Sisters, Dressing Up, and Family

My older sister Jenafer

While we were at my mother's house this week*, my sister Jenafer found the trunk of dress-up clothes and dragged it out. Jenafer's three girls (ages 11, 6, and 4) and my three older kids had a marvelous time playing dress-up. (Oddly enough, Jen's two boys, almost 13 and 8, weren't interested in joining in the fun. I wonder why?)

Em, dressed as a "beautiful Indian ballerina princess"

Zee was boy enough to only try on the "boy" clothes (some kings' robes)...

...but Gee had no such compunction. "Momma, I a pretty prince."

I haven't seen my sister or her family for 2.5 years. Becoming reacquainted with her children was a real pleasure.

L, who at four is the baby of the family, has beautiful long, wavy, blonde hair. She is such a character--very personable and sweet and fun.


E, at six, is Jen's miniature. She has olive-toned skin, dark eyes, and amazingly crazy curly hair. She is a sweetheart and a half; helpful as can be. She totally stole my heart. She, L, and Em had so much fun playing together.


H is Jen's oldest daughter. She just turned eleven, and despite being at the awkward tween stage, she is beautiful! She is a budding artist and so much fun to be around. For her birthday she received oil pastels, and we got to experiment with them.


Jen's boys were less willing to pose for me. (Imagine that!) J, 8, was the friendliest kid around. He and Zee, despite the difference of two years between, ran around and played and had a sleepover and had a marvelous time.


B is the oldest of Jenafer's brood. He's not so interested in hanging out with aunts and little kids, but is so sweet and patient with his siblings' and cousins' games. (At one point, all the younger kids were running around playing some complicated game where B was the king. All he had to do was sit and play his game and occasionally hand out little "gemstones" to the others when they asked. Worked out well for everyone.)

A very happy Thanksgiving was had by all the beautiful princesses and handsome princes.

(*I thought about hiding the fact that we were out-of-town this week, in case of robbers, you know. But then I realized, there is nothing to steal in my house. Seriously, we have two Apple computers that are 3 and 7 years old, and a sad little broken laptop that sort of works. No TVs, no nice electronics (because we took our working laptops with us), no jewelry or silver or anything worth selling. It would be a pathetic haul for anyone who took the trouble. Anyway, we're home now, so robbers, stay away!)