's on the way home so we could create the same feel in our home for a third of the price. Before I even unpacked my clothes I set up all the decorations in the house. I never realized how happy the little things can make me. Everytime I walk by my little table in the living room I smile. Mostly I smile because it reminds me of a wonderful weekend getaway with a wonderful person who understands that life is crazy sometimes, well, most of the time nowadays and she gets it. She knows that life is wonderful and there are so many wonderful things to do and see and be a part of. She gets that saying no may mean we'll miss out on something or we'll miss an opportunity to make a memory or help someone who is going through a tough time. She gets it and she gets me.