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raychel - Growing up, my dad’s sister would take each neice and each nephew in groups of girls and boys and take us on special day trips. Cananda’s Wonderland, the Drive in Theatre, the pool, camping etc. etc. Such amazing memories I will never forget!
As an aunt now I spoil my neices and nephews by buying them cute stuff off etsy (those beanie hats from zjohnson??!! ADORABLE!), and when they get a bit older I plan to do what my aunt did. Take them out for great childhood memories!!

Liz - I have a super special place in my heart for my auntie. She is just the best and is the most wonderful person on this earth. She, only having boys chose me to be “her daughter”. She spoiled me and did all the wonderful mommy and daughter she would otherwise. This was not at the expense of her sons, because she is just that awesome! I was one of 3 girls, so my mom “shared” me.

To this day my aunt and I have an amazing bond!

So congrats on being an auntie to a niece! How amazing! You’ll be a good one. Look at what a good mommy you are!

chrissy - we moved 1,000 miles to be near my husband’s brother and his wife and 3 kids ages 4, 3, and 2~ we love it and so do our kiddo’s. every friday night the kids either stay at our house or theirs so the parents can have a date night… and so we can enjoy our nieces and nephews. it’s so fun and the highlight of the kids week

Mandy - the best thing about my aunts – the kids that came with them – gotta love cousins!!

Allison - My aunt sold Mary Kay products, so she would make me over in Mary Kay. It was so much fun. I am also an aunt. And for my niece, it’s too hard for her to say Aunt so she calls us TeTe. I think its going to stick! I love being an aunt, it is so fun to spoil and play with them! Can’t wait for it to be my turn to be a mom though.

Kirsten - My aunt, who passed away a few years ago, was by far the coolest aunt for a little girl. She was the aunt that let me paint my nails electric blue and wear makeup on sleepover at her house when my mom said NO nail polish or glitter lipstick, you’re still a baby (even if i wasnt). I am one of the first to be having a baby (this August)out of my circle of friends and I know Aunty Pooh (my best friend) will be the greatest aunty ever. She is, I think, more excited then I am, ha!

Kate - My Aunt Jeanie was the funniest, craziest aunt. I loved her. We could be cooking a cake one minute and digging mud holes in her garden the next. She was always up for an adventure, never minded making a mess and loved on me like I was her own. I secretly hope that is what my nephew thinks about me now

Andy - i have a nephew and a niece and they are so much fun. i love to read to my niece. she loves it too.

Jessica - I absolutely LOVE being an aunt!!!! It is almost as wonderful as being a mother. My nieces and nephews are absolutely adorable,and wonderful; we have special “cousin” nights for each of them (5) where we choose a special day for them to come spend the night and we go all out on their favorite things: chuckee chesse is often requested, batting cages for my oldest nephew, all things princess, tea party, nails and hair with the girls!!! It is a BLAST and a special way for us to get one on one bonding with each one. My daughter also has a SISTERcousin and their relationship is just precious! They are 2 months apart to the day. You will have so much fun being an aunt!!! Congrats.

Kara - Finally something I know a little about! Just got to spend some lovely time with my beautiful niece. Biggest advice I can give is…remember nieces ALWAYS deserve presents.

janie - How about LeeLee from your name Ash(ley) My daughter had a hard time saying her brother’s name Caleb so she called him LaLa for the longest time. We still call him that sometimes!

Jill - my aunt always got me the best birthday gifts but the funny part was it was always months late almost in time for the next holiday. either way i always cherished and loved her gifts no matter how many months late they were.

katie - oooh congrats to your sis – so exciting! I am an aunt of 5 little girls, ages 2-6, with none of my own yet, and I always make a point to wear lots of “fancy” stuff when I see them. They all love to check out my tall boots, high heels, sparkly buttons, dangly earrings, curly hair, and bangle bracelets that their moms are usually too busy to put on!

