Sunday, April 24, 2011

Little Girls, They Steal Your Heart

They are the emerging power trio in the extended clan: Grace, Kiana, and Gisella. They live close enough to each other that they share a lot of time, and by the time they're in their teens they will own everything we have. They started with our hearts, after all, and any pickings after that are much easier.

Trying to keep track of who is related to whom and how in this family is hard without a scorecard, so here's a quick refresher: Grace is my granddaughter, my late son Doug's daughter, and she turns 9 this August. Kiana, age four, is Reva's daughter; Reva is my son Adam's half-sister. The youngest of the three, Gisella, is Adam's step-granddaughter. For simplicity, we think of them as cousins -- hell, most of the time we all think of each other as cousins.

The power trio gathered in Grace's back yard today, Easter, to hunt down treats.

Kiana and Grace debate the merits of different kinds of bubble solution.

Grace (yes, she changed her outfit -- she does that kind of thing, being a girly girl and all.)

Grace, Kiana, and Gisella on the hunt. (The gray fuzzy thing at left is an actual bunny -- Grace's soon-to-be-stepdad, Ryan, brought a pair of rabbits to the family.)

Gisella, admired by Adam.

Kiana a-hunting.

Gisella with loot.

While all girl, Grace defies stereotype and has been a nimble tree-climber since shortly after she could walk. Hiding Easter eggs for her is a three-dimensional process.

Gisella and Kiana in awe of their cousin's aerial prowess.

A milestone: Grace's first picture with Granddad's big, clunky camera. After just a little bit of initial hesitancy, she banged off this shot: Reva's dad Parris, Reva, Kiana, me, and Adam. Not bad, eh?

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8 comments:

Ronnie said...

Thank heaven for little girls.

Mike said...

I also had Easter with three little girls, but they were a little easier to round up, since they live under one roof. Glad yours come together as readily as they do!

Brian Fies said...

Wonderful pictures, although I'm still diagramming my way through "Adam's step-granddaughter." My family badly needs a new generation . . . all the cousins in my girls' generation are in their late teens/early twenties, which for a while now has put the kibosh on Easter egg hunts. This year the punks didn't even want to dye eggs. I don't care about them; how's Uncle Brian supposed to get his jollies?

ronnie said...

We've run out of babies too. Our youngest niece is 9 and the oldest ones are still in university and not near ready to have (on-purpose) kids yet. Sigh.

Nice photo, Grace!

Adam said...

>"I'm still diagramming my way through "Adam's step-granddaughter."

You and me both Brian.

Looks like Gracie Boo has inherited your natural eye Dad.

Nostalgic for the Pleistocene said...

Now! With more bunnies!

Really a very good shot by Grace. Beautiful photos of beautiful children. I'm wondering - who is that, up in the tree behind Grace (in the shot where she's standing with her Easter basket)?

Sherwood Harrington said...

That's Danielle, one of Grace's friends from the neighborhood. Now I'm sorry that I didn't get a photo of them together, since they have identical haircuts -- a cute bob longer on the sides than the back.

Taylor Clark said...

so adorable