East Coast Nephews

I was able to spend almost a full week visiting my brother, sister in-law and nephews 1 and 2.  It was so wonderful to just be a part of their daily life and enjoy some much needed time off work.  It had been entirely too long since I had seen them and the boys had lots of fun showing me all their new tricks learned since our last visit.  The biggest news was #1's 5th birthday!!  His parent's were kind enough to postpone the friend party a week so I could go.  We went to an inflatable bouncy thing place, the kids were in heaven, and the adults also enjoyed a good bounce or 2.

We played at the park and I was terrified by #2's fearlessness, anything his big brother could do, he would attempt as well.

We were lucky to have great weather so we could play outside a lot.  But there was some inside play as well

I just love this photo, there are 2 photos of my brother and me at about the same age on our Mom and Dad's respective laps.  He is such a great dad, it has been fun to watch him take on that role.
Here is some more cuteness from our week

No I don't travel with my own stethoscope, that would be my sister's, there was much commiseration as she is finishing her last (!) semester of nursing school.  I stand by my opinion that no one can really understand the stress of nursing school unless they have endured it.  And I would like to provide a disclaimer that the over representation of #2 in these photos in no way relates to my love, #1 is just very hard to catch in a photo due to his constant movement.
On my last day one of #1's birthday presents arrived in the mail

 Such fun!  As a parting gift I made them a batch of my grandmother's Finnish coffee bread.  To my brother and me this stuff IS our childhood and our heritage (and maybe the culprit of the 3lbs I gained while on vacation), it's pretty special stuff and I was happy to share it with the next generation

It was so wonderful to get to know the boys again and appreciate their differences.  #1 is getting more and more independent and is so much fun to play with, I marvel at the way his little brain works.  #2 is now talking very clearly and cutely, I just loved hearing his voice, and often would smile at his pronunciation of "help" (I need heyup!) and he loves to snuggle. But, most importantly, when they call me "Tantie", it is music to my ears, and a role I take very seriously. Probably because I had such a special Tantie.