siblings
My grand niece, Christina Masterson is a very soft hearted person. For her, probably the worst thing that can happen is that something she says or does might hurt the feelings of another person. She wants everyone around her to be happy and so, sadness is hard for her to take. She will try her very best to bring joy to those around her. That is probably one of the main reasons why her siblings love her so much. Christina has a special bond with her younger brother, Brycen and her younger sister, Raelynn. Maybe that bond is because they are of similar personalities, and so have more in common, or maybe they are opposites, and that’s why it works. Whatever it is, those younger siblings think she is pretty cool, and she thinks they are too. Nevertheless, she is loved by all her siblings, and she loves them…unconditionally. There is nothing they could do to lose that love.
Maybe being around younger sisters has had some effect on Christina, because she loves Hello Kitty, and even asked for Hello Kitty toys for Christmas. So, her mom got her the whole kitchen set…the toaster, microwave, pancake maker, mixer, and crock pot. While it is a little 
funny that a 17 years old girl would want Hello Kitty toys, it could get precarious if she tried to use these appliances in her own home when she gets married someday. She has a tendency to be goofy, so Hello Kitty isn’t totally outside the realm of possibilities.
Christina and her cousin, my granddaughter, Shai have been the best of friends almost since they were born, 5 days apart. They spend a lot of time together, and love to talk to each other in weird voices…almost like a secret language. From the beginning, they just clicked. Now they are almost attached at the hip. They even worked at the same place for a while. That happens sometimes…cousins become almost inseparable friends…for life. Looking forward, I can’t say they will always spend as much time with each other, but I do know that no matter where they go or what they do, Christina and Shai will always love each other very much.
Christina has always been a very giving person. She has a real heart for the homeless and needy. She has been known to buy gas for someone who really needs it. Maybe she got that way, because she watched her mom give their last 5 dollars to a family in need when they were stranded, and they didn’t have very much themselves then. Christina likes to buy Christmas 
presents for people who aren’t going to get any gifts otherwise. She is a very caring person, and it shows in everything she does for others.
Christina is a very strong, brave girl, and she doesn’t let things get her down. Life isn’t always easy for any of us, and it can get pretty daunting, but Christina faces each new challenge with dignity and grace, and that is the best any of us can do. I know that the great traits Christina has will take her wherever she wants to go in life. Today is Christina’s 18th birthday. Happy birthday Christina!! Have a great day!! We love you!!
Any time you have two girls whose mom gives birth to a baby brother, you have two little mothers in training. They want to be involved in everything, even if they are only 5 and 7 years older than the baby brother. In fact, that might even make it more likely that they will try to show off their skills. Smaller sisters might not give much thought to a baby brother, but when they start thinking they are big now, they want everyone to know it. And for that little brother…well, he can plan on a lot of years of being bossed around by those sweet, innocent looking little bossy mommies in training. This was the world my brother-in-law, Ron Schulenberg was born into. Oh, those first couple of years were probably great, being cuddled and pampered by his big sisters, who just loved the baby, but then, he became a toddler, and the terrible twos came about, and suddenly those nice big sisters were just as bossy as they could be.
I first met Ron, when his older brother, Bob and I started dating, and I can tell you that Ron always seemed to find himself in the wrong place, at the wrong time, doing the wrong thing…especially where his older sisters, Jennifer and Brenda were concerned, and older sisters, Marlyce and Debbie agreed. Boys will be boys, but I guarantee that their older sisters are not amused by that fact. I can remember Jennifer and Brenda telling Ron to “knock it off, and behave himself” more than times than I can count. Here he was, just trying to show off for company, and what do those darned big sisters do…well, they just go off and embarrass a guy!! Thankfully, though there were also good times, when they would do things with him and life would be great again, or he might have just had to not like his sisters at all.
It was also a good thing for Ron, that he had a big brother, among those four big sisters, who didn’t mind hanging out with his little brother, even on a date. I suppose it was a matter of Bob having had to live with two older sisters all his life and two younger ones for quite a while. Bob knew what sisters were like, and he had to take sides with his little brother…guys have to stick together…right? I mean, it was four to two, and those were tough odds. And for Ron, the added insult of always being the baby brother, even when he was a great big 5 year old…well, 
you get the picture.