Cristina C - I love your blog Ashley! I dont have any kids yet, and i’m not an aunt yet, but I admire your beautiful family! My Dad’s side had 7 children, so I grew up around lots of cousins, aunts and uncles. My Dad’s youngest sister just lost her 10 year battle with Breast Cancer a year ago this March. She was very special to me. I have 2 cousins that are due in a couple months, I would love to share one of those lovely blankets with them! You should have your niece call you Auntie A.

Cara L - how exciting! my sister is just as ecstatic to be an aunt to my baby in september! one of my favorite memories with my aunt was getting to spend a week with her at her beach house in california. i felt so grown up and loved every second!

Karen - My daddy had two sisters-one older, one younger-that never married. Every year on our birthdays they would take us to Memphis, TN –about an hour away–as our present. We would get a gift and get to eat where ever we wanted. We also got to take one of the other cousins with us. We spent the whole day there. I love that memory. It was such a big deal to get to go to Memphis. That memory always makes me smile!
Congratulations on the niece. My little brother and his wife just found out that they were expecting their first. We are so happy!!!!

Bethany - Hi! So I am coming out of the shadows to enter this giveaway! I only just started following along after Christmas. I was home for the holidays (KS) and saw your link bookmarked on my mom’s computer and clicked over! So glad I did!

I love the realness of your blog. Your projects. Your photos. Your words! It is such a happy, happy place!!

Thanks for sharing and inspiring! Happy Friday!

Jill - My aunts gave me lots and lots of cousins to play with! Yay!

Emily Lusk - Congratulations to you and your sister!! I am sure the girls will love growing up together! I am sure you are going to be a great Aunt! You should get the blanket monogrammed with “I Love My Aunt” on it!! Jason’s mom has a monogramming shop (Yvonne’s Monograms) at 131st and Elm and will give you a great price!

My Aunt Karen was a very special person in my life! She would do all kinds of stuff with us when we visited. She would make the BEST no bake cookies!! They are still my favorite cookies to this day! When me and my sister were in college she would always send us care packages and as you know getting a package in college just makes your day! I always loved opening them and seeing what special treasures she put in there!! Sadly my Aunt lost her battle with Cancer and passed away in 2002. My sister and I learned a great deal from her and learned how to be great Aunts to our nieces and nephews just like she was to us!

I am excited that this Wed I get to go and welcome my 5th niece or nephew into the world!! (they don’t know what they are having)
Congratulations on becoming an Aunt!!

AllieH - My aunt and I did everything together, she is the coolest lady ever! Now that mu husband and I are finishing up a family of our own, my next desire is to be an aunt. I have 2 beautiful sisters-in-love that will hopefully fulfill my wish VERY soon!

Anna Joy - My favorite thing to do with Aunt now is play Scrabble. We play every time we see each other and even when we can’t see each other, we have to play online! I love it!

Congrats on the sistercousin! I love sister cousins . I am not an aunt but my best friend is my “sister from another mister” so for fun we made thought we would have my son call her DeeDee even though her name is Lee. Why don’t you make a completely different name just for your niece to call you? My aunt has my son call her Nanny. Very traditional but she loves it.

Carol - Since I’m the Nana, I get to babysit first but I can watch your kids and my new little granddaughter at the same time. The more the merrier!!! I had a special aunt that I thought was cool because she always wore pants and not old lady dresses. I was named after her and so were you.

Mindy S. - Aw, those pics are adorable!! I love the, “Aaagh! I’m trapped!” look. Growing up, my fondest memory of my aunt was when I first turned 16 and she let me drive her stick-shift. She didn’t even freak out even when I stalled it, ummm, 37 times!

Karen - I didn’t have an aunt growing up. My daughter’s aunt is only 10 (my husband’s little sister was adopted and they are 20 years apart!)There is only an 8 year age difference between them and they think it is so fun. She loves her aunt and I know as she grows up she will want to do everything her aunt does.

