FFEL GOOD FRIDAY!!!

Hosted by: Laura,  the girl next door grows up

Welcome to Feel Good Friday! 

Laura had found that a lot of her bloggy friends reading posts about being positive, so she thought she might try her very own meme.  She just want everyone to feel good and have some happy thoughts as you begin the weekend.  

I thought it sounded like fun and 

wanted to try it this is only my second

Feel Good Friday!

It is never too late to join!!!

I have posted the prompts here and the steps to follow to give you some idea of what this meme is about:

Step 1: 

Pick one of these prompts and write about it on your blog!  You can: 

• Just make a list. List 5 things that made you really happy this week. No matter how bad or boring you think your week was, I bet you can find 5 things.   
• Write about something that happened to you this week that really made you smile.  Was it your child, husband, or maybe a complete stranger did to you?

• Write about something that YOU did for someone else that really made them happy or laugh.

• Is there something you treasure so much that every single time you look at it, it brings you happiness?  Post a pic and tell everyone about it.

• Having a hard week and can’t find one good thing about it?  Well then, what is your happy place?  What do you think of that makes you happy? A past vacation?  A childhood memory?  We want to know!

Step 2:

Come back to Laura's blog, the little girl next door grows up on Friday and link up with Mister Linky’s Magical Widgets.  Then go and read at least one other blog and leave them a comment to make their day brighter.

Step 3:

Have fun.  Feel good.  Smile. 

Then, start looking for all of the good things you can write about for next week!  Once you start looking for the “good”  you will find it everywhere.

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 WHAT MADE ME SMILE THIS WEEK!!

Last week Friday at 11:23 a.m. I became a Great Aunt for the 4th time.  Brooklynn Marie weighed 7 lbs. 3 oz. and was 18 1/2 inches long.  She is so tiny and so beautiful.  

This made me start thinking about the responsibilities of being a Great Aunt  (an aunt of one's father or mother) vs. being a GREAT AUNT (someone who is fun to be around, give great gifts, etc.).  Which brought to mind this story.

Many years ago, it was even before my husband, Jeff, and I were married, we volunteered to babysit two of our nephews, they were probably about 3 & 5.  After some time we decided to take the boys with us on our errands, specifically to the ShopKo store about 15 miles away.  We got them all belted into the car and we were on our way, they were very well behaved in the car, playing with some small toys.

I must take a minute here to explain this ShopKo store was attached to a mini strip mall by a wide hallway with benches, a big planter in the middle, and outside was a child's ride.  We told the boys if they were good they could ride on the ride after we finished shopping.

When we got in the store all hell broke loose, they wouldn't stay in the carts, the were running up and down the aisles, hiding in the clothes racks.  Note:  We were not parents, NO EXPERIENCE!!  I am amazed we ever had children.  

Back to the story, it took both of us threatening no ride, on what I  now remember was a coin operated horse, and physically carrying them to the checkout.  We made the mistake of putting them down to pay for our purchases and they were off again running in the hallway between the strip mall and the main store, climbing on the planter and jumping off it. 

A woman on one of the benches called the boys over and said they should behave better for their parents.  The oldest, father of the beautiful little girl mentioned at the beginning of this story, shouted loud enough for the whole world to hear, "THEY ARE NOT OUR PARENTS!!!!"  I quickly explained to the woman we were their aunt and uncle, when the younger one yelled, "NO SHE'S NOT!!! (Like I said, Jeff and I weren't married yet.)  

We quickly rounded up the boys and headed to the car.  Today we probably would have been arrested, as it was people watched us all the way to the car and more than a few wrote down our license plate in case the news later reported two kidnapped little boys.  They slept all the way home and we drove around until it was time to return them to their parents.

We laugh about this story today, but reminds me of something my mother said often to my sister and I.  "I hope when you grow up and have children they are________________ as you are."  Fill in the blank with "awful, terrible, obstinate, unruly" you get the idea.  We call it "The Mother's Curse", you may have heard of it.  My sister and I have proof that it works, at least on girls, her daughter and my daughters all look like their father's side of the family, but on the inside they are us.  Stubborn, Opinionated, Quick Tempered, High Maintenance, my sister and I luckily found perfect men to love us. I can only wish the same for them, and we have done our best not to pass on the curse.

But it did cross my mind that now the both nephews are married and have a child, to wonder if there was an "Aunt's Curse". HMMM.  OK,  I have decided to leave the  "CURSES" to their mother, or the mothers of their wives.  I would rather be the GREAT AUNT to all my nieces and nephews and their children.  A fun Aunt that gives the loud toys that drive the parents nuts!!! and hopefully as they grow older an Aunt that is fun to be around, as much as I can.  

I just hope they don't grow up too fast, right now they are such fun to be around and see how the grow everyday.  Ryan is already in school and very independent, Lillian is just 6 months old and oh so cute, Brennan is toddling around and getting into mischief and so much fun, and Brooklynn is still brand new, with that new baby smell, and she is the one that lives closest so hopefully I will get to see her a lot. Thanks to the wonder of Facebook, I get to see the others in pictures and hear about their antics everyday.  I love them all and am honored to be their Great Aunt.

Note to bloggers:  I clicked too soon on Laura's site, the GYGAB contest is over but please enter the June Giveaway in the left sidebar.