I love being an aunt!

The older I get the more I realize how unlikely it is that I will have children of my own. This makes me a bit sad, but I choose (most days) to focus on the amazing children God has placed in my life. I have 12 nieces and nephews and probably another dozen or so of "honorary nieces & nephews." I treasure the opportunity I have to be a part of shaping the people that they are becoming, to shower them with love (and hugs & kisses), to share special moments with them, and to watch them grow up.

Two of my favorite little ones are my niece Megan's children. My little great niece and great nephew - Lily & Gavin. I had the opportunity to spend the evening with them on Friday. When I picked them up at daycare, when asked by her teacher who I was, Lily said, "That's my Susie!" I felt SO special...is there anything more wonderful than being loved by a child?!

I decided that this time we wouldn't just hang out at my place and bake cookies (like we usually do), but instead would go to Chuck E. Cheese and Build-a-Bear!

Chuck E. Cheese was a thrill for them! This was their first trip there and they were SOOOO excited when we pulled into the parking lot! They immediately began singing the "where a kid can be a kid" jingle from the ads. We ordered our pizza, got some tokens and spent about 45 minutes trying each of the rides in the toddler area. I then coaxed them back to the table to eat some pizza before we went and blew the rest of our tokens!

Here is Lily showing off the proof that we were actually at Chuck E. Cheese and Gavin is chewing on the plastic-ware (don't ask me why?!)

Here's Lily acting like a ham with her pizza and Gavin is probably pondering how he's going to eat Lily's olives off her pizza without her noticing. :)

And the kids with the star of the joint...Chuck E. Cheese!
Gavin was VERY excited to meet him!

After dinner at games were over we piled back in the car and went to the mall to Build-a-Bear. Each of the kids made a bear and chose an outfit for it - Lily chose a ballerina outfit for her bear named "Fluffy Kaluffy 8" and Gavin chose a police officer outfit for his bear named "Officer Edward." (They thought the names up, not me!)

I had never been a part of the Build-a-Bear process. It's really creative and fun! The woman who helped the kids was very kind, funny, and made them feel special. Lily even mentioned in the car on the way home that she thought the lady at the store was a very nice lady. :)

Watching the bear get his stuffing put in!

Needless to say, my niece said that the kids fell asleep very quickly that night and so did Aunt Susie! :)