Lately, I have been thinking about Kasie a lot. Kasie and I always loved to trade Philip and Trevor stories. Now that Trent is going through the stages that we would exchange so many stories, it reminds me of things Kasie would say or do.

When the boys were babies, Kasie would like to ask Flip "How big is Philip?" and she would wait for him to raise his arms in the air and she would yell "SO BIG". Phil brought me some of Flip's old books and now Trent likes to read the big Elmo board book about Elmo being so big.

Flip went through a stage where he did not like to have his shirt pulled off over his head so Kasie would pull his shirt up above his eyes and let it hang over his head like a hat and sing "T-shirt head, T-shirt head. Flip would just smile and Trent does the same when I sing it to him now.

When Kasie played softball, she was the pitcher on our high school team. After Kasie would pitch the ball, she would do this swaying walk back to the mound and I was reminded of this walk the other morning when we were watching Sesame Street and the character known as Snufalufugus came on. As Kasie would walk back towards the mound with her characteristic sway, her softball friends affectionately nicknamed her Snufalufugus because he does the similar sway when he moves. Of course Kasie was always a great sport.

When the boys were a little over 1yo, Kasie bought each of them the wooden Thomas the Train figure 8 set for Christmas. She always put so much thought and love in the gifts that she bought, she even found an engine for this set that was named "Trevor". This was undoubtedly one of Trevor's favorite presents that year and now it has become one of Trent's as well. Everytime Trent goes to the bedroom and starts saying "choo-choo" and we get that Thomas set out, it reminds me of what a loving and wonderful aunt Kasie was. I remind my boys that Thomas was a present from Aunt Kasie and I will always think of her when we bring out that set.

Recently, Phil was generous enough to pass down some more clothes to Trent. When I started going through these clothes, the scent of these clothes so brought back smiles of Kasie. As I have written earlier, Kasie was always so generous with letting me shop in Kasie's closet and giving me AWESOME hand me downs from her massive wardrobe. I am not sure how to explain it, but these clothes always smelled so good to me and everything she gave me always had that refreshing scent. I have been dressing Trent recently in the clothes that Phil passed along and everytime I pick Trent up after getting him ready, I smell that scent and it just brings this sweet memory of Kasie and makes me smile. I asked Phil what he washes his clothes in and he said it was liquid Tide and Downy with the pink top, the same thing Kasie and him began using when they got married.

I miss Kasie so much, all we have left are the wonderful memories we shared with her and I will always treasure the more tangible items I can find to help keep these memories vivid in my mind.

I will always love you, sis - Amy