The good news is that Ron grew up, and as most siblings, with age comes friendship. His sisters found out how handy he was to have around…especially when they needed a helping hand with things. Ron is a great mechanic, and he’s pretty handy with most carpentry tools too, so anytime someone needs something built, he can usually get it done. He will always be their baby brother, but we all agree that he isn’t a baby anymore…in fact the youngest is the tallest!! Maybe that was for self defense, who knows. Today is Ron’s birthday!! Happy birthday Ron!! We love you!!
When you see a cute picture like this one of my aunts, Bonnie, Dixie, and Sandy, you immediately think, “Oh, those girls must be best friends and sisters, not just sisters. Or their parents must have really trained them very well, for them to stand there so obediently.” Well, you would be right most of the time, but as we all know, siblings fight sometimes and kids act out occasionally.
Younger siblings can be a joy and a pain…within minutes of each other. They can make you laugh and then make you mad, usually because they are so needy. Then, when the older siblings become teenagers, every request, every question, and especially the presence of the younger sibling within a mile of the older one, is a huge annoyance, and some things are the worst thing in the world!!
We have all been there…at least any of us with younger siblings, or even cousins, so you can’t exactly fault your own kids when they try to do the same things you did. You can hope they won’t, but you really need to be realistic. It’s just the way things go in families. There will come a day when they will be friends for life…when they will look back at these days and think about how silly they were to worry about having their younger sibling around them. Like it was going to steal all their coolness away. We realize that they just wanted to be like us, because they thought we were so cool. How could they not see the serious lack of confidence we had? How we felt so very not cool, and we were trying to show the world that we really were cool. Thankfully those days are very short in the total of our life. And thankfully during those days, that feel like forever, there are a few golden moments when they forget that they don’t want that younger sibling around.
It is in those precious moments that they find that it’s kind of fun to have someone who looks 
up to you. It isn’t something that happens very much, after all. They see that they are someone of value to this, their younger sibling. They find that they like helping out. After all, it’s just a helping hand to get up on the bed of a pickup, because the littlest girl can stand behind her taller sisters and it will make a great picture. And it is kind of funny when you are both a little clumsy at getting her up there, because while she is your little sister, she isn’t so much smaller that you can easily lift her, so you let her push up on you and she slips a little, and the whole thing is so comical that all you can do is giggle. Pretty soon, it isn’t just her who is saying, “A little help, please!!” It’s both of you, because you can’t stop laughing long enough to get her up there.
Isaac is the most serious of the children of my niece, Jenny and her husband Steve. The other children are always laughing, and Isaac laughs too, but much of the time he seems to be contemplating the complexity of the world around him. I know that sounds strange for a young man of only seven years, but when I look at Isaac, I see a young man who is a thinker. He doesn’t just look for the funny things in life, but rather wants to know the who, what, where, why, and how of things and situations around him. He may not even know that yet, but I see it in his eyes. I was that way when I was a kid. Sometimes the things going on around me went by unnoticed, because I was always deep 
in thought about something that came to my mind. I wanted to know why things went the way they did, so I sat and thought about it. I see that very much in Isaac too. He is a boy with many things on his mind.
Of course, Isaac has a funny side to, and is quick to smile. He is the kind of little boy that is a good friend, because he understands how to be a friend. He is kind and sensitive to others. The youngest son out of three boys, and older brother to his sister Aleesia, he knows how to get along with others. He knows how to fight battles with his brothers, and how to be gentle with his little sister. It’s a good mix. He also has a love of pets, and takes good care of 
them. Puppies think of Isaac as their best friend. He is truly a complex little boy.
Isaac is, nevertheless, all boy. He loves to go shooting with his dad, and looks forward to the day when he will be able to go hunting with his dad. In a day when so many people have a fear of guns, Isaac’s parents are teaching their children a healthy respect for guns and for life, so that as they get older, they will not see guns as a weapon to be used in anger, but one to be used to hunt and to protect. The best time to learn that is as a child, and that is what Isaac and his siblings are learning. Today is Isaac’s 7th birthday. Happy birthday Isaac!! Have a great day!! We love you!!
To live a long life…it’s something that eludes many people. Even those who live to retirement doesn’t guarantee that a person will with well into their eighties or into their nineties, but for Aunt Evelyn, as with several others in my family on both sides, longevity seems to run in the family. I’m glad for her and for us that it does, because that means we get to have her and some of the other family members around longer.
Aunt Evelyn is the oldest of my mom’s siblings, which would mean that she played the biggest part in helping to raise her younger siblings. I suppose there were times when the others felt like she was pretty bossy, but the reality is that the oldest child usually gets dubbed with that title, whether they truly are or not. It comes with the territory. It seems like girls often get the title more than boys too, because they do have that mother instinct. Nevertheless, a big sister can be a good thing to have, as I can clearly attest.
