Auntie Katie (A Fun and Busy Day)

Riley and me doing the Jerry face ;) 

Jerry was off work yesterday and we sat and just talked for a while--no distractions, just facing each other on the couch in our bedroom having a "real" conversation (about random things). We've been having some good conversations lately--it's so nice.

Becky texted me last night and asked if I might want to go sit with Luke and Riley (my nephew and niece) this morning while she and Brian went to sign the paperwork for a new car. I said sure! Luke and Riley are SO much fun. They are the smartest kids at that age than I've ever met.

I went for my walk this morning and then drove to Brian and Becky's shortly afterward. After Brian and Becky left, Luke took me to the refrigerator and said, "Would you like a beer? These ones are from Boston." Hahaha! I was cracking up. (He's only three.) Quite the gentleman, offering me a drink!

Riley was taking a nap when I arrived so I got to spend some one-on-one time with Luke. He wanted to show me this long cord with an action figure attached to the end. He wasn't sure what to do with it so I attached each end to a toy pot and went upstairs to place a toy inside of it and lower it down to him. Then, of course, he wanted to do it, too. So we were sending the pot up and down with toys. 

We played with their toy kitchen for a little bit and I showed Luke how to use tongs. After that, he was picking up everything with tongs!

Luke wanted a snack--peanut butter on a banana--but they didn't have any bananas. I suggested an apple with peanut butter, but he said no. Then I asked if he'd ever had an apple with cinnamon, and he said he never had--so I told him I'd teach him how to make it.

I had him put a spoonful of sugar (probably half a tablespoon) in a bowl and then three shakes of cinnamon (about 1/2 tsp). I peeled and sliced an apple and added it to the bowl. He stirred them until they had a cinnamon sugar coating. He took a bite and LOVED it. He ate all of them and wanted to make another.

I told him it could be his "top secret recipe". He asked me if we could write it down and he could hide it somewhere to keep it a secret. So I wrote it out for him on a piece of construction paper. I told him that he should make some apples for his mom, but have her close her eyes when he makes the cinnamon sugar so that she doesn't see the secret ingredients.

He looked concerned and said, "I can't tell my mom the secret?" I groaned inside--how does one explain that you shouldn't keep secrets from your mom but a recipe secret is okay? Hahaha, I just told him that he shouldn't keep secrets from his mom but if she thinks that his recipe should stay secret then it was okay not to show her.

When Riley woke up, he wanted to make apples for her and as he was making them, he was explaining to her how to make them, including his secret ingredients--hahaha! But they ate four apples between the two of them, so they liked them a lot.

After their snack, we were in the front of the house using finger paints and Riley started asking about her mom. She dragged her chair over to the window to see if she could see her mom and dad in the driveway (I'd told her they were in the car coming home). Luke joined her.

Riley asked for my camera so she could take a picture of the driveway--no idea why! But this is the picture she took.

I've been missing the kiddos a lot lately, so it was super fun to spend the whole day with them. They are seriously SO STINKING CUTE! I would like to have them come spend the night at my house soon. I miss when my kids were this little!