LaurenS - I love my aunt Diane! She would take 2 weeks each September and come stay with my sister and I while my parents were on their Mary Kay trip that my mom won each year. Too bad kids couldn’t go! But my aunt would come and stay with us and it was so much fun!

Taylor - In about 2 months I’ll have a niece. I’m so excited!
I plan on spoiling her when I can. Hopefully she’ll think of me as a fun aunt.

Teresa J - We would go over to my Aunt Deb’s house. They had a grape vine and we would make homemade jelly, YUM!

kassondra - my aunt introduced my to Celine Dion when i was younger and knowing we were horrible singers we would blast our Celine Dion cd’s and sing every word to every song anyways. that’s always been one of my favorite memories of my aunt TC (Teresa)

Jessica - I have a 17yo sister and she’s excited to be an aunt to my little girl. She got my daughter an outfit for Christmas that declares “I love my Auntie.”

Meredith - She should call you Auntie! My 2.5 year old daughter calls all of my best friends Auntie (Auntie Mandy, Auntie Haylie) it’s really cute!

Megan H - Growing up my aunt and I would sneak into my grandma’s dining room at the Holidays and sneak fudge. Now we do it at my mom’s during the holidays. : )

Melanie - My cute sister and her hubby live 3 hours away from me with there 3 adorable children. Since I don’t get to see them as often as I wish. I send them “Memories” in a package for every holiday, birthday or just because.
I explain it to my hubby by telling him “We are creating fun childhood memories for them.” I love, LoVe, LOVE your blog! Thanks for the smiles!!!

Miranda - My mom has 6 sisters, and my dad has 3 sisters so I grew up with a lot of aunts, and that’s not counting my mom’s 2 brothers wives or my dad’s 4 brother’s wives.
The first memory that came to my mind about one of my aunt’s is that my Aunt Sharon used to paint my nails when I was little.
I just became an aunt for the first time 3 months ago. I love having my own kids, I’m sure there are advantages to either being an aunt before you have your own children and not. I sometimes wish I could’ve been an aunt first, so that I could spoil my niece better. But I have definitely befitted from having the only grand kids too.

Danielle - my aunt, who is single – never married and no kids, and i have a wonderful relationship and now i cherish watching her with my boys. she did so many fun things with my sisters and i growing up. i just threw her a surprise50th birthday party in december to let her know how loved she is! congrats on your sweet niece on the way!

Amanda Weber - I grew up with aunts around all the time. We always did so much stuff together as an extended family! It is great having an aunt only 7 years older than me. She always took us to stuff our parents wouldn’t. I too just found out I am going to be an aunt… not sure if it will be a neice or nephew yet, but I look forward to it! I think your neice should call you “Aunt Corbie”, although with C around it might be kind of strange!

Mandi Smith - I have the best aunt ever! She never had any kids of her own so she tends to spoil me and my siblings One of my favorite memories was going to get ice cream. On the way we would crank up the music and sing “The Locomotion” into the tire gauge that we pretended was a microphone.

Mara - CONGRATULATIONS – we are so excited for you. I am love with my two nieces and my favorite things to do for them now (since they are both two and under and live far away) is make handmade gifts and send them fun packages and cards.

jody - To be an aunt is so fun. They confide in you (when they can’t confide to their parents)…As an aunt I always have gum (like Monica on Friends) or Smarties!

Kirsten - My aunt is a prayer warrior…she is currently praying me (us) through our son’s autism spectrum diagnosis and our LONG wait for a phone call from the adoption agency telling us our second child is on the way. She is such a wonderful role model…as I’m sure you will be!! So excited for you!

Kristin S - My Aunt Linda was the safest and most fun person in the world for me. She was a year older than my mom and could never have children so she really was a second mom to me. She let me do all the things my mom would not. I could tell her things I’d never share with my mom (whom I basically told everything).
My Aunt Linda passed away when I was 15 and it was like losing a parent.
Just be the fun Aunt who kidnaps for a date at Chick-fil-A or the park for an hour.

