And You Must Be 'The Aunt'

I have a thing for children-- That is to say, I don't always like them- They freak me out on a continual basis. However, since my brother has had children my aloofness has waned. I still don't pay a whole lot of attention to Maggie-- she's 2 months... But when a watched her this past Sunday, I whispered in her ear and said, "Just give me 1 year, Maggie. When you can start talking, walking and weigh more than a sack of flour, we're gonna have an awesome time."

I received a phone call from my eldest niece on Friday-- A large feat since she just started to know how to use a phone. She asked her mom if she could call me, got the phone, and asked what my phone number was. When I answered the phone, I heard this little sheepish voice on the other line saying:

"Aunt Erin?"
"Hey Mir, What's up- Did your mommy and daddy put you up to calling me?"
"No! I want to ask you something."
"What is it, sweetie?"
"Will you make me a scarf like you did for mommy?"
(Instant heart-melt!!!) "Sure, do you want to go to JoAnn Fabrics tomorrow and pick out the yarn?"
"Really?! You'll make me a scarf and I can pick out the yarn?"
"Absolutely."
"Oh Aunt Erin, I just can't wait to see you!"

So the next day, Mir and I get ready to go on our trip. Sammy, my middle niece comes out sulking. Lower lip out and all, saying "I want to go and get a STARF, too." (we're working on our "c" and "k" sounds.) Mir and I agree Sammy should be part of this adventure, but I now have panic in my eyes... I'm thinking 2 kids, 3 errands to run, and my brother's mini-van. Totally out of my comfort zone! For all of you people who have children, I know you're saying, "uh welcome to my world..." But as a single girl... this is huge.

We embark on our trip. I have explained to the girls we have 3 places to go; Joann Fabrics, the bank, and the gift shop.. (AKA, the yarn store, the money store, and the candy store.-- gotta love how children simplify things. ) At "the Yarn Store" we discovered so many choices- they were overwhelmed, but we managed to pick out 2 very nice yarns for their scarves. At the Money Store, we had a discussion of whether or not the ground outside was mud or dirt. This was quite a passionate debate and upon further inspection, it was decided some parts were mud and some were dirt.

The Candy Store- The holy grail for little girls who love chocolate. I had told the admins at work I would pick them up some of the best chocolate they'd ever had. So of course that means I had to go someplace that sold Ben Heggy's Candy! The girls walked in and literally stopped in their tracks. I reminded them since they were so good, I would buy them each 2 pieces of candy.

When I left the store, each child came out with 4 pieces of candy and both had large helium smiley faced foil balloons w/ matching ribbons and little weights at the bottom. I COULDN'T HELP MYSELF!!! They were so awe-struck at all the choices and then the different balloons... It was just too much. And the thing of it is... they didn't even ASK for anything- I just wanted to get them everything because they just looked soo precious!

When I stood at the cash register purchasing my assortment of candy and balloons, the sales rep handed me the balloon strings and said, "You must be an Aunt... there is no way a mother would give in so easily..."

Yeah, you might as well just have "sucker" written on my forehead.