First Post!

Hi all! I am going to try this blog thing and see what all the fuss is about.

First off, my adorable, perfect, brilliant niece, Astrid, turned 1 on January 4! She is the daughter of my brother, Eddy, and sister, Christine. This is a picture of her in Encinitas, CA when she was 8 months old. She loves her Auntie Christine! Her Mommy and Daddy let me babysit one morning on the Sunday after Thanksgiving, and I think they were both expecting disaster, crying baby and crying auntie! However, she was awesome and we had a great time. I think my brother and sister (in-law, but that is just the technical title. I feel she and my other sister-in-law, Ann, are the sisters I never had but am beyond blessed to have now) were a little sad when they got home and she was smiling and playing and not as excited to see them as they figured she would be. Ha, ha, little brother, I have turned out not to be as incompetent as you were expecting!! Next time I visit, I expect to be allowed to babysit for longer...maybe we could try for 4 1/2 hours next time :)!

The HUGE news in the family is that my other brother and sister (in-law, but that's not how I think of her), Bobby and Ann are expecting twins April 20! A boy and a girl, lucky us! I am so excited because I grew up with my brothers being only a year and 12 days younger then me, and they are twins, so I can't wait for our new set of twins! I will not be posting the twins' names until their Mommy and Daddy make it official, but they are maybe the most eagerly awaited babies of all time, so we all can't wait to meet them! Hi, little babies, your Auntie Christine already loves you and can't wait to smother you with kisses!

James and I have our nine year wedding anniversary coming up on May 7, and we can't wait!!! We have a romantic weekend planned at the Bed & Breakfast we went to last year and are looking forward to having just as wonderful a visit this year as we had last. Can you believe it has been nine years already?? We can't. I don't know how many of you know this, but May 7 is the day my Grandma and Grandpa Harker met, so it is a very special date to me for more than one reason.