"the aunts"

My grandparents had 4 daughters: Sharon, Brenda, Pam, and Judy. I seriously don't know how they managed 4 girls! If you think of all the girl drama there is (good and bad), they had it times 4!

My grandparents were awesome. They were exactly what you would want your grandparents to be like, and our whole family is really close, so we all spent a lot of time together. And I think part of that is due to the fact that they had 4 girls. Usually, girls are just better about keeping in touch with the rest of the family.

-Sharon and John have 3 kids: Susan, Tim, and Michael
My cousin Susan has found the most wonderful guy, and so we're all hoping that they are about to get engaged so they can get married!!

-Brenda and Gary have 2 kids: Kevin and Matt
My aunt Brenda died of breast cancer when Matt was a toddler. Her doctor apparently was ignorant on a lot of things, and her cancer progressed rapidly and went untreated until it was too late. I never knew her, but I did have this dream once...

-Pam and Virdie (my parents) have 3 kids: Amanda, Josh, and Amy
My parents didn't think they could have children. My mom had MS during her mid-twenties and thought that might be playing a part in it (which she was healed of by the way- there is no cure and she no longer has it). They weren't sure what the reason was for not being able to get pregnant so they adopted me, and turns out she was a month pregnant with my brother. So we're only 8 months apart. Then they had Amy 6 years later. God is funny like that :)

-Judy and Keith have 5 kids: Brenna, Hunter, Tanner, Travis, and Cooper
They became foster parents and got Travis when he was about 7 months old. He came to them after being beaten up by his mother's boyfriend. He had spiral fractures in his arms along with several other things. It was disgusting, but he is fantastic. His mother got pregnant later by a different guy but she tested positive for meth during the birth, so they called my aunt and told her that Travis has a half brother that was just born and asked if she wanted him. So, they got Cooper the day he was born. They have both been adopted by my aunt and uncle.

So, the "aunts" or the "sisters" as we cousins call them are really close and can sometimes be very much alike when they are all cackling (laughing) and sometimes really different. But they are all very opinionated, very strong, and very much into the lives of their children- qualities that at times we love to hate :)

The boys in this family obviously outnumber the girls, but every time a new boy comes into the family, they quickly learn (in a good way) that the "aunts" definitely have a say.

Well the aunts came down this week, along with my cousin Susan, because Judy had a conference in Ft. Worth. It was so fun to see them, and of course they just basically wanted to be with Eli all the time! Pretty much every phone conversation ended with "make sure you bring the baby!" :) Here are some pics from their stay: