Aunt Lauren and Uncle Josh

In honor of my sister and her husband, Josh, who are about to be parents in a few weeks, I dedicate this post to the incredible auntie and uncle they have been to my kids.

Lauren came over after school yesterday and stayed through dinner. Both of our husbands were working and we had a great time together. She has less than 4 weeks to go in her pregnancy and she is starting to feel it. We have all been there. It's pretty miserable!


Last night at dinner, the boys were discussing with each other the relationships in our family. Matthew told Thomas, "Aunt Lauren is Mommy's sister. That makes her our half mother!"


This might sound absurd in other relationships, but it is fairly true in ours! Lauren became an aunt to Matthew when she was 19 years old. Although it took a tiny bit of time for her to get used to the fact that she wasn't the baby anymore ;) she has been an incredible aunt for 6 1/2 years!

Lauren loves to be at my house and adores my kids like they were her own (after all, she is their half mother!). She laughs at their antics and she helps me out in a pinch. Lauren is always there. Thomas looks more like Lauren than me! My kids' childhood memories will be full of times with Aunt Lauren.

Josh became an uncle to my kids when Matthew was 2 1/2 and Thomas was 6 months old. I met Josh when Matthew was 18 months old. He was a seasoned veteran of unclehood with his sister and brother's kids and I feel like he now loves my kids like his own nieces and nephews.

Uncle Josh teaches my kids strange and hilarious things! For instance, Josh is a huge Georgia fan. He taught Matthew the Georgia fight song, and I believe Matthew sang it upwards of 1,000 times all during football season and beyond. I would get Matthew's school work home and written all over it would be,

Glory, glory to old Georgia!
Glory, glory to old Georgia!
Glory, glory to old Georgia!
And ppppppppppppp to Auburn!

Two weeks ago after church, Josh and Lauren took my grandmother home from church. They asked Matthew if he would like to come along for the ride. Josh got in his car, opened his mouth, and a bug flew in his mouth! He said something along the line of, "Oh, well! Bugs are protein!"
Matthew is really in to eating healthy. He will say things like, "God make apple trees, he didn't make Twizzler trees!" The whole "bugs for protein" thing really stuck with him. All throughout the next week, Matthew would catch june bugs and tell Thomas that he really needed to eat one because they were full of protein!

On the way up to Dallas the other day, Matthew was asking me questions about the Civil Rights Movement. We saw a sign for MLK boulevard which sparked the conversation.

Matthew said, "Do you know that when a black man marries a white woman, their kids are, you know, sort of brownish/whitish?" I thought that was interesting!

"Matthew, where did you hear about that?" I asked.

"Uncle Josh told me!"

Who else!? I found out later that Matthew was asking lots of questions about people's races to Josh. I guess he saves interesting questions for him!

Thank you, Lauren and Josh for being incredible to my kids. They adore you! I can't wait to return the favor with Baby James!