Aunt Evelyn has always been a social person, and participated in several clubs as a young 
lady. She is also very good at planning the family get togethers, for her family as well as the whole family…such as out family Christmas party, which is coming up quickly. She and her five children’s families work very hard to make the party great when it is their turn to host it, and even when they aren’t hosting, they are among the first to start helping with the cleanup. Good training, I guess.
Today is a milestone day in Aunt Evelyn’s life, as she turns 85 today. Her health is great, and she is still quite active, so I am confident that she will be with us for quite a while. Happy birthday Aunt Evelyn!! Have a wonderful day!! We love you!!
As a kid, I remember that when my parents were kissing and we were around to see it, my sisters and I always chanted, “Mommy and Daddy are kissing! Mommy and Daddy are kissing!” It was just a fun way of teasing them…not that it bothered them any. They loved having us chanting and teasing them. I suppose that in some families, there is less demonsterative behaviour, but in our house, hugging and kissing was the norm…and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Kids, for generations, have felt many different things when it comes to romance. They might be laughing about a couple kissing, because they are a little embarrassed, or it could be because they are sure that one of the people kissing are going to end up with cooties, which one depends on whether the watcher is a girl or a boy. Of course, they will outgrow those feelings and they they will be the ones being laughed at, teased, and watched. It is just the nature of the romance business.
And for as long as kids have been making fun of couples in love, people have been trying to capture those moments in one way or another…whether it be on canvas or on film. And for equally as long, those couples have been chasing, yelling at, and telling on the offending youngsters, begging their parents to intervene, and save them from the horrible humiliation of their younger siblings and their friends. Of course, most of their parents just don’t take the matter a seriously as the romantic couple would like…mostly because they have been there and the understand that a little teasing really isn’t the end of the world their children believe it to be. They also understand that in a few years the tables will turn and it will be that younger sibling who will be right there telling on another younger sibling…or possibly that older sibling getting even with them…something older siblings aren’t above either.
Every little kid looks up to their older sibling, and my sister-in-law, Debbie was no exception. Her big sister, Marlyce was just the greatest thing since sliced bread, as far as 6 month old Debbie was concerned. For her part, Marlyce was thrilled to have a baby sister. Marlyce has always loved babies, and I’m quite certain that the 3 year old Marlyce was no different. Soon she would have a playmate, and for now she had a baby to help out with.
While Marlyce and Debbie would not be the only children in the family for very long, since Bob was born just 17 months later, it was just the girls for a little while. Marlyce, being the oldest, had all the cool ideas about things to do and games to play. I’m sure they had great times. Marlyce was such a soft hearted person. She hated to see anyone hurt or in trouble. I remember hearing her telling my mother-in-law to leave this one or that one alone when they were getting in trouble. Of course, it didn’t help much, but she sure tried.
As you can imagine, it was a different thing if her siblings made Marlyce mad. Then they really got yelled at, but that was her right, and no one else had better be mean to her 
brothers and sisters. She felt the same way about her nieces and nephews as they came along. Marlyce, being as soft hearted as she was, did put herself in a place of vulnerability to a degree. The nieces and nephews took quite a bit of pleasure in picking on Marlyce and unless she felt like they were really being mean, she mostly liked their playful teasing.
I miss the days when Marlyce was here with us. I’m sure her little sisters and brothers all feel the same way because although Marlyce ended up being the shortest of my in-laws six children, she will always be the big sister.
There is nothing quite as amusing to a kid as their sibling getting into trouble. I’m not sure why that is something that kids find so funny, but they do. Of course, the one who got in trouble sees nothing funny about it at all, and in fact is often very annoyed at their sibling…if they have the chance to see it anyway.
My grandchildren have told me of several events where they were guilty of laughing when one of the other three kids was getting in trouble. Of course, I told them I was shocked, but in reality, I was a kid once too. I caught them on several events, and of course, that meant that an equal measure of the same punishment had to go to the offending child. As time went on, I caught them less and less, so either they quit doing it, or got better at not getting caught.
I’m not completely sure why kids like to see other kids get into trouble, but they sure seem to. Of course, sometimes they are just annoyed at their sibling anyway, so seeing them get in trouble is almost like revenge. And if an argument between the siblings preceded the one getting in trouble, then obviously they are all for it.
