The Best Kids Ever!!!

I have the best job in the world! I'm an aunt to fourteen amazing kids. I love them all so very much. They are the best! I'll tell you a little about each of them.

Audrey: She's the oldest, 13 years old (the punk is growing up too fast! She's taller than me now!) My favorite story to tell about her is when she went to Mount Rushmore with us. She was about five years old at the time. It had started raining one day, and she was freaking out. I teased her saying, "Oh no, Audrey! We're going to die!" (She was extremely dramatic at the time). She looked at me and said, "We are not going to die. We are going to put on our raincoats." And she stopped whining.

Ashlyn: Ashlyn is 11 years old. She is about my height. She has been my little buddy ever since she was born. We call her Mini-Michelle. She looks more like me than her mom (my sister), mostly because of our coloring (blond hair, blue eyes). But she also acts a lot like me too. She really should have been my child, but I was only 14 when she was born. That would have been awkward. When she was three years old, she always used to ask me to paint her fingamails (fingernails). It was super cute, and most times I couldn't resist.

Merrin: Merrin is also 11 years old. She is hilarious. She used to pretend she was slipping on a banana peel. She was very good at it. She loves to make videos about Skeleton Dude. She films this toy figurine of a skeleton, and it's really pretty funny. Maybe she'll be a director or something one day.

Connor: Connor is 10 years old. He is a very active child. When he was a toddler, you'd put him down and you wouldn't see him again, except for a streak of white hair. He has a very good heart, but sometimes doesn't make good decisions. Once at school he poured chocolate milk down the slide. A kid went down the slide and got his brand new pants all dirty. When Connor got in trouble he said, "Well I didn't know his pants were new." As if that was the reason he got in trouble. No Connor, you'd get in trouble even if the kids pants weren't new.

Kohl: Kohl is 9 years old. He is a genuine, loving kid. When he gets passionate about something, his eyebrows peak. It's pretty funny. He always says funny things. Our favorite story about him is kind of sad because his cat, Mickey got hurt, but Mickey is okay now, so it's funny. One day while his mom was taking a bath, he yelled to her, "Mom the cat is bweeding!" She replied, "Why is the cat bleeding?" He answered, "I don't know, his tail is in my woom! This is the worst day evoo!" He loves his cats. The reason why the cat's tail fell off in his room is because he shut the tail in the door trying to keep the cat in his room so he could play. Oh, and he has outgrown his speech impediment with the R's and L's.

Dallin: Dallin is 7 years old. He is also a very active child. Whenever I babysit him, I know he has to have a toy or two. If his brother and sister are watching a movie, he will be in the room, but he's still playing with the toy. But he is super smart! He pays more attention than you'd think. And he can read really big words if he's interested in the subject.

Savannah: Savannah is 7 years old. She is from Haiti. She was adopted when she was three years old, so for a long time she had a Haitian-Creole accent. It was so cute! She loves doing cartwheels and handstands, and she's really good at them! She's very strong and could probably take me in a fight. Good thing we don't fight!

Jordan: Jordan is 6 years old. He is also from Haiti. His accent has never been quite as strong as Savannah's since he was a little younger when he was adopted. He always has a story to tell you. He's kind of obsessed with basketball, which is so cute, considering he was the smallest kindergartener in his school. He's also very good at cartwheels and handstands, and is pretty much made of muscle.

Katie: Katie is 5 years old. She says such cute things. She loves princesses (which is very good for me because I do too!) She told me a secret the other day and said that we're friends now because we share secrets and that's what friends do. The secret was that she wished that she had rainbow powers. Another secret was that she is a princess. The things this girl comes up with cracks me up. Lance and I went to their house for dinner once and she gabbed the entire meal. When she was eating her dessert, she said, "Who invited you here anyway?" It wasn't meant to be mean. She was just curious, but it was hilarious!

Olivia: Olivia is almost 5 years old. She was adopted from foster to adopt. She is my little bubby (buddy). We have fun playing and dancing together (that girl can dance!). Our favorite game is the hide and seek roar game. I hide and when she finds me I roar at her, making her jump. It's fun! The other day at the parade, she was a little scared. She had recently been to another parade where there were people dressed up from a haunted house. They scared her a lot. So when the parade started, she sat on Lance's lap and said to him, "Help me not be scared." He melted, of course, and so did I.

Brielle: Brielle is 3 years old. She has the biggest brown eyes you'll ever see. She not only has looks, but personality as well. You never know what she'll do next. The other day, she and Katie were talking. Katie recently got eyeglasses and said, "I have glasses." Brielle replied by saying, "I have eyes." Then Katie was telling her about her secret password to her room and asked Brielle what hers was. Brielle didn't really know, so Katie tried to guess. All of a sudden, Brielle licked Katie's mouth (gross). Katie just kept guessing things like, "Lick? Tongue? Mouth?" So funny!

Paxton: Paxton is 3 years old too! He is a funny little kid. One time my mom made layered Jello in little cups. My mom asked him if he liked his Jello and he said, "No, it's ice cream." He wouldn't believe that it was Jello. He also loves bwoccowi (broccoli) cawots (carrots) and gwapes (grapes). The saddest day was when he stopped calling busses buts. And he used to call firetrucks fartefarts.

J: I can't say too much info about little J because he is a foster child. He is absolutely adorable, though, and I love him just as much as all the others. Whenever I'm at their house when they're getting ready for bed, J always asks me to help him. I know he can do these things on his own, but he wants me to do them for him. Like tie his shoes, or help him get his pajamas on. I comply because I like spending time with the little guy.

Declan: Declan is the youngest at 1 year old. He is a fun little chunk of love. I don't see him that often (maybe once a month), so I have to earn his love every time I see him, but it doesn't take too long if I follow him around. He loves being chased. He has the cutest "little guy" laugh. And I love finding his ticklish spot by his collar bone. He can't move once I find it. I babysat him once at my parents' house, and he found a chair that is just his size. He knew I got it out for him, so he would pick it up, set it a different way and repeat about five times. Then, because it was his special chair, when I went into the kitchen, he followed me, carrying the chair with him.

Well, those are my nieces and nephews. I love them all so much! Sometimes I think that the reason I haven't had my own kids yet is because if I loved any kids more than I do my nieces and nephews I might spontaneously combust from so much love inside me. They're the best, and I can honestly say, "My nieces and nephews are cuter than yours are!" Ha ha! Unless, of course we share the same ones.