My Nieces!

Last month my sister Misty's little girls came to visit. It was very bittersweet to see them. On one hand, they look so much like her and they tell me stories about her that just melt my heart. On the other hand, it makes me sad to know that they will likely forget a lot about her as they grow up. I was only 4 when my dad passed away and I have three or four distinct memories of him but other than that, I don't know him. It is hard to know that these sweet little girls will not know their mom the way I knew her.

Clint and I brought the girls to our house one night to give my mom a much needed rest from babysitting. They played with our dogs and we roasted s'mores over the grill outside and watched a Disney movie. These girls don't eat a lot...so I bribed them with Pez candy. I'm all about the bribes! I've never seen Colette wolf down a hot dog so fast! Clint and I loaded them up with sugar before sending them back to mom's house. My dad was "oh so pleased!" to have three little girls bouncing off the walls when they got back. What could I do??? I'm Aunt Emily! And Clint is Uncle T! We live to spoil them.

So I have to mention a few of the funny things they said while they were out here visiting:

Camille, the 4 year old, was watching Snow White at my mom's house and she got to the part where the dwarfs have"buried" Snow White in that little glass enclosure. And Camille sat there in awe and said, "I wish my mom was buried like that."

Colette, the 5 year old, hugged me when we picked them up at the airport. And she looked at me and said, "You have some dark hair...just like my mommy!" It made me happy to know that she still remembers those little details of her mom. And I told her, "I do have the same color hair as your mommy. And you have her eyes! And Colette responded very seriously, "They're blue...like the sky." ADORABLE!

At dinner one night Colette said (much to the embarassment of my brother-in-law) "Sometimes when my dad is sad and crying...because he misses Mommy...I hug him just like this." And she demonstrated by wrapping her little arms around her dad so tight. And she said, "and I tell him, Dad, it's going to be ok." I'm amazed at the perspective this little girl has!

The night before they flew home Clint and I took the girls to the park to play. I'm attaching a few videos from our rendezvous. At one park there was a little tire swing. The three girls swung around on that for awhile but two of them got bored with it and jumped off to find something else to play on. But Camille stayed on the swing and made me continue to push her. And as she swung she said to me, "Aunt Emily, my mom's spirit is here at this playground. Most people can't see spirits but I can. My mom is on this tire swing next to me. And she is helping me push it." Now, I don't know if she was really there. But I'd like to think she was. It was all I could do to hold back tears and say to my little Camilley, "I bet she's having fun on that tire swing with you!" We took them to get ice cream after the park. All I could hear was "I want chocolate, I want sprinkles, I want a big ice cream..." But they finally all settled on a kiddie cone at Arctic Circle. Which, much to my surprise, were FREE. Didn't cost me even 5 cents! Wahoo! Here are few pictures:



Colette was dying for vanilla with sprinkles but she settled for just vanilla.



Camille went fancy-schmancy with a twist cone...



And Heidi Ski had chocolate. The best part was when she got her ice cream on the edge of the table at Arctic Circle and thought it would be a good idea to lick it off. EW!



So pardon my screechy voice on these videos. I was recording the videos on my cell phone. I don't normally talk this loud.



Right after this video ended all three of the girls started chanting, "Uncle T's a goofball, goofball, goofball. It was so dang cute!