Faith - When my first boyfriend broke up with me, my aunt was consoling me in the driveway. “You’ll be alright, honey, you’ll see. There are lots of other boys…..what about that one?” …as this cute guy named Britton drove by in his Jeep. “Yeah right”, I said.

Married him.

One of my favorite memories ever.

Jodi - I love this one! That blanket is beautiful and baby sister is cracking me up…she is like “get me out of this thing!”.

I am the last of 6 siblings to have any children. The gap between the last one born and mine is like 10 years so I always have been considered the “cool auntie”. You know the one with no kids…who always does fun things with them. I DOTED and splurged on them all the time. Now that I have 2 young ones of my own, I LOVE the gap, my nieces make fabulous babysitters. I live on the East Coast and they are on the West Coast, so it’s cool for them to come out here. They end up staying for long periods, like a month at a time! I miss them so much!

Being a mom is amazing but being an Auntie is sooo much fun! Congrats!………you are so the “Auntie Ash”!!!

Mary - I am excited to be aunt again coming this July. My sister is having here second baby (this time around a boy!) This contest made me laugh becuse with their first sweet baby they swaddled her until she was 15months old (she is currently 16mo)!!! It got to a point were they would lay the swaddle on the ground and she would crawl over lay down and put her arms down to her side and look at you like OK swaddle away!!! Now thats a girl who likes to cuddle.

Ellen - As an Aunt to one and later a Mother to one, I became a better, more aware Aunt after the birth of my own child. His sweetness became even more heartwarming when he became excited to be a cousin to my child.

Rachel - My aunt was soo much fun growing up! My favorite memory with her is when she would let me sit on her lap while driving on their long driveway and steer the wheel. I was probably 8 or so. I thought it was the coolest!

Laura - My aunt owned a condo on a lake so I have many memories of her taking us on the boat and riding jet ski’s with my cousins. We had so much fun!

Kim B. - My Great Aunt (she is my maternal grandmothers sister) is my most FAVORITE Aunt. Growing up we called her “Sissy”, now the we are older my Sister and I just call her Sis.

My Sis is pushing 90 years old, still active and and the glue that holds our extended family together. I have two awesome Nephews ages 7 and 13, and they call ME “Sissy”, I Love it

Katie M. - Oh my goodness! How exciting!!! I am about to be a first Aunt to a little boy in about 4 weeks from today:) I did soo very many fun things with my Aunties growing up…too many to list! You should definitely go by Auntie Ash…lol

Sarah Marie Long - I remember my aunt would always take my sister and I to the mall. When we were there we would go window shopping and end our adventure with cookie dough frozen yogurt! Good memories.

Julie - My aunt would have me over to bake all sorts of things from pot roast to cookies. She also taught me how to really deep clean a house and then she would pay me to do hers. She also taught me how to whoop everyone at Monopoly-this one has really come in handy! My nieces and nephew are pretty close to my age so they just call me by my name. Although someday I will have a God-child and Julie always comes out sounding more like oowee, we are in the same boat!

Britney B - my aunt always took me horseback riding! we called her auntie, and even though i have many other aunts, she was my only auntie!

Amy - I LOVE being an Aunt! My niece calls me Mamie since she couldn’t say Amy when she was itty bitty. I take my niece out on monthly “us’ time. The first Saturday of the month is ours and no one can interrupt it. We go to the park, movies,library,shopping,out to eat or just hang out at the house. Now that I have a little one of my own, my mom watches her while I hang with my niece for a few hours. Did I mention that I LOVE being an aunt!

My aunt- who we call Auntie- is awesome. She’s my mom’s twin sister and all use cousins are a year apart. We all grew up like sisters and brothers with two moms and dads. My cousin is like a Sistercousin: my daughter even ‘calls’ my cousin Auntie Sara.

Lesley - Yay!! I’m so excited about the blanket! Thanks, Ash. And, I’m super pumped about my little girl having a sister-cousin! Aunt Ashley is hard to say but Beautiful Princess of Awesomeness will be perfect!

Beth - My aunt had all boys, so she really enjoyed doing “girly” things with us when we would visit.

Congrats on being an aunt!

Cassie - My mom and aunt are total opposites–my mom dressed in classy, neutral outfits and my aunt had, well, flashier taste. I would always sit with my aunt at church, and the highlight of my week was counting how many rhinestones she was wearing. I think she’s secretly disappointed I’m having a boy…she wanted to pass on some of those crazy rhinestones!

Sara W - She could call you Auntie A.

My aunt only had boys so she would always take us girls shopping.

Naomi - I remember my aunt used to pick me up after school when I was four or five years old, and we’d go back to her house where she’d let me eat jelly (that’s jello to you, I think!) from the packet and spell our family’s names using the magnetic letters on her fridge. Very happy memories

Colette Amey - Those two girls are going to have so much fun growing up together! My daughter is lucky enough to have two girl cousins born within a year of her… one is only 3 months older. Whenever anyone is coming to visit us, if I ask her to guess, her eyes light up and she always guesses her cousin. I wish we all lived closer but I smile as I think of all the fun memories they will make in the years to come!

Natalie - I discovered your blog a couple of months ago while searching for new content for my RSS reader. Your pictures inspire me to take better pictures and your kids are so cute! I’ve never commented before, but I just wanted to say thank you for your daily posts. They make me smile and I look forward to a new one each morning.

Congrats on becoming an auntie. My daughter (almost 17 months) has 2 sistercousins that are 2 and 5 months younger than her. I can’t wait for them to grow up together!!!

Esther N - Watching my sister-in-law feed my son all kinds of horrible things a one-year-old shouldn’t eat, I told her “you just wait”. now that she has a little one of her own, I sneak that baby all sorts of goodies. wa-ha-ha-ha. (that was supposed to be an evil laugh)

Georgia Davis - So excited for your sister. Send her my congrats!

candace - When my neices were younger, my name was not exempt from the long list of things pronounced in “kidtalk”. Candace became /Kin/-/iss/ and has stuck for nearly 12 years. I love hearing those sweet kiddos say my name aunt name. It is WAY better than being called “Aunt Candace” any day!

One aunt and I share a birthday (tomorrow actually) and her card is one I always look for first in tha mail. She is my favorite aunt and became a great source of womanly wisdom and a listening ear after my mother passed away.

Being an aunt is the MOST fun! (of course, we do not have children)

Tia - my aunt would always let me help her bake. she was also great at making up awesome bedtime stories.

Valerie - Those pictures crack me up! My kiddo would totally make that face if I swaddled him again now. He barely tolerated it when he was little. He’s a wiggler. The blanket is so stinkin cute, though. I do have a friend I need a gift for!

Trina - Congrats! I like Auntie LeeLee. My sister-in-law’s name is Jackie & we call her Auntie KiKi (for the last half of her name). Auntie LeeLee is fun, easy to say & Cute!

Nicole - I vote to let her make up her own name for you! My (then toddler, now 15 year old) niece called me “Nack” when she couldn’t pronounce “Nicole”. Melted my heart every time I heard it!

Congratulations on becoming an auntie!

Savannah - I was the only niece my aunt had so for a long time I was spoiled rotten and spent many weekends learning the ways of the world with my aunt!

Catie - Congratulations! I absolutely love being an aunt!!! I have two nephews a niece and another on the way! I would say something I do as an aunt is play this exciting game of batman/robin/cat women. Its one of their favorite things to do and its great exercise for me too!

Lindsey - When I was young, My aunt started the tradition of taking me out on my birthday to shop for one complete outfit. Im talking shirt,pants, socks, new shoes, hair accessories, jewelry, etc!We always had the best time, and I looked forward to it every year. Now that my brother is having his first baby, I cant wait to be an aunt and have that special relationship with my new nephew.

paige - I have an Aunt who lived in Haiti growing up (and still does), and I thought she was a fashion GODDESS. When we would visit her in Miami, she always had THE best clothes and jewelry and her nails were always painted so perfectly. It’s so vivid in my mind. I wanted to be just like her! Thanks for the giveaway!!

