When the hell did I become such an involved aunt?

I volunteered (for some unknown reason) to babysit my nephew, Gunnar, for a few hours this morning. I don't know what possessed me to do this, since the child is like an ADD kid on crack who freebases 5 lbs. of sugar day, but I volunteered anyway. My sister-in-law dropped him off at 7:00 this morning and I braced myself for the worst.

But truth be told, he was fine. It was my own child (Grace) that made me want to harm myself or just start doing keg stands by 8 AM. But here they are, the partners in crime, at the park this morning. Don't let their cuteness fool you. There were all a pain in the ass at some point. LOL!

And although Grace is only 4 months older (and obviously a girl), she towers over him by about a foot, weighs (literally) 20 lbs. more than him, and is way more "boy" than he'll ever be. My nephew's a wuss. Who knew? LOL!

This afternoon and evening was pure hell. Grace & and Hannah were overtired and cranky as all hell. If I would've had to hear one more child throw a tantrum, tattle on another child, or fight, I swear to god, I might have loaded one of Steve's hunting rifles and put myself out of my misery.

But despite the day's, um, "challenges", I did manage to snap a few pictures that reminded me of why I love being a mom so much.

Here's Grace in her T-Ball uniform. Her first game is tomorrow morning and she's soooo excited.

And here's Hannah being cute. And it sucks. Because seriously... how can you yell at a kid that looks at you like this?

Oh, and did I mention that last night AND tonight, my other nephew, Tommie (same dad as Gunnar... different mom...), slept over at our house. I love the kid. He's 15 and an absolute doll, the girls adore him, and he's a great kid. But he doesn't shut up and had me up last night talking until almost 1:00 in the morning.

Hell, come to think of it, maybe the kids weren't that bad today and it was just my sleep-deprived self that made me feel like running far, far away...