Aunting

I love being an aunt. It's seriously the best job in the world. I wish I could get paid for it, because then all I would do all day long is aunting. And I'd be awesome at it. Auting is great because you get to have all the fun you want with the crazy fun, cute little children who share a little bit of your DNA, but you have none of the responsibility of parenting!

My dad turned 55 last week, so I went home this weekend to celebrate his birthday with my family. We had a great time. On Saturday I got to go to soccer practice with the kids, which was the cutest thing I've ever seen! Kids rolling around on the ground, kicking balls as hard as they can and then running after them... it melted my heart. I took a couple of videos with my new phone (Yeah, I got a new phone. Yeah, it's an iPhone. Yeah, I should be more excited about it, but I'm not because mine got stolen and I'm still mad.), and will be happy to show anyone who wants to see the flawless somersaults Jakin and Anna performed. After soccer, we all went outside to watch the man from the nursery bring in two pine trees (my mom's birthday present to my dad), and my 2 and 4-year old relations wowed me with their knowledge of roots, trees, sunshine and soil.

One highlight of the weekend was a flexibility test that my brother, father and I couldn't pass (None of us can touch our toes without bending our knees. Isn't that sad? Anna helped me cheat, though, so while I was trying to touch my toes, she ran over and touched them for me). Dinner saw us singing "On Top of Spaghetti," which the kids loved. We made up our own verses at the end - the kids would sing a line and I would come up with a line to rhyme theirs. I also laughed really hard when Mikaiah, who was sitting next to me at dinner, leaned over in her chair, put her face close to mine and said, "Let's lick each other!" Too cute!

It was a great trip. I loved seeing my parents and the rest of my family. It was also good to take some time to relax and take a few deep breaths. I forget to do that sometimes. I ran a few miles with Christine on Sunday morning, and it felt really good. She's a great running partner. I think maybe she's going to run the 10k with me, which would be awesome! Running can get lonely and boring if you don't have anyone to run with.

Ooh, I'm also within four hours of finishing The Brothers Karamazov! I'm so excited to finally get through this dang book that has stood as a sign of my failure for years. No longer, Dostoevsky! I've got your number! Here are my adorable nieces and nephew. The last one is Mikaiah planting a stick so it can grow into a tree. It might have had a better chance of working if Quincy the dog hadn't continually taken the stick away to run around the yard with it.