Bernadette

My sister has been visiting this week, and last week we were away on vacation, so sorry for the blog absence! I'll try to post some photos of our time away at some point, but for now we are all missing Bernadette here, and so I'll share a bit of our visit with you. Bernadette IS the funniest person I have ever met on Gods good Earth. She is so quick-witted it is difficult to keep up with her. We don't see a whole lot of each other due to distance, so it was particularly nice to spend time together. When my Mom was visiting a few weeks back, each time my girls came into the room she would remark "They look so like Bernadette!"

Long have family members remarked that Bernadette and I are eerily similar to one another in many ways. It did strike me after spending a week together how clearly genetics play a part in who we are. For instance, if you know me, you might know I am a big fan of my steam mop. I saw it once and decided this was the only way to ever clean anything again. I would probably rescue it during a fire. Monday morning after breakfast I started mopping the kitchen to have Bern ask "Whats that thing?" to which I replied proudly "My steam mop- ever seen one?" Without a moments hesitation she left to go to her car, only to return with an INDUSTRIAL STRENGTH STEAMER! Wahoo! we were both in heaven for a few hours and the bathroom is still sparkling.

 A million little things start to add up after a while and I can see being a sister is special for so many reasons. For me it was like seeing pieces of my heart outside of myself. Matthew whispered to me one evening "Mom, you know all the good stories you told me about your Dad?" to which I answered Um hmmm? "I think Aunt Bernadette's got all those good things in her too!" "Yup, she does", was all I could say though tear filled eyes.

Lo-lo learning to swim

Aside from swimming each day ( and watching Bernadette fake my girls out till they couldn't laugh any harder by trying to put on toddler size floaties) we also managed a pedicure, a few trips for ice cream, a trip to Gettysburg,home made pizza making ( where she threw the pizzas- so badly- that my older boys literally cried laughing) and we watched The Lord of the Rings extended version accompanied by Taco Bell at 11 pm.

pizzas (pre-tossing)

Two of Bernadette daughters Hope and Kendall had a BBQ with us last night and my kids were in cousin heaven with all the attention they received.The house feels much emptier when she is gone. My kids have asked if she'll come back again soon- I hope so.

cousins tea party!

Hope and Kendall were so sweet to the girls