Bye-bye, LA!

   I got hugs from Mom and Kelley, and a smile from Aaron, but Sean refused to come over and say good-bye to me. We were all in the driveway as I prepared to jump into Dave's car and head to the airport. It's just as well, if he had given me a hug or a "good-bye Aunt Jen" one of us probably would have ended up crying... And probably not the two-year-old one of us. Not sure when I'll see them all again, since I'll be in Portland with Kristin for Christmas, but I already can't wait till the next time. That kid is ridonkulously cute.

   I'm frankly amazed by my sister's strength in dealing with a challenging day-to-day situation, by seeing my mom perform as an incredible, caring grandma, and by little Aaron's evolution in just the 5 days I was there--not to mention the smart and funny things coming out of Sean's mouth. It made me very happy and proud of my family. Wish we could be together more often, but at least we can relish the moments we do have.

   Thank goodness for distractions like LA traffic, and stupid-long baggage check & security lines (nearly missed my flight). But more so for surprises like being greeted at the airport by... friends,  having my bags carried and a hot, homemade dinner waiting for me in the car, and a surprise movie: Almost Time. The movie, like the guys, was indescribably sweet... And it's funny how their actions tonight mirrored the moral of the film. (Even if while I was gone, not so much).

What a mostly-awesome few days.

   Also, my suitcase is purring. Must be glad to be home sweet home.

Happiest Kid on Earth

   Sean donned my sunglasses and we were off...

...to the Magic Kingdom!

So true...

   Kelley, Sean, and Grandma rode the teacups

   While I braved the wild yeti on the Matterhorn

We rode It's a Small World (holiday edition)

And Haunted Mansion (holiday edition)

And went on an undersea voyage in a submarine to find Nemo

And sang and danced with some pirates!

Can't wait until little nephew Aaron is big enough to join us...

No place like Gnome

   SO delighted the Halloween costumes were still hanging about... But good luck getting a two year old to wear a hat & beard.

Aaron was a much more into it...

Spoilage

   The tiny bag contains everything I need for the next 5 days in LA. The ginormo bag is FULL of presents. Two spoiled-rotten nephews, coming right up!!!

Nephews

Looks like Kristin is enjoying messing with my nephew Sean on her way through LA...

She said, "don't ask him to smile while he's eating." LOL

Lil Aaron (getting some help from a feeding tube) somehow manages to get even cuter by the day. As their proud auntie, I may be slightly biased, but they are the two most beautiful boys in the whole world! Jealous that Kristin is there now & I'm not! :)

Random Hallmark Moments: Cropdusted!

This afternoon Casey & I met with Aaron, who was sharing all his hard-won personalized-card expertise with us as he prepared to join the Humor team (it's like Freaky Friday for me & Aaron!). We were at the break table in the common area of Humor, chatting away when suddenly the guys got horrible looks on their faces and Casey said, "Oh my god—we've been cropdusted!" I had never heard that before and had no idea what he meant... until I smelled it! Apparently an unidentified male who had just walked past us had a little intestinal distress that came out as he passed us... and he fled the scene of the crime. As if that wasn't funny enough, Casey & I couldn't stop giggling. And by that I mean, like 5 solid minutes later we could still barely get a sentence out without breaking down. And every time I heard his voice wavering it made me laugh uncontrollably. The best part was when he said, "Jen, your reaction tells me everything I need to know about what it's going to be like working with you!" Yes, yes. We will get along famously. Consider the highbar of innapropriateness raised to the nth degree.