I'm Blessed

The Saint and I don't have children of our own but, we have been blessed with three terrific nephews and two wonderful nieces. They are the light of our lives. I love spending time with them and get the biggest kick out of things they say and do. I saw some of them over the weekend and here are some of the highlights:

My 4 year old nephew AW and I have this running joke about his feet. As an infant, he had the fattest, cutest, baby brick feet ever and I was forever kissing and tickling them. Now that he's older, this has evolved into an exchange that can go one of three ways:

1. I'm supposed to make a big deal out of smelling his feet, pretend they stink, and then stagger around or faint from the fumes. He thinks this is incredibly funny!
2. I pretend his feet are the filthiest feet ever, do not allow him to touch me with them and if he does, I have to shriek in my most horrifed, girlie manner. He loves this!
3. I ask if I can borrow one of his feet, or even just a toe, so I won't miss him so much. I promise to give it back. He gets very serious when I take this tact and patiently explains to me, as if I am mentally defficient, that he needs his feet and toes to walk.

We played out version three this weekend when I asked him if he would leave his foot in my purse so I could take it with me. This time he said "Take my whole body with you to your house so we can have a sleepover." He got me. Ping, right in the heart.

Our two year old niece RM is quite the diva. When I saw her on Saturday, she was wearing a rather dramatic looking tiara. I asked what she had on her head and she told me "It' s my Wommer Woman crown." She's big into that old 70s tv show with Lynda Carter. My sister-in-law loved it as a kid, has it on DVD and I guess they've been watching it. On Sunday when we were out for dinner, RM kept putting her napkin on her head, bubushka-style. The Saint asked if she was Wonder Woman and she replied "No, I'm Cinderella."

My 14 year old nephew NF sounded wise beyond his years when he was telling me how his mom has been dealing with her recent MS diagnosis. He also said that for the most part she's been strong but sometimes he hears his parents in their bedroom talking about it and he said "My mom just breaks down." Again, right in the heart.

I'm picking NF up on Friday so he can stay for the weekend. We'll go out to dinner and then meet up with The Saint later after he's made an appearance at a party that he accepted an invitation to because he forgot NF was coming. Don't even get me started on that!

MLB All-Star game tonight in Detroit. The home run derby last night was pretty cool with Abreu hitting 24 homers in the first round, a new record.