it's bittersweet {my sweet jennifer}

My sister, my sweet Jennifer, she may not love this picture, but I do.

It's bittersweet as the tear streams down her face.

It's just before our goodbye, before she travels 8 hours away.

This may be close to many and when you think about it, it's not actually that bad. Some families live states away, countries away.

With the advancement of technology we are able to chat with each other on our computers and for that, I am truly grateful. 

It doesn't and will never replace the human touch, but when you can't be right there with someone, it sure is nice.

I am proud to call my sister my very best friend.

We've gotten in our fair share of arguments, some of them not very becoming, but at the end of the day, she's my only sibling and she means the world to me.

We won't see each other until the summer, our youngest babies just four days apart will be that much bigger.

In the meantime,

I have this...

and even though it makes me a little sad, it makes me a little happy at the same time as I am one lucky girl to call her mine.

back on my path

I've been on a blogging hiatus, my longest yet.  I've got a lot of posting that will be sure to happen in the next few weeks, okay days, possibly even more than one post in the same day...we'll see! I just haven't been feeling quite myself lately and with that, had a little bit of blogging burnout. My camera has been a little lonely lately, but has managed to visit every now and then-like the last ski weekend (for Erik), or in our case, building snow castles:

I started to feel a little more like me when I went to San Diego to welcome my new niece, Lily:

and of course to congratulate my beautiful sister, Jennifer and her husband, Jessy, on baby #3:

It was hard to say goodbye after meeting her and seeing her for just a few days! I am happy that we will get to visit and take a fun family trip to Southern California for the Summer.

Yes, blog burn out got to me alright, so much so, that I didn't even post on my dear sweet Anna's 2nd birthday! It's not a second kid thing either. I write in her baby book, take pictures, video, all that good stuff, but I've just been too exhausted. Thankfully, we just celebrated her birthday yesterday, so I'm making sure to capture her special day soon on my blog, just as I did for Kieran.

School is quickly coming to a close (thank goodness!) and I can only keep praying that it means that I will have my job back for the follwing school year. For now, the sun is shining, it finally feels like Spring, and slowly but surely, I'm back on my path.

me too!

I remember the days fondly, the days of "me too". "What's your favorite color, Jennifer?", someone would ask. She'd reply, "purple!". I'd reply, "me too!". If you look at old photos, there was my sister, decked out in purple from head to toe. Me too. Anything my sister did, I was right there. She put up with me, more than one can imagine, and yet we are each other's best friend. This is my relationship with my sister. I know no different. I wonder, what is it like for a brother and sister? I can only watch and learn from the two little people I call my son and my daughter.

I imagine that their bond is different for the obvious reason of opposite genders, but I do know it is a bond that splits at the seams. From the day that Anna was born, Kieran has loved his Anna. He showered her with kisses and love, and the jealousy that I feared was all but a fear and did not even exist. Fast forward to present day and I can tell you they have their moments, but what siblings don't? These two share something special and my prayer for them is that it will remain. Every morning, they greet one another with a hug, "good morning", and a kiss. If he runs, she runs. If he jumps, she jumps. Beyond being his shadow, Kieran welcomes his little sister. He'll invite her to play, and of course, she gladly accepts. It isn't time for bed, unless they have said good night to each other. I know that times will change. I know that because even my sister, my very best friend, was not at all pleased when I jumped out of the closet after listening to her entire phone conversation when she was in junior high. Yes, times will change, and then they'll change again. So, I gladly watch the days of "me too" with great affection as it reminds me of the memories that I've shared with my sister, and the memories that are yet to be shared between a new generation. 

"Anna, come here, come watch Transformers with me!", he yells. "Okay, Kieran, here I come, I'll come watch Transformers with you!" "Me too", I think. Me too.