Hallie - I have to tell you two:

I just thought of this last night! My sister and I would stay with our Aunt Ann for a week or two every summer. She and a friend had a job cleaning an office and while they cleaned we got to play secretary. We would pretend to take calls, picking up the phone and saying, “Conestoga Wood Production, may I help you?” That is one of those proofs that it is not WHAT you do, but just being together as you go about, that is special.

Every time I hear the song “Is She Really Going Out With Him?” I think of my mother’s other sister, Aunt Jenny. She was sixteen with a new license and a Chevy Malibu and she was allowed to take us to the store or something. I remember the hot sun, the windows down, and the song coming on the radio. Good times…good times!

Hooray for you and your new niece!

Kara - I have some of the best memories ever with my aunt. She is single so we got to spend lots of girls nights together. The movies, game nights all sorts of stuff. Now that I am an aunt I LOVE to take my nephews to fun things that mom doesn’t always have time for. My son and one of my nephews are 5 months apart and they are BEST friends. They are 2 and it is so fun to watch them!!!! CONGRATS!!! Auntie Ann!!!

Lindsey P - My aunt is the best bargain shopper. I loved going shopping with her just the two of us

Callie B - cute blankets! As an aunt, we live apart from all of my little niece and nephews so it’s fun to make up little care packages with inexpensives little items. my kids color pictures and write notes to include, and we mail it off. They in turn, do the same. It’s a fun way for the cousins (and Aunts) and keeps in touch and connect!

Heather - How about “Aunt Leelee” (pronounced “lee-lee”), from “Ashley”? It seems like basic, repeating sounds are easy names to say, and the tricky “sh” gets left out that way!
I have yet to come up with a toddler-friendly way to pronounce my own name- Heather. The “H” plus the “th” in the middle makes it come out mangled every time. My little Sunday school kiddies can never manage it.

Deb - My Aunt Lil used to get my brother and me out of school at least once a year when she would come to visit. One time she took us to a Cleveland Indians baseball game. I didn’t care much for baseball, but it was fun being there with her and my uncle Andy. I saw a side of her I never saw before. She knew all the players names and positions and many other boring things about baseball, but I did think it was pretty neat that she knew this much about baseball, because she always seemed so ,”Prissy.”

Erin Aitkens - My dad is an only child and my mother has only one brother, married but no children. This means that, growing up I didn’t have any cousins… Sad story! However, I am excited as my sister-in-law just found out last week that she is pregnant! This means that at least my son will know the joy of growing up with cousins!

Laura Beth - I loved going to the zoo with my aunt when I was little! I had 2 brothers so I really enjoyed (and still do) time with my girl cousins!

Ashley Cangelosi - My babies have all loved to be swaddled…so for a gidt to give…the blue and red circles and diamonds would rock!

Christina S - I think “Aunt AA” would be a good name for your niece to call you.

michelle - My aunt and I would have tea parties and picnics in her backyard… sooo much fun!

My niece calls me TT. I personally think it’s adorable. She had a hard time saying auntie

kelly g - My aunt was a farmer, I learned so much from her. She took me to a rodeo and I rode in a sheep rodeo…yes, the sheep bucked and I fell off!! I’ve never told anyone!

Chelsea - What a cute blanket! I spent lots of time with my aunt at the beach with her family going up. So fun!

Mandy - I am usually a lurker and I know the contest is closed but I just wanted to comment about your sister being pregnant! My youngest daughter and my sister’s youngest daughter are 5 days apart. We live 600 miles away from one another and they have probably seen eachother a whole 25 times in their whole lives but they are the best of friends and they pick up right where they leave off each time they see eachother and cry like the dickens when we pull them apart to leave. I had many close close cousins growing up. There is nothing quite like a sistercousin!