Being Auntie Katie

My baby cousin got married this weekend (she is becoming a mommy in just a few months!) and her nuptials required my family to take a road trip! ! An hour or so after the 5 hour journey to Wenatchee, WA my hotel phone started ringing. I really expected it to be my mom so when Aidan's little voice greeted me I was really surprised. I've talked to Aidan on the phone, but he's never just called me and had a real point to the conversation. If it were up to me my littles would get trophies for every new accomplishment. [Story within a Story: You really should have seen me the first time Aidan wrote his name out without help. We were at Red Robin and I was pointing out his awesome penmanship to the people who worked at the restaurant. If you are going to be an Aunt, be a proud Aunt.]  

Anyway, back to my phone call, Aidan invited Joel and I to a Nerf gun war! I excitedly told Joel the news (Joel has Nerf fights at his job on the daily and tells me he will think I don't love him if I don't buy him new Nerf gun on special holidays) but I told him the what and he asked me when this epic war was going to go down. So I went back to Aidan to clarify, I guess he must have told me before because he put his mouth to the phone receiver and yelled a very muffled "AFTER THE WEDDING!!". Alright, we wouldn't miss it. He told me he loved me and we hung up. 

We put on our angry faces and fired orange poofs balls at each other! 36 bullets later, we made a mess and even more noise! My whole family joined in and we were all in our fancy wedding get up, which made it even more funny!

We only stopped the battle because there was a reception and dance floor calling our name. 

Both these kids out danced me, which, if you know me, is very hard to do. It was near impossible to take them off the dance floor for this small photo-shoot and the bigger one with our extended family.

I think it's fair to say that I'm a lot of things to a lot of people. I am a daughter, sister, girlfriend, student, employee, coach, etc. but being an Aunt is the most incredible adventure. I don't mean to offend any person that is a part of my life, but I can't think of any 2 people that have changed me so dramatically in the last 5 years. Spending time with my niece and nephew is like a breath of fresh air. They make me full on belly laugh every time I see them and they force me to slow down sometimes and make time for storybooks. They take me outside of my comfort zone and snuggle me senseless. 

I am not here to judge anyone and the parenting choices they make, but I feel like a lot of people go in to parenting without any experience. It's true that kids don't come with an instruction manual and there really is a million ways to do it and you can argue that all of them are "the right way", but I have legitimately spent time with children. I don't mean babysitting, though I think that is a great start. I mean diaper changing, waking up at 3 am to a bed wetter who is sobbing, bad dreams, sleep fighting, screen time struggling, healthy food option catering, rainy day boredom, long road trip complaining, child time. I've been peed on, puked on, poo'ed on, drooled on and bit, punched, kicked and heard the infamous "I hate you!!" and I still want children. Aidan and Madilyn are the best preparation I could have asked for. They have taught me so much, most notably my supreme respect for good parents. They have trained me to appreciate time and how quickly we all grow and grow up. I've learned not to blink. I don't want to miss anything.

These kiddos running towards me, arms wide open for a hug is one of the biggest perks of being me.

Love like the kids do - that one girl

My auntie song.