Nov. 21st - "I'm Thankful for: "

    The honor, privilege and fun I have in being an Aunt.
    Personally, I think I was a 'great' aunt from the get go. It didn't take my nephews having children of their own for me to earn that title. o;-p
    Just like how I had always wanted to be a mom, and to become a grandma, I had also highly looked forward to being an aunt.
    As you know, I have always LOVED to read books!!! And out of them I got the goals for what type of mom, grandma, and aunt I was determined to be. The books themselves weren't actual 'goal setting' books. They were mainly just fictional character story books. But fictional or not, I immersed myself into the stories between their front and back covers. And I grew a great admiration for certain types of people there-in.
    In the postings about being a mom and a grandma, I talked some about the personality and character traits I had as goals to be, for those particular positions. Some of those goals also apply to what type of an aunt I hoped to be. Things like, always making food they liked. The kind they always had fun doing things with (and thus now, as adults, they have wonderful warm memories of). The kind that the nieces and nephews knew beyond any shadow of a doubt, that this aunt loved them!  The kind who's nieces and nephews WANTED her to be an active part of their lives. The full of laughter, and hugs, warm hearted, wonderful memory making, "oh good that aunt is here", type. To be honest, I wanted to be the type of an aunt that every kid wished was their own aunt."

     My hearts desire to be an aunt did get fulfilled. :-D I've mentioned before that my siblings and I gave our parents ten (10) grandchildren in eight (8) years time. When you deduct that four of them were from Brian and I, that means that my siblings gave me six young ones to be an aunt to. Four of them are nephews. Two of them are nieces. So far, three of the nephews have married and thus provided me with three more nieces. I know - according to some people, they are JUST my 'niece-in-laws'. They (those people) are welcome to think of them in that context if they want to. But to me - they are now my nieces. PERIOD!!! :->. And so far, my nephews and nieces on that side of the family have blessed me with four young ones that I legally qualify as 'great' aunt to. Three of them as nephews, one as an aunt to. Nice!!!
    Brian only has one sibling, and his wife and him blessed us with one nephew and one niece. That rose our total to eight (8) nephews and nieces. :-)  Currently, both of them are engaged, which means that within the next year and a half, that number will rise even higher. :-)

     Did I accomplish my goals as to what type of an aunt I wanted to be / have been? You would need to question those whom call me aunt, to get an accurate answer. But I will state that I must not have failed horribly. Because of their own accord, they will come up TO ME when they see me someplace besides just at family gatherings, and of their own accord, give me hugs. Oh the wonders that does my heart!!!!! :->
    And I know that I at least, have oh so wonderful memories of doing things with and for them.
    With them: making a T-pee in the woods out of already fallen sticks and leaves one time while we were all camping together. Having all of the ones from my side of the family, plus my own children, inside our solid side pop up camper during the pouring rain, while their parents and grand parents closed up their own campers to head home (we were staying an extra day). Taking all of them to our church's pond during the summer, so they could go swimming for a few hours. They'd swim for about a half hour, then I'd supervise some activity, then they just swim again, then another activity, then they'd swim, they we'd have a snack, and on it would go, till either our time was up, or they were all looking like raisins ;-p. The activities? Who could make the biggest splash jumping off of the dock. The smallest or no splash. The silliest styled jump or dive. Attempting to walk around the perimeter of the pond without ever touching water (which meant hanging onto the fence while walking on a cement wall in one section), Etc..
     And then there are the absolutely wonderful memories from the numerous New Year's Eve overnighters we hosted. The very first one had just sort of happened. This sibling and then that sibling asked if I would be willing to watch their kids overnight, while they went to such and such events. They knew I didn't have plans, due to Brian catering other peoples parties. I had said yes, and then ended up calling the third sibling and offering to watch their children as well. I was so glad that I had! What fun we had! Some of the things we did became "traditions". Such as getting all bundled up and going out of doors late at night and lighting sparklers. And me reading stories to them. And giggling. And eating. The following year we had moved to this house, and we added the tradition of going to our sons school after breakfast and going sliding. One of my favorite pictures of my husband is of him sitting all bundled up on the schools swing set, during one of those times. ;-)
     I also have warm memories of when Brent and Hannah were young, and Hannah would spend the night. And the time Isaiah went camping with us. And hiding the Easter eggs in grandpa and grandma's basement and watching them search for them. And the one Thanksgiving when they were all much younger, painting their hands and then printing them as turkey feathers on a poster for grandma and grandpa. So many warm memories.
    And times of the nephew from the other side coming and spending a weekend or even a week at our home. How I miss those visits. Or the times of watching them swim together in that grandpa and grandma's pool. Or watching their antics (during dinner, while opening Christmas gifts, etc.) while they were attempting to hide them from that grandma so as to not get in trouble. Such silliness! Such fun! And those two too joined one of our New Years Eve overnighters. "Happy New Years Uncle Brian" continues to this day. ;-p

   Things I did FOR them: Making sure that every year all of the nephews at least got something Lego for Christmas. (trust me - they appreciated that!).  The year we made doll bunk-beds, complete with mattresses, sheets and pillows, for two of the nieces. Or the "dress-up kits" we assembled over time for all three of the nieces. What fun they had with them! I even had other girls wanting one of their own. Recipe files when they got married. "Life" files for their children.

    Yes, I am very very thankful that I have had the honor, privilege and fun of being an Aunt!

The 2010 "I'm Thankful for: " Challenge   - if you don't know what this is, follow the lead on our side bar.