Happy Birthday Meaghan!

I'm a bit late posting here but we celebrated our niece's 5th birthday last weekend. Jack had an especially great time. He adores his big cousin Meaghan and cake. My SIL created the giant cupcake herself. Doesn't it look cool?The little ones including Jack were fascinated by the incredible expanding and shrinking thingamajig so nicely demonstrated by my brother, Doug, who, for some reason, looks like he has no teeth in this picture.We also had the opportunity to see my nephew, Christopher, who stayed glued to his games. Hopefully, Jack's love of reading and playing will keep him active as he gets older. We'll have to be careful with his computer/game playing exposure.Couldn't help but end with this photo, captioned: The Life of the Party, featuring my brother Billy and Mike. What a couple of wild, crazy guys!

The things kids say

My puppy, Molly, loves my three-year-old niece. I've asked Meaghan to take care of Molly when my husband and I are in China. Today, she told her maternal grandparents that she was traveling to China with us so she could take care of Molly. When her grandparents asked if she knew how far China was, Meaghan replied "no." When she was told that the country was far, far way, Meaghan replied, "I'll just take care of Molly here." If you knew my niece and could hear her voice and picture her mannerism, you would crack up at her insistance that she was going to China and then her eventual decision to stay put. Considering her love for Disney princesses and their "far, far away stories," I'm surprised Meaghan changed her mind.