Ciocia Kristen, redux

No Sunday cooking again; we spent the weekend with family in Detroit celebrating various family birthdays and meeting my newest niece. It's funny, for a lot of years the ratio of nephews to nieces was 3:1, but my SIL has had two girls in the last three years so now I have a even set of 3 and 3. I love all those boys, but I have to admit, having more girls in the family makes me happy. I love all my girls so much.



I let my 17-year-old nephew B play with my good camera at the cookout, so I am finally in some pictures! He took some nice ones with my and my littlest niece S. What a sweet baby she is.



Me giving B stink-eye as he wandered around taking photos of everyone at the pool. If you drop that camera, kid... ;-D

I shouldn't have worried; he did well. He even got a really, really nice photo of Hubby and me.



Sometimes I can't believe B and his sister are 17 already. They were toddlers at my wedding! But they're both growing up, and are great kids. I got to spend some nice time with H, talking about driving and college plans and all kinds of stuff she's more willing to tell her aunt than her mom. I like that she trusts me, and we have fun together being dorky. We always take a self-portrait or two!



I totally loved her outfit, so she let me take some shots of that. Now THAT is how you mix patterns, my friends.



We even did some shoe shots.



Those are my new Dolce Vitas in action. Verdict: love 'em, keeping 'em. The only weird thing about this strappy style of sandal is that it connects to your foot around your ankle, not around your toes or the ball of your foot like most other shoes and sandals. So the feel of them when you walk is the opposite of all other shoes; when you lift your foot, the sandal doesn't lift until your ankle does. As I tend to walk on the balls of my feet, that takes some getting used to. Not a deal breaker, just a strange sensation.



I got a nude polish at my last pedicure, and I am not sure I like it. My feet are definitely polished so it doesn't look like I just have gross feet, but I think the color is almost too nude. Next time I might go with something a little more opaque but still a neutral. I've been wearing bold colors on my toes all year round for a couple of years now; I kind of like the natural look, but I can't decide if it is just *too* natural. What do you guys think?

My middle niece, the 3-year-old S, also got into the fashionista action. She had a pair of sparkly sneakers from her other aunt, H and B's mom. So cute!



The sparkles on her toe cap light up when she stamps her feet, so she tried to show me for the camera.



Her other ciocia (aunt) also found this awesome t-shirt. Only in Detroit, you guys!



Just to round it out, I had get a picture of the littlest one's feet too. BABY FEET!!!!!



Like I said, I love my girls, and I love being their Ciocia Kristen.


Just so you don't leave without a single food shot, here is part of the breakfast I had at the casino buffet that Sunday. I don't see a problem with it, do you?



Fresh berries over strawberry yogurt with homemade granola, and a cinnamon donut. Breakfast of champions! ;-D

More fashion posts coming soon! I have been taking pictures again!