my babies are the bestest.

i have two really good stories about my babies (aka my nieces and nephews). just to preface, i made it to arizona and i'm still in solid form. no melting here, at least not today. it is blasted hot, though. it was 102 degrees when i arrived, and tonight at 9:00 pm, it was a cool 99 degrees. i can't believe people live here. anyway...story number one.

well, i worked a graveyard shift last night and then headed straight for the airport when i got off (and after i packed). no sleep for me today. when i got to my sister's house, i was beat and needed a nap, so i went to my niece, kaylie's room to have a lay down on her bed. her door was closed, so i figured she was in there, but when i opened the door, i didn't see her. i just went over and plopped down on her bed and started dozing.

after a few minutes, i'm guessing about 10 or 15 minutes, i hear a random noise that rouses me. i look around, but i don't see anything, so i lay my head back down. i hear another noise and i look around again, and again, nothing.

i was half out of it, so i just said, "kaylie?" and from underneath the bed (yes, i did say underneath) i hear this faint little, "yeah?"

hysterical. she was playing with one of her toys and she thought she was going to be in trouble, so she hid under her bed and was just playing under there. it was the funniest thing ever. love that girl.

second funny story: i was laying on the bed with my nephew, jesse, while he was trying to go to sleep. of course, we were having a very serious conversation. jesse was a little perturbed because little brother, malcolm, was getting to lay with dad in the other room. we were talking about when jesse was malcolm's age, he got to do the same thing. this is the conversation that followed:

jesse: i'm growing up so fast, aunt chelle.
me: oh, you will always be my baby jesse...even when you are all grown up, you will still be my baby jesse.
jesse: well, i'm five now and then i will be six, seven, eight, nine, ten. aunt chelle, were you sixteen when you got your driver's license?
me: yep, i was sixteen.
jesse: when i turn sixteen, i'm gonna get my driver's license, too.
me: are you going to date girls when you turn sixteen, too?
jesse: aunt chelle, you know what i'm going to do when i turn sixteen? i'm gonna drive a girl around.
me: where are you going to drive to?
jesse: i'm gonna drive to the taco place.
me: are you going to eat tacos at the taco place?
jesse: yeah.
me: then what are you going to do?
jesse: i'm gonna drive her around and show her where i live.

the kid is a stud. and he is prepared. there are going to be some hearts breaking all around the world when jesse starts driving girls to the taco place and showing them where he lives.

you can bet that there will be a thousand more incidents/conversations like these to come during this next week. and trust, i will report every last one of them.