Pieces of my heart

Anyone that knows me, knows the loves of my life are my nieces Charlie and Natalie.  When I go home, I stay with my very generous sister, Brianna, and her husband, Ben.  They let me stay in their house, eat their food, and basically disrupt their lives for a few weeks.  I get to spend a lot of time with the girls playing, going to the children's museum, going to the park, riding bikes, swimming lessons, etc.  Except for the few weeks I get to spend with them every year, our relationship is Skype based.

Charlotte was born about 10 days after I moved to India so she was 10 months old when I first held her.  She is going to be FIVE this week and is starting KINDERGARTEN this fall!!  She is very articulate and we play rhyming games all the time and crack ourselves up.  She likes to do arts and crafts type of stuff and draw.  Normally, we ride bikes and go to the park a lot, but it was so hot this summer, we only went once.  We did walk a little over 2 miles one morning to have a picnic near a bridge the kids wanted to go.  We had strawberries, blueberries, and patriotic donuts.

the girls and my sister Brianna

breakfast picnic

Charlotte with the India shirt I got her

Charlotte being a butterfly

selfie with Charlotte, Dolly, and I 

Natalie turned 3 in June and we went to the zoo.  I took charlotte to the zoo on the day Natalie decided to be born a month early!  so it is nostalgic.  She asked for a strawberry cake with green icing - it looked like a watermelon!!

Nat LOVES turtles/tortoises

notice Nat's "It's my birthday shirt"

Charlotte with a blue tongued skink

They take a picture on this tiger every time they go to the zoo

birthday girl with her new bike!

A few weeks later, I took Natalie on her first train ride to Springfield.  We went to the children's museum and Cold Stone.  I took Charlotte on this same trip last year - trying to get them to love trains like I do!  It was fun to spend the day with Nat.  She was a "baby" the last time I was home  - she had just turned two. Now she sleeps in a big girl bed, is potty trained, can hold conversations etc.  We have a game we play where I hold my hands a few inches apart and ask "Is this how much I love you?" she says no and I move my hands farther and ask again and she will stretch her arms wide and say "You love me THIS much." She is starting pre-school this fall - such a big girl!

Waiting for the train in her conductor hat. 

train selfie

excited to be on the train!

digging for dinosaur bones

Ice Cream!

worn out and sleeping on the train!!

The great part about being home is just random moments with the girls.

Puppet show at the museum

Nat being a cheerleader!

Trying to make her eyes match the emoji pillow and she can't wink!

There share a bed while I'm there and I sleep in Charlotte's bed. They are snuggled up in the sheets I brought them from India. Charlotte's favorite color is pink and she has elephants on her sheet.  Nat's favorite color is purple so she got purple and teal Peacock sheets.

Thankfully I am going home this Christmas so I don't have to wait a whole year to see them again!