t-t-t-treva and the kids

Being in Vancouver has been so much fun for so many reasons, but one of the biggest as of yet un-blogged about reasons is my cousin Treva and her cute kids Anna and Tate! The kids were really fun to just have running around the house the whole time I was there, and I even got to go out with them and Treva a couple times to the store (to buy copious amounts of Canadian candy) and down to the sea wall where the kids got nice and wet in the freezing cold water, but had a blast just throwing stones and shells into the surf. They are definitely a handful, but über lovable. I think one of my favorite things was that they loved me, too! It's always easier to love those who love you back, right? They learned my name pretty fast and then they would always say it like, "Where's Tassi?" and "'Scuse me, Tassi." Soooooo cute!

Here are some fun stories about the Anna and Tate monsters:

Story #1 :Pretty soon after we first met, and I was still trying to win their affection, I was Skype video chatting with my boyfriend Jace when Anna and Tate came into the room. The video and audio of the chat were all messed up so we were trying to figure out what was going wrong and the kids were just enthralled by the fact that they could see a little video of themselves in the corner of the screen where I was. They were also fascinated by the video of Jace, which Tate pointed to and said, "Dadda?" Treva corrected him saying, "No, that's not your daddy, but Daddy has glasses too, doesn't he?" Then she turned to me and said, "Well, that's a little embarrassing, isn't it?" I just thought it was funny. Then, as they were leaving the room, one of the kids asked Treva, "Is that Cassi's husband?" Nice.

Story #2: One morning Treva asked me to watch them for like 15 minutes while she showered and got ready for the day. I was chewing gum and blowing bubbles, not really thinking about it and Tate saw and was instantly hooked. He would ask for another bubble, then when I would pop it before he could touch it he would scream this delighted little whine, similar in structure to that of an ambulance as it drives by. You know, loud and then softer as it goes on. Soon enough Anna had to get in on the action and we made a game of it, with me video recording the whole thing on my computer so that then we could watch it back and the kids could see themselves on screen. The funniest part was that they would imitate the sounds they made on camera in real life. If they were screaming in the video, they would scream in real life. If they were saying "Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease?" on screen they would say it while they were watching, too. Adorable. Tate also liked to ask, "Where'd it go?" When I told him the bubble was now in my mouth he would say, "Oh. I see." What? What 2 year old talks like that? So cute.

Story #3: This one isn't so much a story as it is a fact: Anna and Tate call my cousin Sarah, Treva's sister, Uncle Risa. We have no idea why, but they are really adamant about it. You cannot convince them, no matter how hard you try, that her name is actually Auntie Sarah. The last night we were all in town we had a big cousin dinner and Treva needed a babysitter and although Anna had some great suggestions: "You know, Mom, Cassi could babysit..." my Uncle Jon found Treva a babysitter from his ward. And guess what her name was? That's right, Risa. The kids could not have been more excited. Clearly it was meant to be.


I really admire my cousin Treva as a person and as a mom. She has seemingly endless patience with her kids, who can certainly be trying at times, and she totally understands that being a mom is something that is super important. She does fun stuff with her kids and I hope that I can be as fun and cool a mom as she is when it's my turn.