Most of the time kids won’t admit to laughing at other kids who just got in trouble, because of the distinct possibility of getting the same treatment, but every once in a while they simply can’t deny it. When they get caught, they are probably in the most danger, because well…Mom is a already mad, but sometimes they get caught years later, because pictures just don’t lie.
We were having some family pictures take when the girls were little, and it was the entire family, so their were multiple kids and everyone was getting tired of the whole thing. Tempers were rising, and moods were getting bad. It was at that point that Amy got into a little trouble, and started crying. Obviously, Corrie found that amusing, because she glanced over at her sister, and proceeded to get a grin on her face that said, “Better you than me!” I didn’t see it at the time, and really hadn’t given it much thought until years later, so Corrie got away with that little no no!
Had I seen this at the time it happened, I know without a doubt, that she would had been wishing she hadn’t pulled such a stunt, but in this instance, she got away with it, because since she is a married mother of two teen aged boys, I guess it is a little late for a spanking. Just know this Corrie, I’ve got my eye on you now, and if I catch you laughing at your sister getting in trouble now, I will retaliate…so are you scared yet?
When you are a little kid, your friends are usually siblings or cousins. Since there is not much choice of who your friends are, at this age, all you can do is hope you get along pretty well. Thankfully for me and for my girls, that was exactly the case. While the girls had their typical little kid tiffs, for the most part, they were best friends. They did everything together. I didn’t have to find ways to entertain them for very long, because they took over that job very early on. As soon as Amy was able to play, they were always making up their own games. It was entertaining to watch them play.
Corrie and Amy never fought much, and in fact, I actually had people comment on that fact. It made it easy to have them do things together. Everything from riding around in a wagon together or even riding…or being pushed on the same tricycle. They loved that neither of them had to wait their turn. It also made Corrie feel like a big girl when she could hold her sister in place so she didn’t fall off. I loved how protective Corrie was of her little sister. It was very sweet.
It’s not very often that you can turn a normal tricycle into a tricycle built for two, but when kids are little, you can fit two little ones on a tricycle. And Amy was just so excited to be on there. She felt like a big girl too, and when someone pushed them around the patio, they were in seventh Heaven. Of course, pushing a tricycle around a patio all day can get pretty old pretty fast. Nevertheless, to make for happy toddlers, pushing them around on a tricycle is the 
perfect solution…temporarily. Too much pushing the kids around the patio can make for happy kids…and worn out adults.
Those early childhood days, when your siblings are your best friends, go by so fast. When I look at the fun my girls had, just hanging out together, it always puts a smile on my face. They are still close, but can siblings ever be as close as adults as they were as toddlers? I don’t see how they could. People get so busy, and besides, can anything ever compare to the fun times you had with your sister, when you were little kids?
My grand nephew, Xander is the oldest of the five children of my niece, Jenny and her husband, Steve. He takes his job as the first born very seriously. Like any kid, he has his fights with his two brothers, but that has nothing to do with his duties as the big brother. They are his little brothers and his little sister, and they are his top priority. Xander is wise beyond his years and knows the value of life…possibly because he has already experienced loss in his young life, having lost his sister, Laila when she was 18 days old and he was seven years old. It was an event that made his tender heart break. Now, like his brothers, he brings little gifts to the sister he won’t get to know on this Earth, because his big brother’s heart feels so much love for her.
As the oldest child, Xander tries to always be a good role model for his younger siblings. That means studying hard and getting good grades, so he can encourage them to do the same. It also means that he works hard at whatever job he is doing, because he knows that it is the right thing to do…to always do your very best work. So that’s what he does whenever he is asked to help out around the house…he works hard at it and does the job right. And it means that Xander stays out of trouble, because how can a big brother be a good role model for his younger siblings, if he is getting in trouble all the time. He is the kind of boy who makes his parents proud, and makes his brothers want to be just like him. He is a good and loving boy.
In his leisure time, Xander participates is sports…of all kinds. He likes to play football and basketball. He also studies Tae kwon do. He likes to ride motorcycles and snowmobiles. He’s tried lots of sports, but football is his very favorite. Like his dad, he also loves guns, and loves to go out the range to do some shooting. Of course, any guy who likes gun, likes to hunt, and Xander is no exception. After passing his Hunter Safety Course in mid-March, I’m sure that he is very excited to go hunting with his dad this fall. All in all, Xander is just an all around boy. Today is Xander’s birthday. Happy birthday Xander!! We love you very much!! Have a great 10th birthday!!
