Aunt A-ka.

I have no idea what it is about my name that makes it soooooo hard to pronouce for a little kid, but whatever the reason....it is. I have been called Eh-nika and Eka. My cousin, Sarah, couldn't say Ericka and called me Urlicka forever. My Aunt Jean will still call me that when she calls me on the phone. My sister couldn't say Ericka when we were little so she just called me Ketchup. (Of course, that could've had something to do with the fact that I ate ketchup on practically everything.) And Danicka is just carrying on the legacy.

"Aunt A-ka".

A couple weekends ago (I know!! I've been so busy I couldn't even find time to post these until today!!)....Anyhoo....a couple of weekends ago, I kept Dani so my sister could go out to celebrate her birthday with some friends.

I love this kid.

The only time she didn't have us in stitches was when she was sleeping. We laughed so hard at her, the things she said, and the things she did. I kept my camera handy for most of the day just to catch her in action. Don't worry, I'll save you the bare toosh pictures.




See what I mean?! This girl is a comedian in her own little world. I wish I would have taken a picture of the aftermath of the Spaghetti O's. Oh my gosh. Bryce is our messiest eater in this house, and Dani put him to shame.

This picture makes me smile so hard....from the inside out.

The cool thing about being an aunt is spoiling the kids. You know, letting them do the fun things at your house that they'd get in trouble for at home -- jumping on the beds, eating Spaghetti O's with no silverware, eating candy before dinner -- the really cool things that make "Aunt A-ka" really cool. (I'm always up for some extra cool points.)

I took this set of pictures in about ten minutes. As in, ten minutes total. Once she crashed, she crashed hard.

Once the plans were made for Dani to come to my house, I immediately started scheming ideas for a photo shoot. The last time I did a mini-session of her (remember these?!) she ended up winning a Cute Kid contest. I think she'd win again......I'm just sayin'.

These were actually taken in my kitchen in front of a half wall next to my patio door. It was late afternoon and I was losing the available light pretty fast...so I had to work quickly. And with a 2-year-old, it was probably a pretty good idea. I fired off about 20 frames and ended up with some pretty amazing shots in the little time that I had. This one was, hands down, my absolute favorite!!
Now, if I could just get my nephew for a couple hours........

14 Days of Thankful -- Day Three

One word.

Leftovers.

Last nights steak and potatoes became steak, mushroom, and onion omlettes today.

And why is it that I cannot cook a meal without making a huge mess?? I swear that most times it looks worse than if a tornado would have actually ran through my kitchen.

14 Days of Thankful -- Day Two

Today was pretty easy to find something to be thankful for. Well, most days are easy for me to do that. EVERYDAY I'm thankful for my family and our health. EVERYDAY I'm reminded of how lucky and blessed we are to have each other.

But today? Today I was thankful for our calendar on the refrigerator.

Yep. As minor as it might be to you or Joe Schmoe down the street, for me it pretty much runs this household.

Since Chris and I are both divorced, we have to keep track of which days the kids are with us and which days their with the other parents. That schedule alone is a task that Grandma Barker can't even get straight.

Yeah, this system is a hot mess, I'm sure of it. The days the girls are with us are marked with a thick, pink line and the days the boys are with us are marked with a thick, blue line. Any activites for the girls get written in purple and any activities for the boys get written in green. (Well, except for this month...a little elf took my purple pen and didn't return it.) Birthday's are written in black and any other miscellaneous information gets written with a pencil -- unless it's a definite commitment, then it gets written with a blue ballpoint pen.

Believe it or not, this month is a slow month. Our calendar normally looks like we're in the Witness Protection Program.

At least I look organized. Sort of.