Crooked Brooke: Fifth Day of Christmas

On the fifth day of Christmas I'm truly grateful for:

Five nieces and nephews.

From top: Nixon, Miles and Lorenzo

From left: Lily and Violet

My favorite thing about my life is being an aunt. I remember people talking about how much they loved their nieces and nephews and thinking that it would be cool, but since they're not your own kids, it's really not that cool...

Cool train ride.

Cool lipstick done herself

Cool ride waiting for a real ride at Disneyland

Cool kisses.

Cool hat

Cool self-made stuffed animals

Cool bib

Cool faries

I was completely wrong.

I'll spend hours thinking about them. Just thinking about them. If I wasn't worried about coming off as annoying and self-centered (... ok, moreso than I already do), I'd be constantly talking about how awesome my little kiddies are. They're so awesome. They're so awesome. They're so awesome. They really are the sweetest, funniest, funnest, beautiful-est kids in the world.

Nixon is hilarious.

Playing pirates

He's way too smart to only be four.

Playing pirates... again

And he says things how they are. Tonight he wanted to play this game that we made up called "Doctor" where he basically tells me a part of his body that is broken and I tickle it to make it better. I got distracted by the many other things going on in the room and a couple minutes later he called my name again and when I went over he said, "Brooke, when I ask my mom for more ice cream and she says no, then we can play doctor. OK?" Haha. So a couple minutes later when his mom said he couldn't have more ice cream, we played doctor.

Thumbs up. I love this picture.

Nixon was a baby throughout my second year at BYU.

My Boo-boos

During the winter I would bug Derek and Lindsey to be able to come over there and play with my "Boo-boos" as I liked to call him. He was THE ray of sunshine that got me through those drowning, dreary, days of the winter.

Gorgeous little boy

I would just hold him and sing to him and soak up all the happiness I could. That's when I discovered how truly magical it was to be an aunt.

Then came Lily.

Lily-Pad

The princess of all princesses.

Paige's wedding

Lily is the happiest little girl with the bubbliest personality and expressions. She opens her eyes and turns her head and talks every sentence like a Welch's commercial child.

Owl?

She's the perfect mix of temperament, gorgeousness and animation. I'm not sure she knows how old she is. She thinks she's an adult.

Wearing my glasses

But not in a bratty way, just in a way where she can interact with people without having to act like a baby. She's the perfect little Nelson kid who adores anything and everything Disney and could quote any movie backwards. A couple months ago as we were watching Peter Pan (she was in full Tinkerbell attire, including wings), "You Can Fly" came on. She stood up and put her arms in the air like an airplane and shouted sincerely and excitedly, "I can fly! I can fly!" and proceeded to fly around the room for the remainder of the song.

Tinkerbell

She's an angel.

Miles, oh Miles.

Pirate Miles

I just always want to be squeezing Miles.

Frustrated and crying... and adorable

Whenever I think of him I instantly get a visual of his posture as he walks. He waddles side to side instead of walking upright.

His Godfather shot

In Florida

I'm not sure if it's because of that or not, but his head is always tilted and he gets bashful really easily so he'll smile and look down with those big brown eyes and giggle in that low giggle of his. He's the sweetest, loviest baby. He's obsessed with dogs and will spend twenty minutes patiently trying to get Dahlia to calm down long enough for him to rest his head on her and hug her. He's just full of love and not afraid to show his affection. He's also a big boy. If you ever have food in your hands and he's anywhere in his sights, he'll stop what he's doing and come up to you and wait for you to give him some of whatever you have. When Derek and Lindsey asked him what he was most grateful for this last Thanksgiving he thought for a second, smiled and then said, "Food."

Happy with ice cream

Happy with an Oreo

Happy with cake

Violet, the smiley baby.

All Violet does is smile.

With Papa

Being bashful

Sometimes, if she's really excited, she'll squeal and kick her chubby legs, but her life revolves around being happy and making others happy when they're around her. She's the perfect proportions and body type for hugging and holding.

Being a model

Happy fairy

She's gorgeous. And she doesn't ever get angry or fussy.

At the hospital, still happy

I love her name. She fits it perfectly. She's happy like a flower and beautiful like a rich purple.

With her daddy

Lorenzo, the newborn.

Enzo

Enzo is a sweetheart. His eyes are always WIDE open and he's very alert, watching things around him like he doesn't want to miss a thing.

Wide-eyed with some lady I don't know

He'll just sit there as his older brothers smother him with kisses and hugs. He's already the apple of Nixon's eye who is constantly saying, "Isn't my little brother so cute?"